Pharmaceutical Marketing Books (Our Picks)
6 Pharmaceutical Marketing Books for the pharma marketer (Updated for 2021).
We have previously demonstrated the importance of constantly attaining marketing knowledge, especially since the techniques and tools that we use (and the sectors we operate within) are ever-developing. The blog post in question listed 7 business, sales and marketing books for scientific marketers.
In this post, we’ll be more specific because marketing products, services and organisations within the pharmaceutical and life science sectors are different from any other industry. Pharmaceutical marketing is challenging.
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Upon reviewing the current literature and consulting the wider team, we have found 6 pharmaceutical marketing books amongst the many other exceptional books available that every life science marketer must have on their bookshelves and their workstations and why.
1. BAD PHARMA: HOW MEDICINE IS BROKEN, AND HOW WE CAN FIX IT
BEN GOLDACRE
Let’s start the list with one of the most thought-provoking - and therefore most discussed - books on this list in Bad Pharma. A book that although entertaining and fascinating in Ben Goldacre’s conversational and highly readable style, raises some serious concerns about all aspects of big pharma, from clinical trials to regulatory bodies to the doctors prescribing the drugs in this “broken system.”
The final (and the longest) chapter of the book focuses solely on marketing and how pharmaceutical marketing departments can market their products in an ethical manner. The marketing recommendations are very much B2C here, and they include advertising, celebrity endorsements, using patient groups and academic journals to name a few, but do give pharmaceutical marketers across the entire pharmaceutical supply chain a reminder of some of the problems which Dr Ben Goldacre states the industry comprises.
2. BUILDING GLOBAL BIOBRANDS: TAKING BIOTECHNOLOGY TO MARKET
FRANÇOISE SIMON AND PHILIP KOTLER
Leading biotechnology strategist, Françoise Simon, teams up with distinguished marketing professor and author, Philip Kotler, in Building Global Biobrands to demonstrate how to innovate with bionetworks, win customers with biobrands and create sustainable advantage worldwide. So if you’re a biotech marketer, this book is for you. But beware, at 365 pages, this is a comprehensive and piece of work and written in academic form, and unlike Bad Pharma, this isn’t bedtime reading.
Now 10 years old, and concerning an ever-developing industry it could be said that the book carries some dated information. This said, this information is highly useful for marketers moving into biopharma or moving into organisations beginning to adopt biotechnology, with the book’s chapters specifically on building and sustaining biobrands providing the best information for marketers. A highly insightful read providing you are able to put aside enough time to absorb the content.
3. RESULTS: THE FUTURE OF PHARMACEUTICAL AND HEALTHCARE MARKETING
R J LEWIS, SCOTT WEINTRAUB, BRAD SITLER, JOANNE MCHUGH AND ROGER ZAN
Scott Weintraub (Co-founder and CMO of Healthcare Regional Marketing), R J Lewis (Founder & CEO of eHealthcare Solutions) and the accompanying authors identify that disruption is inevitable in an industry as complex as the pharmaceutical industry. They also identify that where disruption exists, opportunities lie for those who are ready to embrace change. In Results, each of the authors share key insights into the growing trends in pharma and healthcare the marketing managers need to understand to market products more effectively and better connect with those audiences.
The book is structured into five distinct chapters - from digital marketing to big data to insights from the pharmaceutical manufacturers themselves - where each of the authors takes us through their thinking. This presentation of content in itself is refreshing, as each chapter feels like you’re sat down in a conversation with each author for a couple of hours gaining insight into their specialities. Specifically into the challenges they have faced, and will face in the future, and how those challenges are overcome that could lead to opportunities.
4. MARKETING PLANNING FOR THE PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY
JOHN LIDSTONE AND JANICE MACLENNAN
A methodological base for all marketing operations. Marketing Planning for the Pharmaceutical Industry was first published in the late 1990s and soon became the go-to marketing resource for pharmaceutical and healthcare marketers. Drawing on much of the works of earlier marketing and corporate strategy thinkers, the authors take those concepts and tailor them specifically to the pharmaceutical industry based on their own experience.
The book follows a sequential order, beginning with analysis, product strategy, sales, communications and control, considered the most effective framework for marketing planning in any industry and in any organisation. Use this book as a reference to your marketing plan, but do not rely on it solely for pharmaceutical marketing ideas, strategies and tactics – other books on this list need to accompany this book.
5. INTRODUCTION TO DIGITAL MARKETING IN THE PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY
OLIVIER GRYSON
A polar opposite to the last book, Introduction to Digital Marketing in the Pharmaceutical Industry came out in 2019 and focuses solely on digital marketing in pharma. The author, Olivier Gryson, works in the field of digital and has done so for the past 10-plus years and has just assumed a new role of Global Head of Digital Healthcare at Abbott Laboratories.
The book takes digital and places it at the heart of everything a pharma marketing department does, such as objective setting, tactics and measurement/ROI to improve the patient/customer experience. It doesn’t assume that digital is only a “channel” in pharma’s traditional marketing plan – alongside trade events and advertising in publications – and seeks to educate the pharmaceutical marketer, whether B2C or B2B, about the opportunities that digital brings with it. An independently published book, this is a personable, easy to read and friendly introduction to digital if you’re looking to dip your toes in the digital water.
6. BRAND THERAPY: 15 TECHNIQUES FOR CREATING BRAND STRATEGY IN PHARMA AND MEDTECH
PROFESSOR BRIAN D. SMITH
Written specifically for marketing and brand managers within pharma and medtech, Brand Therapy offers actionable tips, tactics and tools so individuals and teams can understand their markets, create strong strategies and then translate them into actionable marketing plans. The specific structure of this book enables the application of the techniques within, perhaps unlike other pharmaceutical marketing books elsewhere.
A visiting professor for the University of Hertfordshire and advisor to life science organisations via his consultancy firm Pragmedic, supported by several other marketing positions within pharma and medical marketing, the author is in a unique position to offer advice on how pharmaceutical marketers can compete and generate growth in turbulent environments. He does so via Brand Therapy which provides an end-to-end overview of the process in a clear and direct manner supported by examples, research and visual aids. Highly recommended.
7. (BONUS) PHARMACEUTICAL MARKETING: TACTICS & TECHNIQUES
ORIENTATION MARKETING INSIGHTS
Is this list missing any of your favourite pharmaceutical marketing books? Get in touch to add a book to the list.
