You need them, you wish you could do without them, but unfortunately they come with the territory. Working with KOLs can be incredibly frustrating, not to mention expensive. You’ve probably met one or more of the following:
Professor “Works for everyone and everyone knows it”
He’s the leading authority on complex-lurgy-itis. He heads up the best facility in Europe and his name is on every single journal article about this topic for the last ten years. But it’s been self-perpetuating – he’s been paid richly by every single one of your competitors to lead these studies claiming their products are the only ones that work. He only practices three days a month and will work for you in an inconvenient slot next July, but only if you fly him by private jet with personal masseuse on board. All his peers hate him anyway.
Dr Wildcard
He’s eager to please, but caused you to lose your very brilliant marketing manager. Legal had them sacked when Wildcard wouldn’t stick to the script at the live conference keynote – stating that your product could bring the dead back to life, cure obesity and would be sold for peanuts was just one step too far. It’s taken months of embarrassing backtracking to move forward, and legal don’t trust your department to do anything anymore, unless you sign in your own blood.
Dr “Not so good on camera”
She agreed to film several live ops for you, at considerable expense. But you can’t use ANY of the footage because she keeps swearing and breaks basic hygiene protocols, pausing at one point to perform a deep and passionate nose pick, before continuing with the procedure.
Professors Feud and Compete
These two were once blood brothers, but fell out twenty years ago over a prestigious teaching seat. They’re the leading voices in your field, but get one to speak on your brand’s behalf and the other will bad mouth your products and forbid all the hospitals in their territory from using it . Ignore them both at your peril because they’re still capable of uniting against you. Only Machiavelli could help you with this one…
They are who they are, as a strategic healthcare marketing agency we can help you to create compelling content with your KOLs, and amplify their role within the marketing mix.
