For marketers working for Medicare companies, to market physicians or other healthcare professionals with your message can be an incredibly daunting task. Everything from reaching the doctors to convincing them that your product is the right fit for their practice and their patients presents a challenge. How do you reach them? How do you convince them? And above all else, how do you market to them?
In business school, the first thing that aspiring marketing students are taught about best practices is to always, always follow the “4 P’s of Marketing”. Think of these as the golden rule of marketing practice – Product, Price, Place, and Promotion.
Marketing to Doctors and Healthcare Professionals
Today, we are going to use this tried and tested marketing tool to develop some strategies for marketers working for Medicare companies to improve their company’s marketing to doctors.
Product
While it may seem obvious, product knowledge is so important when it comes to marketing to doctors. While not all doctors are the same, it is safe to assume that when you market to physicians, they are going to want to know the facts and see the research that has been conducted on your product or service. It’s also important to keep in mind that doctors are some of the busiest people out there, so how you present these facts and this research matters. It needs to be clear, but concise, it needs to speak their language but also be accessible during a short pitch window. Perfecting your product knowledge and the materials that accompany your pitch are imperative when it comes to marketing to healthcare professionals. On another note, it may also be helpful to think of your marketing staff as part of the product: they need to trained, knowledgeable, and most importantly, able to build relationships and create opportunities to get in front of the right people (in this case, physicians) and communicate why they need to learn more about your company’s product or service.
Price (Value)
While from a marketing standpoint, the price of your product is always an important consideration, for the purpose of this article we are going to talk instead about the value your product or service can create for the doctors that you
are attempting to market to. 
Simply put, you need to be able to effectively answer the question of how your offering will create value in a doctor’s practice. Is it through increased efficiencies that will free up more time in the physicians schedule? Is it through a new medical innovation that will increase success rates and improve the health of patients? Or is it something else altogether? Whatever it may be, understanding the value propositions that your product or service has is key to a successful marketing pitch.
While it may sound repetitive, this next point is too important not to stress: doctors are experts in their field. A big component of selling to physicians is: 1) being able to convince them that there are more efficient or effective ways for them to do their jobs and 2) demonstrate that your product or service is the way to do it.
Place
One of the first questions that marketers looking to sell to physicians ask is “How?” – How do I reach them? How do I get in the door? How do I get just a second of their time? The truth is, there is no easy answer and it usually comes down to a combination of relationship building, perseverance, and a good amount of luck.
One thing that may be useful to understand is how doctor’s use technology in their practices. While they are absolutely up on the latest tech trends, privacy legislation actually prevents them from using e-mail or text in traditional ways. This makes communication especially difficult and it is something to consider when it comes to developing marketing campaigns targeted to healthcare professionals.
Another age old marketing adage is to meet your prospective customers where they already are. Getting involved with associations, events, conferences, charity functions, and other social opportunities where doctors will be present is a wonderful way to guarantee face time and start to build relationships that could lead to future partnerships or sales.
Promotion
As you can see, it is no simple task for marketers working for Medicare companies to market and sell their products to physicians. However, what if we told you that there is an approach marketing that could support your sales staff without relying on the tedious, arduous process of pounding the pavement and getting time to deliver the traditional “sales pitch”?
Lead generation is a method of marketing that generates a pool of qualified, interested prospective customers and delivers them directly to your marketing and sales team to convert into sales or partnerships. While it sounds too good to be true, it is in fact a viable (and increasingly popular) method for Medicare companies looking to boost their marketing success.
Simply put, lead generation campaigns use a premium of some sort (like a white paper, promotional item, or event invitation) to persuade doctors or healthcare professionals to complete a brief qualifying form. From then, all doctors in the right discipline, geographic region, or etc. are filtered out and further qualified to ensure there is a degree of interest in your company’s product or service. After that, your sales staff will be delivered a pool of interested, qualified physicians ready to be converted into customers.
While it may be a departure from the traditional “4P’s”, lead generation is an innovative and effective way to boost your company’s marketing success. Most importantly of all, it works!
