Marketing research has continually shown that doctors are very receptive targets for the marketing and advertising of pharmaceuticals, medical equipment and supplies, office needs, practice software, CME programs, recruitment services, publication subscriptions, and much more. They are also ideal candidates for high-income-earner offers related to travel and entertainment, investments, and real estate. In order to reach these prime physician targets, it is necessary to invest in a doctor database with telephone-verified and updated contact and profiling information.

What, then, are the steps to maximizing the opportunity to market healthcare products and services to doctor audiences? Read on to learn the best route to take when marketing to a list of doctors.

Implement a Quality Doctor Database

The basis of any successful marketing effort is a reliable list of contacts that will deliver the message directly to recipients. Doctor addresses, phone numbers and other identifying information is quite accessible, but the key is obtaining a database that is accurate and contains information specific to the types of physicians for which the campaign is most suitable. The doctor list must be correct and carefully segmented for each healthcare marketing campaign.

According to a report by SK&A, a leading provider of healthcare information solutions and research, titled "Physicians on the Move," the four-year average move rate for U.S. physicians between 2008 and 2011 was 14 percent. This move rate refers to the number of physicians who moved, retired, died or made other professional changes during the timeframe. Because of this significant finding, it is vital that healthcare marketers invest in and use a list of doctors that is constantly maintained to be as accurate as possible.

What Defines a Quality Doctor List?

When shopping around for a dependable physician list, consider a few elements. First, identify the number of doctors the database has. Obviously, if the healthcare data provider claims to have two million current doctor email addresses, that is probably not the case in reality. There are approximately 954,000 physicians in the U.S. today, according to The Wall Street Journal, and email addresses are always changing, making them harder to verify than mailing addresses. This means that most physician lists will contain less than 954,000 names, if the contacts are in fact researched and verified. In terms of email addresses, this number should be even smaller, since not all doctors have business email accounts.

Other factors include the degree of healthcare list management that goes into maintaining the doctor database. Many data providers advertise that their lists and databases are always updated and current, but few actually will quantify and guarantee this claim. Find a healthcare list provider that clearly explains how its databases are managed. Ideally, a healthcare database should be telephone-verified by a live person at least every six months. It is also worthwhile to double-check on the list's guarantee. Most lists of physicians will be guaranteed at least 90-to-100-percent deliverable or your money back.

Another aspect to consider when purchasing a list of doctors is the database's targeting ability. After determining the primary market for the campaign's offer, find a list that can closely reach that audience. The time and money invested into a project will be well spent when the list can be segmented to capture the exact doctors who are likely to act. Some factors to select a list by include physician and practice specialty, patient volume, number of exam rooms and much more.

Choosing a Marketing Channel to Reach a Doctor List

The goal of the healthcare marketing campaign will determine the best channels to use when contacting the doctor database. Many marketers still turn to direct mail as their primary marketing channel. Direct mail still gets rather successful responses, but it can be expensive to design and execute the creative as well as pay for packaging and postage. Most database providers will guarantee mailing addresses 100 percent, so if printing and mailing is not a problem, direct mailing physicians is a good option.

Doctor email addresses, however, have become an increasingly popular and effective mode of marketing communication. Now that most doctors are online and using email for business purposes, purchasing email lists can benefit marketers tremendously. The ROI for email marketing is about 44-to-1, according to the Direct Marketing Association, making it a very budget-friendly and smart option for marketers who know how to use the channel. According to a 2010 Manhattan Research study, the number of hours physicians spend online every week has nearly doubled since 2006 to eight hours, making this group perfect for receiving offers via email.

Starting any marketing outreach effort with an updated and targeted list of doctors will lead the campaign in a strong direction, increasing its overall impressions and results.

Autor: Jack Schember

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