Impact of Digital Marketing on Buyer’s Journey in Pharma Industry

Reach:

• The search engine is still the biggest referral system that delivers majority of the traffic to online health and pharmaceutical content. On more than 60% of the occasions, people go to search engines to find answers to their health related queries. Pharma marketers should make sure that their websites are well optimized for the search engine results. Web sites should contain keyword-rich content, a clear hierarchy, proper text links and easily reachable pages among other things to become relevant and popular on search engines.
• Pharma is known to have social anxiety but companies like Lilly and Novartis have started to make themselves visible on Facebook and Twitter. Social Media should be used to make customer connect, share press releases, spread social awareness and listen to unmet needs.
• Email is a good medium to reach out to Health Care Practitioners (HCPs). Companies need to make sure that emails are designed for different email providers and are mobile compatible. Content should be short, engaging and as much personalized as possible. Split testing should be done with subject lines, time of the day and different call-to-actions.
• Given the popularity of search engines pay-per-click (PPC) becomes an immediate choice of online marketers. But getting a SEM campaign off the ground is not easy. FDA has a comprehensive set of rules and Google has its own elaborate guidelines for Pharma companies. After reviewing these guidelines marketers should decide whether they need PPC in the starting or should it be a step to be taken further down the journey.

Engage:

• Marketers need to understand the target persona as per their brand and TA. A research report by PwC shows that 18 to 24 years target group is more likely to trust medical information shared by others on social media.
• Relevant content is the key to getting better engagement results. If content is not very relevant to your target persona then just posting online will not yield effective returns... One study confirms that Lilly posted 7 times more on social media than Novo Nordisk, but could not score better on engagement ranking.
• Engage with the social community instead of marketing to them. Have a healthy balance between Social Content, Category Information and Brand Content.
• Make sure all the digital channels are monitored properly. A well-trained cross-functional team could lead meaningful participation and cultivate user generated content.

Convert:

• Create a very clear conversion path with an engaging landing page and effective call-to-action item. Woerwag Pharma did this beautifully for a campaign they ran for Diabetic Neuropathy.
• Provide an opportunity for visitors to engage with your website at different care-flow stages. Coxapane provides emotional support to visiting patients by sharing experiences from other patients. It also provides an external link to MS watch website and gives out travel tips among other things.
• Get visitors to talk about your product. Pillcam accomplishes this by providing visitors with a doctor discussion guide.

Delight:

• Websites like ‘Ask Patient’ are providing patients with a platform to rate medicines as per their experiences. In a world where half of the patients are expecting Amazon level service delivery from health care providers, online reviews can mean a lot to a brand. Marketers need to pay attention to these post-purchase touch points.
• Involve digital channels in patient adherence programs. Patients’ intimate relationship with their phones can be used to develop personalized adherence programs.
• Use technology to make your end product interactive. Other industries have used NFC to make the end product interact with mobile phones. Japanese Giant Otsuka Pharma is working with Proteus on the first smart pill. All these measures are aimed to increase customer retention.