Thinking about conducting communications research in 2016? Make sure you get it right with our summary of seven top tips to consider when commissioning research on communications and promotional materials:
1. What are we seeking to achieve with promotional materials? We have identified six key parameters that help ensure effective communication: these can be summarised using the simple acronym ‘IMPACT’. (We’d be happy to provide further details on request).
2. Could research be killing creativity? Alan Hedges’ seminal publication ‘Testing to Destruction’ highlights potential problems in researching communication materials (please let us know if you would like us to email you a PDF copy). We use a range of approaches, from qualitative workshop groups where HCPs role play the marketing team, to online ad testing where images are flashed up for a few seconds to capture that ‘blink’ moment, to ensure we enhance the creative process of developing powerful communication.
3. Are we using the right stimulus materials? Behavioural Economics tells us that how a message is expressed can be more important than its content – so it’s worth exploring whether a 10% reduction in mortality should be expressed as achieving 10% greater survival, or as the number of people across the UK who will enjoy a longer life. (Let us know if you would like a summary of key principles published by the Cabinet Office and we would be happy to provide this)
4. What should research outputs look like? We design research to clearly identify how best to maximise the effectiveness of communication by ranking the relative importance of different messages and highlighting the key areas for improvement.
5. Are we fully exploiting opportunities for tailored communication? With NLP highlighting the importance of different strokes for different folks, and iPads/ tablets making customised communication more deliverable, are we taking advantage of the opportunity to deliver different messages to different customers? (Contact us if you’d like a summary of the session we ran at the BHBIA summarising the outputs of 50+ segmentation projects).
6. Can research generate data to use as part of more effective communication? We have experience in many therapy areas of conducting surveys among both patients and health professionals to generate data that highlights the need buy isotretinoin Malaysia for new treatments which can be used to complement clinical trial data as part of a communications strategy.
7. Can your research agency work effectively with your communications agency? We see our role as supporting the communications agencies with whom we work closely. We are delighted with the number of communications agencies who recommend us to their clients as a research agency who works effectively alongside them to enhance the work they produce.
Please do contact any of the Synergy team if you would like to discuss how we can help support the development and optimal use of sales aids and other promotional materials in 2016 and beyond.
