{"id":2334,"date":"2022-12-01T10:54:49","date_gmt":"2022-12-01T10:54:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chekkitapp.com\/blog\/?p=2334"},"modified":"2023-02-02T22:01:34","modified_gmt":"2023-02-02T22:01:34","slug":"untapped-marketing-strategies-for-pharmaceutical-companies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chekkitapp.com\/blog\/untapped-marketing-strategies-for-pharmaceutical-companies\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Untapped Marketing Strategies for Pharmaceutical Companies"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Having built software for marketing teams in the pharmaceutical industry, food, beverage, and retail<\/a>, we can categorically say that the odd one out is pharma marketing. Like the “black sheep” of the family.<\/p>

And to be fair, it is understandable. After all, pharmaceuticals are one of the most regulated products on planet earth.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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How Do Pharmaceutical Companies Do Marketing Today?\n<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Unlike food, beverage, or retail which focus on the final consumers, pharmaceuticals have to factor in a powerful influencer between them and their own consumers.<\/p>

For many (if not all) pharmaceuticals today, marketing is targeted at;<\/p>

1. Patients & Consumers<\/h3>

These are the people that actually buy medicines for their treatment. However, most people won’t just go to the pharmacy and ask for an antibiotic. You will need a prescription by law.<\/p>

This brings us to;<\/p>

2. Healthcare Professionals<\/h3>

The doctors and other healthcare professionals\u00a0who prescribe medicine to patients. As a matter of fact, this is where the majority of your marketing budget goes.<\/p>

It is understandable, because for prescription drugs primarily,\u00a0these HCPs\u00a0can determine how successful that product will be in terms of sales.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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When you think about it, pharmaceutical companies marketing models are B2B2C. It is not uncommon to see marketing teams focusing on creating marketing materials for both HCPs and patients.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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What Are The Biggest Marketing Challenges of Pharmaceutical Companies?\n<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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1. Access To HCPs is Declining<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The amount of money being spent on medical sales rep that market to doctors is shrinking. Besides, because the medical reps being employed by these pharma companies are all trying to get the attention of the same set of doctors, things can get really crowded.<\/p>

How would you feel if you found out your doctor was\u00a0“paid” to prescribe you a drug? So there’s the controversial aspect of marketing to HCPs.<\/p>

Is it ethical? Is it unethical? The\u00a0debate\u00a0rages on to date.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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2. Patients Are More Informed Than Ever<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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There’s a change already happening, however. Because people are now more informed than they have ever been, the HCPs don’t have as much influence as they used to have. It is now common for patients to contribute to discussions about their treatment than was the case before.<\/p>

A big thumbs up to the world wide web.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Source: www.telegraph.co.uk<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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3. Advertising Directly To Patients Not Allowed<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Presently, only 2 countries worldwide allow pharmaceutical companies to advertize prescription medicines directly to patients. New Zealand and the United States. Even in the USA, many are calling for it to be banned or restricted.<\/p>

This greatly limits the options for pharma brands to get in front of the more informed patient of today.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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4. Poor Access To Market Insights & Patient Data<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The recipe for every successful marketing campaign or strategy is consumer insights. How much you know about the people using your products is directly tied to how innovative you can become.<\/p>

However, in developing countries in Africa, Asia, and South America,\u00a0a lot of transactions and purchases happen outside the internet. This and other factors make it tough to get\u00a0data about patients in those markets directly on your computer so you can manipulate it to draw insights.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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3 Untapped Marketing Strategies Your Pharmaceutical Company Can Use<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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It is our belief that wherever there are big problems, there are also huge opportunities to stand out.<\/p>

All three strategies below have been used and are being used by many pharma marketers but their usage is still quite low. Here they are:<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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1. Medical & Pharma SEO (Search Engine Optimization)<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Daily, millions of people around the world are on Google researching symptoms, treatments, and medicines, but many pharmaceutical brands aren’t creating content to provide the answers that people are seeking.<\/p>

For example, here’s the data of Google searches in Nigeria & India for\u00a0terms related to blood pressure medicine:<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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However, after going to search for “blood pressure medicine” on Google, no content from pharmaceutical companies popped up in the first 10 pages.\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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This is a huge opportunity for pharmaceutical brands to get in front of these patients and grow brand awareness.<\/p>

It can also be for HCPs. What are doctors searching for on Google? Find out, create content around them, and meet these HCPs in their offices without\u00a0a single medical sales rep.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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2. Lead Generation & Nurturing<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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In simple terms, collecting the contact details of your target audience (patients & HCPs) and sending them targeted, personalized, valuable information regularly. You can do this in different ways but here are two examples:<\/p>