Align. Target. Measure: A New Model for Pharma Media Series—Part 3
Put Your Brand in the Room—Own the Moment of Care
This is where it all comes together.
If Blog 1 was about the measurement gap, and Blog 2 reframed all media through the lens of behavior, Blog 3 is about what happens when everything—strategy, targeting, and behavior—converges.
That moment is the exam room.
The one media channel that exists at the point of care, during the conversation between a qualified HCP and a qualified patient, is EHR messaging. And yet, it’s the most misunderstood, mismeasured, and underfunded channel in pharma.
EHR Messaging Is Not Just Another NPP Tactic
It’s not a banner ad. It’s not a reminder. It’s not passive exposure.
It’s a message shown at the moment when treatment decisions are being made.
Every marketing dollar your brand has spent—on awareness, education, patient activation, peer influence, copay support, access strategy—has been designed to drive toward this one conversation between a doctor and a patient.
And yet many brands treat EHR like a box to check. A diversification tactic. A non-personal line item.
That’s the mistake.
Is Your Brand in the Room When the Decision Is Made?
Because these moments happen hundreds, maybe thousands of times a day: a qualified patient, a prescribing HCP, and a shared decision about treatment.
And if your brand isn’t in the room when that decision is made, you have to ask yourself: whose brand is? Because someone will be.
Whether the HCP has written the brand before or not determines the role of the EHR message:
If they have, the message reinforces behavior. It’s HCP adherence.
If they haven’t, it’s a nudge toward HCP acquisition.
But either way, it’s the last influence before the treatment decision is locked in.
It Deserves Its Own Measurement Model
You can’t evaluate EHR the same way you evaluate upper-funnel media. Attribution is different. Timing is compressed. Impact is immediate.
If your measurement isn’t designed to correctly capture influence at the point of care, you won’t see the tactic’s true value.
So here’s the challenge: if you believe everything in the first two blogs—about the power of behavior, about the importance of aligning strategy, targeting, and measurement—then how can you not have your brand present in the moment that matters most?
It’s time to treat EHR messaging like what it really is: the moment of truth.