with Medical Education
Compared to the millions of consumers who flock to the Internet for health
information, physicians are considered Web-phobic.
They aren't sold on the idea of maintaining email contact with patients and
online disease management efforts haven't caught on.
But what does appeal to physicians is online medical education.
The GERD (Gastroesophogal Reflux Disease) Web site (http://www.gastro-therapy.com),
sponsored by AstraZeneca, which manufactures several gastrotherapy drugs, exploited
this online opportunity last year. Although the Web site had been providing
specialized physician information supplied by the Cleveland Clinic on the GERD
topic for four years, it only managed to generate monthly traffic of 300 visits
on average.
The Web site had not been aggressively promoted and the content needed to be
updated.
To strengthen AstraZeneca's position as a leading online educational resource
for gastroenterology therapy, the pharmaceutical company worked with two agencies,
Qwest Internet Solutions and i-frontier, to provide updated information, overhaul
the site's design and develop a targeted online advertising campaign. The goal
was to boost the monthly traffic to 3,000 visits.
The advertising campaign, which ran from September to December, used banner
advertising to target primary care physicians, nurse practitioners, physician's
assistants, medical students and nurses.
The ads were featured on major medical Web sites like Medscape, Physicians
Online and HealthGate. A series of 10 teaser ads were created to provide snapshots
of the kind of medical education the site offered.
The ads that were particularly effective told physicians something they didn't
know about GERD like a recent treatment option, research information or an educational
conference, says Michael Cord, AstraZeneca's e-marketing manager.
Within the first quarter of the campaign the site reached its goal of attracting
3,000 visitors to the site.
Last month the traffic shot up to 8,000. Cord attributes the surge in physician
interest to the informational void the site fills.
Once physicians log onto the site, the online environment provides a one-stop
GERD resource, including:
- a consistently updated news section using Reuters news feeds;
- educational offerings on meetings and conferences;
- research literature; and
- links to other credible gastro links.
Campaign Highlights
Budget: unrestricted educational grant
Target: physicians and nurses
Components: online banner advertising, Web site enhancements involving an
updated news section, literature, calendar listings and hot links
Key team players:Vincent Moos, account supervisor, Paul Walcutt, account
manager (i-frontier); Michael Cord, e-marketing manager (AstraZeneca)