Which industry do you think spends the most on advertising? You are wrong if your answer is Pharma (guessed from the blog title?). It’s FMCG. Haha, we got you!
However, Pharmaceutical marketing constitutes about 10-15% of its share. For an industry that sells medicines, that’s quite a lot. But have you wondered why Pharma spends such a large amount on advertising? Why is it necessary?
Advertising is vital to create awareness about new products and new prices. The healthcare sector needs to spread awareness, if not the most. Are you curious about where we are going with this? Let’s dive in!
The pharmaceutical industry carries the responsibility of saving a patient on its shoulders. It spends a lot of time, research, and development on drugs and medicines to cater to a patient’s needs. So what will happen when the patient isn’t aware of the product?
To achieve the success of a drug, a healthcare marketer needs to engage in product messaging, distribution of the product through sales, and promote one’s brand. After all, no one will recommend a medicine from a manufacturer who doesn’t have a good reputation in the industry.
Medicines are a search good as people don’t consume them unless they know their price, attributes, usage, and benefits. Pharma marketing becomes essential here because the consumers need information on the said good.
As the information about the product increases, more people will be willing to buy your product, naturally increasing your sales. Hence, digital pharma marketing will increase your brand awareness, reputation among consumers, storage spaces among your distributors, and retention of your existing consumers. Who wouldn’t want that?
Did you know?
There are 70k health-related searches per minute every day! Furthermore, 56% of Internet users look online for information about a specific medical treatment.
Healthcare digital marketing opens a line of communication between providers and healthcare organizations, including their patients. It provides valuable content and resources to patients, which helps them further strengthen their purchase decision of a particular medicine.
However, when it comes to healthcare marketers, it has tremendous benefits, possibly more than what consumers get from watching an informational advertisement. The benefits of Digital marketing in healthcare are discussed as follows.
• It increases the patient base of practice.
• It increases local physician referrals to a practice. It will save a lot of time for the consumers.
• Through marketing strategies like video marketing, you can establish your expertise in the industry!
• Marketing for pharmacy will provide you with a competitive advantage against other firms in your industry!
• Furthermore, you’ll be the one who takes a lead in reducing the spread of misinformation among consumers.
An increase in the consumer base for a particular medicine or medical practice is not always a bad signal. View it as the generation of more awareness about a disease, and an increase in access to a possible treatment. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to save as many lives as you can with a simple step such as marketing?
Now that you know why you HAVE to engage in digital pharma marketing, let’s look at some of the strategies that will make it possible for you to come out top in the healthcare industry.
It’s no joke that online marketing allows customers to have 24/7 access to healthcare resources, including crucial knowledge and benefits. An online search precedes visitation to a doctor.
By keeping the following strategies in mind for pharmaceutical marketing, you’ll be able to design the perfect marketing plan to penetrate the consumer market. So grab your notepad if you haven’t already.
• Ensure that you identify your target audience because you need to know what information they want from you.
• Have a user-friendly website that is easy to navigate and provides information to consumers readily. After all, doctors and patients both engage in deep research before using any medicine.
• 40% of social media users find the information provided to them worthwhile. You wouldn’t want to restrict yourself from capitalizing on this.
• According to statistics, health-related topics are the 3rd most popular activity on the internet. By engaging in the right SEO practices, you’ll do yourself and your buyers’ much interest.
• And most of all – ensure that you are providing value-driven content to your customers. People have extensive access to web content, and it’s not difficult for them to cross verify your claims.
Whether it is influencer marketing, email marketing, or social media marketing, everything will end up being profitable for you. It includes user-generated content because you have to ensure that your customers trust your claims.
If you haven’t started healthcare digital marketing yet, now’s the time to start it. It takes time to establish a good reputation and brand awareness in an industry with multiple contenders. Are you not sure about your marketing strategies? Then contact us asap! We’ll make sure to highlight your expertise and establish your dominance in a jiffy.
Suhail Bajaj is the CEO of BrightBrain Marketing Technologies LLP that has now grown into a full-fledged digital marketing agency with 55+ employees and clients from 7+ countries – all under his supervision. Graduated with an MBA from the esteemed Cass Business School, he brilliantly puts his learnings into practice, helping brands meet their business goals and succeed in a digital-first world.
