How to integrate digital and traditional pharma marketing?

Excerpts from 'HOP in the Mind' by Prabhakar R Shetty, p 207www.bodysatva.com 

Pharma needs to speed up the integration of digital technology into their marketing mix by collaborating with innovators and the medical profession. The digital technology innovators may know very little about medicine, pharma marketing and sales. Conversely, pharma people and the medical profession will have scant knowledge of emerging technology.

 

To emerge as winners in the overcrowded scenario, the communication must be precise, attention grabbing, and address existing as well as unmet needs. The adaptation will involve training of employees to harmonize with the other channels of communication.

 

Many companies have used laptops or similar means to convey the audiovisual message. It did help to draw attention for a while, but the novelty wore off very soon. Many consider it equivalent to a television advertisement for a cosmetic or toothpaste. Today the mobile phone has become the most used gadget to access the internet and social media from anywhere at any time.

 

Awareness is just one step in the process of gaining ‘brand loyalty’ as we saw in the CORD Model (Fig. 5.2 in Chapter 5). The pathway to ‘brand loyalty’ in pharmaceuticals is very much dependent on interactions.

Mechanisms of eliciting more responses from customers can be easily incorporated into the communication media. The responses need not be answers to questions or feedback forms only. It can be routing of the customer to preferred information sites, by providing access through hyperlinks or a QR Code.

 

In pharmaceutical marketing and sales, it is essential to individualize the message for each Doctor and

digitalization can support the execution process in numerous ways.

 

a. If technology has to be productive in sales communication; it must provide an avenue for interaction and a speedy response mechanism that facilitates an interaction. Email and WhatsApp are a very good option if the customer is responsive. Most of the marketing messages may be treated as spam. Don’t forget the human angle. I have used email for communication to Doctors for more than 10 years. It is most useful for delivering information that was requested by the Doctor. The human interaction was always the final clincher.

 

b. To overcome ‘information fatigue’ and the ‘trust deficit’; we must provide easily accessible, interesting, credible and verifiable information to support claims of benefits or superiority. If the

product related information is not easily traceable on the internet, they would need websites that provide the information in a cluster.

 

c. To generate more interest and establish trust, the communication pattern should have variety in the form of CMEs, Webinars and interaction with KOLs. This is probably the most credible and

productive of all the digital interventions in pharmaceutical marketing. The Salespersons must be trained to identify activities that are ‘emotionally satisfying’ to the Doctor. Collaborating with the Doctor for such activities will lead to ‘emotional bonding’ and enduring sales.

 

d. Online pharmacies are now a reality in India. They offer discounts and also the convenience of door delivery. Despite pressures from trade associations, this will be a valuable multi-channel

distribution option for companies.

 

e. Companies can address ‘customer complaints’ promptly, to restore the confidence of the Patient and the Doctor, who prescribed the product. The key is ‘promptness’ in addressing complaints. Traditionally, the dissatisfied customer would tell his friends and rela􀀖ves personally or telephonically depending on his

level of agita􀀖on. Today the message can spread like wildfire on Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp and other mass messaging services.

 

f. Digitalization can help us to connect with rural Doctors and patients. Rural penetration continues to be difficult and expensive for pharmaceutical companies. Insurance coverage and increasing rural incomes are factors which make rural coverage an attractive option.

 

Examples of integrating digital and traditional marketing

The examples given below may not appear hitech but were common sense applications of the available technology, for holding the attention and communicating benefits to the Doctors.

a. On numerous occasions the Salespersons would call the PMT for specific information that was requested by the Doctor. The information was organized for ready access by all PMT members. The information is sent within the next 5 minutes to the Doctor’s email, with a copy to the Salesperson and his superiors. The Doctor is informed about the mail and to be doubly sure the Salesperson provides a printed copy within a

short time. In over 70% of these cases, further discussions led to a conversion. The promptness of the response makes a good impression on the Doctor and the emotional right brain triggers a favorable response.

 

b. PowerPoint presentations on various aspects were kept ready by PMT for interactions. One such interaction was with an Infertility Specialist. The presentation reached the Doctor within 3 minutes and this real-time support enabled a detailed discussion. The Doctor was thoroughly convinced and

became a prescriber

 

c. Quite a few Salespersons enthusiastically forward short videos and diagrams to the Doctor if they show interest. These are usually supplied by PMT, but many have used their native intelligence and initiative, to photograph an important aspect from the VAF and forward by WhatsApp. They request the

doctor to have a look whenever they have free time. The doctor appreciates it because of the time saved in the clinic. Many have reported successful conversions with this technique.

 

Conclusion

Using digital media to leverage the efforts of Salespersons is definitely a game changer, but the rules of the game are quite different than in Western countries. Due to numerous branded generics of the same molecule the sites that provide the best content and visualization of benefits may gain an upper hand in the long run. The basic problem continues to be the limited attention span of the customer.

Digitalization will help the Salesperson to use specific information from a massive database to

convey the differentiating benefits, in realtime during interactions

with the Doctors. In the final analysis, the adaptations needed are peripheral and not fundamental in nature. The marketing and selling basics are the same and digitalization is to be integrated with traditional

marketing. Let’s overcome the ‘fear of the unknown’ and embrace digitalization, to HOP in the Mind with greater efficiency.


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