Pharmaceutical advertising is a critical part of the information landscape for today’s healthcare providers (HCPs). According to a study conducted by MAGNA Media Trials and DeepIntent, 92% of doctors say pharma ads increase awareness and drive meaningful conversations with their patients. This receptivity presents a major opportunity for healthcare brands to deepen their impact, and one of the best ways to do that is through a thoughtfully structured story.
That’s where sequential messaging comes in.
Why One-Off Ads Aren’t Enough
HCPs are busy, and they absorb information in bursts. A single banner or video ad can raise awareness, but sometimes, more context is needed to spark behavior change.
Sequential messaging solves this by guiding HCPs through a multi-stage narrative, gradually building understanding and urgency and ultimately prompting action. This approach is especially useful when launching new therapies, educating around disease states, or reinforcing treatment pathways.
How Sequential Messaging Works
In practice, sequential messaging delivers a series of creative assets to the same HCPs, advancing them through messaging tiers based on their engagement. For example:
- Introductory creatives may raise disease awareness with statistics, symptoms, and patient impact.
- Follow-up ads build on that foundation, introducing a therapeutic solution with more detail.
- Final messages drive to action, such as visiting a product website.
Campaign managers set their own rules to move HCPs from one message to the next, such as completing a video or clicking a display ad. This creates a dynamic, personalized journey that evolves based on how HCPs interact with your brand.
Benefits Beyond Storytelling
Integrating sequential messaging into your strategy is about more than just narrative. It’s a powerful means of campaign optimization. You can:
- Engage high-value HCPs. Focus investment on those who respond, tailoring the next message based on behavior.
- See progression in action. Track how many HCPs advance through each messaging stage.
- Control with precision. Decide for yourself what counts as “engaged”—for instance, perhaps a user must complete a video twice before seeing the next message in the sequence.
- Adapt mid-flight. Adjust messaging thresholds, sequencing, and creatives while the campaign is live.
Integrated and Flexible
Sequential messaging is now fully available for HCP and patient campaigns through DeepIntent. It integrates directly with the campaign creation flow, with seamless activation and at no additional cost.
It works across formats and channels, like video, display, and audio. Want to know which creative or sequence drives the most engagement or conversions? Marketers have the flexibility to test different combinations, as well as the data to learn, optimize, and improve outcomes continuously. Because sequential messaging works within the DeepIntent tools marketers already use, it’s easy to test and scale based on what drives results.
By guiding HCPs through a thoughtful messaging journey, you can add depth and direction to your campaigns. Sequential messaging encourages marketers to think beyond individual impressions and toward the broader HCP journey—what a message means in context, how it builds on what came before, and where it leads next.
Interested in learning more about driving scaled HCP campaigns? Click here.