Given the recent COVID crisis all of a sudden, there is a rejuvenated interest in Digital marketing led by various webinars created around this topic. The recommendation in these webinars is from adaption of Digital in Pharma to Digital marketing being the way of life going forward.
The question which one needs to ask – Is Digital Marketing in pharma just an alternate to reach out to prospective customers given the recent crisis where personal visits are a taboo or is the adaption of Digital media the need of the hour for the pharma industry?
Efforts to advocate Digital Marketing in Pharma space has been on for close to a decade by the stakeholders. My gut feeling is that its use in some of the pharma organisation is in the range of 5 to 15% (there may be some exceptions) of their overall Marketing Budget. This is reflective of low confidence in this vital tool to promote business.
One question which is often raised in support of not adapting this media wholeheartedly is the proof of the ROI from this investment.
My take is that the tracking of return on investment from this tool is as good as tracking returns on traditional ways of promotion. It gives the flexibility to target your customers. Therefore, big reach in terms of numbers need not necessarily mean Spray and Pray strategy.
While you can get feedback and suggestions online, you also get to measure the following using analytics on the device and the way you decide to promote digitally.
Number of prospective customers
- Visiting your content indicates – if it is of interest to them.
- Showing interest by taking actions on your site- addressing your goals.
- Clicking on the link -to explore further.
- Permitting you to send emails or newsletters – for additional information.
- Seeking information on the availability of the products.
I think the experts in the digital space areas need to continually share the outcome both in terms of metrics and the domain analysis in the pharma segment using case studies to those who still do not believe in this model.
It is very well known that “you are what you Google”. If I may add the internet space seems safe as you can’t put a face to it, therefore, you are open in expressing your true belief and opinion. I would consider such a response more valuable than personal interviews / close group discussions or physical survey.
In our traditional way of promoting pharmaceutical products to HCPs we need to go through the process of Awareness / Evaluate / Interest / Adoption and Action which takes months together with KOLs to get conversion in terms of prescription or purchase then why expect miracles with digital media? The analytics made available through digital promotion reflect these stages of your product adaption only through the scientific promotion of the condition and molecules
However, what is proven without a doubt is that your reach is going to be far better and at a lesser cost.
The basic principles of marketing and promotion in digital media remain the same and include Positioning/Targeting and segmenting as in the conventional promotion of pharma products over the years, along with the PDCA cycle. However, the media is different, and the terms used may differ in digital space.
The extensive use of digital media to promote a decade back would have been taken with a pinch of salt when we were not sure of the access to the internet by HCPs. However, at this stage, we are approaching 600 million marks in India very soon who access the internet. Moreover, the internet data is economical among most of the countries globally merely due to the volumes involved; therefore we would miss out on a huge opportunity to reach out to remote corners of the country in case this mode of promotion is not adapted.
I want to conclude stating that all modes of promotion have their pros and cons, and Digital would never replace the personal promotion to customers, but this can no longer be ignored. The way forward is PHYGITAL which is a combination of physical in terms of Personal visits / Seminars and literature along with Digital including web sites / Apps and platforms created for scientific deliberations.
Therefore the physical access and Digital Promotion would reinforce / supplement and complement each other for better outcomes.
However, this would require much closer coordination between marketing and sales with retraining and rethinking the way the campaigns are produced and executed. The current crisis has only helped draw the attention of everyone towards Digital promotion but it is here to stay
