Megan Fabry
EVP, Digital Strategy, SOUND - MKG
Susan Abedi
Chief Strategy Officer, 81qd - MKG
As biopharma marketing grows more data-driven, these 3 targeting approaches—Bottom-Up (claims data), Top-Down (thought leaders), and Middle-Out (network influencers)—offer measurable gains in engagement, diagnosis rates, and ROI across therapeutic areas.
Rethinking The Playbook
Forget the old playbook—biopharma’s digital targeting has evolved. Physician target lists are no longer built solely on specialties, practice settings, and prescribing volume. Today, impactful health care professional (HCP) engagement demands precision-leveraging, data-driven strategies that go beyond the old shotgun approach. Securing HCP mind space is a battle, and the need for effective targeting analytics is more critical than ever to drive better outcomes in nonpersonal promotion (NPP)
strategies. The benefits are clear—higher impact connections between biopharma and the HCPs who influence patient care.
Through our analysis of over 100+ engagements across multiple therapeutic areas and commercial phases, we identified 3 core approaches to HCP targeting that have consistently driven results. One size does not fit all. Each of these approaches leverages different advanced data analytics to address different needs—from rare conditions to highly competitive markets.
The Bottom-Up Approach
The bottom-up approach applies artificial intelligence (AI)-driven predictive analytics to patient claims data to identify HCPs likely to be treating patients with a specific condition. Patient claims data offer deep insights into how patients are being treated and which HCPs are treating different patients.
These data are the foundation of predictive models used to identify HCPs who may be under the radar. This approach is especially useful in markets where the physician pool is small or fragmented.
Predictive analytics identify treaters of patients who can then be prioritized based on conditions they are likely to treat, specialty, proximity to treatment centers, and historical prescribing patterns—all available through interrogation of patient claims. The approach enables a granular understanding of who is most likely to be involved in treating patients, even in hard-to-diagnose conditions. Targeting these HCPs drives engagement on disease awareness content, which leads to more effective diagnosis.
Key Metric
Conversion rates—How often a contact leads to action or further engagement
Case Result
The condition was fraught with significant delays in diagnosis, with patients facing a “diagnostic odyssey” that included frequent misdiagnoses. This impacted patient outcomes and commercial potential of products developed to treat this condition. By leveraging AI-driven predictive analytics on patient-level claims data, our client successfully identified previously untapped HCPs treating undiagnosed patients and saw a significant increase in engagement and conversions. The company was able to improve targeting, leading to a 35% increase in diagnoses.
The Top-Down Approach
The top-down approach typically focuses on conditions for which treatment is restricted to specialized centers. The strategy centers around identifying key centers of excellence and/or thought leaders (TLs) who influence treatment decisions in these areas. By mapping out the HCPs working at these centers and those who refer patients to them, the approach ensures that biopharma companies are reaching the decision-makers who hold the greatest influence over patient treatment. Additionally, the top-down approach focuses on TLs who have a broader impact on shaping treatment paradigms through research, publications, and professional influence.
Key Metric
Open rates—The effectiveness of emails, digital content, or invitations to engage with TLs at key centers
Case Result
By leveraging a top-down approach, our client’s product achieved significantly higher engagement with key decision-makers in rare disease treatment settings. The open rate for their targeted digital communications was 20% higher than the benchmark, demonstrating the efficacy of focusing on center-based targeting.
The Start in the Middle Approach
In competitive markets, in which treatments are already established and providers may be resistant to change, the “start in the middle” approach is particularly effective. The strategy focuses on identifying Clinical Leaders, or Clinical Influencers, who play a key role in shaping the treatment decisions of their peers. These influencers are well connected and have significant sway over prescribing behavior within their networks. Using Clinical Leader network mapping, companies can identify HCPs with the most extensive networks and the greatest ability to influence others. This approach maps HCPs with the most shared patients, referrals, and collaborations, which allows biopharma companies to focus on those who can influence broader groups of peers and accelerate treatment adoption.
Key Metric
Treatment behavior change rates
Case Result
In the condition of interest, referrals were frequently delayed and impacted patient outcomes as well as eligibility for treatment. By using network and referral mapping, our client identified HCPs for a targeted referral-focused campaign, which shortened the average time for referrals to occur by 35%.
Identifying key Clinical Leaders who had influence over 75% of their target HCPs helped drive adoption of new treatments within established clinical settings. Thirty percent of market share within the clinical network can be attributed to Clinical Leaders’ influence.
Impact: Why It Works
Precision Targeting
Reduces wasted effort on broader, less relevant audiences and ensures that your message reaches the right people. This improves your chances of engagement and leads to better return on investment because you are not casting a wide, highly ineffective net
Personalized Messaging
Enables messaging that aligns with prescribing behavior and demographics of the HCPs, which will increase the relevance and impact of your testing content
Higher Engagement Rates
More relevant data drives higher open rates, click-through rates, and overall engagement, because customers are more interested in the content being shared
Better Metrics and Analytics
With a targeted list, you are able to track more precise performance metrics and analytics to quickly identify what works and what does not work, optimizing along the way
Defining the New NPP Playbook
As the health care landscape becomes more complex, traditional methods of targeting HCPs are no longer sufficient. By adopting these 3 core approaches—Bottom-Up (leveraging patient claims data), Top-Down (focusing on TLs and centers of excellence), and Start in the Middle (targeting clinical influencers
and network mapping)—biopharma companies can build more effective, data-driven NPP target lists.
Each approach has its own strengths and is suited to different types of therapeutic areas, treatment settings, and market conditions. When done correctly, these targeting analytics strategies ensure biopharma companies achieve improved conversion rates, higher engagement, and ultimately, behavior change—and define the new playbook for success.
READY TO ACTIVATE SMARTER HCP TARGETING?
81qd and SOUND can help you explore how these models could power your brand strategy and convert insights into action.