Audience Expansion: “Marketing” Your Publication Plan

By Michael Caso

Background and Objectives
The rationale and benefits of having a scientific platform and subsequent publication plan for a new drug entity are well established in the biopharmaceutical industry.  The ability to disseminate clinical concepts and research results to as wide an audience as possible has demonstrated significant value to biopharmaceutical organizations.   
It is true that we have successfully developed a comprehensive set of strategies and tactics designed to identify market gaps and key scientific communications, as well as research appropriate publication and presentation venues.  However, simply planning a publication placement does not maximize the value of that article.  Publishing the scientific data that our preclinical research and clinical development teams have worked hard to produce validates or disproves the original scientific hypothesis.  So why do we think that simply publishing the content is all that needs to happen?  Biopharmaceutical content dissemination needs to catch up with the approaches taken in other industries, proactively expanding the audience and digitally presenting key messages to reach a larger range of key targets through currently available electronic communication vehicles.

So yes, while the terms “marketing” and publication planning are not normally used in the same sentence, there are ways to accomplish a myriad of product objectives at pre-publication, publication launch and post-publication timeframes.

At Omni Healthcare Communications (Omni-HC) we believe all publications should:

• Identify opportunities to apply existing digital and social techniques to enhance the publication planning and expand the scientific dissemination through increased publication reach and post-review interactions, and
• Capitalize on proven and currently available social media techniques to optimize audience engagements.

Concept Overview
As stated previously, the development of a product’s scientific platform forms the foundation upon which all communications activities can be developed.  Key to the early awareness and long-term success of a product are the:

• Identification of key stakeholder targets, and
• Creation of strategies and tactics for educating and empowering targeted stakeholders.

Scientific Platform Stakeholder Expansion
The mission of a truly comprehensive scientific platform should be to Educate, Empower, and Engage all key stakeholders, including providers, payers and patients.  On the other hand, Medical Affairs teams don’t have as strong a relationship with all stakeholders that allows the ability to publish data once and all will see it, especially if published in a journal behind a pay access wall.  In the digital age, traditional publications and the underlying communication plan can be enhanced, not just by more publications, but also by using electronic means to enhance and disseminate key information.

Key Issues to Address  

• Does your platform identify needs for all stakeholders (e.g., providers, payers, patients)?
  • Is the scientific messaging aligned with the stakeholder needs?
    
• Publications for providers
  
  • What is scientific platform construction?
  • What are relevant and targeted publication planning strategies and tactics?
  • What are the state-of-the-art dissemination techniques?
  • How will publication results be measured?
• Publications for payers – When and where to publish, what do they look like?
  • Highlight publications to medical directors.
  • Publish HEOR and RWE in payer publications.
• Publications for patients – What, when and where to publish lay audience communications (e.g., plain language summaries)?
  • Publish to previous study participants.
  • Publish through advocacy groups.
  • Publish through social influencers.

Key Opportunities for Action
Pre-publication communications
Creating awareness of upcoming publications is a productive way to prepare targeted audiences for your soon-to-be-published manuscript.  Many journals are now providing services designed to alert subscriber targeted audiences to upcoming publications.  Specific opportunities are outlined on publisher websites and should be considered into the publication plan.

Enhancing awareness at publication
The use of social media tactics commonly used in reaching consumer audiences has now reached the medical communications industry.  A well-developed plan of action for a publication plan would include the following: 

• Developing a SEO optimization strategy to increase links to institutional sites.
• Creating email content to help authors publicize their article and encourage colleagues to link to the article.
• Circulating URL link to article.
• Adding link to recommended reading lists.
• Bookmarking and sharing article on reference manager sites.
• Creating press releases/informational bulletins to Key Opinion Leaders and Digital Opinion Leaders.
• Utilizing sites like “growkudos.com” allows authors to track, update, see downloads and create lay terms for their articles.

Post-publication follow-through
In the current medical communications environment, we are all being required to demonstrate value for the services we provide.  This is also the case for publication planning.  Simply submitting a publication to a journal is not sufficient.  What are potential opportunities to capitalize on manuscripts in print, as well as show an impact of our publication planning recommendations?        

• Set up systems to continue the education and empowerment path for the stakeholders.
  • Medical information Q&As — Standard Communications for Drug Surveillance Teams
  • Annotated bibliographies for field-based MSL Teams and designated speakers
  • Plain language summaries for patients
• Develop press releases targeted to author and investigator institutions for use in newsletters and websites.
  • Measure key performance indicators.
  • Measurement approaches can include:
    • The number of links to article from other web locations including centers of excellence, etc.
    • Mentions using Google Alerts
    • Using badges and bits of code to monitor and track real time access to gain metrics on the viewing and digital discussion of an article
  • Benchmark against other comparator articles
  • Aggregate information to identify patterns in audience awareness enabling strategic adjustment to improve awareness trends

Scientific publications have been the archive of scientific evidence for over a century. Within the scientific archive, it is estimated there are almost 50 million scientific papers have been published and the number of papers published each year is increasing.  Although simply publishing the data gives a reference point for future use, much like anything else, the more stakeholders are exposed to the data and message the better the scientific exchange. All these areas mentioned above help to broaden the audience for the scientific communication and increase the value of the effort to the company.  

At Omni-HC, we actively consider all the various ways that publications and other communications may be enhanced to generate the maximum value from the company effort.  We strive to not only efficiently develop communications for the various key audiences, but also to expand the audience for that communication and message.