Three winning advertising strategies when engaging OB-GYNs

The professional content consumption habits of Obstetrician-Gynecologists (OB-GYNs) are changing. Like other physicians, most OB-GYNs (83.7%) claim they do not have enough time to read all the professional content they want. But as a result, OB-GYNs have their own unique habits that distinguish them from other physicians—habits advertisers must understand if they hope to engage OB-GFYNs effectively.

Lippincott surveyed more than 1,000 physicians from October 2021 to January 2022, with key findings about OB-GYNs that can inform advertisers about reaching this audience. In this article, we explore how advertisers can use these new habits for more meaningful and profitable engagements with OB-GYNs.

How should you adapt your advertising strategy?

OB-GYNs are widely influenced by professional content in their field. This applies to peer-reviewed content, CME/CE content, review articles, educational content, and clinical opinions, where each type of content influences their understanding of treatment options and patient outcomes to a greater degree than all physicians in sum.

Without a doubt, these are excellent channels for advertisers hoping to reach all physicians, including OB-GYNs. But OB-GYNs also have stand-out content consumption habits worth noting as. Here are three recommendations for advertisers based on the content consumption habits unique to OB-GYNs.

1. Prioritize society websites for OB-GYN promotions

During the height of the pandemic, many physicians had taken up informal sources, such as social media, to understand rapidly changing conditions in their fields. Now, all physicians—including OB-GYNs—have a renewed trust in peer-reviewed content. It’s OB-GYNs’ preference for medical society and association literature that makes them stand out.
For example, most OB-GYNs (56.8%) use society websites as trusted medical sources. This contrasts with all physicians in sum, where only 34.2% use society websites as trusted medical sources. OB-GYNs also rank society content high in terms of its influence on treatment options and patient outcomes. Specifically, most OB-GYNs consider medical society and association literature either their first (8.1%), second (17.2%), or third (28.7%) most influential content type among seven available options in the study.

For advertisers, OB-GYNs’ high use of and trust in society websites represents an opportunity. OB-GYN online promotions placed on these sites are likely to reach OB-GYNs more directly and have more impact than OB-GYN-targeted promotions placed elsewhere.

2. Choose abbreviated thought leadership content, including text and video

As mentioned, most OB-GYNs do not have enough time to read everything they want. (Most also claim articles are too long to understand the main points [51.2%].) Among only these OB-GYNs, 76% have some level of interest in article summaries authored by a thought leader—those that would highlight the main points of a journal article and discuss the applicability of its key points.

Their appeal for this type of abbreviated content isn’t restricted to text alone. Although most OB-GYNs in this group would prefer text-based summaries of this kind (82.81%), nearly one-third are also open to video (31.25%) and podcast (29.69%) summaries of this kind, in each case.

These preferences represent opportunities for advertisers seeking to reach OB-GYNs with both static and multimedia promotions and product placements. OB-GYNs are especially interested in content that is timely, relevant to their practice, and easy to consume—all characteristics that make for effective OB-GYN promotions in these formats.

3. Align with credible content related to your value proposition

OB-GYNs are more likely to perceive value propositions in promotions as influential if they are adjacent to relevant content they find credible. Roughly one-third of OB-GYNs (32.6%) believe an industry-sponsored message next to a relevant article adds credibility, compared to 23.3% of all physicians in sum.

Although this type of strategic alignment is common among advertisers, this heightened appeal among OB-GYNs suggests such placements have a greater chance of calling OB-GYNs to action. But advertisers also should prioritize credible content within their promotions themselves: OB-GYNs are more likely than all physicians in sum to believe peer-reviewed research in advertisements adds to their credibility—64% versus 61%, respectively.

Evolve your promotions with the habits of OB-GYNs

As the content consumption habits of OB-GYNs evolve, so too should your methods for developing and delivering promotional content. One of the key findings from our research: "Off-the-shelf solutions or generalized market understanding do not account for variance among [physician] specialties." Following these tips will help you create OB-GYN promotions that are more effective and engaging, with better results.

Navigate the new content landscape with Lippincott

Physicians' content consumption habits are as difficult to anticipate as the medical priorities these professionals face every day. When you’re ready for more personalized advice on building a successful content strategy, trust the experts at Lippincott to help.