How to Attract More Crowds to Pharma Websites
The value of pharma marketing - attracting website visitors - and the fundamental role of SEO to it.
It should be undisputed that pharma marketing is vital. It is what can differentiate companies from each other in the eyes of consumers, in no small part through pharma branding. Few industries can claim to be as profitable as pharma, and fewer yet come with an inherent assurance that demand cannot realistically plummet with no warning. It is thus understandably alluring and economically lucrative – so much so that competition is fierce. Optimal marketing can help one rise above one’s peers, reach new audiences, and establish one’s product as the optimal choice. And in the digital era, a fundamental question should be how to attract more crowds to pharma websites.
In this post, then, I will argue for the value of pharma marketing and the fundamental role of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) to it.
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THE PHARMA INDUSTRY IN NUMBERS
In 2020 the global market for pharmaceuticals is an estimated $900 billion, and the industry is growing steadily. Moreover, studies indicate that the industry is growing at an annual rate of 5%, which will have it exceed $1 trillion within a few years.
For every drug that a company brings into the market, the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) estimates that it spends approximately $2.6 billion. The cost of each individual drug is central behind this figure, but it is equally noteworthy that pharma marketing tends to cost companies more than research and development.
As a plethora of commercial drugs is becoming virtually identical in purpose and efficacy, it does seem more profitable to focus on marketing between the two. Analytics-based marketing seems capable of letting companies differentiate themselves from their competitors, and attracting more crowds to pharma websites becomes a key endeavor.
PHARMA MARKETING
By definition, pharma marketing has two very distinct audiences; doctors and patients. The two interact in practice, since patients tend to consult local doctors for medical advice, but undoubtedly require different marketing tactics to approach. For companies, it is vital to research how to attract more crowds to pharma websites, but it is equally vital to pinpoint what those crowds are and how they differ.
Doctors and patients will often not scrutinize a product to the same extent, given that doctors tend to be highly educated and less prone to marketing tactics, and they will likely not refer to the same pharmaceutical publications and sources as they do. Patients will prioritize individual needs and will react to marketing that resonates with them emotionally, while doctors will value articulation and accuracy. This is a vital distinction for any company to make as they plan their marketing strategies, since reaching doctors and establishing connections with them is of paramount importance.
Yet, where the two overlap in terms of advertising space is, simply, the internet. Resonating with either requires different forms of marketing, but attracting both to pharma websites as an audience is identical in principle. Namely, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and quality content – which should then be diversified based on the intended audience – are a driving force behind pharma marketing.
In 2015, Google disclosed that 1 in 20 searches, or 5%, is related to health. Coupled with studies that show that 55% of all clicks on any given search are shared among the top 3 results, there should be little doubt that SEO can boost visibility and revenue.
WHAT IS SEO, AND WHY IT MATTERS IN DIGITAL MARKETING
Search Engine Optimization is precisely what the name implies; the various tactics and elements that optimize content for search engine rankings. Due to its tremendous potential benefits for all industries, SEO has become a flourishing aspect of content marketing and various professionals have come to offer SEO services over the years.
This is by no means an obscure tactic towards attracting visitors to websites, pharma or otherwise. As of 2020, WordPress, an open-source content management system (CMS), is being used by 33.5% of all websites and boasts a content management system market share of approximately 60%. It has come to offer SEO plugins that are widely used, which in turn has made services such as WP Full Care very lucrative.
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FACTORS THAT AFFECT SEO
How well a website ranks in search results is an organic process, and SEO factors are indeed quite identifiable. More than 200 factors determine a site’s SEO score, but the primary ones include;
• Web page content quality and length
• Website mobile-friendliness
• The presence of optimized images
• Website security
• The presence of quality backlinks and social signals.
Therefore, factors that user interactions with a website will signal and, subsequently, rank, are the following;
• Content quality and authoritativeness in one’s field
• Content depth and substance
• Content freshness and steady output consistency.
Social signals, such as shares on social media, and interaction data, such as average user retention rates per post, will also affect the final rankings. In general, longer posts tend to produce more interaction, but quality and optimization as defined above are equally vital.
SEO AND GOOGLE
The primary reason why SEO endeavors focus so heavily on Google is likely self-evident; Google holds an approximate 91.89% search engine market share, according to Statcounter. With little over 8% left to be shared among all other search engines, it would seem counter-intuitive to divert one’s efforts away from Google.
Fortunately, Google itself has been consistently transparent with its SEO criteria, providing advice on this front. Such advice confirms the aforementioned factors, in that content should cover topics in a “substantial, complete or comprehensive” way. It should also provide “insightful analysis or interesting information”, and add “substantial additional value and originality” to its source material.
SEO AND PHARMA
As outlined above, search engines are indeed fertile ground for pharma marketing. For example, according to Our World in Data, the prevalence of mental health disorders remains notable, and statistics show that there is a monthly volume of over 2.5 million depression-related search queries. When faced with the question of how to attract more crowds to pharma websites, companies can resort to proper SEO and tailor their marketing strategies to reach such specific audiences more efficiently.
Guest contributor: Lisa Roberts