Advertisers targeting anesthesiology and pain medicine specialists can leverage peer-reviewed content, clinical data, and clinical guidelines in their promotions to drive engagement.
Physicians across specialties are similar in how they prioritize, access, and trust professional content. But noticeable differences also exist between specialties — behaviors advertisers can make use of to engage physicians within each specialty more effectively.
Consider anesthesiology and pain medicine specialists. Like most physicians, they consider peer-reviewed online medical journals the most credible online source in terms of professional resources. Recent data from Wolters Kluwer® indicates that 61% find peer-reviewed online medical/nursing journals to be the most credible source for keeping them up to date in their practice.
What's more, anesthesiology and pain medicine specialists have unique ideas as to what makes for credible promotional or advertising content within their preferred professional materials. Advertisers who align successful promotional content with the practical resources that anesthesiologists prefer are best positioned to engage this unique group successfully.
Four tips for engaging anesthesiologists with your promotions
A 2024 content consumption study conducted by Wolters Kluwer* uncovered key contributing factors to anesthesiology and pain medicine specialists’ perceptions of credibility in advertising. Below are four tips to help plan your next advertising campaign.
1. Choose publications with practical guidelines for your promotions
Anesthesiology and pain medicine specialists want content they can immediately use in their practice; they trust resources that provide specific, actionable guidance for this purpose. In fact, among seven options, 45% of anesthesiologists rank practice guidelines as the most influential type of content in terms of being influential—closely seconded by peer-reviewed journal content they subscribe to (44%). When it comes to treatment decisions, they are influenced by review articles (63%) and clinical reviews (42%) as well.
When creating promotional content, consider how you can tie your products or services to specific practice guidelines they follow closely. Your goal is to demonstrate to your products align with or help them meet their practice goals.
2. Optimize content outside of mainstream industry publications
Anesthesiology and pain medicine specialists utilize various digital channels to access content related to their practice beyond journals, society websites, and other formal channels alone. For example, while 71% access content through society websites and online journals, 75% also use search engines like Google or Bing to find information relevant to their practices. Additionally, 38% of anesthesiology and pain medicine specialists turn to medical news aggregators for practice-related content.
Marketers should ensure their blog, thought leadership, and related content is optimized for search engines to increase visibility in search results. This includes using relevant keywords, creating high-quality content, and ensuring websites utilize overall search engine optimization (SEO) best practices. Additionally, marketers should explore paid advertising options on popular news or news aggregator sites that also are optimized for search.
3. Keep promotional content brief and compelling
Most anesthesiology and pain medicine specialists (62%) claim they do not have enough time to read everything they want. They want concise, compelling content that quickly gets to the point as a result. Most are interested (38%) or very interested (39%) in an article summary authored by a thought leader that would highlight the main points of the article and discuss its applicability to practice as well, with 80% preferring text-based article abstracts.
These are important considerations as you plan your advertising campaigns. Specifically, they can help you determine the length of texts you should use in your materials and can guide you as you aim to reduce the verbiage in the text of your messaging. Be sure your promotional content is brief and easy to scan and understand quickly.
4. Include peer-reviewed research that substantiates your claims
When creating promotional content, be sure to include any relevant peer-reviewed research that supports your claims. Where possible, include clinical data citations that support your claims as well. In both cases, 44% of anesthesiology and pain medicine specialists believe supportive independent peer-reviewed research and clinical data citations adds credibility to those promotions.
Highlight this research prominently within your promotions so that anesthesiologists can easily find it and assess its credibility for themselves. Doing so will help anesthesiologists feel confident about the products and services you're promoting.
A strategic partnership can help
Anesthesiology and pain medicine specialists have unique preferences and needs when it comes to the content they trust, which means advertisers must tailor their ad campaigns accordingly. A strategic partner can help you identify resources that fit the mold in terms of their preferences. With the right resources and expertise at your disposal, you can create ad campaigns that anesthesiology and pain medicine specialists are more likely to find trustworthy — and that are ultimately successful.
Partner with Lippincott® HCP Access
The experts at Lippincott® HCP Access ensure your brand is delivering the right message, in the right format, at the right time. Contact an expert when you're ready for personalized advice on a successful anesthesiology content strategy.
*From February to June 2024, Wolters Kluwer conducted a survey of 1,333 healthcare practitioners across specialties examining their professional content usage habits and perceptions of industry sponsored messages. This article highlights data about anesthesiology and pain medicine specialists, which were part of that sample.