The product has always been king in the pharmaceutical industry, but pharma marketing comes a close second. Pharma marketing is a huge industry on its own, earning nearly $30 billion (₹233 billion) in the past 20 years—a 70% increase in that timeframe as per the latest research. As the world acknowledges the importance of drugs and pharmaceuticals, especially following the pandemic outbreak, it’s clear that pharma marketing has a bright road ahead. With the fast-evolving technology and rapid change in consumer behavior, one question remains: How will pharma marketing change moving forward?
“A zero-click search is one in which Google displays an answer in a snippet at the top of the search engine results page (SERP),eliminating the need to visit the webpage”
Zero-click search
More than half of all online searches now occur without even clicking, thanks to Google’s new zero-click search. A zero-click search is one in which Google displays an answer in a snippet at the top of the search engine results page (SERP), eliminating the need to visit the webpage. This way, one site is chosen to be the authority on the specific search query. This is bad news for websites that don’t even make it to the first SERP. More often than not, users will click on the read more button on the result snippet than go through the other results.
On the other hand, this could also be an advantage for smaller pharma companies that don’t end up at the top of the SERP. As the zero-click search is reliant on content, these companies could create specific content that may earn them a snippet. Digital marketing firm Ayima highlights the importance of expertly written content, as this doesn’t just help you rank in the SERPs, it also attracts your target market to your site. Furthermore, these snippets could be viewed as free advertising for your pharma brand. Invest in strategic SEO content and optimize your Google Ads campaigns to stay as relevant as possible, and snag a potential snippet
Telemedicine
The spike in telemedicine spending during the first peak of the pandemic showed how in-demand the service really is in Indian. In August 2020, the National Digital Health Mission (NDHM) pledged to support the universal health coverage with a budget of ₹4.7billion ($63.6 million).
A caveat of this new method of delivering patient care, however, is that doctors, hospitals, and pharmaceutical companies need time to get comfortable with the new arrangement. As we previously talked about in our ‘Marketing approaches in the Era of Digital Healthcare Transformation’ write-up, the change in health’s digital landscape has led to a mass transformation of business models as the healthcare and pharmaceutical sectors, as well as the consumers, are coping. In fact, these changes all lead toward a connected care paradigm in which you’ll need to integrate social media, and other mobile and online platforms with healthcare, including pharmaceutical marketing.
“Artificial intelligence (AI) allows pharma companies to have access to real-time data and insights due to the AI’s machine learning capabilities.”
Image Credit: Unsplash
AI & hyper personalization
Mass media marketing may be making a swift exit as more and more physicians and consumers—the key opinion leaders (KOLs) in pharma—are searching for more targeted information. Artificial intelligence (AI) allows pharma companies to have access to real-time data and insights due to the AI’s machine learning capabilities. AI-driven tools eradicate human error, making its data analyses and, consequently, hyper-personal strategy deployment near flawless.
In addition to social listening and hyper-specific KOL mapping, AI tools can also do game-changing marketing copy auto-generation. This essentially lets you publish pharma content which could triple engagement metrics among physicians and patients, as reported by PM360. What’s more is that this success is scalable and repeatable, so it’s a good idea to invest in good AI tools for your company as soon as you possibly can. Pharma marketing is an omnichannel and very interconnected process, so it may actually benefit you to try a combination of these trends to make sure that your pharmaceutical products can gain a bigger market share.
“Irene Trivett is fascinated by all things health technology. She enjoys researching and writing about digitalization, AI, informatics, and more.”
