If you are looking to market a medical product, you might think that a medical mailing list consisting of largely doctors and office managers is the best way forward. However, using a nurse list to add nursing staff to your direct mail could also work very well.
A Targeted Nurse List Connects You to Influencers of Clinical Decisions
Nurses have an influential role when it comes to patient treatment, with a study by Manhattan Research showing that of 800 nurses, 50% of those surveyed felt they had a direct bearing on the medical care a patient received. Gone are the days when doctors have overall say on patient care, as with multidisciplinary team working within healthcare, a range of healthcare professionals provide their input and with nurses having significantly more contact time with patients than physicians do, they are well placed to contribute to the decision-making process.
The opinion of advanced practice nurses, with their more specialist roles, is especially valued, with nurse prescribers also having the power to make decisions regarding which drugs a patient needs. However, this isn’t the only reason why you should have a nurse list for your direct marketing campaigns.
Nurses Guide Patient Choices
A piece of research published in the American Journal of Managed Care , that reviewed which health professionals are most influential when it comes to encouraging patients to continue with their medications, demonstrated that after pharmacists, it is nurses who patients are most likely to listen to.
Targeting drug information through nurse email lists can increase their awareness of the benefits of specific treatments, which nurses can then pass on to their patients by way of advising them to comply with medication regimens.
Use Your Nurse List to Promote Online Educational Resources
Although unregulated content on the internet can prove harmful if people search indiscriminately for medical advice, reputable advice, including that provided by companies offering medical products, is a valuable patient resource. Indeed, in a survey by MedTera, 95% of those receiving medical care would value more detailed resources and 84% would be happy to receive advice regarding online resources.
The Manhattan Research study also highlighted that nurses view the internet as having a positive influence with regards to patient care from the point that they can guide their patients to the most suitable sites and resources to help them to better understand their condition and its management. Nurses embrace the internet as an educational tool more than many physicians do, which is why adding a nurse list to your direct marketing campaign should be carefully considered. Adding nurses to your lists, and informing them of any patient educational sites is of benefit, as is gaining an understanding of which sites they send their patients to – for further marketing efforts.
However, nurses also value the internet for their own education, providing an easy way to keep up to date with recent advances in best practice, with knowledge of this essential for nurses to maintain their professional registration. Providers of online education can therefore tap into this through the creation of a targeted nurse list, to market their resources for continuing professional development.
The Value of a Targeted Nurse List
Those marketing other services outside of healthcare may even benefit from compiling a targeted nurse list to take advantage of these well-educated professionals and their spending power.