Pharma Marketing: More community trust. Less forced connections.
A recent UK survey found that only 14% percent of users mostly or completely trust lifestyle influencers, while 51% completely or mostly trust patient influencers. When it comes to branded pharma products, the survey was even more positive for patient influencers: 85% said they would be very or somewhat receptive to an ad from a patient influencer promoting a drug related to the patient’s condition.
Still, there remains a perception that patients are selling out to pharma marketing, and in fact, surveyed users asked about "thoughts on tackling or mitigating the sellout complex?”
I think we’re at one of those places where the community has moved past the concern and pharma is still back there worried about it.
That said, it is important to follow best practices to make sure patient influencer campaigns are authentic and trusted, tapping the patient’s personality to make sure the ads are in their voice, trying to match the look and feel of the influencer’s own content, and not being afraid to mark the posts as advertising.
Of course, the most important part of pharma influencer marketing is finding the right person. Fight the urge to pick someone with a massive following just for the numbers. Patients want to hear from other patients who are relatable.
Studies have even shown that "micro-and nano-influencers, while they have fewer followers, their engagement and trust among their communities is much higher than the mega-and macro-influencers.
The reach is less important than trust, authenticity and transparency. Trust is the ultimate KPI for these audiences, but it’s also the ultimate weapon when it comes to bringing the influencer voice to your programs.
Tags: Medcomms Agency. Medical Communications. Pharma Communications. Medical Writing. Medical Communications Agency. Pharma Comms. Pharma Marketing, Medical Writing and Publication Planning