Introduction
Never before has it been so difficult for the Pharmaceutical industry to engage with Healthcare Professionals (HCPs); yet never has there been a greater need for clear and meaningful communication in the ever increasing noise and complexity. Over the past decade, phase III pivotal trial data points have increased by over 280% (Getz et al., 2024), and around half of recent novel drug approvals have been ‘first-in-class’ (U.S. Food & Drug Administration, 2025), suggesting more data to interpret alongside brand new indications, contraindications, side effects, drug interactions, and optimal use guidance.
Attention fatigue.We have all experienced it, whether it’s during a whole day workshop, a short meeting that is irrelevant to your role, or a boring story at a dinner party.
Newsflash, HCPs are human too, and are subject to the same crave for relevant, value-adding stories; regardless of whether that’s a face-to-face interaction or searching for / being delivered digital content.
This begs the question to any Pharmaceutical Marketer…
Why should your target customer engage with your content?
Taking that a step further, why should they subscribe to receive more from you? Especially at a time when so many pharma companies are unintentionally turning HCPs off, by neglecting to ask HCPs what they want to see, or responding to their needs; as highlighted by a recent analysis revealing only 28% of HCPs believe pharma´s customer engagement strategies meet their needs (Deloitte, 2025).
When engaging with a field team recently, I heard a story about a HCP being invited to a webinar by a field team member, which was well received – after the call, an invite was sent via a rep-triggered email. Three weeks later they had their next call, and the field team member asked why the HCP didn’t attend the event. The response was that between signing up to the event and the webinar, they received numerous emails from the company inviting them to the same event they had already registered for in addition to several irrelevant therapy-area emails – so out of frustration, refused to attend due to the lack of respect and organisation within the company. Now, I’m sure this was not the intended experience by the company – and it certainly caught the field team member off guard. But it really highlights the importance of the underlying strategy for engaging in the right way.
This article aims to outline the rules of play for earning a place on a HCP’s guestlist – providing an actionable checklist (✅) for Pharma Marketers to help you reflect to ensure you are avoiding HCP engagement pitfalls, and turn written theory into practical action.
It’s important to note, this article is not the end of the journey. Once you’ve earned that place, you need to be equipped with a strategy to keep it! Stay tuned, as our next article (coming in June) will dive deeper into how to stay on a HCP’s guestlist.
Rules for earning a place on a HCP’s Guest List
Get your customer assessment right
Are you actually sure who you should be engaging with to meet your goals? Personalisation is key, and in many cases can be a significant (and rewarding) investment, so getting personal with the rightaudience is paramount. Go beyond basic demographics. Consider factors like digital savviness, content consumption habits, and their influence within their peer group.
✅ Define your target HCPs – Consider role, place/influence in account
✅ Define your product adoption ladder – these should have clear definitions, alongside what drivers may be required to move them along
✅ Segment your target HCPs based on key behavioural differences that influence the customer journey
✅ Define why those HCPs should care about your product
Understand the HCP’s world
Not all HCPs are the same, even those with the same role, and therapy area can have a very different perspective and approach to their activities. Take the time to get to know the HCPs you’re trying to engage with, and don’t assume anything.
Be reliably informed; start with the basics like, what conferences they attend, and what publications they read. Make sure you find out why. Then take it further; what motivates them? What are their biggest challenges/barriers? Map their typical day, professional challenges, information overload points, and how they stay updated. What are their preferred channels of communication? Again, make sure you are getting the why behind those preferences. Is it convenience, trust, or accessibility… or something else?
Being reliably informed goes further than a quick chat with the odd sales rep, a cursory google, and a few off the cuff comments. Take the time to run Ad boards and Focus Groups. Be bold and seek the reality, however uncomfortable.
Don’t just gather data; use it to segment HCPs, tailor content, and choose the right channels.
✅ Conduct regular field visits with your sales or medical teams
✅ Read ICB/ICS or Trust level Strategic documents
✅ Understand HCPs Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), and what keeps them awake at night (the pain points and ‘jobs to be done’)
✅ Seek feedback from the field team on market dynamics, listen and act on that feedback!
Find the ‘thing’ that will add value or solve their problem/challenge
Be Relevant – find the value or solution to their problem. Find the one thing that will actually motivate them to read on, and prompt further engagement. Provide tangible value that directly impacts their practice, patient care, or professional development. Think beyond product information.
Be Personal – Keep it specific and unique to their needs. Consider a mix of formats, and match the preferred format with the right customer. We want to avoid sharing irrelevant content in formats which will frustrate certain individuals. Consider short videos, infographics, podcasts, interactive tools – to cater to different learning styles and time constraints.
Be Practical– Examples such as patient/clinical case studies are good examples of content they can use to enhance their understanding/treatment areas.
Be Considerate– Consider if the solutions are really solutions. Don’t offer them anything which won’t be possible to view/implement as a result of the barriers you have already identified.
Be Focussed– Test it is going to work. Focus groups, feedback loops. Pilot-test content and solutions with a small group of HCPs before wider release. Iterate based on feedback.
Be Adaptable– A new bit of info, a curve ball here and there suggests you may be more suited to another route. If budgets allow, don’t be afraid to pivot, to ensure you’re matching the right content, in the right format to the right HCP.
✅ Develop relevant content based on your target HCPs segmentation
✅ Consistently deliver value through sequential content journeys – ask the question of what’s next, and how will they get there? Plan this, then ‘simply’ execute
✅ Plan suitable metrics to track against KPIs and actively measure responses to ensure you can adapt to HCP needs
✅ Instead of push communication, create two way pull communication. e.g. a buffet the HCPs can help themselves to as and when needed
Deliver it as directly as possible
Jumping through hoops to get what has been promised to you will turn anyone off. Streamline access to content. Minimise clicks, logins, and unnecessary steps.
Don’t expect the HCPs to come to you! Immerse yourselves in their world, and make sure what you are sharing is part of their every-day.
✅ For key content, ensure there is an appropriate delivery journey – ideally fitting into the HCPs organic workflow
✅ Minimise barriers to access key content – this should be one click, and not require an account set-up
Get personal
Remember they are people. Consider different personas and what this means for their online engagement. Context is key. Don’t try and opt for a one size fits all strategy. Recognise uniqueness and respond to these needs. Use personalisation ethically and intelligently. Tailor content based on specialisation, interests, and past interactions. Keep it professional.
✅ Work with your insights team to uncover what customer data points you have to work with
✅ Enable personalisation where required; the best personalisation is listening to their feedback, and avoid wasting their time!
Gain trust
Gain trust in your content/solution. Seek peer endorsement. Be transparent about data usage, content sources, and any potential bias. Consistent delivery of value builds long-term trust. Is it too good to be true? Offer this content with ‘no strings attached’, or if you must attach some strings, like an encouragement to consent, make those strings very clear. Shoehorning in unrelatable content will dilute the benefit you are offering, and as mentioned in our intro, cause HCPs to actively avoid your content.
✅ Ensure consent flows are set-up to ensure no irrelevant information will be sent to individuals – consider splitting by therapy area or indications
✅ Set-up valuable email marketing journeys for relevant disease awareness / clinical needs
Lay out your promises
Lay out/present your engagement assurances/charter – to set yourself up for earning a place on a HCP’s guestlist.
✅ Work with your cross-functional team to establish do’s and don’ts for engaging with HCPs
Summary
HCPs time and attention is so highly in demand.
As we navigate a digital relationship with our customers, it is important not to forget all the same principles of a traditional relationship. Put the time and effort into really understanding what you need to know. Be relevant and personal, avoiding the scattergun approach – using the checklists (✅) outlined in this article across:
- Getting your customer assessment right
- Understanding the HCPs world
- Finding value-adds and solving their problem/challenge
- Delivering as directly as possible
- Getting personal
- Gaining trust
- Laying out your promises
Our next article will focus on keeping you on HCP’s guest list. The article will offer you practical advice to maintain the relationship, reduce consent withdrawal risk, and empower you to become a trusted advisor. View the PM Society’s websitefor more information.
References
Deloitte. (2025, March). Unlocking the Future of Customer Engagement in Pharma. Deloitte. Retrieved May 21, 2025, from https://www.deloitte.com/ch/en/Industries/life-sciences-health-care/analysis/unlocking-the-future-of-customer-engagement-in-pharma.html
Getz, K., Sharma, M., Ibrahim, S., Baykal-Caglar, E., Sam, L., & Comic-Savic, S. (2024, January). Optimizing Study Design and Setting the Stage for Efficient Conduct through Quality by Design [Paper Presentation]. Duke-Margolis Institute for Health Policy Public Workshop.
U.S. Food & Drug Administration. (2025). Novel Drug Approvals at FDA – Novel Drug Approvals for 2025. FDA. Retrieved May 21, 2025, from https://www.fda.gov/drugs/novel-drug-approvals-fda/novel-drug-approvals-2025
Authors: Ben Keppie – Senior Consultant at 28b; Alison Rayner – Chief Operating Officer at Bamboo Medical Communications.
Editors: Mehrnaz Campbell – Founder and CEO at Cheemia; Debbie Young – Multichannel Strategy and Customer Insights Director at Otsuka
The PM Society is a not-for-profit organisation that believes excellent healthcare Communications lead to better outcomes for patients.
We aim to:
- Support organisations and people in healthcare
- Recognise excellence and promote best practice
- Provide education and development
Visit us here to learn more about the society and the value of becoming a member
The Digital Interest Group is made up of passionate pharma digital experts who volunteer their time to lead the conversations in the use of digital to power customer engagement excellence that enables our industry to ultimately enable better patient outcomes.