5 clinical trial advertising tips you can act on before 2024

Tips for clinical trial advertising

Though there is less than a month remaining in 2023, there are still several things that can be done to improve an organization’s clinical trial marketing efforts before the end of the year. Not only will these tips help close the year out strong, but they can also set the stage for a more streamlined 2024 and beyond.

5 quick fixes for clinical trial digital advertising 

Optimize the budget for any Meta/Facebook ads

Successful digital marketing strategies are only built through consistent trial and error, but fortunately, Meta Ads Manager provides a valuable resource for anyone looking to test variables efficiently. A common mistake is testing for too many variables at one time, so as the year draws to a close, it can be a good opportunity to evaluate ad campaigns for this error.

Because each ad variation divides up a budget, having too many variations of ads running at one time can not only make reporting confusing, but can actually decrease the overall number of conversions. Meta’s delivery system is constantly learning and adapting to an audience’s preferences, but to do this, it needs enough data — they recommend at least 50 conversions per week for proper optimization. This is harder to do if the overall budget is spread out among multiple variations, making this a great time of year to dial back and optimize.

Get approved to run ads on Quora

Quora is a question-and-answer site with a community of over 300 million active monthly users, and Quora Ads can be a great addition to any clinical trial recruitment strategies. Ads on Quora are more text-based than other platforms, allowing for more chances to expand on a study’s benefits, and the nature of the website means that the ads shown are likely to be more contextually relevant than social media sites. Because Quora Ads are relatively new, it is still actively building out its platform, adding improvements and features for advertisers quite frequently. 

However, an important thing to note is that while Quora does allow ads for clinical trials, they do require explicit approval from the platform before ads can be approved. Doing this now is a great way to get a jump on 2024’s advertising strategies before the chaos of the holidays is in full swing.

Boost content with videos

Though individuals in many industries have been reluctant to emphasize video marketing efforts, the statistics show that this medium isn’t going anywhere. Consider the following video marketing data points from a recent Hubspot article:

  • The hours of online video viewing per week, per person, has nearly doubled since 2018
  • 96% of individuals watched an explainer video to learn more about a product, and 89% were swayed to make a purchase
  • 91% of individuals reported wanting to see more online videos from brands. 

Given these insights, if a clinical trial organization wants to increase engagement from potential patients, now is a good time to consider how to start swapping static images for videos in 2024.

Take advantage of free training

The world of digital marketing is always changing and individuals in charge of clinical trial outreach have to be proficient in a number of skills including analytics, digital media, and more. Fortunately, there are many free training platforms out there that can help professionals stay up-to-date, and if things are particularly quiet around this time of year, it can provide a good opportunity to set aside some workplace learning time. Some popular resources for this include:

  • Meta Blueprint: Gain extensive knowledge on 30+ specific topics, including campaign planning, ad analytics, and audience testing
  • Google Certifications: Become an expert at paid search, display advertising, mobile advertising, video advertising, and shop advertising
  • Hubspot Inbound Certification: Learn how to acquire new clinical trial patients by connecting your content marketing, social media marketing, and SEO

Implement dynamic keyword insertion (DKI)

Search engine marketing is one of the most powerful tools in the clinical trial digital advertising space. In fact, a Google study reported that one out of every 20 Google searches are for health-related information — meaning optimizing for the right keywords can provide a serious boost to traffic. For organizations already running paid search campaigns in Google Adwords or Bing, an easy way to improve them for the end of the year is to increase their relevancy by customizing the copy with dynamic keyword insertion (DKI).

As the name suggests, paid search ads with DKI will automatically insert a keyword from an ad group into a text ad when it matches a user’s search query, and this can be done in an ad’s headline, description, and/or URL using the ad’s syntax. For example, an ad with the following syntax in its headline:

{KeyWord: Dementia Clinical Trial} Enrolling Near You

Would become the following if a user searches for “early onset dementia clinical trial” (assuming that the phrase “Early Onset Dementia Clinical Trial” is within the Ad Group labeled “Dementia Clinical Trial”):

Early Onset Dementia Clinical Trial Enrolling Near You

When used properly, DKI can greatly increase an ad’s click-through rates, lower the cost per click, and save marketers time by automatically customizing ads for a large set of keywords. 

Looking for more ideas? Learn about how Antidote has helped CROs and pharmaceutical companies accelerate their research with the button below.