Advanced analytics, AI and the healthcare agency of the future

Advertising agencies are embracing digital innovation to be better positioned to drive results and become key partners to their clients in healthcare and life sciences. Using innovation effectively, these agencies have the potential to create more human-centered marketing experiences for healthcare providers (HCPs) and consumers. In turn, this enables their clients to deliver health outcomes and improve patient lives. 

Ad agencies understand the need to keep pace with tech innovations that allow them to better meet — and even anticipate — the needs of their audiences to drive better treatment decisions. In a recent survey, when asked which trend ad agency professionals believe will most shape the next decade of digital advertising, eight out of 10 said artificial intelligence. For comparison, the next-most cited trend — influencers/creators — was the most important for only 4%. Three-quarters of agency leaders say they plan to increase investment in AI tools in the next 12 months. 

Yet many AI projects fall short of expectations. Across industries, Gartner estimates that, at minimum, 30% of generative AI projects will be abandoned after proof of concept by the year’s end for such reasons as poor data quality and unclear business value.

Marketers deliver more engaging experiences to their HCP and consumer audiences when they serve the most relevant information in a timely manner via the recipients’ preferred channels. Rapidly evolving AI technologies promise to deliver more “humanized” digital marketing experiences. However, this promise critically depends on a foundation of high quality privacy-optimized data applied across all stages of the ad lifecycle:

Strategic marketing planning: Brand, competitive and industry insights are essential to inform campaign strategies, including audience profiling and messaging. For example, understanding a brand’s source of business dynamics can help shape messaging strategy, such as emphasizing the mode of action or dosing schedule, if it’s a key differentiator. 

The datasets agencies use, from pitching new business through developing campaign strategies, should, as much as possible, be consistent with data familiar to clients. This ensures that marketing strategies and their execution are underpinned by rich and connected insights that are specific to the brand and its therapeutic context. Furthermore, data consistency means marketing activities are informed by the same insights that pharma clients rely on for forecasting, field strategy, and ultimately, commercial analytics (including omnichannel measurement).

Audience planning and segmenting: Similarly, when agencies build audiences for digital activation, the best approach is to start with the same definitions, and if possible, the HCP target lists that pharma clients are using. The more aligned the targeting strategies between digital and field work (where the strong relationships with HCPs lie), the more effective the marketing and messaging. Furthermore, agencies can harness the power of advanced and behavioral insights to expand beyond target lists to include hard-to-reach or previously unseen HCPs.

Traditional clinical datasets, which include prescription and diagnostic data, can  be extremely helpful in revealing where an HCP is in their brand journey — e.g., awareness, retention or advocacy. This information historically has helped marketers decide how to engage HCPs. 

Marketers can and should think beyond the physician to consider all healthcare stakeholders potentially involved along the patient journey. There is often a  full care team involved in treatment decisions. In the field of oncology, for example, nurse practitioners (NPs) and physicians’ assistants (PAs) play an essential role, including prescribing responsibilities. Forty-four percent of NPs and PAs are authorized to prescribe chemotherapy, while 98% can prescribe intravenous and oral medications. Furthermore, the NP workforce is projected to grow by more than 40% over the next decade, and with some brands now including up to 50% NPs and PAs on their target lists, it’s clear these clinicians are central to the patient journey.

On the consumer side, when modeling audiences, it’s critical to balance the need for audience quality with privacy safeguards. Agencies should expect assurance from audience partners regarding data sources, modeling methods and responsible use. 

Activation: Opportunities can be fleeting — especially as audiences move fluidly across digital channels. Consider how people interact with digital channels throughout the day — from display and social to CTV, audio and even mobile gaming. The most effectively executed campaigns adapt journeys based on behavior (and perhaps even predicted behavior) to meet audiences where they are, iterate and optimize. Successful execution of omnichannel activation depends on incorporating channel-level response data. 

For example, an HCP researching a competitor presents a timely marketing opportunity. Let’s say this initiates the deployment of an email emphasizing the competitive differentiators of a client’s brand. If the email goes unopened, a social media ad could be automatically served to the HCP soon after to ensure the message reaches the HCP wherever they are engaging.

Uncovering HCP intent: Why behavioral data matters

In rare disease and oncology, where treating HCPs can be fewer and harder-to-find, traditional datasets often fall short. Demographic or reference datasets (e.g., place of work) and clinical data (lab results, diagnoses, etc.) can be sufficient targeting tools in larger and well-understood therapy areas. However, in more niche categories, agencies need to harness the power of deeper, connected customer insights like digital behavior, content affinity and channel preference to deliver a more holistic view of the HCP.

For example, knowing a provider is researching topics related to a rare disease provides a strong signal they will be receptive to information about that condition or relevant treatment options.

Role of advanced analytics and AI

With a strong data foundation, advanced analytics and technology to capture real-world insights and predictive intelligence, marketers can deliver more seamless, human-like experiences — while creating efficiencies.

AI plays a critical role in real-time journey optimization — learning from immediate campaign insights, channel-level metrics and clinical outcomes — among other KPIs. An agile AI program automatically determines the “next best” channel or message for the audience without the need for time-consuming and complex analytics that would otherwise encumber marketers’ ability to personalize marketing experiences at scale.

The future success of healthcare marketing is predictive and humanized

The most successful agencies will be those that figure out how to turn this data-driven vision into reality. Robust, responsible data-driven digital transformations in healthcare and life sciences marketing promise a predictive, humanized healthcare marketing future that transforms patient lives and delivers health outcomes via seamless delivery of information.

This is a future that excites agencies, pharma, HCPs, and most importantly, patients and caregivers. With the right strategies and connections across the data, technology, partnership and process foundations, we can apply innovation to the need for human-centered digital experiences and elevate health outcomes across the industry.