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Amid complex privacy requirements and the evolving patient journey, how are you meeting the right patient with the right message? Hear from media strategy experts on how to adapt to changes and connect with patients during key points in their care journey.
The way that we deliver the right message to the right patient is changing. Life science companies are navigating an evolving patient journey and complex privacy requirements. However, patient-centric technologies are helping teams address these trends so that they may deliver tailored health content to the many patients who consent to receive it.
At Digital Pharma East 2024, Danielle Lynch, Vice President of Client Experience at Phreesia, sat down with leaders from Greater Than One, Klick Media and Pfizer to discuss how organizations are adapting to these changes and connecting with patients during key points in their healthcare journey. Here, we look at three key takeaways from the session.
1. Privacy changes are increasing focus on partners’ practices
The rapidly changing privacy legal landscape, coupled with the lack of a robust national policy, has made it more difficult to stay abreast of compliance requirements.
The structure of an organization often informs how companies manage these challenges. Courtney Cruz, Senior Director of Integrated Media Strategy at Pfizer, said she tries to keep up with the requirements by “reading the trades and listening to podcasts” and collaborates with colleagues who are experts in the privacy space to keep the organization in compliance.
Other organizations make more use of external expertise to stay at the forefront of privacy compliance. Greater Than One, where Italia Marr is Director of Media Strategy, has made privacy part of its planning checklist. This step ensures the agency asks the right questions about data and compliance and chooses partners that are committed to privacy. All companies need to scrutinize their partners.
“We’re very choiceful in our partnerships, so we ask the hard questions of partners of how they’re protecting patient privacy,” Cruz said. “I think that it takes some extra work, and sometimes, honestly, a little more time, but it’s really important.”
Similarly, Klick Media has prioritized evaluating partners as part of its investment in dedicated resources to stay ahead of rapidly evolving privacy requirements. The media organization asks partners about their data sources, what consent they have and how data is transferred, Rosti said.
2. Patients are charting their own courses
The vast amount of information—both helpful and harmful—has transformed the patient journey. Today, patients are charting their own courses. While “Dr. Google” is nothing new, the way people access health information continues to evolve, prompting teams to reconsider how they approach the patient journey.
“What are they reading? Is it the right information? Are they getting the right answers? And how is it influencing their healthcare decisions?” Ray Rosti, President of Klick Media, asked at the session. “That has gotten really challenging. Think about all the places people can go for information. It’s not just Google anymore. It’s social media. It’s influencers who may or may not have the right information.”
Marr shared how Greater Than One has created patient journey frameworks that show the audience at each step and the media that could reach those people. The approach has the flexibility to adapt as the team gains fresh understanding of often complex journeys that patients are navigating from symptoms to treatment.
“It allows for iteration, where we can then say, ‘Okay, this is our starting point [in the] journey, but we’ve identified, through data, a subsegment. What is that part of the journey? How do we take that out and create a different framework for them?’” Marr said. “I think that’s been a great actionable solution that we’ve implemented.”
3. Patients want content tailored to their journey
Marr’s frameworks facilitate the personalization of content by identifying subgroups of patients with distinct needs. As Lynch said, patients near the start of the journey may just need awareness messaging to learn about a condition, while others may be exploring treatment options.
“It’s important to make sure you’re tailoring the content at each different stage and using data,” Lynch said. “We often talk to clients who have all this data, aggregate it, and then have one message. We’re like, ‘Wait, no, these patients need different things at different times.’”
Cruz shared a real-world example of a rare disease campaign that showed patients need different things at different times. The campaign was “doing a great job of reaching patients at the top of the funnel,” Cruz said. However, while Pfizer was successfully raising awareness of symptoms, it was seeing “a decline in those ready to take action.”
Pfizer’s investigation revealed the campaign “didn’t have the most impactful messages to reach those patients further along in their journey,” Cruz said. By tailoring activities to the subsegment, Pfizer created a personalized campaign that better reflected the needs of patients at different stages of the journey.
“We put different messages out there, a more clear call to action to someone who is ready to download a discussion guide. We also changed our media buying objective to optimize towards that audience that was more qualified and ready. That was when we saw a really key change in our metrics,” Cruz said.
Cruz’s story of success through adaptation shows how flexibility is needed to get personalized messages to patients in the moments that matter. With privacy requirements evolving, and patients carving their own paths toward treatment, life science leaders need partners that can expertly navigate the changing environment to craft messages that resonate.
Learn more about how Phreesia can help you connect with key patients amid the changing digital and privacy landscape.
