The importance of a healthy brand in recruitment campaigns.
For better or worse, branding is everywhere. Even certain people consider themselves “brands” these days. But when it comes to marketing, there’s no denying a strong, cohesive brand is of the utmost importance. And there’s obviously a role for this powerful tool when recruiting for clinical research studies – which are, at their core, branding exercises. So how do we approach this here at Praxis?
Know your audiences.
It goes without saying, but being aware of your target audience is everything when it comes to communications. It should come as no surprise, this is of critical importance when branding and executing a recruitment campaign for a clinical research study. For instance, you wouldn’t speak to adults with psoriasis the same way you would women dealing with breast cancer. And when recruiting pediatric patients, while the primary audience is their parents, communication tone and design should always take into account that you’re ultimately catering to children. While it seems like a no-brainer, continually calling back to whom your trying to reach is an important step in the overall process.
Site staff should be considered. Arming study teams with cohesive materials can empower them and give them greater purpose. It can also make their jobs easier, freeing them up to work with patients in a more intimate way.
Know the condition – inside and out.
Understanding the symptoms and prognosis of a specific disease must always play a role in the creation of communications for a recruitment campaign. But how those symptoms affect the person who has them is even more important. Being fully aware of what a patient is going through is something we focus on here at Praxis. To truly empathize with them – and to use their own language, thoughts, and feelings – is the way to really reach them, and will be most effective when trying to recruit them. We do this by first doing our homework. We use sophisticated programs and software to learn what patients are saying online about their conditions and lives, and then use this to inform our branding work.
Know the bigger picture.
Many times, we encounter recruitment campaigns that don’t exist as one-offs, but rather as a series of studies that are part of a larger program. Knowing this when beginning the branding process can make a huge difference. When developing a name for a study in series, for example, you might want to consider a naming system.
A series of studies also has ramifications that come into play when creating the overall design and concept for a single study. Is the concept amenable to a series? Are colors chosen with the next studies in mind? Being aware of the overall plan before tackling just one piece always makes a difference.
Know your purpose.
At the end of the day, when creating recruitment campaigns, we are offering a little bit of hope to patients who need it. Some may have nowhere else to turn. So making the experience as professional and cohesive as possible can reassure to them that they’re making the right decision to be part of research. Branding has the power to do this. Beyond just the engaging visual concept that first sparks interest in a study, carrying branding elements through all materials is necessary to create an overall experience and can even help with patient retention.
But this is all just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. There’s so much more that actually goes into the art and science of appealing to patients. Have a look at how we’ve done it for some clinical research studies. And if you want to know about the work we do at Praxis, get in touch.
