Although pharma and other health companies are venturing more into influencer marketing content collaborations, their teams and the agencies they work with often mistakenly approach these partnerships the same way they do with beauty, fashion and lifestyle influencers.
I’ve met and worked with hundreds of patient influencers, both as a healthcare influencer leader and as a former influencer myself. They are some of the most passionate, dedicated, creative, and selfless souls I’ve had the pleasure to know.
They’ve shared with me the struggles they face working with brands, and what they say might surprise you:
- They don’t feel respected by many pharma companies who ask to collaborate with them.
- They don’t feel they are being compensated properly.
- They want you to think beyond seeing them as a channel and your end goal of a sponsored post. They want you to ask for their input and truly hear their point-of-view.
- They want you to understand their role as advocates. These folks create content daily about their chronic illness/disease because they want to help others to have a bit less pain and suffering than they have had.
- Their goals are to educate about their condition, share resources, coping skills, and new treatment options.
- In their role, they answer so many questions and moderate online groups, so it’s important for them to have the latest information and they welcome hearing from you.
- They need you to see them before they will feel good about working with you.
Our guiding principles for working effectively with patient advocates:
- DO ask questions and build relationships. Be human and collaborative, rather than transactional.
- DON’T ask them to post your news release, share another patient’s story, or interview someone from your team. They are not journalists.
- DON’T allow an agency to make the first contact on your behalf. It can feel confusing and transactional to get a first outreach from an agency who they’ve likely never heard of before.
- DO send the first email. Show them you personally know about them and see them as a valued advocate. You’ll be more likely to get a response and help them feel recognized as a key stakeholder (which they are!). You can start the conversation and then pass off any tactical parts of a collaboration to your agency.
- Remember, they are patients (or caregivers) first. We need to engage with them with the same respect we would if we saw them in a medical setting. Being kind, patient and understanding when it comes to timelines that may be impacted by their health.
- Of course, pay people fairly for their time.
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