Pharmaceutical Marketing Innovation
New marketing trends and innovations that are emerging in this ever-changing pharmaceutical world we live in.
The world of marketing changes at a rapid pace every year with new ways of reaching and targeting customers becoming the focus of marketing professionals all over the world. The pharmaceutical industry is no exception to this.
Historically, pharmaceutical marketing was very traditional in its approach, with a focus on print and face to face networking opportunities to sell products and services. However, the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 has impacted the ability to speak to people face to face so marketing professionals within the pharmaceutical industry have had to use and embrace new and innovative marketing methods to reach their target market.
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In this blog, we look at the key marketing innovations taking the world by storm and how they can be applied to the pharmaceutical industry.
INNOVATION 1. DIGITAL MARKETING
Digital marketing has come to the forefront of the life science marketing mix since the pandemic hit in 2020. With the loss of face-to-face networking events where a lot of business was traditionally done, digital marketing became an important and crucial way to reach the target audience and consumers online. Digital marketing is not a new innovation, but the pharmaceutical industry was slower to adopt this technique and for that reason, I have included it in this piece. Digital marketing is a much more flexible option to ensure you can hit your target audience. For more information on the best digital marketing techniques for the pharmaceutical industry, please see previous blog posts that talk about this in more detail or download our E-book entitled ‘Effective Digital Marketing in the B2B Pharmaceutical Sector’.
INNOVATION 2. SOCIAL MEDIA
Social Media is now an integral part of society and culture therefore it should not be overlooked as part of the marketing mix. Social media gives life science companies the ability to gain greater visibility online which ultimately leads to growth and development. The main social media platforms for life sciences and pharmaceuticals are Twitter and LinkedIn with LinkedIn at the forefront. According to Social Elements, LinkedIn now accounts for 80% of B2B leads.
LinkedIn is fast becoming the most effective place for getting in front of new customers with science being one of the top 3 topics in terms of engagement levels. To be successful on LinkedIn, the key is to know your target audience. The great thing about LinkedIn is that by using the Ad Manager, you can really drill down into the target audience to ensure material reaches your target audience. This can be done by job title, geography, target companies and sector.
The key with all social media platforms is the 3 Cs:
Consistency - Post regularly to ensure maximum exposure. Post at the same time on the same day every week to drive audience engagement.
Community - Get your community of employees to interact with posts and most importantly share to their own network. This will enable you to reach a wider audience and amplify the message.
Comments - Don’t post and stay silent. Use the comment function to talk to your target audience and start the conversation. The more comments and engagement, the more coverage your post will get thanks to the LinkedIn algorithm.
Social media is here to stay so don’t discount it from your marketing mix.
INNOVATION 3. B2B INFLUENCER MARKETING
Sticking with the social media theme, one of the biggest social media marketing trends is Influencer marketing. Influencer marketing is one of the fastest-growing marketing methods for attracting new customers. The influencer marketing industry was worth $8 billion in 2019 and is estimated to grow to $15 billion by 2022. According to Huboo, 40% of marketers say they are now dedicating a budget for influencer marketing and 80% report that influencer marketing is effective.
Influencers can be anyone! What makes them influential is their knowledge, reputation and trust they hold with their audience. According to toprankblog.com, 77% of B2B marketers say they believe prospective customers rely on advice from industry experts. The pharmaceutical industry is full of experts’ therefore very influential people. The influencer could be a big biopharma CEO who tweets, a laboratory technician who used LinkedIn or a chemist on Instagram. The hard bit is finding them. With social media becoming integral in society, brands are fighting to be seen. Influencers can give your brand or product a face, a story and provide an emotional connection with audiences. Influencer marketing doesn’t have to be used for direct selling, it is also a great way of building brand awareness, encourage engagement and educate.
Why not look at the people in your own organisation as a starting point and give them a platform to engage, you may have the perfect influencer already under your roof….
INNOVATION 4. ACCOUNT-BASED MARKETING
A new technique within B2B marketing is Account-Based Marketing (ABM). According to HubSpot, ABM is a focused approach to marketing in which marketing and sales teams work together to identify the best accounts allowing you to engage and please the accounts much quicker. In essence, you are selling directly to already qualified leads. ABM works hand in hand with Inbound Marketing which is the foundation for a strong ABM strategy. ABM then builds off inbound marketing by providing highly targeted and personalised communication to high-value customers. The key to a successful ABM campaign is personalisation. All the marketing activity (content, communication and campaigns) needs to be personalised and tailored to each customer to allow for maximum relevance.
The diagram below shows the difference between Lead Generation and ABM.
ABM is not a short-term marketing technique; it can take months or even years to come together. Providing a long term and consistent message for a long period of time can seem challenging but with ABM, it is easy to measure ROI by account so clear metrics can be assigned allowing for greater visibility of gains.
In the pharmaceutical industry, this approach can be very successful if you know exactly who your target customers or key accounts are. For example, if your main target customer is Pfizer, this approach gives the ability to only target people within Pfizer with a highly personalised marketing drive. With digital marketing being adopted in the pharmaceutical industry at such a fast pace due to the pandemic, it is likely that ABM will become the main area of focus for 2022 and beyond. Stay tuned to the Orientation Marketing blog posts for future posts on this subject.
INNOVATION 5. MARKETING TECHNOLOGY (INCLUDING AI AND AUTOMATION)
A relatively new phrase, Martech is a term used to describe technological marketing using applications such as AI, chatbots, VR and AR.
With the growth in ABM marketing and the need for vast amounts of data to be analysed effectively, AI and machine learning is coming into the marketing space with two-thirds of B2B marketers planning, evaluating and implementing AI for marketing or sales initiatives. An example of this is the use of Chatbots.
Research from Salesforce found that 80% of business buyers expect real-time responses from brands that they interact with and the approach many B2B marketers are taking means that Chatbots or Virtual assistants are becoming a regular part of the homepage.
Chatbots in the pharmaceutical space can help direct prospective customers to the right products and services allowing targets to enter the sales funnel at a quicker rate. They also have the ability to add personalisation and with AI, the Chatbots can learn behavioural patterns allowing for greater targeting. Plus, a Chatbot is available 24/7 and doesn’t go on holiday!
PHARMACEUTICAL MARKETING INNOVATIONS
This post highlights just some of the new marketing trends and innovations that are emerging in this ever-changing world we live in. The pandemic has required marketers to be agile, exploratory and to challenge the status quo to actively reach customers. It is important that companies in the pharmaceutical and life science industry follow these new innovative trends and techniques to continue to drive engagement with prospective accounts or you could be left behind…
For more on strategic digital marketing approaches in the pharmaceutical sectors, and how we can help you, visit our section on web.
