Millennials have surpassed Baby Boomers as the nation’s largest living adult generation¹, meaning Millennials are also quickly becoming the largest generation of physicians (if they aren’t already). This shift has significant implications for how we market our pharma brands, as Millennial physicians require a different marketing approach than their predecessors. If you haven’t yet, now is a great time to look at how many of your target physicians are Millennials, and tailor your approach for how you will market to them. To help you start this process, here are six important considerations when marketing to this growing audience:

1. Millennials have a strong motivation to positively change the world

 When putting brands in front of Millennial physicians, we need to demonstrate how our brands share their aspirations. We need to show how we are a valuable partner in helping them make a truly positive impact on patients and those who care for them across the community. Almost more important, we need to guarantee that our messaging is authentic.

2. Teamwork and collaboration with peers, patients, and companies they work with is at their core

Millennial physicians have collaborative relationships with their patients and will make important healthcare decisions in partnership with their patients and their patient’s loved ones instead of for them. It’s important for us to provide information and tools to help them facilitate these conversations with their patients. Millennials also like to collaborate with companies to develop solutions – and millennial physicians are no different – engaging with them (when possible) to help develop solutions can solidify a strong interaction.

3. A balanced life is essential to achieving happiness

Millennial physicians value work-life balance for themselves and those within their environments. This has implications for how we will educate them on our brands. Creating virtual and interactive experiences that both educate and entertain, while not breaching work-life boundaries, will be critical.

4. Digital and social media is wired into their DNA

Millennial physicians are the first generation that grew up with smartphones and social networks integrated into their daily lives. Our brands need to live organically across the digital channels and social networks they engage with. And our brand messages need to be concise, direct, and developed with a digital-first mindset – especially when, across generations, our attention span is shrinking: 10 years ago the average attention on a screen was 2½ minutes, some years later, attention spans shrunk to be about 75 seconds, and now people can only pay attention to one screen for an average of 47 seconds.²

5. On-demand access to information and support is essential

Millennial physicians expect to be able to get what they need instantly. Our brands must invest in delivering modernized, on-demand, smart experiences that make physicians feel like we are always there for them when needed.

6. Driving the healthcare IT revolution will be their legacy

If you think we’ve already seen significant integration of technology with how care is delivered, you haven’t seen anything yet. Millennial physicians are the key drivers in the use of AI, voice, connected devices, and other evidence-based digital health solutions that will represent the new standard of care.

Millennial physicians have arrived, and they’re going to be a force in healthcare for some time. This offers Pharma companies a tremendous opportunity to develop more meaningful connections with their brands – if they take the time to think about their new biggest audience. To engage effectively, our brand content, promotional channels, and services must all evolve to exceed the expectations of Millennial physicians. Now is the time to identify how many Millennial physician targets you have for your brand and start tailoring your approach to this growing segment.

If you have questions or want to chat about how to hone your brands towards millennial physicians, please reach out!

¹ Millennials overtake Baby Boomers as America’s largest generation Richard Fry https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/04/28/millennials-overtake-baby-boomers-as-americas-largest-generation/
² Your attention span is shrinking, studies say. Here’s how to stay focused Sandee LaMotte https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/11/health/short-attention-span-wellness/index.html