Boost Patient Enrollment By Being Present Online

Clinical research sites are constantly struggling with one of the most important aspects of a study – enrollment of patients. Meeting the target number of participants is the first condition that needs to be fulfilled in order to be able to start the trial.

Having an established online presence is one of the best tactics you can use to achieve your patient enrollment goals in a quick and easy way.

Introduction

The Importance of the Online Worldfor Patient Enrollment

- 86% of the population always skip TV ads;

- 44% of the time people never open direct mail;

- If in 2002, 41% of people 'read a newspaper yesterday', in 2012 this number is down to only 23%;

Nowadays, your best bet to find patients to enroll to your study is the Internet!

Best Ways to Appear Online

- Website;

- Social Media;

- Blogging;

- Advertisements;

ALL OF YOUR ONLINE EFFORTS ACCUMULATE AND ADD UP!

Having a Website

● One of the best ways to establish your clinical research site online is to create a website.

● When you're creating your website, your focus should be split between the patients and the sponsors/CROs. These 2 groups of people will be your biggest audiences.

● For patients:

- Current studies that enroll patients;

- Educational content;

- Benefits of participating;

- Online submission form;

- Directions for enrollment;

● For sponsors/ CROs:

- Site past experience;

- Staff experience;

- Therapeutic areas of expertise;

- CVs and bios of PIs;

● Additional info:

- Company details;

- Offers and services;

- Company news and updates;

- Events;

- Contact information;

Information to include on your website:

Having a Social Media Profile

Social media platforms allow you to create a profile of your clinical research site, and brand your site and current studies. This entails posting quality content, informational posts, sharing meaningful links, liking, tweeting, commenting on related contents, etc.

THE MAIN GOAL OF SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS IS INTERACTING AND COMMUNICATING WITH THE

AUDIENCE!

There are many social media platforms for you to choose to join, some of which are:

- Facebook- Twitter- LinkedIn- YouTube- Pinterest- … and many others

According to statistics, Facebook is still the number 1 social network today!

Having a Blog

How do blogs help with enrollment?

- Having a rich content;- Having a keyword/SEO content;

- Increasing the page numbers for indexing;

THE MAIN GOAL OF BLOGGING IS TO SUPPLY QUALITY CONTENT THAT THE READERS WILL SHARE ON THEIR OWN BLOGS AND

WEBSITES!

Blogging statistics:

- Blogging companies have 55% more visitors on their website than the ones who don't blog;

- Companies that blog more than 20 times per month have 5 times more website traffic than companies who blog less than 4 times a month;

- Most people will read somewhere between 5 to 10 blogs;

Always have keywords and SEO content

Write valuable and informational content

Borrow content from other blogs, but ask for permission

and give credit

Connect and link with other blogs

Try to always post pictures or videos with the content

Choose good topics to write about: education, updates, raising awareness,

tips or do's and don'ts, lists, etc.

Use guest bloggers if you need

Tips for a successful blogging

Online Advertisements

- The first step is determining your goals and focus; - Then secure your budget, at least $500 per study; - Next, you will have to find the perfect images;- And the final step - launch, test, evaluate, and optimize!

The 2 most popular ways to advertise your clinical research site and studies are

Facebook advertisements and Google AdWords.

Facebook Ads Tips

- Take into consideration your target audience;- Create different call-to-action messages that will be changed often;- Use an eye-catching image;- Add some colors to the ad;- Where possible, try to use friendly faces;- Put your text (about 4 words) on top of a picture;- The whole ad should grab the attention of the viewer;- $50 to $100 credits for account opening;

Google AdWords Tips

- Combine both Google AdWords that show on Google 'search' and Google AdWords that run on the Display Network;

- $50 or $100 credits for opening an account;- Keep observing and modifying;

Evaluating Your Website’s Success

In order to measure the productivity of your website, there are 3 main tools that can be used:

- a keyword checker, - a SEO web ranking software, and finally - Google Analytics;

Google Analytics is probably the most important tool you can use to evaluate and measure your website's success;

With the help of these three tools you can:

- Measure new or repeat visitors;

- Check SEO and keywords;

- Discover referral sources;

- Monitor the overall social impact;

- Find reports;

- Having a presence that's too small to make an impact;

- Not providing enough content;

- Absence of focus and goals;

Frequent Mistakes of Going Online

Remember that the more active you are online, the more success you'll get and the more patients you'll be able to enroll. A combination of a website, a social media profile, a blog, and placing online advertisements is the most brilliant strategy for the business development of your clinical research site. By doing this, meeting your enrollment target of patients is guaranteed!

Conclusion

The online world offers many options of promotion and advertising of studies, so

just with a little bit of creativity, your site can rise to the top!