For some years now, the pharmaceutical industry has been facing an exciting challenge to improve the quality of life of patients, going beyond the stage of disease care to become a strategic ally in the methods of prevention and promotion of healthy habits.
For some years now, the pharmaceutical industry has been facing an exciting challenge to improve the quality of life of patients, going beyond the stage of disease care to become a strategic ally in the methods of prevention and promotion of healthy habits.
With the expansion of the Covid-19 pandemic and its variants, the research and development carried out by pharmaceutical laboratories around the world has become more critical, and they have joined forces to stop the effects of the virus and, at the same time, continue contributing to the care and cure of other diseases.
With this new scenario, which has also completely changed the way of interacting with patients, medical personnel, specialist associations, among others, it has become necessary to find effective and efficient alternatives that help the sector to continue growing, adopting new communication channels, with formats that continue to guarantee knowledge management and the training of professionals in the face of advances in the pharmaceutical world.
The set of strategies and tactics to promote products and services of the different brands in this sector, respecting the guidelines of the national and international regulatory frameworks, is what we call pharmaceutical marketing, which, when applied correctly, will guarantee a highly positive impact on all the audiences it contemplates, and who are becoming more demanding every day when it comes to establishing a connection with a brand.
What do we understand as pharmaceutical marketing at igloolab?
Pharmaceutical marketing is the heart of igloolab. We are not only a digital communication and omnichannel communication company for the pharmaceutical industry, but we go far beyond the conventional service tactics offered by most agencies, and we put special effort into the strategies we devise, becoming an ally for our clients.
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For us, pharmaceutical marketing is a set of actions required by a laboratory or a therapeutic area to publicize the benefits of a product to a specific audience, which are usually medical specialists, healthcare professionals, and all stakeholders in the healthcare ecosystem (pharmacy managers, scientific societies and in some cases consumers and patient programs).
Under this scenario, igloolab articulates the communication strategy, adapting it to the different audiences and ensuring that the customer’s message about the benefits and value proposition of its products projects’ coherence in any of the established channels is absolutely clear to all involved.
Pharmaceutical marketing strategies
The set of tactics to promote products and services of the different laboratory brands, respecting the guidelines of national and international regulatory frameworks, is what we call pharmaceutical marketing.
When we correctly apply a strategy, we guarantee a very positive impact on all audiences that the sector sees and who are increasingly demanding when it comes to establishing connections with a brand. To achieve this, it is essential to draw up a concrete plan for ourselves, which must be implemented based on the objectives we want to achieve.
The pharmaceutical sector found a new way to impact its audiences in the digital field, avoiding crowds, constant contact, and generating new spaces and channels for communication.
The new challenge has been breaking the deadlock and exploring beautiful formats that contribute to health professionals’ knowledge. But how to do it? Keeping in mind the following tips will help you in this task.
● Improves content quality
● Digital experiences
● Phygital experiences for hybrid events
● Empower your team for the digital world
Differences between pharmaceutical marketing and marketing in other industries
The main difference between pharmaceutical marketing and marketing in other sectors is related to regulation.
In the marketing of other sectors, they have the possibility of having massive channels, for example, those contemplated in ATL strategies -radio, press, television- and BTL with supermarket takeovers; while in pharmaceutical marketing, we do not adhere to greater control of communication which, as a rule, should not reach patients directly.
As we know, pharmaceutical topics involve scientific studies from international institutes or universities, complex clinical cases, and a very specific way of communicating. The methodology and terminology are different from the rest of the consumer products industry, and, of course, so is the audience.
The dissemination of information should be done through private and/or exclusive laboratory channels, which may also have collaborations such as those of scientific societies, where effective contact is established with physicians to ensure that the message reaches health professionals directly.
In our case, each strategy, each piece created, has scientific backing and is submitted to the approval of specialists in the field we are working on. In this sense, this type of marketing mainly focuses on ensuring that the information about each product, molecule, indications and contraindications, scientific support, among others, is delivered efficiently and clearly.
Types of pharmaceutical marketing
The use of new technologies has marked substantial changes in the way pharmaceutical marketing is done in the world, and if we add to this the changes brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic in the way we relate to each other, we will find that the sector has had to accelerate its “evolution” process towards much more disruptive and dynamic tools, which generate a more significant impact and allow it to continue growing.
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Among science and creativity, an unbreakable bond was generated that traced a new course for companies that before, due to fear or resistance to change, preferred to use already known formats, but now in the digital field, they have found a new way to impact their audiences.
Traditional marketing
Traditional pharmaceutical marketing was applied about ten years ago and focused on a fundamental scheme that contemplated two scenarios: The first one was the medical visit. The medical visitor had a few minutes to approach the health professional in this space. Visual aids were used to explain the benefits, indications, scientific studies, and all the documentation accompanying a product. The second scenario was the networking activities. Here we found congresses, symposiums, speakers’ tours, and other educational activities to which specialists were invited, within their own country or to other cities in the world in the case of international events, to update their knowledge on the different therapies and new product technologies.
Digital marketing for pharmaceutical companies
Pharmaceutical digital marketing comes hand in hand with CME – Continuing Medical Education – understood as the set of activities that allow health professionals to update their knowledge and train them to perform their activities, making the model change completely.
The traditional scheme is no longer used, but digital tools are starting to be used with virtual scenarios that implement the so-called omnichannel, where several communication channels are activated to reach the target audience.
We find then e-mailing, landing pages oriented to professionals, e-learning, digital clinical cases, phygital activities, among others, which complement the experiences and generate statistical data on the attendance of the audience, their interests, interactions, the time they remain connected with the tools and allow us to know whether or not they received the content if they recommended it and how they rated it.
In this way, traditional and digital marketing for pharmaceutical companies complement each other, strengthening medical visits with digital tools and relationship activities with elements of much greater interactivity and measurable engagement; always taking care of consistency in the message, whatever channel is being used.
igloolab is a pharmaceutical marketing company in Colombia
Igloolab is the pioneer company in the use of omnichannel marketing for the pharmaceutical industry in Colombia.
For more than a decade, we have changed communication models to involve digital tools and engagement measurement in physical scenarios, improving the user experience every day.
Our focus is on constant updating and innovation to provide solutions to the pharmaceutical industry, aligned with what is happening in the international market and its trends.
Knowing the current requirements of health professionals, who seek to update their knowledge with transparent content, which does not lean towards a particular product, but on the contrary, with verifiable facts to demonstrate, for example, the usefulness of a molecule against others; we develop our messages based on collaboration with scientific societies and laboratories, to achieve greater objectivity in the information.
Furthermore, taking into account the ‘new reality that the Covid-19 pandemic has brought us and the limitations that it has brought us in terms of capacity for events, income to healthcare centers, and proximity, we have launched a new initiative to reach doctors directly through a mobile interactive center in which the professional enters physically, chooses on the screen one of the available visitors and online opens the space to transmit the information that the customer wants within its strategy.
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In igloolab, today we talk about the customization of pharmaceutical marketing, where we create a whole communicational universe around much more specific audiences, with channels tailored in detail for each specialty; therefore, we join the work of the sales force of each laboratory, and we rely on the data already collected.
What services does igloolab offer in pharmaceutical marketing?
Our trajectory and development as strategic allies of our clients have been marked by years of research and study of international markets, scientific societies, and recognized laboratories, allowing us to consolidate a complete portfolio to supply absolutely all the needs in omnichannel marketing.
Our creative lab creates effective strategies for brands or therapeutic areas, and we take care of the execution. And to ensure their effectiveness, we include innovative CME tools – Continuing Medical Education – with a complete suite, where we offer e-learning, clinical cases, virtual congresses, symposia, organ atlases, and provide options for sales representatives other players in the pharmaceutical industry and scientific societies. Additionally, we lead relationship activities at an advanced level, based on phygital experiences, which are those that are developed physically but using digital resources that allow us to deliver information in a precise, disruptive, and impactful way.
Appropriately strategizing, with a prior study of audiences, will favor two-way interaction, where feedback is paramount, and the customer will feel involved at all times.
Translating each action into a greater degree of brand loyalty and loyalty is the point on which we must focus, so it is ideal to have the support of an expert.
Now that you know the importance of pharmaceutical marketing let’s talk.
Luis Alfonso Ruíz
CEO – Igloolab
