Marketing: Marketing to Physicians: Time to Go Digital?

Just a few years ago, Memorial recruiters received the majority of CVs by fax or mail. Now they receive about one fax every three months and none by mail.

"We have an opportunity to be able to reach more people at a faster speed than ever and for them to respond just as quickly," Dilts says. "It's made it a 24-hour-a-day industry."

The next phase in digital communication as a referral and recruitment tool will likely be online social networks, Abreu Ressi says. Physician-only networks, such as Sermo and Medscape Physician Connect, are continuing to grow.

"The other one to remember is Facebook because last year we saw about one-third of physicians are using it in some capacity," she says. "I expect it to be at least half when we do the [Taking the Pulse] study this year. "

Although digital communication is growing in popularity, recruiting via print hasn't gone away just yet.

"The outreach that we do for candidates has to be multipronged," Dilts says. "The environment is very competitive, so we really utilize all resources, with electronic media being just one of those." And as Abreu Ressi notes: "I think we have at least five more years of seeing print journals as a primary resource for physicians."

—Marianne Aiello