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Pharmaceutical Advertising in Medical Journals

Marketing in the Pharmaceutical sector has changed many faces. A lot of pharma companies and firms have shifted towards digital marketing and advertising via social media platforms, device-specific platforms (mobile/tablet/desktop), and other web-based applications. However, many in the industry have stuck to traditional print media and advertising, and they continue to spend a lot of money on them in comparison to digital media. In fact, printing in medical journals alone takes up a lot of pages, time, effort, as well as money.

The reason why advertising in medical journals continues to capture the interests of several pharmaceutical companies is that when one looks at past data, it can be observed that these forms of advertising have a vast reach. They directly catch the attention of healthcare professionals and also fetch significant revenues. This is a form of endemic marketing that continues to flourish even today. When Pharma companies couple print and digital advertising in medical journals, the digital side has minimal contribution to make. 

Further, the revenue generated from print advertising helps in offsetting the increasing costs of a continuing presence in the traditional printing world wherein people are aggressively progressing towards heavy digitalisation. Such costs are inclusive of salary payments for staff members, editors, and administrative members. 

These people review the whole process right from communication and coordination with the publishers to online reviewing, hosting, editing, making digital copies, keeping track of the database for subscribers, copyright requirements, and much more.

Though healthcare professionals might argue that they are not impacted much by pharmaceutical advertising in medical journals, the numbers speak otherwise (returns received by pharma brands  with respect to the money spent on print ads). 

Every time an HCP is interested in a particular pharma ad, he or she sways the prescription in favour of the brand being advertised. This automatically spikes sales as well. Therefore, advertising in medical journals allows pharma brands to precision target healthcare professionals in a different way.

Medical journals carry out ads from different specialities in the field, and the editors have to be extremely careful about what should go out and what should not. They have to ensure that the advertisements do not give any kind of information that is false or misleading. Hence, they try and stick to certain spaces in the journals and release ads regarding only those drugs/products/services that are bound to bring in responses.

Keeping aside the print format, pharmaceutical brands these days are also heavily participating in digital advertising in online medical journals. This is because journals have a particular standard, and their circulation is quite different from how magazines are circulated (they are not as readily available as magazines). 

Furthermore, online spaces follow specific criteria and regulations and medical journal editors constantly face challenges in this area. They continuously try to approve content that is in favour of all rules. In case of a discrepancy, matters are reviewed, and methods of displaying pharma ads are remodelled.

If you manage endemic platforms that have physician networks or online medical journals  and want to drive your revenue, have a look at Doceree today! To know more about them, click here!

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How to Successfully Market in the Pharma Industry?

Earlier, pharma sales agents spent their working hours driving from one hospital to another, interacting and exchanging information about their products and finalizing the deals, but the coronavirus pandemic has changed all that.

As the virus spreads worldwide, marketers like all of us are following stay-at-home policies, leveraging digital tools and virtual meetings to sell their products to doctors. It's accelerating the trend towards pharma digital advertising/marketing, and this shift is displaying that the digital trend is here to stay with us for a long time.

Now, as we discuss pharma digital marketing, we all know it's quite challenging. The pharmaceutical industry is highly standardized, and it is also an industry that is known for attracting litigation attorneys who are always looking for false claims. 

The general playbook for marketing to health care professionals is the same as it is for any other B2B sale; one has to craft a messaging strategy that ensures optimal reach and frequency in delivering the right message to the right person at the right place at the right time, choosing the right platform from the various channels available. 

Let's look at some of the pharmaceuticals marketing strategies  that one can use to market their products successfully:

Define the target audience

The first step is to segment the target audience and tailor the message based on different factors

Going specialty-wise is the most imperative and also obvious. This is especially crucial to be able to market the correct products and services to potential clients. For instance, if people want to pitch products specific to gynecology, they obviously don't want to waste their resources on pathologists, urologists, etc.

Geographical area. One may also want to define their audience based on the geographic location. For instance, if pharma companies are marketing a service or product controlled at the state level, they should know which physicians serve in the said state.

The setting. Physicians who own their practices have more control over decision-making at their facilities than doctors based in hospitals or big brands. At the same time, those in large-group facilities have far more resources at their disposal than physicians who work in a clinic.

Use email to kick start conversations

Considering how hard-pressed most doctors are for free time, the best replacement for face-to-face marketing to a doctor is through an email. Even if we keep in mind the regulatory issues with privacy, compliance, and data protection that require the revalidation of email databases, emails are still a top option when communicating with doctors. It is advisable to keep the content formal, educative, and fact-heavy. 

Leverage content marketing

Content is king in the digital marketing space, and the same is true for marketing to healthcare professionals. Remember, a witty ad copy or blog will not sell to doctors. One needs to go above and beyond to create truly unique content. Make sure the content is factual and educational. From the tone to the topic itself, the content should ooze information, stats, and facts that are genuinely useful to healthcare professionals. 

Moreover, choose the subject carefully as each doctor is different, but one thing is for sure: they like clarity and hate ambiguity. One can also take leverage of self-service platforms like Doceree, which helps to optimize the strategy and content in the best way possible.

Connect through Online Communities

One of the most overlooked tactics is connecting through online communities. Healthcare professionals nowadays join online communities to discuss their cases. They offer as well as receive advice of colleagues from across the globe on medical matters.

 They also discuss various drugs and services in these online communities. Pharma marketers should keep track of the queries and concerns raised online about their products to formulate an effective marketing strategy that addresses them through effectively tailored communication and information dissemination.

Explainer Videos

Visual storytelling has become a powerful tool. Videos have all the potential to take the digital game up a notch. Pharma markets should leverage this content form and create videos regarding introducing their products, tutorials of safe usage of products, pros and cons of using a particular medicine video, user review videos, dos and don’ts videos, and real-life case study videos, among others. If there is one industry that can really benefit from video fever, it would no doubt be Pharma.

Use AI tools

To deal with a digital-savvy audience, Pharma companies will have to tackle the competition arising from competitors who are well versed with AI technology. They will either have to create these capabilities themselves or leverage AI tools and technology to maintain the leadership position. 

One can use Physician-only platforms such as Doceree, powered by proprietary technology ESPYIAN that identifies and precision targets Healthcare Professionals for a truly personalized experience on digital. Moreover, it has the ability to identify the target HCP out of many similar-looking profiles, whether on a physician networking site, telemedicine platform, medical journal or even on social networking sites. 

To know more about Doceree healthcare advertising, click here!