Continuing medical education (CME) programs represent an integral part of pharmaceutical marketing. These events serve several purposes –as an important source of knowledge and learning for physicians and healthcare professionals, as the basis for PR, and as a source of revenue. But CME providers and educators share a common challenge – reaching and registering the right audience for their events, while keeping in the constraints of limited budgets and tight timelines.
The success of these events starts with marketing – it’s all about planning a campaign that can fill the seats at the event and provide a favorable return on investment.
Know Your Audience
Surveying past and present attendees enables you to identify which demographics you attract and build attendee profiles that summarize the types of medical professionals who attend your CME events. With access to industry leading healthcare databases, target attendees more precisely with physician claims data, procedure codes, organization type, and hospital affiliation. Accurate HCP information enable organizations to recruit attendees through a series of contact points, ranging from in-person invitations, phone calls, direct mail pieces and more.
Create Value for Attendees
With medical professionals constantly on the go, you need to reassure them that your CME event is worth the time out of their busy schedules. Once you’ve defined your target audience, assess how you can deliver value before they even register for your event. Blog posts, articles, videos and resources relating to the event’s topics provide prospective attendees with a better idea of what you have to offer. Speak to the needs of your audience and highlight what they can take away from your event. The more value you can deliver, the better.
Drive Engagement with Social Media
You don’t have to wait until the event to connect with attendees – engage with your audience before the event by encouraging participation on your social media content. Leveraging social media, you can get to know attendees before they even walk through the door and gain insight into their pain points and expectations. Whether it be via a question or comment on your website or social channels, make sure to listen for opportunities to engage with prospects and customers who are interested in the subject matter of your event.
Ease Registration with Email
Health care professionals are overwhelmed by long work days and overflowing email inboxes – including several CME invitations. To stand out in this crowded space, optimize the timing of your emails to accommodate your specific audience. The content of your emails should speak to your audience’s pain-points, highlight the details of your event, and include a call-to-action that links to a registration page. Confirmation and reminder emails also help build event anticipation.
While successful recruiting events typically require at least two touch points, email services from Redi-Data should be leveraged as a third touch-point to help fill seats and deliver your invitation directly to the place where busy physicians are most likely to see it – straight to their inbox.
With over 20 years’ experience in the life sciences, pharmaceutical, and CME markets, Redi-Data provides affordable solutions to help clients connect with target audiences.
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