Top 5 Tips For Developing Successful Physician-Facing Marketing Campaigns

We analyzed over 150,000 messages from featured physicians to referring providers and distributed over 700 Sponsored Stories to physicians on Doximity.

Here’s what we found.

As the largest network of physicians in the country, we, at Doximity, understand the provider community and have perfected the art of physician communication. Through sophisticated targeting, personalized messaging and content creation, we have helped hospitals discover and connect with over 150,000 referring physicians through one of our solutions, Colleague Connect, and the shared over 700 Sponsored Stories to our network of over one million physicians.

Here’s what hospital marketers can learn from our analysis of our messaging over the past few years:

Think mobile first: Our savvy data team has learned that physicians actually love their mobile devices. Physicians are busy and tend to catch up on news and messages on their Apple or Android devices, more than their desktop computers. With this in mind, we see that succinct and approachable messages resonate best with the physician community. Be sure to include the physician’s mobile number or backline - other physicians are respectful of it and appreciate time saved from navigating your call center.
Keep it personal: While we all know there’s much to share about the accomplishments of your featured physicians, physicians respond best to messages relayed in a casual and personal tone. Think of it this way: while we know that the marketing department is heavily involved in message crafting, the tone should be similar to two doctors chatting over coffee after grand rounds. Referring providers want to learn more about what your featured physician is working on and what sets them, and your brand, apart!
See you at the meeting!: Many of your featured physicians attend annual conferences for their respective specialties where they rub elbows with colleagues and leaders in their fields. Leverage this opportunity by reaching out with direct messages expressing interest to connect in person and keeping in touch with Colleague Connect messages. Something like, “I’d love to meet up at the conference, if we can’t connect there please connect with me on Doximity.” This results in both a thoughtful introduction, a possibility in-person meeting and a potential referring relationship in the future. Win-win!
Leverage your featured physician’s alumni network: If your featured physician is a Johns Hopkins alum, reach out to fellow Hopkins alumni to say, “Hello!” Physicians love to connect with folks when they have a common bond. Have a neurosurgeon who speaks Spanish? Try connecting with neurologists in your area who also speak Spanish.
Share institutional and clinical highlights: Whether through direct messaging or distributing news and clinical stories from your institution, we encourage you to keep in mind that physicians relate best to clinical and relevant content. It’s hard to always keep up on new procedures, research, institutional changes, etc, so physicians tend to spend their free time trying to catch up on news relevant to their clinical interests.

Turns out Apple loves Doximity, too! Apple lists Doximity a top healthcare app for healthcare professionals.