Section Editor: Nicole Bezuidenhout

Article Title: Evaluating multi-channel digital marketing strategies for professional development: A mixed-methods analysis of CPD promotion for a medical writing and communication course
Authors: Nidhi Pandya, Steven Walker, Mile Vasić

This study examines the effectiveness of multi-channel digital marketing strategies in raising awareness of, and driving engagement with, Continuing Professional Development (CPD) courses among healthcare professionals, educators, science writers, and members of the medical communication community. A four-month mixed-methods evaluation of a medical writing and communication course, hosted on Udemy and promoted via LinkedIn, email newsletters, and Medium, used Plan-Do-Check-Act and Kaizen frameworks to refine tactics based on real-time analytics. Key performance indicators improved, including a 26% rise in LinkedIn followers, a reduction in email bounce rates from 92% to 27%, and a doubling of peak monthly engagement rate from 8% to 16%. Career-focused and educational content achieved the highest click-through and engagement rates across platforms, and Medium articles reached an average read rate of 50% despite late implementation. These findings provide practical, data-driven insights to help CPD providers promote their courses, for example, by prioritising LinkedIn and segmented email, using high-performing content types, and monitoring key metrics to optimise campaigns.