Tag: Digital marketing

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MedTech Pharma Marketing

Digital marketing in MedTech and Pharma

Is digital marketing in MedTech and Pharma similar? Understanding the specifics of MedTech and Digital Health digital marketing is essential to success.

MedTech digital marketing

The four main components of digital marketing in the medical devices industry are digital strategy consulting, digital content creation and management, digital campaign execution, and analytics.

  • Digital Marketing Consulting involves helping MedTech companies assess their priorities and strengths, optimize their operations and innovation, and develop effective go-to-market strategies.
  • Digital content creation and management involves producing engaging and informative content for various channels such as email, social media, blogs, webinars, etc. that showcase medical devices’ value proposition and benefits.
  • Digital campaign execution involves designing and implementing marketing campaigns that target specific segments of healthcare professionals (HCPs) or patients using digital tools such as CRM systems, marketing automation platforms, SEO/SEM techniques, etc.
  • Digital analytics involves measuring and evaluating the performance and impact of digital marketing activities using data-driven methods such as web analytics, customer feedback surveys, ROI calculations, etc.

Digital consulting is a vital component of digital marketing for medical devices and should be a first step. It helps MedTech companies to:

  • Define their vision and goals for digital transformation
  • Assess their current capabilities and gaps
  • Develop a roadmap and action plan for implementing digital solutions
  • Align their organization and culture with digital best practices

Digital marketing of medical devices in comparison to pharmaceuticals

Digital marketing for Medical Devices in many aspects is similar to the pharmaceutical industry, however, there are significant differences.

What are the similarities between MedTech and Pharma digital marketing?

  • Both Pharma and MedTech use digital tools to inform and influence HCPs and patients about their products and services.
  • Both industries rely on data and analytics to measure and optimize their digital marketing activities.
  • Medical Devices face regulatory challenges and compliance issues when engaging with their audiences online that are similar to those in pharmaceuticals.

The key differences between Pharma and Medical Devices digital marketing are that:

  • Medtech companies tend to have more complex products that require more technical expertise and demonstration than pharma companies.
  • Medtech companies have a wider range of stakeholders to consider, such as hospital administrators, payers, distributors, etc. than pharma companies.
  • Medtech companies have more opportunities to leverage digital health and digital therapeutics (DTx), such as connected devices, apps, sensors, etc. that can enhance their value proposition and customer experience than pharma companies

Outsourcing digital marketing services in the MedTech industry

Medical device companies may look for different services or support when deciding to outsource digital marketing, depending on their needs and goals.

Some possible services or support are:

  • Quality assurance: ensuring that the digital marketing activities comply with regulatory standards and best practices.
  • Content production and management: producing digital content or products such as websites, apps, videos, etc. that showcase the features and benefits of medical devices.
  • E-commerce: setting up and managing online platforms that allow customers to order and purchase medical devices easily and securely.
  • Virtual sales channels: creating and maintaining digital tools that enable sales reps to communicate and demonstrate medical devices to HCPs remotely.
  • Data analytics: collecting and analyzing data from digital marketing activities to measure performance, optimize campaigns, and generate insights

Generally, smaller MedTech companies may need more comprehensive and flexible services and support than larger companies, as they may have less experience and capacity for digital marketing. Larger companies may need more specialized and customized support than smaller companies, as they may have more complex and diverse needs for digital marketing.

Some possible factors that influence digital marketing service requirements are:

  • The type and complexity of medical devices that the company produces or sells.
  • The level of expertise and resources that the company has internally for digital marketing.
  • The scope and scale of digital marketing activities that the company wants to undertake.
  • The budget and timeline that the company has for digital marketing outsourcing.

The skillset of MedTech digital marketer

Some of the skills of a digital marketing expert from pharma are transferrable to provide medical device digital marketing services too. For example, both sectors require:

  • Knowledge of regulatory requirements and compliance standards.
  • Ability to create engaging and informative content for different audiences and channels.
  • Proficiency in using various digital tools and platforms to design, execute, and measure campaigns.

However, there are also some differences between pharma and medical device digital marketing that may require additional skills or adaptation. The key differences are that:

  • Medical device customers have different expectations and needs than pharma customers. They may be more interested in product features, benefits, demonstrations, or testimonials than in disease mechanisms or outcomes.
  • Medical devices are more diverse and complex than drugs. They can range from tissue grafts to prostheses to digital devices and apps. They may also have different modes of action, indications, or usage scenarios.
  • Medical devices may have shorter product life cycles than drugs. They may face more competition or innovation from other players in the market. They may also require more frequent updates or upgrades.

Therefore, a digital marketing expert to excel in the Medical Devices industry may need to understand the nuances of device marketing and how to tailor their strategies accordingly. MedTech digital marketing specialist has to learn about the specific types of devices they are marketing and how they work, who they serve, and what value they offer. Finally, digital marketer in MedTech industry has to be flexible and agile in responding to changing market conditions and customer feedback.

Regulatory requirements for medical device digital marketing

Regulatory requirements for medical device digital marketing vary depending on the type of device, the market, and the channel. Some of the general requirements are:

  • Medical device digital marketing must be truthful, accurate, and not misleading.
  • Medical device digital marketing must comply with the relevant laws and regulations of each country or region where they operate.
  • Medical device digital marketing must respect the data privacy and security of customers and users.

Some examples of specific regulatory requirements for medical device digital marketing are:

  • The Medical Devices Regulation (MDR) applies since 26 May 2021 in the European Union. It sets out new rules for placing medical devices on the market, including requirements for clinical evidence, post-market surveillance, labeling, and advertising.
  • The In Vitro Diagnostic Devices Regulation (IVDR) applies since 26 May 2022 in the European Union. It replaces Directive 98/79/EC and introduces new classification rules, conformity assessment procedures, performance evaluation requirements, etc. for in vitro diagnostic devices.
  • The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) provides guidance documents with digital health content for medical device manufacturers in the United States. They cover topics such as software as a medical device, mobile medical applications, clinical decision support software, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence/machine learning, etc.
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Pharma Marketing

Pharma digital marketing in the U.S. Spending more and wrong.

The US Healthcare and Pharmaceutical Industry 2014: Digital Ad Spending Forecast and Trends, a new report from eMarketer shows that Pharma Marketing spending on digital remains on steady 3.0% of the total digital ad spending level. Unfortunately half of it is spent wrong.
This has been a common joke of marketers and advertisers for a long time: If I only knew which half I spend on wrong tactics I would make myself and my company rich. However, jokes aside, at K-message we can clearly see which quarter of this budget is going wrong way. We talk serious money here, healthcare and pharma ad spending is now at USD 1.41 bn level, and by 2017 we will pass the threshold of two billions.

US Healthcare and Pharma Industry Digital Ad Spending 2012-2018. Source: eMarketer.com
US Healthcare and Pharma Industry Digital Ad Spending 2012-2018. Source: eMarketer.com

eMarketer takes into account all healthcare and pharmaceutical digital marketing spending in the United States. It includes prescribed (Rx) and over the counter (OTC) products, specific products and services addressed to healthcare professionals, as well as direct to consumer advertising of products, services, hospitals, health insurers etc.
More than half of this budget (56%) goes for direct response advertisement. The remainder of 44% is spent on branding campaigns. This is an artificial segmentations, as the objective of campaign usually is not so clear in the American, DTC driven market. Every branding effort may bring direct response.
What is more striking in eMarketer’s report is the share of spending on healthcare and pharma digital marketing by channel. It seems that mobile is still an ugly duckling for pharma marketers, who dedicate only 26.5% of their budget to mobile formats.
It is incredible if you look at this from the perspective. The same crowd that claims “we want more direct response and we spend more than half of our budget for it” in the same time neglects the channel that is the best to accomplish this objective.
Healthcare and pharma marketing is the single industry that spends on mobile the smallest chunk of its budget. Even PC makers spend 33% of their budget on mobile, but we in Pharma remain connected to the desktop. If we go mobile, pharma marketing focus mostly on mobile search advertisement.
US Digital Ad Spending by Industry and Channel 2014, Source: eMarketer.com
US Digital Ad Spending by Industry and Channel 2014, Source: eMarketer.com

We can try to persuade ourselves, that there is some logical reasoning behind this inefficient budget allocation. However, at K-message we tend to believe that the only reason to avoid mobile advertising in pharma is simply change-aversion. Mobile advertisement is well regulated, rules are clear, and results are easily measurable. It allows better interaction than PC in many dimensions: it can be geo-located, instant, personalized. The only disadvantage over display ad on PC screen? It requires additional work.
Digital marketing is not a rocket science that Pharma R&D are performing. You can start simply with text messaging in your next multichannel campaign. Make sure that your next edetailing is part of the CLM. Give your audience some thrill with elements of gaming. Do not fly everyone to the remote conference site, use virtual one instead. This is pharma digital marketing, not putting banners every here and there.
We really hope that pharma marketers will surprise eMarketer by proving they know how to use digital marketing tactics efficiently. Fingers crossed!

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Pharma Marketing

Top 3 Key Lessons on Social Media in the Pharmaceutical Industry

On 22nd and 23rd of January in London I was honored to be a speaker at the Social Media in the Pharmaceutical Industry conference. Now back in Swiss Pharma capital city – Basel, let me summarize the key lessons on the social media in pharma industry I took back from the United Kingdom.

Social Network Analysis book cover [social media in pharmaceutical industry]
Social Network Analysis book cover (Photo credit: Matthew Burpee)
First of all, the event itself was really worth to attend. If you heard alarm bells buzzing on the bullshit bingo sequence of social media in pharma, this time it would be a false alarm. Not because of my humble presence, but because of the other participants and the content of their presentations. The chairwoman of the event, my ex-colleague at Roche, now enjoying freedoms of the external consultant, Alexandra Fulford (@pharmaguapa) made sure that we were not lost on the way. Having said that, let us digest the content of the conference.

Social Media in Pharmaceutical Industry Key Learning #1: Social Media is not a marketer’s toy, but a source of powerful intelligence data. A Big Data!

A diagram of a social network [social media in pharmaceutical industry]
A diagram of a social network (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
My senior colleague from Roche, Dr. Alfred R. Steinhardt now in the hat of PA Consulting Group and his own Alfred Steinhardt Consulting, showed us an incredible power of the Social Media used not for standard “what they said about us”. Dr. Steinhardt provided example of social media used by pharmaceutical industry for recruitment to clinical trials (social patient). We could also see social media as a tool to identify and engage with Key Opinion Leaders (in this new world, aren’t they rather Influencers?) who do not necessarily recruit from academia as in the past. Maybe most striking, even if not the most common usage of Social Media was tracking origin of counterfeit drugs sold online.
As we discussed after the presentation, Social Media is not such a big revolution as some pundits say and it will not replace scientific method with statistical analysis of huge amounts of data. Still it is an extremely useful tool that should be looked at out of plain pharma marketing perspective. Which was further confirmed by Dr. Sherri Matis-Mitchell, an Associate Principal Information Scientist R&D Information at AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Matis showed us how Social Media, when properly used, can provide important answers to R&D teams in pharma industry and help identify unmet needs of patients.

Social Media in Pharmaceutical Industry Key Learning #2: Legal Team is not a threat (and can be a savior) for social media in pharma.

Let's Make It Legal [social media in pharmaceutical industry]
Let’s Make It Legal (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
An eye opening presentation of Audrey Hagege, a Legal Manager and Todd Kolm (@toddkolm), VP and Head of Global Digital Strategy from Sanofi showed us not only what Legal Teams think about Social Media. Even more important was how distorted is an image of legal teams in the eyes of us, digital marketers working on social media in pharma. At the end it is easy – just let your legal or compliance officer know what you are going to do. They are in the organization to help and protect, and not to stop any activities.
On the other hand, while social media in pharma is becoming more and more regulated, I had an impression that some of our colleagues are going dangerously close to the line. Ms. Müge Gizem Bıçakçı Akalın (@MGizemBA), a New Promotional Models Manager at Boehringer Ingelheim’s Turkish affiliate shared with us plans to promote a Facebook page of a feminine avatar with a name very closely resembling a brand of prescribed drug for menstrual pains. Is it already promotion and communication DTC, or still just a disease awareness campaign? Let’s hope Gizem has very good friends in her legal team and they are crystal clear about their legal framework.

Social Media in Pharmaceutical Industry Key Learning #3: Social media in pharma can be measured and data driven (but not always is).

Gary Monk (@Garymonk) from Havas Lynx and John Pugh (@JohnPugh) from BI shared similar thoughts on how to measure efficiency of pharma activities in social media. As we were sitting in the UK, for obvious reasons there were not much about direct impact on sales. However, we could see important metrics on the engagement. Both speakers provided some hints on what can be improved in Facebook and Twitter presence of the analysed brands, but it is not what is the most interesting from my point of view.  
What is more important is just an attempt to step back and look at those activities and try to measure them against each other. Then track what works and what is not. How your facebook page welcomes user? How fast do you respond (do you)? How often do you tweet? Do you follow others and do you retweet or share their posts? What makes Eli Lilly or Boehringer more successful in Social Media than in the market? We can find those answers, and we should as we are no longer pioneers in the social media. It is time to treat it as a serious communication channel with real budget and real targets to meet.
The lessons on social media in pharma listed above are not a comprehensive list. I have learnt much more, and I am going to share those lessons soon on K-message in other posts. There were great examples of social media and digital in action. Mobile app helping patients to fight against depression (Claire Perrin), Catz against Asthma (Ben Furber @BenFurber), Knowledge database available online to HCPs thanks to Merck and their Univadis (Thibaud Guymard @thibaudguymard), I will not be able to mention them all now. But I can now say thank you to all participants, speakers, and SMi for making this event so inspiring. Thank you!

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Pharma Marketing

FDA Guidance on Social Media in Pharma: We need more of this

Federal Drug Administration (FDA) has announced its draft guidance on Social Media in Pharma. What question does it answer and what remains still unregulated? What are the consequences of this guidance and expected next steps? 

English: Logo of the .
English: Logo of the FDA. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

When finalized this guidance will regulate all Internet activities of pharmaceutical companies operating in the United States. The guidance was long expected by the pharma industry. According to earlier announcements from FDA more comprehensive guidance shall be released by July 2014.

Main proposals of the new FDA guidance for Social Media in Pharma

Pharma companies responsibility for the content published in social media:

[box type=”shadow” align=”aligncenter” ]

  1. A firm is responsible for product promotional communications on sites that are owned, controlled,  created, influenced, or operated by, or on behalf of, the firm.

  2. Under certain circumstances, a firm is responsible for promotion on third-party sites.

  3. A firm is responsible for the content generated by an employee or agent who is acting on behalf of the firm to promote the firm’s product.

[/box]

Pharma companies obligation to submit interactive promotional materials to FDA:

[box type=”shadow” align=”aligncenter” ]

  1. At the time of initial display, a firm should submit in its entirety all sites for which it is responsible on Form FDA 2253 or Form FDA 2301. For example, the firm should submit the comprehensive static product website with the addition of the interactive or real-time components.

  1. For third-party sites on which a firm’s participation is limited to interactive or real-time communications, a firm should submit the home page of the third-party site, along with the interactive page within the third-party site and the firm’s first communication, on Form FDA 2253 or Form FDA 2301 at the time of initial display.

  1. Once every month, a firm should submit an updated listing of all non-restricted sites for which it is responsible or in which it remains an active participant and that include interactive or real-time communications. Firms need not submit screenshots or other visual representations of the actual interactive or real-time communications with the monthly updates.

  1. However, if a site has restricted access and, as such, FDA may not have access to the site, a firm  should submit all content related to the discussion (e.g., all UGC about the topic), which may or may not include independent UGC, to adequately provide context to facilitate the review. Screenshots or other visual representations of the actual site, including the interactive or real-time communications, should be submitted monthly on Form FDA 2253 or Form FDA 2301.

  2. When submitting the site, FDA recommends that a firm take formatting factors (e.g., appearance, layout, visual impression) into consideration to enable the Agency to view the communications as a whole.

[/box]

What the industry expected to be addressed? Is it addressed with the new FDA draft guidance?

In general FDA has addressed two of five main points raised by pharmaceutical companies. Those are responsibility for the content published in the Internet and in Social Media, and 2253 Submissions requirements.

Internet control and 3rd party controlled social media responsibility

FDA has defined scope of responsibility for pharma companies. In general pharmaceutical companies are responsible for any content that they have control or influence on. Let us repeat the phrasing of the document:

[box type=”info” align=”aligncenter” ]
Pharma companies responsibility for the content published in social media:
1. A firm is responsible for product promotional communications on sites that are owned, controlled,  created, influenced, or operated by, or on behalf of, the firm.

2. Under certain circumstances, a firm is responsible for promotion on third-party sites.

3. A firm is responsible for the content generated by an employee or agent who is acting on behalf of the firm to promote the firm’s product.

[/box]

2253 Submissions

FDA requires all prescription drug labeling and advertising to be submitted at the time of initial dissemination through an FDA Form 2253. [21 C.F.R. § 314.81 (b)(3)(i)].

Until this draft guidance however, it was not clear what are companies obligations for submitting social media content. For the sake of security social media activities were limited to the safe topics and avoided mentions of any product. It may change now, as the guidance states clearly what and when should be submitted to the Agency. While industry may not be happy with the request to feed FDA with all User Generated Content that may be considered promotional, at least now everyone knows what to report.

What is left unanswered by the new FDA Guidance on Social Media in Pharma?

Space limitations and one click statement rule

FDA requires that every promotional material includes comprehensive information about the product, including safety information. Due to space limitation and “hypertexted” nature of the digital media, pharmaceutical industry developed theory of  so called “one-click rule”. The assumption was that to meet FDA’s expectation it is enough to provide on the interactive promotional material a link to the website that would include required information.

This has been questioned by the Agency which issued enforcement letters to 14 companies who used Google display advertisement where risk information was available under “one-click”. In the following statements FDA declined existence of any one-click rule, but did not offer any alternative. New guidance does not refer to this aspect of the regulation. Therefore any promotional activities mentioning pharmaceutical products on platforms with limited message space ie. on Twitter are still not possible.

Off-label discussions

Another issue that is not addressed by the guidance is off-label use discussion. Promotional messages may not recommend or suggest the drug for off-label uses. Technically it means that anyone in relation to the company is not allowed to even mention any use of the drug that is not approved by FDA. Any response to such mention in social media by pharmaceutical company may be considered as suggesting and therefore promoting off-label use. As we are discussing here open communication channels available to general public, even scientifically valid and supported by pending trials question about any product use that is not approved has to remain unanswered. This limitation remains in force with the new draft guidelines.

Drug Safety and Adverse Events Reporting

Drug Safety or Pharmacovigilance is probably the most important reason why embracing social media in pharma marketing is so slow. It is extremely important (human life is at stake), and there are too many questions unanswered around it.

The first obligation is to provide possibility to report any adverse event to the public. For websites addressed to US-based audience it is usually solved by adding MedWatch icon/link, or easily available report form. In social media this is much more difficult, as there is no way to include such link in every message.

If the company engages in social media, should not it also proactively monitor this space for any possible adverse events? Companies are obliged to report any AE found within limited timeframe, but there is possibility that report is discovered long after it was posted online. It may be written in exotic language and not recognized immediately.

Another question is if the company is obliged to actively pursue any post that may be adverse event but does not include all necessary information for AER. If that would be the case the workload could be overwhelming. Another complication is when the post mentions generic name of the drug manufactured and distributed by many companies. Shall all of them contact the original poster to find out missing information?

Those questions remain unanswered with the draft guidelines.

What will happen next?

All interested parties can submit their comments to FDA within 90 days from the date of publication in the Federal Register (01/14/2014) to www.regulations.gov electronically or in written form to the addresses provided in the document. We also expect more comprehensive guidance as mandated in FDA Safety and Innovation Act (FDASIA) of 2012. Section 1121 of FDASIA orders FDA to, “issue guidance that describes FDA policy regarding the promotion, using the Internet (including social media), of medical products that are regulated by the FDA.”.

Although in his e-mail conversation with Regulatory Focus Stephen King, FDA’s spokesman maintains that the guidance released on 13 January 2014 actually meets the statutory requirements of FDASIA, FDA “plans to issue additional guidance for drug and device manufacturers related to the Internet and social media,”  Those documents, according to the same spokesman: “Issues with character space limitations, links (the appropriate use of links), and sponsor correction of misinformation about their products disseminated by third parties.” We may then wait longer than expected for full set of regulations, but at least some steps have been done and we know that there is no need to submit every tweet to FDA before publication.
Full text of the FDA guidance: Guidance for Industry Fulfilling Regulatory Requirements for Postmarketing Submissions of Interactive Promotional Media for Prescription Human and Animal Drugs and Biologics
Federal Register link

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Pharma Marketing

Top 5 pharma marketing trends in 2014

Approaching end of the year experts have two options to choose. The first and a safer one is to summarize past twelve months. The second, more dangerous but also more exciting is to predict what will happen next year. At K-message we find the latter option much more useful and interesting. Please enjoy our prediction of the Top 5 pharma marketing trends of 2014 below.

Top 5 pharma marketing trends for 2014
Top 5 pharma marketing trends for 2014

1. Integration of digital tactics within multi-channel marketing. Leveraging Closed Loop Marketing and Big Data advantages by more mature organizations.

CLM - Closed Loop Marketing
CLM – Closed Loop Marketing

For years digital marketing was treated as a fifth wheel in pharma business. Whatever we say, the truth is that those organizations are made of sales force. And digital marketing for sales force was just another marketing gimmick that does not add value but a workload and cost.

However, during past few years this traditional sales force thinking was challenged. Payers pressure forced companies to reduce ranks of sales representatives. Regulatory decisions have limited possibility of sales reps to meet HCPs. The result is that sales rep cannot meet his Client often enough to detail the product and maintain relationship in the same time.

Digital came to help with e-detailing and web-based self-detail solutions. CRM software supports reps with data that allow reps to have a meaningful conversation with HCPs they barely know. Combining detailing during visits with digital tactics and good old direct marketing is our new buzz word: a Multi Channel Marketing (MCM).

This Multi Channel Marketing approach allows even better results with something Pharma marketers call Closed Loop Marketing (CLM). What does it mean? It is a feedback loop that feeds every next action with the information gathered in previous touch points.

[box type=”note” align=”aligncenter” ]For example: If doctor X has logged in to the website of the product or disease area and searched for particular information (be it safety data or Mode of Action), his activity is logged in the system. Sales who will prepare for the meeting will get his eDetailing story focused on the topics that were of interest of doctor X during his journey on the website. eDetailing application also logs data about activity of the doctor X. It will note which parts were opened longer, which multimedia were presented, what answers doctor X gave to the quizzes embedded in the story.

Those data combined may be used to shape the content of personalized newsletter send to the doctor X as the follow-up for the visit. When doctor X clicks on the link and goes to the self-detailing website his activities will feed any next action that company can offer (be it web conference or CME online course assignment proposal).[/box]

The concept is easy to describe, but very hard to achieve. Big Pharma usually has many different tools for each activity used by different business units at the same time. The data gathered across different channels are not only not standardized, but often they are not gathered at all.
Our prediction is that 2014 will be the year of integration of digital with other channels. Multi Channel Marketing campaigns, made better or worse will become a standard approach. Digital channels will become a core of those campaigns as they offer the most advanced and effortless data collection capabilities. When integration is done, more mature organization will start to play with Big Data, looking for the behavioral patterns, segmentation and optimized content.

2. Virtual conferences

Medical conferences are vital for pharma business. Unfortunately the cost of attending is too high for participants, and regulations are limiting possibilities of the industry to sponsor the attendance. The emerging trend is to compliment (if not replace) physical meetings with a digital, virtual presence.

Virtual conferences have many advantages that may not be obvious. They are cheap to organize, free to attend, accessible worldwide, and they do not have to be limited in time. Additionally virtual conference attendee can go to all the sessions one after another, pause and replay. While in real time of the event, there is possibility to network and perform Q and A sessions. If the event is replayed there is also possibility to maintain asynchronous communication via discussion boards or e-mail lists. Virtual event can be live for months and create a community around.

 

Webcasting Virtual Conference - Source: ON24
Webcasting Virtual Conference – Source: ON24

There are still some regulatory compliance objections (ie. no discussion on off-label, still researched use can be broadcasted and replayed outside of the physical event timeframe). There is still a group of attendees that strongly prefer physical meetings due to networking opportunities and informal chats. Technical solutions are not perfect and most of 3D meeting environments look like a joke in comparison with what consumer market offers for massive multiplayer online games.

Still, virtual conferences will become a common digital marketing tactic for pharma marketing in 2013. We recommend an exhaustive presentation on virtual conferences by Len Starnes below.

The medical conference is dead, long live the medical conference from Len Starnes

3. Embracing Social Media
It has to come some day: Pharma in Social Media. To be honest this trend is on the list since 2010 at least. Anyway, the time has come we believe. There are many factors that make 2014 a year when pharma should finally embrace social media.

20111230-NodeXL-Twitter-pfizer network graph
20111230 NodeXL-Twitter-pfizer network graph (Photo credit: Marc_Smith)

The major one is coming from the unexpected corner. Industry was long hesitant to enter social media space due to the drug safety consideration. If you participate in Social Media it means you need to actively monitor it against any adverse events reports. The standard practice was however, to assume that if pharma is not listening it cannot be obliged to report. On the other hand such assumption may be wrong, so as soon as there is a tweet that meets all four conditions, pharma company will be probably considered obliged to find it and report. Thus, we believe that drug safety teams should push their organizations towards monitoring of social media.

[box type=”info” align=”aligncenter” ]
Reminder: information needed for valid Adverse Event

  • An identifiable patient

  • An identifiable reporter

  •  A suspect drug or biological product

  •  An adverse experience or fatal outcome suspected to be due to the suspect drug or biological product.[/box]

Another change that may increase Social Media priority on digital pharma marketing tactics list is Google’s algorithm. Social signals are more important than backlinks and Google+ or YouTube presence is a shortcut to the first page on Google Search results. If pharma wants to have their web presence visible, especially on the US market where DTC marketing is allowed, Social Media is a must have.

Third factor to consider is, well, social. The generational change in attitude towards social media affects HCPs too. They are active in Social Media, and they will talk about industry in this space regardless of pharma marketing presence there. At K-message we believe that big platforms, and especially Google+ will continue to grow in 2014 at the cost of closed niche communities like Sermo or Doctors.net.uk. To be efficient Pharma marketing should listen to the conversation, and engage whenever appropriate. Influencers of 2014 are in the social web, not in the conference room.

4. Mobile apps decline, raise of the mobile web.

This trend is not limited to pharma marketing. Mobile applications are really dead end for marketers in 2014. Due to the war of ecosystems and difference in mobile usage habits between regions and countries it is just not viable to create mobile applications. To reach your target audience you need to prepare few versions customized per OS, data usage etc. Very often such costly effort is done only to find out that the content not compliant week after launch and cannot be updated.

QRcode - K-message.com
QRcode – K-message.com

 
Still, mobile is on the rise, and you will definitely see John Doerr’s abbreviation “SoLoMo” (Social, Local, Mobile) on some slides in 2014. The answer is not the app but the mobile web. The content pharma marketing has to create should work on the small screen from the beginning. Every new website should be designed starting from mobile and tablet experience or at least have a mobile version available. And “mobile” does not mean that it fits the small screen. It is about making the content fit for mobile experience.

5. More visual content marketing

 

Pretty Pinterest
Pretty Pinterest (Photo credit: mkhmarketing)

This fifth (although probably not the last trend you will see in pharma marketing 2014) trend is directly connected to Social and Mobile trends we discussed above. Content is the king for marketers in pharma for years, but in the age of social and mobile it cannot be text-only content.

On small screens and in social space image is worth more than thousands words. We will see videos, interactive infographics, images and animations. YouTube, Slideshare, Instagram, Pinterest. This is the content that is accessible on mobile, but also shared on social platforms. Of course pharma marketing cannot skip the text, but even for scientific, medical information there is a way to visualise it.

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Pharma Marketing

Abbott EPD: the first digital marketing only launch in pharma

Abbott‘s Low Dose HRT brand was launched in the first in the pharmaceutical industry digital marketing only campaign. According to the press release published by PMLive, the campaign for based in Basel, Switzerland, Abbott Established Pharmaceuticals Division (EPD) was the first new-product launch to be delivered solely via a digital channel for the pharma industry. We cannot say whether or not it was really the first digital-only launch in pharma, but we understand that Abbott EPD is satisfied by the results.

Русский: Компания "Эбботт"
Abbott logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Campaign reached to 9,000 doctors who engaged with Abbott’s Low Dose HRT brand via British online professional network Doctors.net.uk. This equates to 45% of the NHS population of obstetricians and gynaecologists, and nearly 23% of GPs. Please note that it is not clear whether those were the specializations of the HCPS who received Abbott’s message.
According to Abbott EPG, the brand’s market share has increased and there has been a continuous month-on-month growth in sales in 2013 as a result of the campaign, which included interactive case studies, clinical paper summaries, and an ask the expert section.
The decision to try a digital only product launch via Doctors.net.uk was made following research conducted by Abbott, which found online professional networks can provide a more effective method of engaging with doctors than traditional sales and marketing channels. They enable them to take a more targeted and measurable approach, and to deliver a mix of promotional and educational messages in a way that really benefits doctors’ clinical practice.
More than three million physicians use professional online networks worldwide and statistics from Doctors.net.uk show that 59% of them visit these channels specifically to update their medical knowledge; while 38% do so to get information on new products.
Abbott is already very active in the digital space, and it co-operated with doctors.net.uk  before. 2013 PM Society Digital Media award for the best HCP website was granted for their Femoston Conti Low Dose Microsite made by Doctors.net.uk.
Ajay Mann, Commercial Marketing Manager for Abbott EPD, commented to PMLive:

“The results speak for themselves. The coverage and frequency of the campaign exceed current national call rates by sales reps. What pleases us the most is our increase in market share and continued sales growth. Doctors are coming back to the website, indicating that they find it a valuable resource.”

At K-message we praise courage of Abbott’s digital pioneers. However we doubt some of the claims from the release. In particular, it is hard not to get growth in market share after launch of the product. Even if you sell one dose of the medicine, it will be 100% percent more than nothing. Secondly, we would be very careful with stating a positive impact of sales of any campaign, without a benchmark or a sample. What would happen if Abbott’s launch got traditional detailing instead of digital? Sure the reach of the campaign would be initially smaller and it would reach the target group bit later. After all not every HCP is visited on the regular basis. Nevertheless, we cannot guarantee that those approached by field force would not increase sales more than those who only read a website. We could also imagine, that a combination of digital and traditional would be even more efficient. We just do not know, as it is not clear what would happen with a different set of tools.
To summarize: we believe in the efficiency of digital approach. But we would be far of saying it is the only and the best way to launch a product.

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