Pharmaceutical digital strategy that might have been adopted in the last few months due to the cancellation of events throughout the pharmaceutical and life science calendar is to focus on delivering digital material to delegates of some of those events which have been moved into digital environments. The COVID-19 crisis has meant that most pharmaceutical organizations are required to move towards digital-only strategies – with some launching new business models – to survive and to reach their target audiences. Digital innovations, which were always there for adoption, are now being accessed to restructure portfolios, change business processes and collaborate in strategic alliances.

Salespeople in the pharmaceutical industry are very competitive and invest a lot in marketing technologies that they do not fully understand or utilize. Companies need to focus on rebranding sales so that various forms of Digital Marketing platforms can be used to mutually benefit customers and physicians. The goal at the end of the day is to find a way to sell to clients by seeking newer strategies and training their employees on how to use these channels. Shying away from change does not help organizations during tough times and it is recommended to not rely on past methods that do not work in financially tight marketplaces.

Many pharmaceutical organizations have started to build on their digital talent internally. Setting up digital leads and teams within divisions, and this is good. Investing in the right digital talent is key to getting a pharmaceutical digital strategy off the ground and working for the organization. This trend needs to continue and higher management needs to continually invest in digital programs by providing the talent, training, funding and resources for these teams to be able to scale so that the digital initiatives can have a significant impact. Internal talent needs to be able to also integrate with other departments,