10 Tips for Medical Copywriters

chillibreeze writer — Preeta Das

Medical Copywriting is medical writing in a business environment. This type of literature is typically used in the pharmaceutical industry.

Here are 10 essential tips for medical copywriters so that they can create effective copy in a medico-marketing scenario:

1. Be clear, concise and correct in your writing (both factually and grammatically).

Ronald Koch in ‘How to Write Advertising in Seven Days’ summarizes copywriting as:

• Effective copy is sincere, simple, clear and positive.
• Successful copy uses simple words, short sentences and short paragraphs.
• Good copy explains what the product is, how it works, what the benefits are and what it will do for the patient.

2. Try to dig out as much information regarding the molecule as possible. Study the chemistry, pharmacology, pharmacokinetics and dosage pattern along with the related disease profile.

3. Translate the best features of the molecule in terms of its pharmacology/ pharmacokinetics/dosage into its unique talking points.

4. Cater to the need of different medical specialties through your writing. It should neither be too technical for the internists nor too commonplace for consultants.

5. Try to use medical words wherever possible (i.e. English words with a medical flavor e.g. acute infection or chronic infection).

6. Stay away from flowery phrases, idioms and complex sentences.

7. Study the market scenario of the particular molecule or similar molecules in the same disease profile. This will help in creating apt copy to tackle the prevailing competition.

8. Use guarded and qualified expressions. Stay away from phrases like ‘cures the disease’ and in its place use ‘relieves symptoms’, ‘manage disease’ etc.

9. Arrest the attention of the target audience and make them believe in your product by making genuine claims and presenting accurate information in an appealing manner.

10. Always back up your claims regarding the product with enough reliable and dependable reference sources (e.g. International Medical Journal citations).

Always have the following books at hand. They are every medical writer’s guardian angels - CBE Style Manual, HART’s Rules, Chicago Manual of Style, Copyediting by Butcher, Strunk & White’s Element of Style, Webster’s Medical Desk Dictionary and the Oxford’s Dictionary for Writers and Editors.

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—About our writer: Preeta says, "I love reading books and exploring new places (both physically as well as through Travel and Living/Discovery/Nat Geo channels/magazines). I believe what Richard Bach says about life Here is a simple test to find out if your mission in life is over – If you are alive it is not . Life with my 1-year old son is a magical and humbling experience - magical as it transports me back to my childhood that I get to see through him, and humbling because it makes me realize and rediscover the committment, love and challenges my parents (especially mother) went through in making me the person I am today."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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