It may seem like an uphill battle. How could a patient change the way a physician prescribes? Believe me, I’ve heard it many times before. “We don’t focus on patients,” and “Our only real target is physicians – patients don’t matter.” Really? That sounds like a great strategy – for 1997. Let’s keep up with the times, people. Consumers are hungry for information. It doesn’t matter what the category. My dad used to choose whatever the local mechanic recommended, but now he won’t even buy a new headlight without searching ratings, reviews, and shopping engines. People want to be fully informed before making a decision. Show me the CARFAX!

So why would we think healthcare is any different? People want to make the right decision when it comes to health and safety, and they will do the research. So why fight it? It isn’t hard to give people what they want. It doesn’t require a multi-million dollar ad campaign. You just have to be there when they are looking for you (even if they don’t know they are looking for you).

1-800-flowers can run commercials all day long and I may never feel the need to order flowers. However, a search ad is very likely to get my attention when it appears for the term “same day flower delivery” on October 7th (my Mom’s birthday). This is exactly how it works in pharma. Consumers develop symptoms/are diagnosed/need a refill and immediately start searching. These are the opportunities you must pounce on. They are looking for you. They want your help.

Encourage them to seek diagnosis. Prompt them to ask questions. Help them save money.

If you don’t, your competitor will. I have a great case study, but first something I stumbled upon while writing this post. I asked a coworker to pick a random disease and then I started searching. “how can I stay awake?” “narcolepsy treatment.” “ghb coupon.”All roads should have led to Xyrem. But they didn’t. They led to Nuvigil. Even a search for “xyrem coupon” led me to Nuvigil. The icing on the cake – Xyrem.com won an eHealthcare Leadership Award in 2008 for “best website.” People want to be empowered, and they will use the tools you make for them. But only if they can find them…having a great site does nothing for you if people can’t find it!

Let’s get back to my original question. Can patients influence prescribing habits? Well, I work with a smaller brand in a marketplace dominated by several blockbuster drugs. This smaller brand can’t afford a big consumer campaign, but they do make sure they reach the right people at the right time. Year after year they continue to prove that smart paid and organic search campaigns get results. Results that are driven by patient requests. Patient requests for a brand that those patients had never heard of before they started searching.

This brand dominates natural search, continually being the only brand on the first page for key disease-state terms. This natural search presence plus a strategic paid search campaign has resulted in highly qualified patient traffic that continues to increase every year. More than 20% of their traffic in 2009 printed a coupon and 30% of those prints were redeemed. Need more proof? The brand did a 3rd party study and found this interesting stat:

In 2009, 10% of their prescriptions were driven by patient requests.

Not bad for the annual cost of a handful of sales reps.