Media outreach is a great tool to connect large groups of potential participants to actively enrolling studies. No matter how broad the outreach or how innovative the execution, to find enrollment success, outreach strategies must connect with the personal healthcare journey of each participant, explains Tyler Bye, Director of Site Solutions and Product Strategy at WCG.
Just as important, strategies must always align to study timelines. If time isn’t a consideration, any recruitment strategy can meet its goals. “But we often don’t have infinite timelines, so we must determine the end goal and work backward through the timeline.”
Building the Participant Profile
Any successful outreach strategy begins with the participant, with the participant profile being the foundation of any successful recruitment campaign. Bye recommends using the classic “5Ws” to build that profile:
- Who are we recruiting? Who do we want to bring into the study?
- What is going to make that individual—and their family and caregivers—say “yes?”
- Where are potential participants most likely to learn about the study? Where can we intersect with their lives to bring that study opportunity to them?
- When do they need treatment? At what stage are they in their disease progression?
- Why would an individual want to participate? What’s their motivation?
Once you understand the participants, it becomes easier to connect their healthcare journey to a study opportunity.
The Power of Media Outreach
Advertising isn’t always necessary when recruiting participants, and it does have its limits.
Historically, media has been centralized, with the sponsor/CRO or vendor running one effort that supports all sites. However, some sites will have their own local budgets and run their own campaigns to support recruitment.
Sponsors/CROs can better support their study sites and participants by coordinating these efforts. A unified approach can include driving potential participants to a centralized website or call center to ensure consistent screening. “I would like us as an industry to think about centrally managed, but locally deployed campaigns.”
Successful Media Outreach is Focused and Nimble
No matter how flashy the ad campaign is, it will not be successful unless it includes the following:
- Specific to the protocol: Effective outreach isn’t just about broadcasting—it’s about targeted, relevant messaging.
- Active and iterative: “Set it and forget it” is not a strategy. Active management requires regular assessments to ensure the right subjects move through the funnel. Measuring impact requires clear insights into the participant pathway, includes impressions/clicks vs. referrals/enrollments and feedback on site activity.
Today, there are almost unlimited ways to reach potential participants. Each tactic comes with its own audience reach and cost-per-acquisition. Because of this variation, knowing how potential participants navigate these channels is essential. Never forget who is being engaged.
Understanding the Recruitment Funnel
The funnel metaphor illustrates the recruitment journey.
- Top: Advertising and prescreening
- Middle: Referral management
- Bottom: Consents and enrollment
The aim is not just volume, but precision—finding the right participants. When potential participants drop out, it’s not always negative; it ensures that the right individuals continue in the trial.
“It’s our job to make sure if it’s not the right opportunity or that if the subject isn’t the right fit, we tell them quickly so they can continue with their healthcare journey.” In fact, it’s an ethical obligation. “We do not want to overfill a funnel and leave participants with an unwarranted expectation of study participation.”
Develop and Manage the Participant Pathway
The process begins with the participant profile, and the potential participant should remain top of mind throughout the process. Bye emphasizes the importance of mapping the pathway from the perspective of the participant to identify any gaps.
“We need to be able to understand who we’re reaching out to, how we will reach them with that campaign, and where we’re bringing them,” he says. That means having clarity about everything from the call to action on the study website and how referrals are processed, to how participants are engaged as they move through the funnel.
Ideally, make sure to engage those who responded within a 24-hour window. If sites don’t have the bandwidth, sponsors/CROs may be able to step up with more support. After all the work of identifying participants and getting them to make that call or click that link, you don’t want to lose them because they feel ignored.
Tailored and Flexible
Recruitment strategies, such as media outreach, must be tailored to each study’s—and often, each site’s–specific requirements. And over time and across studies, those requirements will change. That’s why real-world adaptation and flexibility are crucial. Impressions, clicks, referrals –it’s all important, Bye says, but one KPI matters most of all. “We’re really focused on that true KPI of enrollment.”
To start building your study’s media outreach strategy, visit www.wcgclinical.com.