Clinical trials are the foundation of medical advancement. They turn laboratory breakthroughs into real-world treatments, bridging the gap between discovery and delivery. Yet despite their critical role, many trials face a recurring obstacle: recruiting and retaining participants.
This challenge isn’t always about the science or the design of the study. It’s often about how the trial is communicated. Marketing, though sometimes overlooked, plays a central role in helping people understand why a trial matters and why their participation is valuable.
Improving outcomes requires more than sound science, it demands thoughtful, structured communication. This article draws from the MRC CRASH trial marketing study, integrating those structured insights with practical, current best practices. The aim is to offer a clear, research-informed framework for improving visibility, understanding, and participant involvement in clinical trials.
Marketing as a Strategic Pillar for Clinical Trials
Clinical trials don’t exist in a vacuum. They compete for attention; whether it’s from patients, physicians, or healthcare institutions. Patient Recruitment isn’t just about eligibility or location; it’s also about trust, clarity, and relevance.
The MRC CRASH trial proposed a five-part framework to integrate marketing into the core of trial design:
Set-Up: This involves laying the groundwork for effective communication. It means allocating resources, defining roles, and ensuring that marketing is built into the trial from the beginning, not added as an afterthought.
Market Planning: Understanding the audience is essential. This includes identifying demographic and psychographic factors, potential barriers to participation, and preferred channels of communication.
Signaling: This stage focuses on message delivery. It involves crafting compelling, accurate narratives that explain what the trial is, why it matters, and how participants benefit, not just medically, but ethically and personally.
Learning: Trials must remain responsive. This means collecting data on outreach efforts, reviewing what’s working (or not), and iterating communication strategies accordingly.
Reinforcing: Engagement doesn't end at enrollment. Continued communication - whether it’s updates, outcomes, or check-ins - helps maintain involvement and fosters a sense of contribution.
Such a structured model provides a strong foundation for building marketing strategies that are not only aligned with scientific goals but also responsive to the human side of clinical research.
Integrating Best Practices for Enhanced Impact
While frameworks are valuable, implementation is key. Over the past few years, new tools and digital platforms have emerged that make it easier to connect with patients in more meaningful and effective ways. Aligning these with the MRC CRASH structure allows for a more grounded and actionable approach.
Set-Up: Developing a trial-specific website is now considered a basic necessity. Platforms like Clinials offer secure, user-friendly templates tailored to the needs of trial participants. These sites can centralize study information, streamline consent processes, and establish credibility from the outset.
Market Planning: Paid search campaigns, search engine optimization (SEO), and even targeted social ads can expand the reach of trial recruitment efforts. However, success hinges on understanding the patient journey, from initial awareness to the decision to participate. Clinials’ Content Hub helps by transforming protocol-heavy language into digestible, layperson-friendly formats.
Signaling: Clear, empathetic communication makes a difference. Patient testimonials, video explainers, and FAQ sections are useful tools. These help demystify the trial process and reduce apprehension among potential participants.
Learning: Insights from analytics tools (bounce rates, time on page, and form completions, among others) can inform ongoing improvements. Understanding which messages are resonating allows teams to refine both strategy and execution.
Reinforcing: Post-enrolment communication matters. Whether it’s a monthly update, a progress dashboard, or follow-up surveys, sustained engagement nurtures trust and reduces dropout rates. This phase is often underutilized, but when done well, it significantly improves retention.
Avoiding Common Pitfalls
Many clinical trials struggle with visibility because they rely too heavily on static listings like ClinicalTrials.gov. While necessary, these platforms were not designed with the user experience in mind. Their information is often dense, difficult to navigate, and not optimized for digital discovery.
Some trial sites (on the patient-facing side) may also remain outdated or lack adequate data protection. Issues that can deter participation and damage credibility. For example, an unsecured WordPress site handling participant data may raise compliance concerns and turn away cautious users.
By contrast, structured solutions like Clinials offer purpose-built platforms that align with regulatory standards while also supporting modern communication strategies. They help translate the core messaging of a trial into formats that are engaging, accurate, and easy to access.
Simplify Clinical Trials
Clinical trials are complex, but their success often hinges on something very simple: communication. A well-designed trial may never meet its goals if it fails to connect with the right participants in the right way. That’s where strategic marketing steps in, not as a peripheral task, but as a core component of trial design.
By applying structured frameworks like the MRC CRASH model and integrating best-in-class tools (Clinials is one of many), trial teams (from sponsors to sites) can improve visibility, increase enrolment, and build lasting relationships with participants. This dual approach, both strategic and practical, creates the conditions for a more inclusive, effective, and patient-informed research process.
As clinical trials become more central to healthcare innovation, it’s critical to view marketing (and communication) not as a support function, but as a bridge between research and public understanding. When done thoughtfully, it has the power to transform participation from a barrier into an opportunity; and to make trials more accessible, more inclusive, and ultimately, more successful.