Through pharmaceutical marketing, pharma companies aim to:
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Build brand awareness and enhance their brand (Drive Brand Awareness) to establish themselves as a trusted entity in the community.
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Educate HCPs on available treatments and the associated diseases.
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Educate patient communities on disease state, associated symptoms and available treatments.
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Disseminate critical information during drug or treatment launches.
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Increase website visibility and completion of key site actions to increase return on marketing investment.
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Increase sales of pharmaceutical products to maximize the return on product costs and advertising investments.
Nowadays, Drive Brand Awareness is the key diving force, as it enables pharmaceutical companies to identify, anticipate and provide solutions for customer requirements. Marketing is the only way to help differentiate these companies from each other.
However, there are a wide range of various pharmaceutical marketing strategies you are able to choose in order to attract the attention of prescribing physicians as well as their patients.
Technology Is Just the First Step
To thrive in this new era, it is imperative that marketers embrace developments in technology and test and adopt new advancements that fit their business. But mastering new technology is not the sole determinant of success in the modern marketing era — the right people and processes must also be put in place. In addition to techno-experts, teams should include members who bring strategic, creative and analytical capabilities.
Patient Centricity
Patients are more empowered, more informed, and more involved in their healthcare than ever before. People have access to a wealth of information, and all it takes is a simple Google search on a laptop, phone, or other mobile device. Most patients now have electronic access to their medical health information, and they’re taking to search engines to understand their symptoms and discover available treatments.
This presents an opportunity for pharma companies to reach patients directly. Effective marketing will gently push patients to contact their healthcare provider and request a treatment or therapy. HCPs were once at the center of pharmaceutical marketing, as patients were receiving all healthcare information directly from their provider. Now that patients are cross-referencing information given by their providers, accessing information from the same sources, it’s critical that pharma companies accommodate this shift.
Building trust with potential patients and remaining one step ahead of the public perception is one of the keys to successful pharma branding. The patients’ needs and wants must be the center focus of the campaign strategy. Pharma companies need to tap in to patients’ media consumption habits to understand how these patients prefer to receive their information, which platforms they’re frequently using, and what specific information or data they’re seeking. This requires advanced media targeting technology and access to valuable insights, data and analytics that speak to online user behaviors.
Content and website design
Having an attractive and impactful website with a complete and quality content, is a necessary Drive Brand Awareness strategy that can help boost our brand, should develop the necessary information for the patient and prescriber, with a professional design with special attention to details, logo, slogan, mission and vision of the company, products, pathology, studies, among others.
Connect With Customers Online and Offline
The amount of data available today – and the ability to analyze it – makes it both possible and critical to effectively understand and interact with patients, providers, and even payers, online. But it is still important to actually engage with them offline as well. Sales calls, conventions, advisory boards, promotional education, market research, etc are the traditional venues for in-person contact. Keller and Lewnes are quick to point out that “it will probably always be the case that nothing beats the power of companies and their customers coming together in person to learn and get inspired.”
Multichannel Approach
Where is the target audience most active? Which devices are they using to find the type of information you’re providing? This market research is essential for effective targeting. Today, mobile-first campaigns are dominating the advertising scene. Patients and HCPs are using handheld devices, laptops and phones to access healthcare information.
An effective pharmaceutical marketing strategy utilizes a strategic mix of digital marketing to educate HCPs and provide valuable resources in an easily-digestible format for convenient consumption. Reaching HCPs through the right platforms can lead to better treatment outcomes, as HCPs have the resources they need to support patients throughout their treatment journey.
Through a multimedia approach, pharma companies can also provide sales representatives with the support they need to make sales and improve marketing ROI.