Recruitment: Get bang for buck by tracking returns
Social Web sites opening new doors
Advertising for recruiting subjects to clinical trials used to be easy, if expensive. All a site had to do was buy ad space in a major daily newspaper or regional magazine or fund multiple radio spots, and the task was done.
It doesn't work quite so simply anymore. Big print media outlets are losing readers, and alternative sources are numerous and a little daunting to understand. But on the positive side, clinical research (CR) sites can save money and gain a bigger return for their investment with a little extra work collecting data and tracking results.
"The most heavily used advertising strategy involves print newspapers and magazines," says Christopher Novak, MS, LCPC, NCC, director of the Center for Psychiatric Research at Alexian Brothers Behavioral Health Hospital in Hoffman Estates, IL. Novak speaks about recruitment advertising strategies at national conferences, including MAGI's 2009 Clinical Research Conference West, held Oct. 4-7, 2009, in San Diego, CA.
"With the economy and what's going on with electronic mediums, we're seeing decreasing readership of all kinds in print," Novak says. "We've seen a decline in potential subjects' response from our newspaper and magazine advertising."
So Novak looked at other options, including buying ads in niche publications and placing electronic ads on Facebook. The results have been promising with recruitment costs as low as $100 per enrolled participant.
Here is a brief look at the research site's advertising strategies:
• Buy space in specialty publications: "With specialty niche magazines we've seen a really good return, and the cost of advertising is cheaper," Novak says.
For example, when researchers were recruiting for a clinical trial about pediatric autism, the site bought ads in a regional parents magazine, he says.
"A lot of times those magazines carry a lot more credibility, and the ad cost can be less expensive," he explains.
• Track results to monitor a particular advertising medium's returns: The Center for Psychiatric Research tracks its overall responses to any advertising campaign. So if the center has purchased 20 spots on a local radio station, then the time of the radio ads is noted and compared with phone calls from potential subjects. A morning ad that coincides with commuting traffic might bring in 10 phone calls. Of these calls, two people might end up being randomized to the clinical trial, Novak says.
Those numbers are used to come up with a cost per enrolled subject, and then this data can be presented to sponsors in requests for more advertising dollars, he adds.
"We select our radio stations based on our data," Novak says.
For instance, they might select a radio station based on its ads resulting in more enrolled subjects.
"When we recruit for schizophrenia, we go to news radio on the AM stations," Novak says. "If we're looking for a different population, say for a geriatric depression study, we'll probably look more toward stations on FM or Easy Listening or Oldie stations."
Whenever a particular ad venue works for a population, it probably will work again for a study that targets the same population, he notes.
"The beauty of tracking these data is this becomes great evidenced-based practices to go back and look at," Novak says. "We say to sponsors, 'Here's the response we got from the initial $5,000 you gave us, and this is what we need so we can go forward.'"
• Place ads on social-networking sites online: Clinical trial sites could purchase inexpensive ads on Facebook, Craig's List, and using Google ad word buys, Novak suggests.
"I think we'll see more and more usage of social networks, especially Facebook," he says. "The beauty of Facebook and with Google ad words is you can control your destiny as far as how much money you want to spend."
These types of ads are called paper-click marketing campaigns. It means CR sites define how much money they're willing to spend for every click someone does on the ad. The more they're willing to spend, the more frequently their ad will come up, Novak explains.
"Facebook has some intelligent technology," he says. "There are a variety of groups and fan pages people join that are of interest to them, and we can target those pages."
For example, if a CR site is recruiting for a study about bipolar disorder, then it can advertise on Facebook's bipolar support group page.
Also, many Internet sites permit advertisers to target a specific geographic area, so their ad money isn't wasted on populations far outside their recruitment reach, Novak says.
"The technology within Facebook allows your ad to be a pop-up ad on the pages of people who have interest in this topic," Novak says. "Then you know how many clicks you've gotten, and you can track the data to find out how many of these turned into phone calls and pre-screened subjects."
Another advantage is that CR sites can test Internet ads with a relatively small amount of ad money, he adds.
"On our first campaign using the Internet, we spent $200 to see what it would do," Novak says. "We got 200 clicks in the first couple of days, and we got two patients brought into the study out of it."
It's a fairly easy and immediate way to respond to an ad from a potential subject's perspective, as well.
"They see our ad in the right-hand corner; they click on it, and it gives them contact information," Novak says.
• Use direct mail selectively: "We've found direct mail to be very successful for depression studies," Novak says. "This population is always looking for other opportunities and support."
Direct mail has an advantage over radio ads because it is the type of advertisement someone can put on a dresser until they have a chance to discuss it with family members. With radio ads, a person has to find a phone and call instantly or else they'll forget the phone number, he notes.
People with behavioral health issues have to opt-in to have their contact information and health concern available for distribution. But if they have opted in then CR sites can purchase this information for direct mailings, Novak says.
"We're a very large practice, but we can't just take the hospital's list of patients and send everyone a letter," Novak says. "People have to fill out a card that says they're interested in learning more about clinical trials."
• Assess benefits of other options: Other possible Internet advertising sites might include MySpace and Twitter.
Also, some sites might find it worthwhile to advertise on newsletters or other venues run by local support groups and advocacy associations, Novak says.
"If we're running an anxiety study, we'll contact a local support group for depression and anxiety and buy a banner ad to run on their newsletter or on their group's Web page," he says. "We've had mixed results with these because they tend to not have as good a return as we would have expected, but the cost tends to be pretty low."
These sorts of ads could be used just to increase awareness of a CR site, however.
"You need ongoing awareness, ambient marketing, raising brand awareness, and helping people connect your center or organization with what you do," Novak says.
Another option that has worked well is transportation advertisements, he adds.
"We do a lot of bus and rail advertising because we have a huge commuter population here," Novak says. "We can get these ads for less than $5,000, and they stay up for a month or longer."
The response from these ads has been tremendous, he adds.
"The problem is it reaches the general population, so you do get a fair amount of people who call but who don't have what you're looking for, and maybe they just want to talk with someone," Novak says.
Advertising for recruiting subjects to clinical trials used to be easy, if expensive. All a site had to do was buy ad space in a major daily newspaper or regional magazine or fund multiple radio spots, and the task was done.You have reached your article limit for the month. Subscribe now to access this article plus other member-only content.
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