• 2010 June
• 2010 April
• 2010 March
• 2010 February
• 2010 January
• 2009 December
• 2009 November

• See how we have strategically helped other clinical trials. Case Studies

• Follow Us

  

• Request a Proposal

Internet Recruitment, not a "Field of Dreams"

Posted Mar 3, 2010 in

I remember a scene in the movie "Field of Dreams" in which a voice appears to Kevin Costner's character telling him "If you build it, they will come".  I've always enjoyed that line and have an even deeper love for it since one of my business partners developed a paraphrase to describe Internet recruitment websites.  The new axiom is "Just because you build it doesn't mean they will come".

When setting an Internet recruitment plan into play, the most important thing to consider is "how will the prospective patients and caregivers find our website?".  Since the Internet is a "pull medium" as opposed to traditional media (radio, TV, print) being "push media", you can't go about the process of development the same way.  Internet users are seeking information and conduct web searches to "pull" information to their computers.  Traditional media is very intrusive and "pushes" information toward you whether you want it or not.

We have talked about an integrated Internet plan in previous blogs, designed to create a buzz so that people can find your website and use your website as a center for credible information and a location from which to explore other ideas.  Your website is the hub of your recruitment plan, whether or not you choose to actually do any qualified pre-screening of potential volunteers on the site.  Use all of your recruitment resources to point to your website and use your website to point back to your recruitment resources, creating a circular information continuum.  This is how a buzz is created and how your web recruitment can become a success.  Without a host of different resources pointing to your website you will be sitting in the Iowa cornfield asking, "Why didn't they come?".

A few tips for creating Internet buzz for your website:

• If you have study brochures, newspaper ads, radio ads and or TV ads, make sure to include the study web address in all materials (this helps build information credibility)
• Create an interactive website for the study with information about the condition, site locations, a pre-screening qualifier and links to other web resources like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube
• Use keyword search advertising to help generate semi-qualified leads for your study
• Make your website point to your Twitter, Facebook and YouTube pages and make your YouTube, Facebook and Twitter pages point to your website
• Use alternate contact options in order to maximize potential interest in your study
• Give social media a chance to "ramp-up"...it takes a bit of time to develop momentum
• Monitor your results using analytical Internet tools and adjust your game plan spending accordingly

An illustration of Internet buzz appears below.  Contact us for information about how to use the Internet and other recruitment methods to enhance your study.