Omni Know-How: Think small.

The big idea* alone is not enough.
Traditional agencies are in love with “the big idea.” They compete on who can create the better, bigger idea. They win creative awards for them and hire the staff to create them. They exist to provide big ideas to their clients. But big ideas can be blunt. In reality, the content that will make a difference to HCPs needs precision and depth—it’s down in the details of the data, engagement strategy, and execution.

What has changed?
Doctors have an overwhelming journey every day—60% of their time is non–patient facing1 and is filled with practice management and staff administration. They’re often just trying to keep up with their schedules and to-do lists instead of actually practicing medicine. When they are treating patients, they are inundated with changing guidelines, referrals, specialty medicines, and more. The average PCP visit is scheduled for 30 minutes. The average time on EHR? 36 minutes. 2 No big idea is going solve that math. Typical agencies wind up overshooting during planning and struggle to relieve the burden HCPs routinely face—a growing amount of information without the time and tools to process it all.

So how can brands make an impact—how can they be relevant to HCPs?
There is nothing wrong with thinking small. When we all start our day, pour some milk in our coffee, and fire up the laptop, we don’t ask ourselves, “What big idea can I uncover today?” Instead, we look to try and tie up yesterday’s loose ends, get to some unanswered questions, find the necessary information we lack, make some decisions, and try to get ahead of the day. HCPs are no different. They don’t need a big idea—they need access to deeper, more nuanced, timely, and relevant content. Unfortunately, they aren’t going to tell us exactly when, where, and what they need—they may not even know themselves. That’s why it’s every marketer’s job to know the HCP better than they know themselves. To do that, brand directors need to see hidden and disparate data pulled into one clear view, revealing who is reachable by specialty, region, NPI, KOL connections, and consumption habits. They need to easily track who has previously engaged, with what content, and in what channel. This is predictive analytics at work, uncovering exactly where and how to win each doctor. Next-generation marketing companies will provide that granular, hidden view—making the invisible visible—helping brand directors elucidate every nook and cranny of their audience’s needs. They will help see through the static and focus on the small signals, placing creative content at the precise moment and place needed with operationalized solutions that are ready to field.

Any marketer, on any brand, should ask these questions of their marketing partner: 1. Can you see the discrete, behavioral events I can’t? 2. Can you use that to place relevant content, at the right time, to the right HCP? That is thinking small to win big. *No big ideas were hurt in the writing of this piece—we love them too! :)

1Barnett J. Administrative tasks take up more time than patient care for many PCPs. https://peoria.medicine.uic.edu/administrative-tasks-take-up-more-time-than-patient-care-for-many-pcps/ 2 Berg S. Primary care visits run a half hour. Time on the EHR? 36 minutes. https://www.ama-assn.org/practicemanagement/digital/primary-care-visits-run-half-hour-time-ehr-36-minutes