Connecting health organisations with health professionals (HCPs) is a key part of what we do at 11-London. Yet engaging them via traditional routes (such as print journals, events or sending materials to their hospitals and surgeries) has become increasingly difficult over the past couple of years.
A huge factor in this has been the Covid-19 pandemic: limiting face-to-face interactions and forcing many HCPs online. But there’s another issue, too. HCPs are too often thought of as one homogenous group, defined by their profession and reachable only via certain methods. But just like everyone else, they are individuals who are active on multiple platforms and have different wants and needs – and it’s time we treated them as such.
Engaging with GPs was an essential part of a recent campaign we ran for Target Ovarian Cancer (TOC), who work to improve early diagnosis, fund research, and provide vital support to everyone affected by ovarian cancer. The charity wanted to recruit 1,000 GPs to sign up to their e-learning modules on how to spot the early signs of ovarian cancer.
We worked closely with TOC to shape an approach centred around making connections with GPs and developing content that was likely to bring genuine interest and value to them as people. We gave careful consideration to where GPs interact in their spare time, making use of the insight that 65% of them now use digital channels such as social media for their professional development. We chose Twitter and LinkedIn as our two key platforms to reach them and developed a range of creative (from video ads to infographics) to ensure our creative appealed to a diverse audience.
This highly successful campaign concluded recently, and we generated some strong results:
Over 265,000 GPs were driven to the e-learning modules landing page
Following on from a 4-week recruitment period, over 1,000 doctors have started the course and many have already been certified
Compared to LinkedIn, Twitter achieved a much higher click through rate and a lower cost per result
Our video creative far outperformed the infographics
As well as running a social campaign, 11-London managed the development of an ongoing engagement plan for the charity to continue connecting with and providing value to GPs long after they complete the online module. Via a series of emails, GPs will be taken on a journey: from initial engagement with TOC content, to sharing it with their peers or participating in a survey, through to becoming community champions or GP spokespeople working closely with the charity.
Overall, the success of this campaign can be put down to embracing a human approach to campaign planning and audience targeting: viewing GPs as individuals, rather than one homogenous audience segment. The 11-London team loved working collaboratively with Target Ovarian Cancer, embracing change, and coming up with future-proof ways of engaging GPs even more deeply than pre-pandemic. And, most importantly, we have been able to play a part in equipping more GPs across the country with the vital tools to diagnose ovarian cancer earlier and save lives.
Emma Drew, Senior Account Manager at 11 London