Evolving Your Approach to Physician Engagement

By Paul Peterson

As the healthcare landscape transforms, physician outreach is evolving beyond traditional seasonal campaigns that target a short U.S. News hospital voting period. Today’s physician engagement requires diverse, continuous efforts across channels, tailored to meet physicians where they are and in formats that respect their time constraints and preferences. This shift from periodic campaigns to broader, ongoing outreach is pushing healthcare marketers to build more meaningful relationships with one of their most impactful, yet hardest-to-reach, audiences: physicians. To achieve this, it’s all about using a mix of channels and metrics to connect.

1. It Takes an Omni-Channel Approach

Like all audiences, physicians have varied preferences in how they consume information. Some prefer short, data-rich emails while others gravitate toward quick video insights or in-depth articles. Effective outreach now means meeting physicians on the channels they prefer, whether that’s through digital campaigns, social media or print publications.

For example, certain health systems have seen surprising success by maintaining a presence in print, an unexpected preference for many in the digital age. By blending digital outreach with traditional formats, they’ve crafted an integrated approach that extends their reach.

“Using diverse content formats helps keep messaging relevant and accessible across various specialties,” says Heidi Findlay, senior executive director of marketing and communications at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in New York. “There’s often a fine line between content that builds reputation and content that drives referral growth.”

2. Find Opportunities to Do More … With Less

For many organizations, physician engagement is an additional responsibility for internal marketing teams. The key to maximizing impact lies in doing more with less:

• Automate regular touchpoints. Technologies like automated emails and social media scheduling tools offer streamlined ways to maintain consistent outreach without overwhelming marketing resources.
• Collaborate across teams. Building relationships with other departments — such as clinical staff, research teams and administrative units — can amplify physician engagement efforts. Collaboration also allows sharing resources, like repurposing webinars as online content for wider physician audiences.
• Repurpose content. Instead of creating content from scratch, take a single article, interview or research piece and adapt it for different audiences.

Creating both patient-oriented and physician-focused articles from the same core content enables marketers to explore complementary angles tailored to each audience’s specific needs. For instance, a consumer article can highlight general patient benefits and explain key healthcare concepts in accessible terms, while the physician version delves into technical details and specialized care approaches. This cross-linking of content not only meets the expectations of increasingly sophisticated patients seeking specific expertise but also addresses the needs of providers who benefit from advanced topic discussions.

“We leverage a single package for outreach to new providers that includes a self-mailer, which also gets repurposed as a digital handout and social graphic,” says Erin McElwain, senior market development manager at the University of Kentucky. “This also gets used by our liaison teams and affiliate network to help generate provider information for their online profile.”

3. Consider a Variety of Metrics to Demonstrate Success

In physician engagement, no single metric captures success across the board. Each organization must define goals and benchmarks that align with its unique objectives. Also, setting up diverse metrics allows teams to capture a range of engagement indicators and evolve their strategies over time. A few recommended metrics:

• Website engagement. Track visits, time on key pages and bounce rates to gauge interest in specific content, such as clinical services, research updates or referral information.
• Referral tracking. Monitor the number and quality of physician referrals, noting any increases in referrals or drop-offs.
• Content resonance. Analyze which content types (e.g., short articles, video updates, in-depth reports) and topics (e.g., clinical advancements, research findings, patient outcomes) resonate most with physicians.
• Email performance. Evaluate open rates, click-through rates and conversions for physician-targeted emails, helping to identify which subjects are most effective.

Metrics are most meaningful when paired with feedback. Health systems often cite improved relationships, enhanced physician satisfaction and strengthened referrals as key outcomes.

“Listening to feedback from our college of medicine faculty and the referring physician audience led to strategic adjustments that made outreach more effective,” says Barbara Buesse, associate director of physician services and business development at Siteman Cancer Center in St. Louis. “Working together with our physicians, researchers and other clinical staff, we identified new opportunities to target physicians.”

4. Balance Compliance Concerns with Opportunities for Targeted Outreach

Balancing targeted outreach with privacy regulations is crucial. Segmenting audiences by specialty or interest enables highly relevant content that meets physicians’ needs while remaining compliant, such as:

• Specialty-focused research. Share articles, studies and findings directly relevant to each specialty, offering physicians insights into the latest research and developments specific to their fields.
• Latest relevant advancements. Highlight breakthroughs in treatment methods, technology and patient care tailored to each specialty. If the advancement was developed at your hospital, share a physician’s perspective or experience.
• Case studies and success stories. Share real-world examples and success stories from within the organization, tailored to each specialty.

Platforms like Doximity, LinkedIn and programmatic display advertising offer healthcare systems options to deliver personalized, specialty-focused content to physicians, enhancing engagement without compromising privacy.

Today’s landscape demands adaptable, creative approaches to physician outreach. By using a mix of content types and channels, measuring diverse metrics and balancing targeted engagement, healthcare systems can forge stronger, more impactful relationships with physicians.