We've got marketing tools and training to support you in optimizing your pharma/healthcare marketing strategy

  • There are many challenges to face when it comes to marketing for the pharma sector. Healthcare companies are in an industry that is one of the most highly-regulated in the world, which represents unique challenges. However, they also need to compete against a huge number of medical advice websites and conflicting education in order to get and keep their audience's attention.
  • On top of this, they have the added challenge of needing to provide communications and create customer journeys that are suitable for both patients and decision-makers in the healthcare industry.
  • This means that it is vital for companies in the pharma and healthcare sectors to have an omnichannel marketing strategy in place to help engage audiences and improve brand performance.
The Race Funnel

Social media for pharma and healthcare

You can use social media in this industry but only in certain ways. Social listening is an acceptable research type to find out what healthcare professionals and patients are discussing in terms of a specific therapy area that could highlight views on certain medications.

Email marketing for pharma and healthcare

Email marketing can also be used so long as the messages are relevant and recipients have given permission to receive them. You can also send emails in the pharma sector quite frequently so long as they are relevant. However, it is worth bearing in mind general email marketing best practices as well as healthcare regulations when developing your strategy so as not to annoy those on your email list.

Opportunities for the pharma and healthcare sector

Despite legislation and regulations around marketing in the pharma and healthcare sectors, there are plenty of opportunities available from digital marketing for Pharma and Healthcare businesses.

What does omnichannel mean in Pharma? And what does digital disruption mean for this increasingly complex industry?

Omnichannel Pharma does not exist in a vacuum. Many industries launched large-scale omnichannel transformations years ago, and consumers are experiencing the benefits. Digitization has been gradually occurring for many years with the percentage of customers who are willing to purchase digitally gradually increasing. This naturally varies depending on the complexity of the product and the maturity of the market. Banking, for example, has seen widespread adoption of digital service channels. Pharmaceutical and healthcare companies have been lagging behind other industries in providing an omnichannel experience since face-to-face communications are beneficial as part of service delivery. Although most businesses have begun to increase online services, many consumers still use traditional channels when interacting with them, for a variety of reasons. Pharma and healthcare marketing notoriously relies on complex customer journeys. This has never been the case more than…

How to take a strategic approach to your healthcare marketing planning in 2022

Over the last 18 months, the healthcare sector has gone through a period of rapid change. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on the way that people think about and interact with healthcare providers and provides many new healthcare marketing opportunities for businesses. Healthcare marketing refers to the marketing strategies healthcare providers, insurers, suppliers, and advocacy groups use to attract new patients and increase awareness of their healthcare business. Earlier in the summer, we outlined some of the marketing trends that the healthcare sector is experiencing. Some of the key trends from Smart Insights’ pharma and healthcare marketing trends report included:

The consumerization of healthcare

The consumerization of healthcare is the trend of people influencing and controlling their medical and wellness care. It’s an acknowledgment of the need for healthcare providers to develop strategies that fulfil customer needs and preferences. Healthcare…

Combine opportunity, strategy and action to identify the right approach for your pharma brand

The last 18 months has been a rollercoaster ride for many of us, not least those within the pharmaceutical sector. The COVID-19 pandemic has influenced the way pharma brands communicate and deliver their products: consumers are becoming more knowledgeable and proactive, whilst businesses are having to adapt to an increasingly digital-first world. And this has all happened alongside broader trends which KPMG believe will have a significant impact on revenues and business and operating models: “The pharmaceutical sector is at a crossroads. In a heavily disrupted marketplace, characterized by shifting payer attitudes and patient empowerment, neither incremental adjustments nor steady evolution are likely to halt the decline of the traditional pharmaceutical business model.” As a result of these different trends, it’s important for businesses to evaluate their digital communications and value delivery. Within the pharma sector,…

Why taking a strategic view of your medical marketing will help set you up for success in the year ahead

As we approach the final quarter of the year, marketers in the medicine sector will already be looking ahead to 2022. The last 18 months has been a turbulent time but one that has also opened up new opportunities for medical marketing. The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated many existing trends and according to Professor Scott Galloway, healthcare will be one of the most disruptive sectors in the ‘post-corona’ world. But one of the key challenges for marketers is to successfully navigate the massive amounts of data and make sense of the main areas of focus. With so much information it can be difficult to identify the right priorities, objectives and, ultimately, strategy for your healthcare brand. So in…

The rise of healthcare content marketing in an increasingly digital medical marketing environment

The role of the healthare marketing rep is undergoing rapid reimagining into a digital/face-to-face hybrid as we're finding the more effective avenues of engagement, such as healthcare content marketing, during the pandemic and beyond. Convincing budget holders to increase the use of digital channels in the pharmaceutical industry can be challenging given legal constraints. This is illustrated by pharma’s traditional investments in third-party, healthcare provider-only websites, but with limited patient information. Content marketing strategy involves defining both the best content types and formats to support customer journeys and selecting how to reach audiences via content distribution as summarised by our content marketing blueprint. Danny Flamberg writing in M3 highlights how online content gives new opportunities to support pharma and healthcare patients' pain points. He says: “Unlike traditional communications, digital marketing gives you the…

In today's age of digital disruption, medical marketing leaders need to consider the full customer lifecycle supported by digital marketing

Medical marketing is about a lot more than just good products. In this high value, complex sector, marketers must emphasize the full customer lifecycle with seamless customer and partner relations, supported by digital platforms and microservices, to effectively leverage the consumerization of healthcare. It is important to consider all the wide-ranging implications of digital health transformation in order to understand the context of medical marketing today. Our pharma and healthcare marketing trends 2021 guide covers 9 topics of innovation happening right now in the medical marketing sector. Download your free copy today to find out more. [si_monthly_campaign_blog_cta_banner id=160469]

What is the consumerization of healthcare (CoH)?

Consumerization of healthcare is the trend of people influencing and controlling their medical and wellness care. It is also an acknowledgment of the need for providers to…

If you're looking to attract and retain more customers for your medical business online, we've got pharma and healthcare digital transformation solutions for you

Healthcare digital transformation is a staged program of organizational improvements to pharma/healthcare business models, people, processes, and technologies to integrate digital marketing into a business in order to maximize the potential business contribution of digital media, data, and technology. Challenges relating to digital transformation are not unique to the pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors. However, unlike other sectors there is a greater level of convergence between B2B and B2C approaches: Payers, insurers and hospitals are no longer willing to pay simply for a product push approach; they want fees to be dependent upon the success of the products and procedures through measurable outcomes Rather than creating one message for one brand, the new world order of content strategy requires collaboration and engagement of consumers, who need to feel invested…

Exploring the latest medical landing page conversion rates to inform your pharma or healthcare marketing strategy

'What does good look like?' 'How do we compare?' and 'How do we get there?' are common questions when healthcare marketing strategy is concerned. With so much competition in healthcare marketing today, you need to benchmark yourself against the key metrics within your industry. But, good benchmarking is only as useful as your marketing strategy allows it to be. Are you confident that you're applying a data-driven strategy? Are you happy with the metrics in place to inform your digital marketing optimization? We'll delve into some recommended resources and marketing tools to help you implement your benchmarking learning and increase your healthcare customer conversion and retention.

Conversion rate benchmarking for your healthcare marketing strategy

It's useful to have conversion statistics to compare your conversion rates against if you're serious about conversion rate optimization (CRO). And with the resources and…

Your customer's omnichannel digital experience is key to meeting your healthcare marketing goals. Your ability to prioritize determines how fast you'll get there

Naturally, user experience (UX or CX) applies to just about every marketing sector right now. But, where healthcare marketing comes into its own, is the sheer opportunity for data-driven personalization. Customer-focused healthcare marketing taps into the benefits of digital transformation for manufacturing, logistics, supply chain, healthcare agents, and the patients as end-users. Firstly, let's consider the digital disruption which puts consumers in a researcher's shoes, and making personal decisions about their healthcare, online: 47% research doctors online 38% research hospital and medical facilities online 77% book medical appointments online But how can marketers and managers anticipate and satisfy the needs of healthcare consumers demanding products and services on-demand? In this article, we will look into some elements of digital experience, including recommended resources from our Digital Experience…

As digital transformation continues to shape the new relationship between healthcare providers and their customers, upskill your pharma marketing team with the key digital skills and tools to improve performance

The question of the key digital skills and tools in the pharma industry is an ongoing challenge. Pharma marketing generalists plan and optimize marketing strategies, campaigns and product launches, requiring a T-shaped digital skillset and continuous professional development to oversee all marketing activity. Pharma digital specialists manage day-to-day optimization of key digital channels, the new front-line of customer engagement. Investment in tools and training for these staff is crucial for your company's growth. Of course, the breakdown of these channels will depend on your pharma company's positioning and target markets, which we will visit further on in the article.

Why invest in digital marketing for pharma?

Improved distribution of, and accessibility to, pharmaceutical data and information is accelerating customer-centric disruption…