Elevating Healthcare Education: Key Insights from Successful CME Advertising Campaigns

Facing the challenge of standing out within a crowded marketplace within Continuing Medical Education (CME) advertising, a leading provider of CME classes sought to elevate its presence and boost sales directly through its website. With healthcare professionals (HCPs) bombarded by a myriad of choices from various institutions, capturing their attention is no small feat. The task was daunting; healthcare professionals (HCPs) have many options from multiple providers, making it hard for any single brand to capture their attention.

CME is crucial for maintaining high standards of medical care, allowing HCPs to stay informed about the latest research and trends. With the global CME market¹ expected to grow to $15.8 billion by 2031, the demand for quality ongoing education is apparent. However, HCPs often struggle to find time to identify the most relevant CME activities that fit their busy schedules.

Recognizing the need to differentiate themselves and improve their online presence, the CME provider partnered with Adfire Health. Their goal was to refine their marketing approach to better reach HCPs and increase direct sales through their website by making their offerings more accessible and appealing to their target audience.

Amid the fluctuating environment of CME providers, where trends and preferences are ever-changing, Adfire Health understood the critical need for flexibility. Adfire Health crafted a tailored strategy to expand the CME brand’s reach by continuously refining marketing efforts—adjusting bids, optimizing targeting efforts, and focusing on the specialties with the highest likelihood of conversion.

The plan was not just about broadening exposure but also deepening engagement and driving sales, demonstrating a comprehensive understanding of the ecosystem in which they operate. This proactive and insightful approach distinguishes Adfire Health in the competitive CME arena, positioning it to make meaningful contributions where it matters most.

Handcrafting HCP Audience

Adfire Health refined its approach by segmenting HCP audiences based on various criteria, including license type, specialty, prescribing behavior, demographics, and location, enabling the delivery of highly targeted marketing campaigns. Leveraging its proprietary database, Thumbprint^TM, along with advanced programmatic technology, Adfire Health pinpointed specific segments of HCPs such as Anesthesiologists, Cardiologists, Critical Care specialists, Family Medicine practitioners, Gastroenterologists, General Surgeons, Internal Medicine doctors, Neurologists, Pathologists, Psychiatrists, and Radiologists.

This strategic audience segmentation allowed Adfire Health to efficiently target media buys that resulted in high-quality impressions, significantly enhancing the visibility of the CME brand’s campaign. Through this focused approach, Adfire Health ensured that the CME brand’s message reached its intended audience effectively, maximizing campaign impact and driving engagement.

Optimizing Cross-Device & In-app Targeting on Different Browsers

Adfire Health’s strategy centered on leveraging comprehensive data analysis to enhance understanding of targeted HCPs’ behaviors, preferences, and the latest market trends. This foundation allowed for the meticulous planning and execution of campaigns that were not only relevant but also highly personalized. Specifically, the focus was optimizing advertising experiences across multiple devices—including desktops, smartphones, and tablets—to ensure seamless engagement with HCPs regardless of their preferred technology or platform.

Utilizing in-app placements, Adfire Health aimed to engage HCPs by embedding the CME brand’s message within the digital environments they frequent, capitalizing on their routine digital interactions. By aligning ad placements with the observed online behaviors and preferences of HCPs, Adfire Health significantly broadened the reach and impact of their campaigns.

Bidding on Preferred Channels

With over 14.3 billion HCP digital transactions across campaigns, Adfire Health understands HCPs’ digital footprints and that they like to spend more time on digital devices using their accounts and emails. Adfire Health prioritized bidding on high-converting targeting parameters, including supply vendors, time of day, day of the week, operating systems, device type, browser, location, ad size, and more criteria. Moreover, underperforming websites and apps were blocked to focus solely on HCPs’ preferred channels.

Maximizing Retargeting Efforts

Adfire Health aimed to keep the brand’s message resonant and compelling through retargeting, encouraging a deeper connection with the content and boosting the likelihood of meaningful engagement. By ensuring that the brand remained consistent in the digital spaces frequented by HCPs, Adfire Health’s strategy helped keep the brand at the forefront of their minds.

As a result of these efforts, the campaign effectively maintained visibility among highly interested and responsive segments across various online platforms. Whether it was delving deeper for more information, interacting with the campaign’s content, or proceeding to fill out a form, the strategy extended the reach of their advertising beyond the initial encounter, significantly increasing the chances of motivating HCPs to take further action.

Adfire Health’s marketing strategy was a game-changer. It attracted visitors and brought in the right HCP segments, leading to a significant uptick in sales. Zeroing in on the specialties known for high conversion rates, optimizing ads across various devices, and intensifying retargeting efforts marked a turning point. This wasn’t just a win; it was a landslide victory that impressed their client enough to quadruple the campaign budget.

Increased Reach by 289%

Adfire Health’s campaign reach soared from 282,391 unique devices to 1.14 million unique devices at a frequency of 2.58.

Reduced Cost Per Engagement by 57%

Adfire Health’s campaign reduced the brand’s cost per engagement from $7.71 to $4.89, allowing the brand to raise its budget fourfold.

Broadened Reach Leads to Sales Surge

The audience segments of Internal Medicine and Family Medicine led the way in sales, reaching an impressive total of approximately $1,100,000, whereas Radiology segments followed closely with sales amounting to $800,000.

At Adfire Health, we work with healthcare marketers to create optimized, highly effective, data-based digital engagement strategies. With Thumbprint™, our segmented data ecosystem of over 8.2 million healthcare professionals, we can offer direct access to healthcare professionals nationwide.

We bring our years of hands-on experience to every new campaign and work with you to get the best results possible. Contact us to learn more about what we can do for your business.