1.

Introduction
2. The challenges
3. Segmenting the market
4. Creative marketing ideas
5. Ethics
6. Differentiation
7. Marketing strategies
8. Launching new products
9. Marketing plan process
10. The need for omnichannel
11. Recommended software
12. Market research
13. Publications (for your research)
14. Summary
An industry with advanced techniques, patented products, generic/brand medications
and medical devices is always going to bring with it challenges. For the
pharmaceutical marketer, there are often more challenges than there are solutions
arising alongside such manufacturing complexities.

Pharmaceutical marketing is a tricky business. There is a great deal to say but often
we are constrained in how we get the message across. Of course, print and digital
display are first on the list of ideas, but there is more beyond this for pharmaceutical
marketing professionals.

This pharmaceutical marketer’s guide will help you overcome those challenges.

This guide includes 14 chapters focussed on providing you with a full overview of the
implications involved within pharmaceutical marketing, more so, B2B pharmaceutical
marketing. We’ll begin with the challenges and then explore some ideas and
strategies that will help you promote your organisation and its products/services in an
ethical manner.

We’ll also look at how to differentiate those products and launch them within the
market for full impact. Included within this guide is also a 6-point marketing plan
process which you can use as a template in creating your full plan. Finally, we also
present our recommendations of marketing technology/software to power your
marketing efforts.

Should pharmaceutical organisations and marketers rethink culture, tactics, messages

and ethics, it can benefit the industry as a whole, and still thrive in what is a hugely
complex, challenging, but also rewarding industry. This guide will help you do just that
in bitesize chapter sizes so that you can easily move back and forth, and revisit
chapters when and where needed. We have a lot to get through so let’s move
forward.

Let’s put the science into marketing…

2. The challenges
Generally, and luckily, the pharmaceutical industry is one that is currently thriving, but
as the industry evolves - biosimilars and new technologies come to mind - new
challenges will be presented that will affect pharmaceutical marketing. Some of those
challenges will form internally and some will form externally.

All marketing teams face common challenges, such as the challenge of generating
leads, securing adequate budget for proposed marketing activities or proving the ROI
for those marketing activities. Here are 11 challenges specific to B2B marketers in the
science sectors that we are already aware of, and we'll also speculate on what lies
ahead which may shape marketing initiatives in the near future.

1. SLOWER MARKET GROWTH

A QuintilesIMS report demonstrates a market growth drop to single digits, between
6% and 9%, through 2021, in the US, down from a 12% growth in 2015. Although
growth has been common in the pharmaceutical industry which will keep growing, it is
predicted to slow down due to pricing, market-access pressures, lower volume
growth in emerging markets and further generic-drug incursion. The industry as a
whole may experience some growth/sustainable challenges in the coming years.

2. THE INDUSTRY IS SLOW TO INNOVATE ITS MARKETING, CERTAINLY WITH

DIGITAL
Deloitte has previously found that pharma’s digital advertising and marketing spend
lags all other industries by quite a margin. This study, for example, states that digital
advertising spend for 2014 was $6.2B in the financial services sector compared to
$1.4B in healthcare and pharmaceuticals. A more recent study found that this spend
had increased to $2.53B in 2017, but still dwarfs other industries by comparison who
are mostly in the double digits by 2018.

The traditional nature of pharma is potentially holding back the potential of its
marketing initiatives, with budgets sometimes allocated to more traditional methods
and digital opportunities not exploited in the full. Of course, the pharma industry is
adopting more and more digital initiatives, but at present, and as we have witnessed
previously, it is always one step behind which creates a challenge for the marketers.

3. MARKETERS ARE PUT INTO THE LIMELIGHT, MORE SO THAN SALESPEOPLE

B2B pharma has always relied on direct field sales to fuel its new business initiatives
but this trend has shifted in recent years. The Marketing Journal suggests that the
decline in B2B field sales makes way for more marketing-led initiatives, such as
inbound marketing and effective SEO & web design, led solely by the marketing
teams. Customer buying behaviours in general dictates that this self-service style of
buying is a more preferred method of purchasing products.

This creates a challenge for marketers, as the weight of new business leans more on
marketers than sales in an industry where it has always been the other way around.
An article in PMLive suggests that marketers need to use digital to optimise B2B
pharma sales, but with limited experience and/or no historical data from such
initiatives, marketers are presented with a challenge. Where to start?
4. POLICY REFORMS
If you have worked in the pharma industry long enough, this won't be new. Policy
reforms and new regulations happen often, and there is no sitting on the fence; most
pharmaceutical organisations will need to comply. This impacts how products are
manufactured and sold, and also how they are marketed. The pharma supply chain, in
the B2B markets, is also affected where marketing efforts, initiatives and messages,
such as content marketing, often require altering.

The legal and regulatory environment will always pose threats to pharmaceutical
organisations and marketers will always be presented with challenges. The
challenges for B2C marketers are far greater than those for B2B marketers, but this
doesn’t mean that B2B marketers are immune to policy-based challenges.

5. DATA HANDLING, INTERPRETATION AND CONSENT

An Econsultancy healthcare marketing report highlighted that the majority of
healthcare organisations are unprepared to deal with emerging data sources or to
collect high volumes of data. The same report shows that 44% of large organisations
are not prepared to use their CRM data in marketing campaigns. Albeit this report is
from 2015, the challenges to data remain, and this will be the same for the
pharmaceutical B2B sectors as well as many other sectors.

Marketing campaigns are often hampered by the inability to understand data – this is
a challenge in a traditional space. As data collection, management and interpretation
are sophisticated, even if the marketing initiatives that are being conducted are
potentially not so.

6. CHANGES AND TRENDS AT THE TOP OF THE CHAIN: PATIENTS AND PEOPLE
This macro-level consideration generally will not affect the B2B marketer, certainly not
on a day-to-day basis. But all that is required is one major change – population,
income, education level, disease patterns or lifestyle change – and the whole outlook
for an organisation or science sector can be affected. Meaning that the marketer is
faced a challenge concerning what the message following a change in trend should
and should be. Yes, the supply chain is long, but it is still a chain that is very much
connected.

7. B2B2C: MARKET STRUCTURE AND SUPPLY CHAIN LAYERS

You do not see "business to business to consumer" (B2B2C) markets often, but the
pharmaceutical industry is very much one of them. B2B2C is when an organisation
sells to another organisation who then sells on to a customer of the product – the
delivery channel is separate to the purchase decision channel. (The financial services
industry, compared to earlier in this chapter, is another example.)

An article by Forbes Communications Council accurately captures the challenge

within this sort of environment: “From a marketing perspective, it’s critical to
determine the impact and interrelationships of marketing to the customer versus
selling to the customer and marketing to the consumer and selling to the consumer
by the customer.” This requires a complex balancing act from the part of the
organisation, and the marketing team – most pharmaceutical organisations cannot
avoid this.
8. DIFFERENTIATION AND THE COMPETITION
The B2B pharmaceutical marketplace is overwhelmingly crowded. McKinsey &
Company demonstrate the advantage pharmaceutical organisations gain by being the
first to market. Everyone else entering thereafter are usually left to fend for
themselves in a competitive marketplace full of organisations with similar service
offerings.

Differentiation is a challenge for all pharmaceutical organisations, and the challenges

above make it even harder for the organisation to stand out, let alone survive. These
differentiation issues are often related to price, message, brand perception as well as
the product or service itself, and the demonstration of value and credibility over
competitors is difficult.

9. BREXIT
Brexit poses a threat to all organisations operating from Britain. This is certainly the
case for manufacturing organisations that import and export and caught in the firing
line are the pharmaceutical manufacturing and research organisations that are based
in the UK. The Guardian quote Mike Thompson of the Association of the British
Pharmaceutical Industry describing Brexit as "the biggest logistical challenge ever
faced by the industry."

Costs are likely to increase, which affects future investment as well as the marketing
budget allocated to marketing teams. Other challenges will arise, however, it's hard to
predict exactly what at this stage. Below is a snapshot of how Brexit will impact GSK,
Britain's largest drugmaker, as an example of the extent of this challenge.

10. INTERNAL STRUCTURES AND COLLECTIVE APPROACHES TO DECISION

MAKING
B2B marketers face a double-edged sword when it comes to decision making:
Internal decisions usually require a number of individuals and departments to agree
on a way forward to sell and market a product just like the customers of that same
organisation will need to go through a collaborative procurement process to
determine whether the product is appropriate. The average number of people within
these decision-making teams are six.

When more people are involved in the decision-making process, it usually takes
considerably longer to arrive at a decision than if one person was tasked with
weighing up the options. For marketers, this creates a huge challenge as the time to
take a product to market or the time to launch a marketing campaign can be delayed
to a point where the optimal period for maximum impact can be missed. Crafting the
message to these individuals, often from varying departments, also presents a
challenge comprising multi-channel and multi-message considerations.

11. TIME AND TIME MANAGEMENT

Ask any marketing professional or department in any industry about the main
challenge they face, and you’ll see an overwhelming majority stating "time." As
marketing has become more complex, with more options, more channels, more
objectives and more measurement, time has become scarcer. The problem may sit
with the marketing strategy, skills and capabilities, or even internal management
processes. A more generic challenge, but still, one that impacts how we deal with all
of the above challenges.

A SOLUTION TO PHARMA MARKETING CHALLENGES

The solutions to the pharmaceutical marketing challenges noted (as ever, marketers
are faced with considerably more than what we present) are diverse. Each challenge
in itself would create separate solutions with a multitude of methods of tackling the
challenges. However, there is a solution for all...

Discussion. Participation in discussions with topics such as these adds interest to the
topics, which in turn naturally leads to hashing out possible solutions to the
challenges. We can seek to understand the environment and the variables present,
but more so, how we can affect those variables. Creativity is usually existent within
such environments, and once the discussions happen, we often find ourselves on the
road to overcoming such challenges and finding opportunities in the process.

Want to test this? Pick a challenge from the list above most relevant to your
organisation and set up a meeting with colleagues to discuss its effect on your
organisation and marketing initiatives, as well as possible solutions.
Segmentation is a form of sorting: Arranging items in a systematic manner. Once
items are sorted into distinct groups (segments) based on certain criterion, specific
actions can then be taken based on that criterion.

Similarly, market segmentation involves the sorting of the market. The process entails
dividing the market of potential customers and clients into segments based on
characteristics, such as interests or needs, so that marketing messages, tactics and
campaigns can become more targeted.

It’s widely considered that market segmentation, across the pharmaceutical sectors
and beyond, fall into four segmentation categories: Demographic segmentation,
psychographic segmentation, behavioral segmentation and geographic
segmentation.

Following the segmentation process, the result is groups of people within each
segment who will or may respond similarly to the targeted marketing - derived from a
refined product and service offering - that have the best possible chance of
resonating with those groups. Generally speaking, organisations are more likely to
meet the needs and wants of targeted segments with this approach rather than a one-
size-fits-all approach.

PHARMACEUTICAL MARKET SEGMENTATION

Whether the target audience sits within a B2C or B2C, with patients, HCPs or deeper
within the supply chain, rarely will a pharmaceutical organisation emerge as large
enough to serve the entire market, neither will it be able to serve all the target
audience with a single message.

Rita E. Numerof on Eyeforpharma identifies a three-fold challenge for such

organisations: Identify unmet clinical needs for more narrow groups, develop products
to meet those needs and focus marketing efforts to drive successful
commercialisation. From a marketing perspective, the intensity/frequency of
interactions between pharmaceutical organisations and their customers/clients are
increasing.

1. THE BEGINNING OF THE SEGMENTATION PROCESS

Pharma IQ interviewed Frank Gehres, VP of Convatec, who states that the
segmentation process begins by trying to “understand who has the most
consumption of your product, who’s going to use the product the most in a B2B chain
and if it can actually be implemented.” This entails looking at the dimensions of the
segments, existing clients, potential of segments, the category of the organisation as
well as target groups. Of course, the goal is to identify the segments that your product
or service fits best, to then focus on building awareness with the segment.
From a practical perspective, understanding your current clients is an effective start.
We say this often, but learning about your clients and identifying trends that exist
within your current customer base will set you off in the right direction as you have
already identified a segment which also are users of your offering. Do this initially by
interviewing those clients and the sales team to get a second perspective on those
clients. Your organisation’s data, as well as data that exists within your marketing
platforms, will also shed some like on the current situation. A buyer persona will form
from this exercise.

2. DIVING DEEP FOR A SEGMENTATION FOCUS

Successful segmentation approaches usually consists of clearly identifiable small
segments, derived from a long list of such small segments that do not overlap with
one another. It’s likely that your current clients can also be divided into such smaller
segments. This makes measurement and analysis of KPIs more effective in the long
run.

Know exactly what problems your offering solves (in relation to your competitors) as
well as your strengths (and weaknesses) and what sort of client fits best out of these
specific segment types. What customer characteristics or qualities are most common?
What segments are currently not being served? What segments is your brand
uniquely qualified to serve? We’re looking for segments that fit the bill here - ones
that stand out of being perfect for your organisation, and even segments which you
feel might offer an opportunity in the future.

More importantly are the channels which your organisation adopts to communicate
with those segments; knowing your segments and their subsequent behaviours are
crucial for your marketing communications. Remember, this is a marketing task.
Pharmaceutical-based segments need to be durable (not created based on fads and
short-term trends) for the marketing tactics to work on the appropriate channels.

3. TARGETING INDIVIDUALS (AND ORGANISATIONS) BASED ON THEIR

REQUIREMENTS

From a B2B perspective, look at the sectors which might use your products and
services. Ingredients, inhalation, packaging… Look at your products and customers
from a price perspective, are you targeting cost-sensitive customers? Also, look at the
different phase of development another organisation might want to work with you.
Discovery, pre-clinical, phase 1… Where is the sweet spot for your current product or
service offering? Is there room to grow? Generic segments are great as a basis of the
segmentation task, but B2B pharma - due to the size of the market - requires further
targeting.

Numerof also captures this from a B2C perspective: “Successful companies should
focus more on the health outcome to be achieved. Then work from that point to
identify the portfolio of products that would achieve that outcome, then narrow that
list to products they can/should develop.”

It is likely that you will need to reinvent your internal processes - from being product
orientated to become a market orientated organisation - to fit with the new focus and
emphasis on targeted marketing. We’ve encountered mature organisations in the
pharmaceutical supply chain who have lost market share to new entrants, who have
failed to differentiate and respond to competitors from a price perspective, because
of a lack of strategic focus.

4. ONLINE-DRIVEN SEGMENTS
The pharmaceutical marketer is often criticised for being slow to adapt to technical
marketing innovations, but in the face of increasingly difficult operating environments,
online and digitally-focused segmentation is often a segmentation criterion of choice.
Leonard Lerer explores such segmentation in his now timely paper on pharmaceutical
marketing segmentation in the age of the internet.

Whilst the internet has moved on dramatically since publication, focusing on

individuals via the channels that those individuals use always provide a solid basis for
segmentation. Segmenting groups on the basis of real points of leverage for digital
marketing and developing the best possible offering from a digital/interactive content
perspective should remain a priority. This said, for long-term success, it is highly likely
that an omnichannel marketing approach will be required here. Identifying the online
segments will likely come from the initial segmentation process, but even if they are
not obvious at that point, know that both B2B and B2C customers segments will need
to exist online.

Lerer suggests that a good way of elucidating the rationale behind a segmentation
focused on small groups or micro-segments driven by the internet is to compare it
against current approaches to pharmaceutical market segmentation (table above). A
more fine-grained segmentation maintains the richness of the interaction between the
partners in the healthcare transaction. “Some sales representatives, for example,
considered that physicians who were deeply concerned with how a product was
reimbursed or whether the product was affordable by all patients, constituted an
important micro-segment.”

5. SALES TEAMS AND PRIORITIES

No pharmaceutical marketing approach works in isolation to the sales team - market
segmentation is no different. As marketers, we are concerned with the sales of our
products, and without an in-person representation of the product and organisation,
that sale is likely never going to take place. Commercial success depends on it. The
sales teams and other sister departments need to segment just like the marketing
messages are being segmented.

Salespeople are presented with an array of potential targets, but limited time, budget
and resource to effectively follow up in those areas. Most sales professionals, junior to
senior, struggle to meet sales targets of a monthly basis - and this is outside of the
new environment we have found ourselves in because of COVID-19. It, therefore,
makes sense that marketing and sales are aligned, with sales working within the same
segments as marketing, and potentially starting with the most valuable accounts. We
interview the salespeople (#1) to understand our audiences; we then work alongside
them to attract more of those clients to the organisation, should that be the desired
approach.

The people within the B2B pharmaceutical industry will often be the difference
between a sale or no sales, not the marketing messages. Because as the industry
entails some complex and intertwining supply chain levels, word of mouth and
personal relationships will always prevail. And people (the sales teams) will be able to
use those relationships, within the desired segments, to better convert prospects into
clients and users of the products than most marketing processes.

6. SIMPLE SEGMENTATION
A common problem when such large-scale shift in focus occurs within a large
organisations - such as those operating in the pharmaceutical sectors - are eventual
blockers and bottlenecks. Often, the project is too large, too risky, involving too many
people and requiring multiple levels of sign off from a range of departments.
Therefore, keeping things simple is often a prerequisite.

Whilst segmentation is going to help streamline your communication as your narrow

your focus for each segment, should you see your communication strategy (and
message) duplicate across segments you may feel there is no need for that segment
in the first place. If you are not going to do something different in a segment its likely
that segment is not needed and just serves to confuse things. You may not have the
resources (at first) for micro-segmentation and perhaps grouping similar target
audiences into a segment is easier to manage, before expanding your market
segmentation capabilities. You’ll soon realise that if you have too many segments if
messages within those individual segments are identical. Simple segmentation will
ensure that you actually segment your audience and subsequent messages and
channels.

7. BENEFITS OF PHARMACEUTICAL MARKET SEGMENTATION

A market segmentation strategy will give you better focus, minimise waste and free
up resources, along with potentially open up new doors for your pharmaceutical
organisation in the face of rising costs and demands for affordable healthcare and
drug development. The current environment dictates that competitive organisations
that can focus will achieve success, as it has been shown to happen in many
instances over the years where external environments have shifted due to unforeseen
circumstances.

Improving the effectiveness of communications and interactions in this way with both
HCPs and patients will meet the objectives of marketing and help promote better
health outcomes. Detailed information and data on customers - personalities,
emotions, values, interests, beliefs and attitudes - has the potential to improve all
aspects of the organisation. Similarly, messaging based on customer attitudes and
motivations are more likely to activate desired behaviors and strengthen the
relationship between customer and organisation. The same goes for marketing tactics
and channels - we are serving what those customers what, where they want it. This
sort of focus on the ideal customer will differentiate your organisation from
competitors when that time comes to enter the sales cycle.
Creativity was previously "just an image". And that image was usually in a print advert.
As marketing advanced through the social media era and arrived at the inbound
methodology stage, we have so much more scope to be creative and engage big
messages, quickly and succinctly.

An effective multi-channel customer engagement strategy is imperative to any

campaign. There is, of course, the usual suite of marketing tactics which we see often
in the pharmaceutical industry - webinars, white papers, e-books, e-blasts, tech sheet
downloads, case studies etc. These are all great, don’t stop producing them. But here
are some other ideas of how you could get your message across.

1. INFOGRAPHICS
Both data-rich and visually appealing, pharmaceutical infographics are an ideal
method of getting across long messages, quickly, easily and in a very engaging way.
The infographic can explain in one visual document, the problem, the feature and the
benefit of your product. I believe there is not enough good use of infographic
documents. Got lots of data and stats to get across? Look no further than the humble
infographic.

2. YOUTUBE
Video is big and will be big for a long time to come. It's an obvious one, but using it
creatively is an art, not a science. It's easy to create a 30-minute masterclass with your
technical people standing at the front of the screen talking at the camera. Stop right
there. Make no YouTube session no more than 6 minutes, condense it. Pay for
creative services, use voice-overs, whiteboard animation and things like time-lapse.
They have a much better impact and keep the audience engaged so much more than
a presentation. You do have to invest in creativity. But it will be worth it. At relatively
little expense a creative agency can create a compelling video several minutes long
that catches the eye and gets the message over quickly and efficiently.

3. ANIMATED VIDEO
A short 30-second animated video is an exceptionally good way of getting over large
and complex concepts, quickly and in an engaging way. They need to be no more
than thirty seconds and can contain a striking number of messages in that time. Some
great examples are Catalent's OptiForm® Solution Suite video.

4. APPS
Tricky one and not right for every campaign but developing an app could be a really
easy way to get your content message over in a practical way. For instance, a CDMO
we worked with years ago developed a series of apps aimed at the consumer end of
their product. There was light engagement but enough to guide the product through
development and give real data to the doctors who would be using the information.
It’s not right for every campaign, but certainly worth exploring. Always remember - be
mobile-ready, whatever platform you are delivering your message on. Make sure it is
compatible with all screens.
5. 3D WALKTHROUGHS
Again, a bit of investment is needed here on a good visual creative, but well worth the
effort. Especially if it’s a new medical device development, these are perfect for 3D
visual fly-throughs. But it’s not just devices and applications that can benefit from a 3D
walkthrough you can also put this technique to good use to explore concepts as well.

6. CONTENT
Good old-fashioned content. We're lucky to be in an industry where people still want
to read. If we were in B2C, marketing, our audience might not want to read a
whitepaper. However, for the pharma marketer, that’s exactly what our audience
want. So, get creative with content. There are plenty of blog posts on how to do this,
speak to a good agency, but do develop a content strategy with an eye on inbound
and lead generation.

7. ORGANIC SEARCH
Following on, having content gives you the ability to increase visibility on search
engines. Start by incorporating keyword best practices like updating URLs, page titles
and meta descriptions, incorporating authoritative links and using keywords
naturally—not stuffing—throughout your content. You can also post on high-traffic
sites like SlideShare or YouTube for additional momentum.

8. YOUR EMPLOYEES
Are your sales and marketing staff promoting the latest produced? Use their
signatures of the sales staff to point to the latest video/blog/whitepaper. The sales
team are sending thousands of emails to new customers, what better platform to have
than to have them promote your latest offering in their signatures. Staff are mentioned
on this list because organisations and marketing teams can arm their colleagues (who
are natural ambassadors of the organisation and brand) in many ways to promote the
organisation. Use your staff creatively to market your pharmaceutical organisation...
perhaps setting up brainstorming sessions with various and random department staff
is a start?

9. LIVE EVENTS
You will certainly have the booths booked in for the major shows and these are great
platforms for any launches etc but also take advantage of the event conferences
talks, can you nominate your expert for a talk at one of the events? Outside the major
events, perhaps a roadshow could work taking a team of experts on a tour of your
customers to take them through the latest product launch could be a good way of
covering ground. Perhaps hiring a venue and your target audience to come along.
Ensure you have good takeaways for the event and create pre-event and post-event
content.

GETTING CREATIVE WITH YOUR MARKETING EFFORTS

Don’t be afraid to explore, get ideas and get creative. Of course, you need to
measure the results and effectiveness of your creative pharmaceutical marketing. Not
everything will work. Keep an eye on the competition, what are they doing? Where
are they appearing? All this will help you establish a successful multi-channel
customer engagement strategy.
5. Ethics
The pharmaceutical industry is highly competitive. In competitive environments,
marketing becomes a critical component of the organisation. To illustrate this
competitiveness, it is estimated that more money is spent on marketing than on
research and development (which itself presents an ethics question) in the wider
pharmaceutical industry. This has created a problem. For more on this, see
pharmaceutical marketing challenges.

Within this industry, marketing, sales and promotional practices have often come
under scrutiny and questioned from an ethical perspective. Especially for the
consumer-facing and drug manufacturing organisations who can put customers and
patients at risk in the process.

Traditionally, field sales representatives have led the promotional aspects of

marketing new pharmaceutical products, who ensure that the healthcare community
is informed of the benefits of the product. But it is very much in the sales
representative’s interests to focus on the benefits of its product and avoid divulging
the negatives.

In a heavily regulated industry where organisations might choose profits over patients
sanctions follow. Governments across the globe have introduced more of such
regulations in the last ten years, putting pharmaceutical organisations who do not
operate ethically at risk of punishment. This means that the traditional approach
should be scarcely used, and commercial teams should be mindful of ethics when it
comes to the marketing of products and services.

ACHIEVING ETHICAL PHARMACEUTICAL MARKETING

For organisations working in pharma that adhere to regulations, there will still be risks,
therefore, it is best practice to follow a set of general principles to ensure that
marketing is always ethical, ensuring that that trust is not lost with audiences.

Here are 10 ethics, ethical considerations or ideas for better ways for promoting and
marketing pharmaceutical products which are relevant to the B2C pharmaceutical
industry, just as they are for the B2B industry.

1. TRAIN EMPLOYEES ON LAWS AND REGULATIONS

This chapter will not go into any detail about the range of laws present within the
pharmaceutical industries. However, your organisation will know them well, and
therefore, your employees will need to know them inside out. Regulations and
guidelines (such as the EFPIA or the PhRMA) will ensure that the organisation’s key
employees are already trained on the appropriate laws, regulations and codes of
practices. Make it standard practice to educate all of your marketing employees on
these regulations and have regular refresher sessions.

2. GAIN CONSENT/AUTHORISATION BEFORE CONDUCTING DIRECT MARKETING

GDPR laws has meant that organisations need consent before directly marketing to
individuals. This law is in an early stage of maturity and will take some time before the
specific details of the law, including its penalties, become clear. But organisations can
still ensure that it is respecting the privacy and preferences of the recipient of the
marketing communications and operating in an ethical and culturally sensitive
manner. Where possible, get the consent of the audience you are looking to reach, or
at a minimum, approach your audiences in a non-intrusive way.

3. DISCLOSE EVERYTHING
In the pharmaceutical industries, when the disclosure of key information is in question,
more is merrier. Organisations need to go above and beyond to ensure full
transparency with their products and services. This includes, for example, disclosing
the full range of potential side effects and the results of the clinical trials (or what
exactly a subscriber will receive if they sign up to the website). The amount of data
that can be available following the development phases can be overwhelming, but
organisations must make it clear what the data entails via its website and other
documentation. Also, do not disguise your marketing messages for something else -
this would be unethical in any sector.

4. LOOK TO PARTNER RATHER THAN SELL

Driving sales of products or services (or even prescriptions) via the traditional field
sales representatives deemed “educators” – armed with freebies, a budget for gifts
and a smart suit – just isn’t how it works now. The entire pharmaceutical industry
needs to leave behind this rather dishonest image and do more things differently like
it has started to in recent years. Rather than a sales model, organisations can adopt a
more partner-centric approach with physicians, manufacturers and service providers.
This peer-to-peer approach means that a more natural conversation and relationship
can be developed with two individuals seemingly on the same scientific level and
wavelength.

5. ADOPT AN INBOUND MENTALITY

Inbound marketing is the complete opposite of having salespeople visit prospects to
make sales. It involves the creation of informational content to educate and inform
audiences with the view of adding value. This way, the medical or pharma community
you serve can find key product and service information on their own accord, where
you as the marketing organisation, achieve brand awareness and an opportunity to
develop sales leads at a future date. Inbound marketing, within digital marketing
circles, is considered highly ethical as it does not seek to push anything by the way of
the target audience.

6. KEEP YOUR DATA UP-TO-DATE

Large pharmaceutical organisations will likely have large marketing and sales
databases – more often than not, these databases are out of date and in need of
updating. The role of the data manager is one dreaded by any marketing or sales
professional due to the laborious nature of the data management tasks. But bad data
will produce bad marketing and bad marketing results. Ensure your CRM – the
lifeblood of all marketing and ethical activities – is kept up to date.

7. ENGAGE WITHIN DIGITAL COMMUNITIES

Online communities and networks present the perfect setting for building
relationships and brand awareness, with prospects, peers and patients. Don't neglect
your social platforms, forums and other online communities also provide the
opportunity for organisations to communicate their ethical practices and content.

8. CREATE A CITIZEN BRAND

Customer loyalty is gained when an organisation aligns itself with its customers, often
positioning itself alongside those customers as a “customer” and a citizen equal to
that customer within society. Develop a set of brand values (as well as brand
guidelines) that reinforces your approach to creating products and services that help
people in their professional or personal lives. Of course, do not lose focus on your
products and services, rather make it clear that your organisation respects its
customers and sees them as a member of the organisation’s family.

9. “IS IT ILLEGAL TO DO THAT?”

Laws and regulations will always exist within the pharma industries and it will always
be key to obey these rules. But this doesn’t mean that organisations should attempt to
push the boundaries on these regulations, adopting a “tick-box” approach whereby
the key determinant is to find out whether something is illegal, and therefore, find out
how to “get around” the regulation. Pharmaceutical marketing ethics shouldn’t come
down to legal obligations, and organisations should go beyond and fully understand
their audiences, forming relevant marketing messages as a consequence.

10. ACT RESPONSIBLY

Pharmaceutical marketing ethics are best demonstrated through acts of fairness,
integrity, and responsibility. If an organisation acts responsibly to the markets,
societies and communities it markets itself within, it will always demonstrate itself in a
positive light. Honesty goes a long way in a world where consumers are well aware of
manipulative sales and marketing ploys that organisations have been deploying for
decades. A pharmaceutical organisation that acts responsibly with its marketing
activities will build more trust with those it seeks out for its products and services.

ETHICS IN PHARMACEUTICAL MARKETING

All of the aforementioned marketing principles and ethics all set out to achieve the
same thing: To develop a culture of trust in an industry where pressure is exerted on
organisations to sell.

Many pharmaceutical organisations have been conducting the same marketing

campaigns for the last decade or so. Of course, there is nothing wrong with doing so,
but this has meant the industry has been left behind in previous years, with
organisations continuing to operate under outdated assumptions and beliefs, which
has not changed as the consumer has, affecting marketing output in the process.
Product differentiation is a core business strategy for the big pharma organisations as
much as it is for the smaller players, often giving those smaller pharma organisations a
chance against larger rivals and their products that might already be established.

Such pharma product differentiation strategies might include new dosage forms,
indications and fixed drug combinations. Let's go back to the start and look at what
product differentiation entails and how these differentiation strategies can form.

Product differentiation is the process of identifying distinctive features or introducing

unique features to a product to ensure that the product has a unique selling
proposition within its market. To distinguish the product from another product by a
competitor or by the same organisation.

During a customer’s purchasing decision-making process (or buyer’s journey), the

customer will evaluate available products and will make assumptions by comparing
those available products. A product’s differentiation strategy, therefore, looks to set a
product apart from others and show its uniqueness and offer customers something
they value that competitors don’t have.

WHY IS PRODUCT DIFFERENTIATION IMPORTANT?

Product differentiation is important for a number of market-competitive reasons:

• Value creation
• Non-price competition
• Quality differentiation
• Brand loyalty
• No perceived substitutes
• Combat key challenges in pharma marketing.

COMMON PRODUCT DIFFERENTIATION TYPES

In competitive markets, where similar products compete, business economics dictates
that there are three types of product differentiation:

1. VERTICAL DIFFERENTIATION
Vertical differentiation concerns distinguishing a product based on a single
characteristic where the customer is clear on its quality. Quality hierarchies exist
within product markets, where each competing product is ranked from low to high in
terms of its perceived quality.

A vertical differentiation strategy will seek to create more demand for products by
demonstrating product quality with the view of increasing the perceived quality of the
product against others in a number of ways. Price can be used to differentiate in this
respect due to the association made with higher price and quality. But if two price
points are similar, the superior product (in terms of demonstrable quality from its
features and production method, for example) will be preferred.
So in pharma, the dosage, use, effects and side effects, risks and safety and strength
of Generic Drug A and Brand-Name Drug A may be exactly the same, but a brand-
name drug may have a perceived quality benefit for being the first to market, and
therefore, a reputable product.

2. HORIZONTAL DIFFERENTIATION
Horizontal differentiation is also usually concerned with distinguishing a product
based on a single characteristic, but this time that characteristic is not quality.
Consumers are not certain about the quality of the products that they are comparing.

This entails distinctions in products that cannot be accurately evaluated and ranked in
terms of quality. Quality may not even be a consideration within the customer
decision-making process - this said, it is unlikely that this is the case within the pharma
industry. The product’s differentiating factors may, therefore, be about the packaging,
delivery method and product shape/colour.

Taking the drug example once again, Generic Drug A and Brand-Name Drug may be
exactly the same, and the consumer knows this, so there is no benefit on product
quality, but a generic drug may have a perceived value due to its friendly and enticing
outer packaging.

3. SIMPLE/MIXED DIFFERENTIATION
Simple differentiation or mixed differentiation is usually based on a number of
characteristics: a combination of both vertical and horizontal differentiation factors.
There is no real pattern, and in most cases, no recognisable USP

Although this form of differentiation does not consist of a set of characteristics, it is

quite common within complex markets such as pharma where a variety of products,
consumers and competing organisations exist.

SOURCES OF PRODUCT (AND BRAND) DIFFERENTIATION

Differentiation is due to buyers perceiving a difference. So, sources of differentiation
may be functional aspects of the product, how it is distributed and marketed. The
physical product need not change, but it may also change should it need to. In short,
the differentiation options are vast.

Who buys the product can also dictate the source of differentiation for a product,
where ignorance of buyers regarding the characteristics and quality of the product
can play in a key role in how marketers can position the product. But this is not likely
to be the case in B2B pharma but might be more so in B2C pharma marketplaces.
Key sources of product differentiation are as follows (which are also adapted from the
7Ps of classic marketing thinking):

PRICE
Closely associated with quality, differences in price often signal to consumers that a
product with a higher price point is trustworthy and reliable. The USP may flip the
other way on quality, however, and the product may be positioned as the cheaper
alternative. On the other hand, a lower price can trigger the demand for products
where quality is also not affected, this is common with a range of OTC drugs.
PEOPLE
The people within the organisation, or the people a product is associated with, such
as strategic partners, can also provide a differentiating source for the product.
Individual skills, knowledge and experience within the manufacturing organisation, or
with sales, support and customer-facing teams, can also often provide the product
with a platform to stand out and sell more. How often do we see it in pharma where
people buy off known and trusted contacts?

FEATURES
Differences in functional features and benefits can be used as a source of
differentiation, where additional features are a signal of added value. A product might
contain a range of additional product features, perhaps to combat established
products or to distinguish from lower-priced products or to stay current and with
innovative solutions.

DESIGN
The design of the product or any visual elements concerned with the product can be
used as a source of differentiation. Minor design enhancements in the packaging or
internal/external appearance can often lead to positive reactions. It may be the case
that, a drug’s galenic form (liquid stick packs or pre-filled syringes, for example),
based on consumer preferences, will offer a source of product differentiation.

MARKETING
The promotional activities of the organisation, including its sales efforts, can also be a
source of differentiation. Direct and interruptive sales approaches may signal a poorer
quality product over a passive inbound marketing approach, that is becoming
increasingly more common in pharma. Tweaks in how an organisation conducts its
marketing, which subsequently promotes and positions the product within the market,
as you will already be aware, has the ability to greatly influence customer perception
of the product.

AVAILABILITY
Differences in timing and availability of the product offering can also offer
organisations an opportunity for product uniqueness and differentiation. CMOs with
manufacturing capabilities on multiple continents may gain an advantage over a
competitor located on a single continent. Similarly, a CMO with a delivery time 3-
months shorter than a competitor and might gain a distinct advantage. Products are
often considered as the driving force in its success within its market, where
organisations fail to consider the factors surrounding the product (and the consumer's
needs) in the decision-making process.

PROCESSES
The production process of the organisation may also dictate the differentiation
elements of the product. Eco-friendly products have emerged as popular in recent
years, just as biopharmaceutical solutions have also increased in popularity. Scale
may also be a differentiating factor where economies of scale can emerge as a
benefit, just as smaller production process – for short production runs – may be a
source for differentiation. If organisations can enhance its production processes and
methods, including the raw materials it uses, it can certainly attract more customers as
a source of product differentiation.
The factors listed above can be used as a guide when determining sources for your
product differentiation strategy. This said, ethical considerations should be taken into
account when assessing each of the potential product differentiation source.

FINDING THE APPROPRIATE DIFFERENTIATION ELEMENTS

The differentiation process may be a review process that takes place annually or
every 3 or 5 years with the established products and brands. It can vary within each
organisation and market.

To discover new sources of differentiation, upon a review of external factors, it is

necessary to look internally – specifically at the customer’s experience or touchpoints
with your organisation and its products – to identify how best to differentiate your
product offering.

You, as the marketer of the pharma organisation, first need to map out this journey by
asking yourself: How do people become aware of their need for the product? How do
consumers find the product and the brand offering? How do consumers make
decisions? What is the customer really using your product for? Look at the interactions
with your organisation.

You are generally looking to find out who, what, where, why and when. The objective
is to see the wider picture: How the user comes into contact with the product, how he
or she makes a purchase decision around the product, how that product is used as
well as other brand touchpoints after the purchase.

APPROACH: DIFFERENTIATE YOUR PRODUCTS AND YOUR MARKETING

Pharma organisations have used product differentiation strategies to gain competitive
positions for decades, which has proved to be a successful product launch approach.
(This does largely depend on the marketing orientation approach for your
organisation.) But in competitive and innovative markets, new entrants can gain
market share – by differentiating through price, people, features, design, marketing,
availability and processes – and challenge on quality at any time.

A successful product differentiation approach and strategy will move a product from
competing based primarily on quality/price to competing on additional non-price
factors. Approaching a successful product differentiation strategy concerns
differentiating other elements that concern the product, such as its marketing, that
builds on traditional product differentiation and offers a differentiated product via a
differentiated message.

Therefore, as well as the benefits of differentiating a pharma product, such as the

economic benefits, higher price point and brand loyalty, differentiating a marketing
message alongside can establish a lasting competitive position, yield a greater ROI on
marketing spend and boost market share.
We often encounter confusion between the terms strategy and tactics. Sometimes,
when strategy is discussed, blogging is mentioned but to me, blogging isn’t
necessarily a high-level strategy, rather more a strategic tactic or put simply, a tactic
to undertake the strategy or the strategic direction of the proposed marketing
campaign.

Another way to put it: The strategy is the overall campaign plan and the tactics are the
actual means to achieve the objective of the strategic plan. The strategy is the
planning, where the latter is the doing.

When we look to define a pharmaceutical marketing strategy or a range of strategic

marketing options, we need to ask ourselves the following questions in accordance to
our marketing/organisational objectives:

• How will our marketing activities help make sales?

• What market trends are emerging that we need to respond to?
• What position will we strive to achieve?
• Which pharma market segments will be targeted with which propositions?
• What communication strategies will be used to support customer acquisition?
• What experience will we look to create for our audiences?
• How can we differ from our competitors?

At this stage, we’re not so much looking to reach an audience per se, we’re actually
looking at how and what we will be saying to that audience once we reach them. In
the most basic language, a pharmaceutical marketing strategy looks at the objective
of a marketing team or organisation and defines how to get there.

STRATEGIC PHARMACEUTICAL MARKETING

Pharmaceutical organisations regardless of where it sits within the supply chain or
whether it focuses on a B2B or B2C audience will need to adapt a particular
marketing strategy to effectively sell its products and services. We’ll run through some
of the most common pharmaceutical marketing strategies next.

1. MARKET/PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY

A product/market development strategy concerns developing new products or
modifying existing products and offering those products to current or new markets.
These strategies typically surface when there is little opportunity for growth in an
organisation's existing market.

The four most common strategies in this category derive from the Ansoff Matrix
(below): market penetration (growing sales of existing product in existing market),
market development (launching an existing product in a new market), product
development (introducing an existing product into a new market) and diversification
(introducing a new product into a new market).
Your pharmaceutical product or service will be promoted in accordance with the
Ansoff Matrix almost every time and can dictate the marketing strategy you will adopt.
For example, we see so many partnerships and mergers in this industry, where
pharmaceutical organisations combine their resources and leverage their strengths to
increase market share in this manner. Should a pharmaceutical organisation want to
sell more products in current markets, it might decide to invest more in its marketing
budget.

SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMISATION

A search marketing (SEO) strategy looks to increase visibility on search engines to
increase the number of visitors arriving at a website and its web pages. A strategic
approach that takes time, but the results that manifest over this time are often long-
term and can achieve an objective of becoming more visible, certainly in current
markets. More and more pharmaceutical organisations are adopting more digital-first
strategies such as this to increase visibility.

DIRECT SALES
The traditional method of employing sales personnel and then deploying those in the
regions and markets where you are looking to generate new customers is still widely
used today. This is certainly the case in the B2B pharmaceutical markets where face-
to-face contact is still a large enabler of business. This non-marketing strategy needs
guidelines on how to recruit salespeople who understand how to sell products in new
and often emerging markets but has proven (and still does) to be effective.

2. REVENUE STRATEGY
A revenue model strategy (or more casually, a business strategy) is a strategy usually
focused on forming a product or service whereby advertising or licencing revenue
can be generated subsequently, or more broadly, a strategy focused on generating
revenue.

Magazines and publications follow this strategy, albeit on different levels where a
customer-base is usually built to be leveraged. In this case, the editorial team is
commissioned to write content that is packaged into a printed publication, as well as
for an online audience that can subscribe, that is then used to drive advertising
revenue from organisations that wish to advertise to this audience. Co-branded
promotions and list rentals are hugely popular in this respect and are not limited to
media and publishing organisations alone, as many organisations outside of this
space can adopt this strategy to reach its business goals.

Pharmaceutical organisations also outsource at least part of their R&D processes to

other pharmaceutical organisations and according to AMR Research, today most
pharmaceutical and biotech companies outsource at least a proportion of their clinical
trial management process, another example of how pharmaceutical are perusing
cost/revenue-based strategies.

AFFILIATE MARKETING
Affiliate marketing - a type of performance-based marketing in which a business
rewards one or more affiliates for each visitor or customer brought by the affiliate's
own marketing efforts - broadly falls within this category. This is the case as an
affiliate program’s sole purpose is to sell products with minimal marketing spend
waste as affiliates are paid on a per-sale basis.
EMAIL MARKETING AND LIST BUILDING
Organisations that rent assets and inventories fall within this category, and email
marketing has become a popular channel in this respect. Organisations can rent email
lists (for a price) so that other organisations can sell their products to the subscribers
within that email list. This is an interesting concept as, for the most part, the owner of
the email list will not sell its own services to its own list.

3. TARGET MARKETING STRATEGY

Every pharmaceutical marketing strategy will involve an element of targeting.
Targeting enables organisations to narrow their focus and aim marketing campaigns
and messages at a specific segment of the market, thus becoming more relevant to
the audience and increasing the chances of conversion into a customer or client.
Essentially focusing on customers that an organisation can serve best.

A targeting strategy often involves focusing on organisations via one or more of the
following attributes: Most profitable customers, larger or smaller organisations, loyal
customers, customers that are not brand-loyal and employees of a particular
organisation for B2B organisations.

Depending on the pharmaceutical organisation type, this process is potentially a two-

step process. The first targeting exercise is the customer from a B2B perspective and
then the end-user from a B2C perspective. A holistic view on the segmentation
process, for example, could enable an OTC and Nutraceutical marketing organisation
to develop insights and perspectives that are essential for developing a winning
strategy in the OTC and Nutraceutical market.

MARKET SEGMENTATION
Markets consist of various demographic characteristics, needs and behaviours,
therefore products/services and marketing messages may not relate to all of these
people. So, strategic segmentation provides an opportunity to target specific
messages and campaigns towards specific audiences. Creating buyer personas is a
great way to start the process, as you will immediately understand the audience(s)
which you are targeting to tailor your content towards. Lifecycle targeting is also
another option to consider, which can be done by targeting content at your audiences
during specific stages of the buyer’s journey.

PRODUCT AND SERVICE POSITIONING

Although it’s sometimes normal that a competitor’s product and service offering
differs online versus offline, it is often that an organisation’s overall offering is very
similar to that of a competitor’s. With this in mind, positioning your products/services,
organisation and brand - and giving it its own USP - can be the differentiation that tips
offering as the most desired solution from the competition.

4. POSITIONING AND DIFFERENTIATION STRATEGY

The section above briefly touches on positioning and differentiation in the context of
segments and sub-markets - elements concerned with the customer. This strategy, on
the other hand, assumes that the organisation’s marketing strategy indeed takes into
account the customer’s perception of the offering but relative to those of the
competition.
Organisations can position their products and services according to four variables:
Product quality, service quality, price and fulfilment time. Reviewing your internal
strengths and comparing them to those of your competitors, a differentiation strategy
that positions your offering above those of your competitors can be achieved giving
the organisation a competitive advantage.

To bring the strategy to life, the pharmaceutical organisation can define the product
strategy, as PharmExec state: “A product positioning statement is a series of phrases
or sentences that articulate the drug's unique selling proposition, typically including
the brand name, product category, target customers, key benefit, and primary
competitive differentiation.”

BRAND DEVELOPMENT
Branding is how organisations are perceived in the minds of the audience.
Organisations can differentiate themselves from the competition with a brand
strategy. More than simply a name, term, design, or symbol, a brand is the
recognisable feeling a product or business evokes. Brand management begins with
an analysis of how a brand is currently perceived in the market and then proceeds to
plan how the brand should be perceived if it is to achieve its objectives.

ONLINE/OFFLINE VALUE PROPOSITION

A value proposition is not just a statement of the benefits of the products and services
to reinforce the core proposition to differentiate it from the competitors. It also acts as
a driver for developing content and communicating messages that will strategically fit
with its indented audience, providing a direction for all marketing messages.

5. CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT STRATEGY

A popular strategy, that one way or another, most companies will adopt. The strategy
aims to create compelling content and experiences and encourages interaction and
participation.

With the development of technologies and the growth of marketing platforms and
channels, a customer engagement strategy is highly common for most B2C
organisations, as well as B2B brands who are looking for a two-way dialogue with
their audiences. This is certainly the case for us here at Orientation Marketing. The
aim here is to develop a community around the brand whereby audiences can
interact with certain content.

In the pharmaceutical industry, more so big pharma, and just like most other
consumer-facing industries, there are more products and more messages
subsequently meaning more noise. PharmaPhorum explores this and looks at key
trends affecting a customer engagement strategy in the pharmaceutical industry such
as the changing audience, rise of medical affairs and the development of new patient
support programmes.

CONTENT/INBOUND MARKETING
Content marketing is the process of writing and publishing content to educate
potential customers about products and services or solutions to common problems
for target audiences. Content marketing is an effective strategy to engage with
audiences just as it is within a market/product development strategy, for example. To
enter new markets, content marketing (or inbound marketing) can help with the
positioning of a new product, generate awareness and generate new leads.

SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY

Social media platforms provide an audience of highly engaged people, who can be
targeted both organically and via paid means to help achieve marketing objectives.
The scope of social media optimisation also includes the incorporation of features
such as sharing and commenting off of social media platforms and on company
websites. Such a strategy can incorporate all of or a range of networks, such as
Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram, to only adopting just one which is most
frequently used by your particular audience.

6. MULTI-CHANNEL STRATEGIES
A multi-channel marketing communications strategy reviews the different types of
customer contact with an organisation to then determine how these touchpoints can
be incorporated within a marketing plan to reach objectives. This strategy involves
both online and offline channels and can connect outbound call with a website and
email, for example.

Multi-channels strategies derive from an internal audit to determine customer channel

preferences as well as the preferences of the organisation usually based on internal
processes. Pharmaceutical organisations are required to consider many elements of
the strategy, such as customer insight, the experience as well as its internal capability
when adopting multi-channel strategies.

Two common marketing strategies that pharmaceutical organisations can broadly

adopt arise from this sort of strategy.

CUSTOMER ACQUISITION STRATEGY

A customer acquisition strategy defines the best mix of media and engagement tools
(lead generation and product offers) to gain new customers by targeting them and
reaching them through online and offline customer journeys. This strategy involves a
marketing focus of generating new business leads and customers, often in the form of
inbound sales-related enquiries. An essential component for most organisations.

CUSTOMER RETENTION STRATEGY

A customer retention strategy focuses less on generating new customers and focuses
more on keeping current customers - customers who you’ve already invested in and
earned - happy, loyal and buying from you. This might include delivering service that’s
consistent with your value proposition and brand or cross-selling, up-selling, asking
for referrals from existing customers and developing programmes that increase
customer loyalty. Customer services teams are in place for this very reason.

STRATEGY AS A PATH TO REACH YOUR OBJECTIVES

Strategy, as a word, is derived from the Greek “strategos” originally intended to mean
“the art of the general.” Those generals would never have engaged in hand-to-hand
combat meaning that your pharmaceutical marketing strategy, similarly, defines how
you will deploy your armies and resources and the six strategies listed in this post are
prime examples of this at work in the pharmaceutical and related industries.
Marketing to patients and doctors require distinct strategies, just as it would between
organisations within the B2B supply chain, but pharmaceutical marketing, in general,
involves the same principles that you find in any other industry.
8. Launching new products
McKinsey state that 50% of product launches don’t hit their targets. Usually the
reason for this is that all the marketing and communications components have not
been addressed.

The quantitative and qualitative research is done and your organisation’s new product
has come out of the development and trials phases. A new scientific product is ready
for launch. You, in the marketing department, are tasked with strategising, planning
and executing the launch of the new product. You have your own database. You are
aware of a number of suitable magazines. But you also have to manage the launch at
a trade show. Where do you start to ensure you hit your launch targets and make the
product a success?

Assuming you already have determined your target audience and have studied your
competition, you will need to produce a product launch and communications plan.
Here’s where we’d begin in this crash course on launching a scientific product.

1. IDENTIFY A DIFFERENTIATING ELEMENT FOR THE PRODUCT

Although your product is unique, the specific features highlighted by the development
team might not be strong enough for the market to take notice. Product developers
will do things differently to marketers; they are experts in products and not so much
experts in people.

It’s important to differentiate to create value to focus on the cost of not choosing the
product over another. Market characteristics need to be identified early, including the
product’s potential use and how its users perceive these characteristics. The Four
Actions Framework can be used to reconstruct buyer value elements for product
differentiation by looking at the value chain for strengths. You can highlight your
product as a solution to a problem or include an eco-friendly element to the product,
for example.

2. DEVELOP A USP FOR THE MARKETING MESSAGE

Developing the marketing message is difficult to get right – this is the case in any
industry. Data from market research, focus groups or patient pathways (depending on
your product), will determine what you know about the market which will determine
how you position your product. Cost savings, safety, simplicity, efficacy or efficiency,
or any other differentiation element might give your product a hook and allow you to
communicate the benefits of your product more efficiently.

The service offer itself might be the product's strongest asset, therefore, it should be
clearly communicated. They might be physician services such as diagnostics patient
identification or compliance, for example.

3. CREATE A MULTI-CHANNEL COMMUNICATIONS PLAN

The marketing communications plan is potentially the most complex aspect of the
launch as it includes a number of moving parts. You will have your own brand
awareness and lead generation plans, as well as the PR and media plans that takes
into account the environment your product will feature within.
Be sure to engage the media early on for coverage of the product and purchase
advertising space within specific publications in advance. We are running such
campaigns for some of our clients right now – speak to us if you’d like an idea of what
is involved when developing a communications plan for a product launch – which
usually includes banner placements, e-blasts, collaborative content and co-branded
articles.

4. FOCUS ON BUILDING A BRAND, RATHER THAN SELLING A PRODUCT

Brand building, rather than directly selling a product, can be a differentiating factor in
itself in an industry that has favoured the latter. Of course, selling the product is key to
the lifecycle of the product, but if you understand your customers and create a
product and value proposition around those customers, you are positioning yourself
and the product for the long-term. Keep in mind that a market orientated strategy is,
for the most, a safer strategy than a product orientated strategy.

5. ENSURE STRATEGIC COMPONENTS ACROSS REGIONS ARE ALIGNED

We operate within a global marketplace, and therefore, all aspects of the launch, from
the sales demonstrations to the key message needs to be considered on a global
scale, by region. Different countries work in different ways, and local relations,
regulations and pricing models will differ, as well as the preferred methods of doing
business for sales and marketing professionals.

6. PREPARE AND INVOLVE THE SALES TEAM

Often during a product development process and marketing planning process, the
sales team is excluded. This is wrong because the sales team will have valuable
insights into what customers want, having spent a lot of time with them face-to-face.
Salespeople will also be the ones tasked with selling those products, therefore, they
need to be fully informed and prepared to sell the new product within the market.
Keep them close throughout the development of the product launch plan.

7. …AND PREPARE THE CUSTOMER SERVICES TEAM

The variety of science products within the industry, from the drug to the delivery to
the packaging to the lab equipment, are vast. But what they all have in common is that
they will require good customer experience and service to be successful. How well
science organisations provide support and answers to questions is a key driver for the
image of the product that needs to be communicated during launch. Having a product
liaison/specialist available to customers is a good start.

8. UNDERTAKE A SOFT (TEST) LAUNCH

This is an optional but highly useful exercise. It allows marketers to gauge initial
feedback regarding the product that might identify some potential pitfalls with the
product and its marketing message. More so, how the launch might be perceived in
the wider market.

By conducting a soft launch, you can determine if the market is ready for the product,
if you need to educate the market beforehand and if the appropriate selling
proposition is being highlighted. You could even acquire new customers before you
officially launch the product.
9. OFFICIALLY LAUNCH AT A TRADE SHOW OR CONFERENCE
Shows and events provide a great platform for launching scientific products.
Throughout the year, trade shows occur across the globe that brings scientific
professionals from all over the world together in one location for a number of days.
Here, a large pool of people can see your new product in action which presents
opportunities for the sales team to generate leads.

Be sure to utilise the sponsorship opportunities that event organisations provide.

Social media and other stand features should also be used to generate buzz before,
during and after the event. The goal is to drive awareness of your product on your
exhibition stand and get people talking.

10. OPTIMISE YOUR CHANNELS TO SUPPORT THE LAUNCH

Use your website, and supporting channels, to promote the product with a variety of
content. Awareness-type content, such as videos and articles, will greatly improve the
promotion of your product launch. Homepage content, CTAs and pop-ups should all
be optimised to divert website visitors to learn more about the current product launch
or the official trade show launch.

10. STAY ON HIGH ALERT

When working on a product launch it is easy to get alienated from the real world,
forgetting what goes on in the industry with customers or competitors, for example.
The product you are marketing is perceived internally as the biggest breakthrough
since the discovery of antibiotics. But this just isn’t the case.

Always stay on high alert for competitive movements and never overestimate the
benefits of your product – biases exist and it is crucial for the future of the product
that team members are objective, avoiding overconfidence and resist the urge to hold
any assumptions about the market before them.

11. POST-LAUNCH REVIEW

Before the launch of the product, a post-launch review plan should be in place to
evaluate the launch process in full, with all subsequent data analysed and assessed,
to identify (and avoid) any gaps for future launches.

Everything needs to be documented here and it is also possible that the review
process is handled by a team external to the launch team. However, the head of the
launch team, or you within the marketing team, should oversee the process to make
sure that it does happen as it might reveal some truths which might not be expected.

Finally, and most importantly...

12. EMPOWER THE LAUNCH TEAM

Large science organisations are often hindered by their own hierarchical structures
during product launches. More often than not, successful product launches emerge
from smaller, micro teams that have the flexibility and authority to make decisions fast.
New insight, data, regulations and competitor movements can be acted upon instantly
without having to adhere to long formal consolidation processes.
Ensure the launch team has the right mix of professionals, with marketing, sales,
product, legal, supply etc. involved who can act quickly when needed. Create a
culture around the team where each individual feels a part of something special and
can thrive. As a McKinsey study suggests, team collaboration was the most important
capability that correlates with success, especially within pharma and healthcare.

THE PRODUCT IS NOT ENOUGH

This chapter provides the key considerations and elements to communicate the
launch of a science product, but each product will vary by organisation. Increasing
complexity, uncertainty and competition is the norm in the science industries. At the
same time, new products – as opposed to brand extensions – are common.
Successful science product launches, however, are rarely the norm and the science
industries pose challenges at all crossroads.

The development process for any pharmaceutical product is extensive; it’s long and
it’s expensive. But the promotional and communications activities that follow don’t get
as much attention, which is a real shame because sometimes great products do not
flourish as they should leading to failed product launches, and failed products.

Ask yourself, how did your last product launch perform?

9. Marketing plan process
The pressures exerted on to marketing teams by external demands and other internal
departments encourage marketing teams and team members to jump right in and
start promoting the organisation. Sometimes in ways that might not always be
effective.

Often, our activities are determined by what we’ve always done in the past without
knowing if what we are doing is making a difference and often, we act on dated
assumptions the drive the work we are conducting. Again, we could be more effective
by doing things more strategically with some planning.

The pharmaceutical marketing plan includes the budgets, channels and the ideas
which will take the pharmaceutical organisation, and its products and services,
forward in the current landscape. But do you think your plan could be better and
could be driven by insight? Do you think the plan has been put together hurriedly with
parts missing? Or, do you think it can be improved with better structure and direction?

Here is a proven six-stage marketing plan template to determine your next

pharmaceutical marketing plan or tweak your current plan.

THE PHARMACEUTICAL MARKETING PLAN PROCESS USING THE SOSTAC

FRAMEWORK
SOSTAC is a strategic marketing planning model that looks at six stages of the
marketing plan: Situation analysis, objectives, strategy, tactics, actions and control.

There is a range of marketing planning templates and frameworks available to adopt,

however, the SOSTAC model has emerged as one of the leading plan models due to
its simplicity and practicality. Where marketers can move between stages and cross-
reference whether the assertions and decisions made within each achieves the
direction set out in the previous stage. Whether you’re embarking on a marketing
campaign or looking to plan your annual or even 3-5 month plan, SOSTAC can be
used to determine whether your plan is likely to succeed as well as keep you on track
during the execution of the plan.

We will go over all six elements of the plan in the context of a pharmaceutical
organisation’s marketing plan.

1. SITUATION ANALYSIS: EVALUATE CURRENT ACTIVITY AND PREVIOUS

MARKETING PLANS (WHERE ARE YOU NOW?)
The first stage of the marketing planning process is a review of the current situation,
and from a marketing perspective, an examination of the current (or previous)
marketing plan and activities. Researching internal and external elements will give
you an overview of the direction you can take your marketing plan within the current
landscape.

This is perhaps the most important stage (that can take up to 50% of the planning
process time), and some of the work carried out will not actually make it into the
physical plan, rather inform the decisions made for the marketing plan. The choices
you will make, specifically in terms of strategy and action planning, will be better (and
often more effective) as you are more realistic with your expectations in your current
market position. Devoting time to this stage of the pharmaceutical marketing plan will
help make more informed decisions throughout the rest of the plan.

There are a range of questions to ask yourself, and as part of your situation analysis
(SWOT), ask yourself or your marketing team:

• What do our customers want?

• What opportunities and threats currently exist within the marketplace and the wider
pharmaceutical industry?
• What are our competitors doing that we can do better or counter?

2. OBJECTIVE SETTING: DETERMINE THE SPECIFIC GOALS OF THE MARKETING

PLAN (WHERE DO YOU WANT TO BE?)
Once the current position is defined, it is then appropriate to determine the desired
marketing position you wish to achieve for your pharmaceutical organisation. Setting
such objectives gives you perspective and a target so that your marketing activities
are focused and contribute towards the overall marketing and organisational
objectives.

This stage will likely involve all of your marketing team, even board members and
those responsible for allocating marketing budgets, where the aims of the entire
marketing plan are set. The previous stage will determine what you are capable of
achieving and good objectives are quantified with timescales.

• Set SMART objectives

• Alight the marketing objectives with organisational objectives
• Select KPIs.

3. DETERMINE STRATEGY: SELECT ON THE PARTICULAR APPROACH TO THE

MARKETING PROBLEM (HOW DO YOU GET THERE?)
The strategic planning stage determines direction, and within the marketing plan,
summarises how the objectives set in stage two are fulfilled. A hugely important
process of the marketing plan that takes into account the two previous sections as it
dictates how the organisation is going to shift its position.

Here, trends are responded to where a subsequent position within the market is
determined, and subsequently, what marketing and communication strategies are
adopted to support customer acquisition, conversion and retention.

In a nutshell, at least from a B2B pharmaceutical marketing perspective, how will

leads or sales be delivered? Should your pharmaceutical organisation wish to expand
into new territories, your marketing strategy should reflect this (perhaps consider the
Ansoff Matrix for ideas here).

Set up an internal marketing strategy meeting with all of the key stakeholders and
discuss the following:
 • Are we targeting a particular market segment?
• How will we position ourselves the market/market segment?
• What is our communications/content strategy?

4. TACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: SET OUT THE DETAILS OF THE PLAN, AND HOW TO
ACHIEVE THE STRATEGY (HOW EXACTLY WILL WE GET THERE?)
The tactical stage of the planning process will show exactly how to implement the
strategy determined in the previous section, which is generally more detailed than
either of the other stages from a documentation perspective. Each touchpoint, from
an initial advert to a landing page to email marketing workflows, to CRM management
to supporting news articles and social media content, as well as print advertising for
awareness purposes, for example, will be listed in this section.

This might support a content marketing strategy designed to educate a sub-section of

a pharmaceutical vertical about solution alternatives, that positions your organisation
as the cheaper, yet friendlier alternative to the market leader.

Often, to determine the tactical direction, marketing teams (this perhaps more senior
members) will need to lock themselves in a room, look at all of the available channels
and tactics within the communications mix, and decide which to focus on that are
more likely to achieve the strategy. Be ready to spend time scribbling on
whiteboards…

In the end, the following will be required:

• A roadmap of tactics and touchpoints

• A review of your media plan and schedule
• A detailed Gantt chart of all the channels you plan to use.

5. ACTION PLANNING: ENSURE THAT THE MARKETING PLAN CAN BE EXECUTED

(WHO DOES WHAT AND WHEN?)
A marketing plan was always going to feature a section which would determine and
state the details of the plan, specifically what exactly are marketing team members
doing with their working hours and when? This will happen in the action planning
section, which features the detailed working out of the tactics.

Each tactical channel, activity or medium is a mini-plan that needs to be managed,

with the frequency of posting and specific actions of each channel taken into
consideration. What actions need to be taken (daily, weekly, monthly)? What
processes are required to make the tactics happen? What marketing tools are
required?

Reading about this stage you are no doubt beginning to lose enthusiasm for your
marketing plan, which would suggest why this part of the planning process is often
the weakest for organisations. It often goes missed entirely. Always remember to
allocate time and resources to your plan and conduct internal marketing to team
members so that they are aware of the actions required of them to bring the plan to
life:
 • Allocate resources to specific individuals
• Create a marketing/content calendar with specified dates
• Conduct ongoing internal marketing and one-to-ones for motivation.

6. CONTROL: DECIDE ON THE APPROPRIATE METHODS TO EVALUATE THE PLAN

AND PROCESS (HOW AND WHAT DO WE MONITOR?)
Finally, and to go full circle on the plan, is the control stage. The control stage
identifies what you need to measure and how often, and what needs to happen
should you identify that the plan isn’t working or if you are not on track to meet the
KPIs set out in stage two of the plan.

A key benefit of such reporting is to identify whether you are succeeding or not
before its too late, as well as arming you with the knowledge for next year’s
pharmaceutical marketing/campaign plan.

The majority of this process will look at your marketing metrics - such as website
visitors, conversions and number of leads/sales generated - but it will also include
reviewing internal workflows and how the team is performing as a unit. Each tactical
element from stage four will need its own reporting system, as well as how each team
member is performing.

Controlling the plan is essential, and like the previous section, this should not be
ignored. Three key areas to plan:

• Reporting on KPIs
• Regular process reviews
• Gathering team feedback.

PHARMACEUTICAL MARKETING PLANNING

Creating a pharmaceutical marketing plan is made easier when the structure has
presented itself to you. The above template is based on the SOSTAC marketing
model developed by marketing strategist PR Smith and is considered one of the best
models to follow for marketing planning in a number of situations. It is what we follow
for our pharmaceutical-based clients.

The structure is simple and logical that derives from the situation analysis, which by its
very definition, is the most important aspect (even if the majority of the findings are
not required within the documentation of the marketing plan itself) that can inform
accurate decision-making in terms of internal capability and external opportunities
and threats.

Follow its structure for your next pharmaceutical marketing plan. Because it’s easier to
reach a destination when you are informed about the road you need to take.
10. The need for omnichannel
The pressures exerted on to marketing teams by external demands and other internal
departments encourage marketing teams and team members to jump right in and
start promoting the organisation. Sometimes in ways that might not always be
effective.

As pharma marketers, who doesn’t want to deliver relevant and consistent content?
This is where omnichannel marketing exists. Media and marketing plans that include
integrated messaging across a number of channels - both online and offline - is
commonly referred to as Omnichannel marketing. B2B pharma marketing will feature
this heavily.

The Martech Advisor website states omnichannel marketing as “defined as a cross-

channel marketing discipline that aligns content delivery across various marketing
channels to provide seamless and consistent content experiences across the buyer’s
journey and beyond.”

Omnichannel marketing is based around the fact that our target audiences in pharma
are not bound to a single channel, platform or medium. Those audiences will read
physical magazines, visit a range of websites (owned and earned) and engage within
both physical and online communities. They’re everywhere.

And those audiences are also low on time and patience and want to make purchases
and gather information there and then, reducing waiting times for whatever they are
waiting for. Pharmaceutical organisations are required to be there and then, but can
gather feedback from those customers instantly.

So to achieve an omnichannel marketing experience… channels and messages need

to be aligned to make the most of every opportunity, and benefit from the ever-
changing and ever-demanding customer.

OMNICHANNEL MARKETING IN PHARMA

Generating new business in B2B pharma has always been led by the sales
representative. But as the channels increase, and alongside, the adoption of those
channels by those working throughout the pharma supply chain, the representative-
led sales model is no longer viable. Which is why the omnichannel approach has
become popular.

Digital is featuring more and more within pharma marketing plans and therefore
seamless experiences are emerging, that not only caters for the marketing channels a
pharma marketer might adopt, but will also include the sales representatives
themselves, their promotional materials and their communications.

Whether you’re a big pharma organisation looking to address healthcare practitioners

or in the B2B sectors looking to address R&D, an omnichannel approach is likely to
provide the return.
1. INTEGRATE PHYSICAL AND ONLINE
This is a common theme throughout this chapter and should not be taken lightly.
Throughout the entire pharma supply chain, all the way through to big pharma and
healthcare, marketers will need to cover both digital and physical environments.

Pharmaphorum elaborates: “Communicating complex health information across

channels, demographics and psychographics is as challenging as ever. As
collaboration and coordination become part of the new health marketplace, pharma
brands have to clearly and credibly demonstrate how they are partners in care. … The
answer isn’t more information when patients are already bombarded with packets of
discharge paperwork, lists of medications and a stack of new prescriptions after a
diagnosis or treatment. Rather, the answer is, by thoughtful design, to use the myriad
of technologies to reach more people who are not health literate but who can learn
through more intuitive interfaces, competitions, or interactive platforms. Health
literacy is far more than just being able to read the label of a medicine bottle. It is
about knowing where to go for health information and then understanding and
making use of that information, adhering to a treatment plan, and proactively
managing health and wellness.”

2. PUT THE TECHNOLOGY IN PLACE

To be able to provide this return, however, requires a marketing system that is able to
manage campaigns, as well as provide full integration with other essential systems
within a pharma technology stack, such as a CRM. This is regardless of the B2B or
B2C audience. And let’s be honest, most pharma marketers see their priorities sit
elsewhere rather than successfully integrate and manage all of their marketing
technologies.

But things are getting better and digital technologies are being used more and more
throughout the entire supply chain. 24/7 virtual care is becoming common, with AI
enhancing drug development further down the chain - patients, physicians and the
manufacturers are all becoming more empowered in their roles because of
technology. This is the same for marketers and how we can connect those channels
to create the omnichannel experiences required to effectively connect with our
customers and clients.

3. EFFECTIVELY CREATING CONTENT

Any pharma marketing strategy will require content for the message to be carried to
its intended audiences. But the challenges that pharma marketers face are significant.
An omnichannel approach can only work providing the various content is created for
the various channels, for that varied audience.

You will, however, have a range of suitable content options at your disposal to be
able to reach those audiences, in those locations and on those devices. A content
production programme is required to be able to connect with your audiences on an
on-going basis. More often than not, pharma content will need to be created by those
other than the marketers themselves - requiring input from start to finish from subject
matter experts, not to mention legal and compliance experts. Content creation can be
a huge blocker to scientific and pharma organisations that do not have efficient
content programmes - this is for those focusing on channels as well as those
favouring omnichannel.
4. ACCESSING AND HARVESTING THE DATA
I think most pharma organisations will be conducting some form of omnichannel
marketing without really knowing it. Whether the marketing team runs event-based
campaigns after leads are created from a trade show or whether certain website
pages trigger automated emails, omnichannel will be present. However, the lack of
formal structure and direction means that this sort of activity will not really generate
gains or competitive advantage on an organisational level.

If the pharma organisation is at this level of omnichannel maturity, begin with the data
- ensuring that the processes are in place at the foundations to be able to up the ante
when needed. At least then, understanding the current state - pharma marketers can
identify what is required of them to build and maintain an omnichannel strategy in the
future. Perhaps the first step to achieving this is to align the marketing activities with
other departments and aim for those senior representatives - perhaps from data, IT,
legal - to be brought into the programme of setting up a new customer-centric to
approach to the organisation. Going back to the foundations is a valuable and
necessary exercise to undertake, regardless of the current mature state of the
omnichannel marketing programme.

5. MAPPING CUSTOMER JOURNEYS

An omnichannel approach requires you to know the journeys that your users are likely
to take to get from one state to another; from a website visitor to lead and from lead
to customer. A customer journey map is a representation of every touchpoint your
customers have with you. To be able to connect the channels that your audiences
might engage with you, you need to map them and understand the various
motivations and feelings at each touchpoint.

This is a task that will help to tell the story (at each stage of the journey) of a
customer's experience with your organisation which will point to the areas where the
omnichannel focus is required. It will also, as a secondary function, tell you about the
channels that your audiences might be using which are not yet optimised.

6. CREATE ONCE, PUBLISH EVERYWHERE

COPE stands for “create once, publish everywhere” and is a technique used to
publish messages across all communication channels simultaneously. Within an
omnichannel approach, COPE is important on two fronts: (1) It allows you to
effortlessly promote content on all of your owned channels to keep testing whether
such content pieces are relevant for those channels, and (2) it provides adaptive
content for the recipients wherever they are: their context, their moods and their
goals.

Omnichannel requires that you know your target audience well to be able to operate
on preferred channels, but that doesn’t mean that other, perhaps more
unconventional channels, will not be adopted in the future. Create once and publish
everywhere to keep yourself open to all opportunities and expand your reach.

We’re moving on a little now and have potentially introduced more channels and
distribution opportunities. With those additional channels come additional metrics. But
don’t let this change your KPIs and tracking and reporting processes.
Your KPIs shouldn’t change - stick to your original marketing metrics and do not over-
complicate. Your marketing strategy will still serve an organisation-wide goal - do not
let a change in tactics and channels affect your focus. You can find the six metrics that
do which will determine if your marketing campaigns are generating a return on
investment on our website.

8. PERSONALISATION VERSUS LOCALISATION

Personalisation is the goal of most marketing messages. We know that a personal
touch is more likely to result in a positive experience for the user rather than a non-
personal one-size-fits-all approach. The more personalised content and touchpoints
you create – the more loyalty you earn which leads to a rising amount of prescribing
and sales. In the global pharma landscape, we are required to go a step further and
provide those content experiences to region-specific audiences. Can you do both? If
so, you are adding layers to the content production and approval process. Consider
this before you create your omnichannel strategy and which should take priority?

The smaller the permissible interval between product launch and its localised
versions, the more integrated your localisation must be into the overall content
process. You don’t want your localised content lag behind the product launch date,
for example.

9. DEVELOP INTERNAL EXPERTISE AND COMMUNICATION LINES

Pharmaceutical marketing strategies such as omnichannel marketing involves a ton of
moving parts. The latest technologies, experience platforms and other marketing
software - not to mention new marketing approaches such as omnichannel - require
new skill sets. Not to mention a functioning team for this skilled workforce to function
and thrive, and this extends beyond the traditional marketing function.

Leading omnichannel organisations are looking for more innovative and sophisticated
capabilities to make seamless experiences - that can connect both digital and
physical environments, which in itself is not easy - a reality in today’s ever-changing
markets. I think all of the successful pharma organisations running multichannel
strategies have the skills as well as those skills and the expertise on hand when
needed. Culture is key.

10. OMNICHANNEL MASTERY - DISNEY

PMLive discusses Disney’s omnichannel strategy at length. “It has a stunning mobile-
responsive website where users can buy Disney-branded merchandise, purchase
Disney movie tickets and subscriptions, and most importantly, book holidays to one of
the Disney theme parks. After booking a holiday on the website, users can download
the ‘My Disney Experience’ app to plan every detail of their trip, from accessing real-
time wait times and parade showtimes to using the GPS-enabled map to explore the
resort and locate restaurants and other attractions. Furthermore, they can use the app
to purchase theme park tickets, browse restaurant menus, make dining reservations
and even start the hotel check-in process.” Motivated yet?

OMNICHANNEL - BECOMING CUSTOMER-CENTRIC

Remember, this isn’t a digital-only sector. As healthcare and pharma professionals
slowly use more and more digital channels, physical still holds it own. You will need to
invest in other channels such as advertising in the relevant pharma media, but you will
need to be consistent with what you put out on digital channels.
Yes, this can be costly, but you will reduce customer acquisition costs in the long-
term. Because you will be interacting with your target audience on their terms - on the
channels they prefer which will invariably result in an increase in customer
engagement and conversion.

You might not get it right right away but measure and fine-tune until your channels are
fully optimised. As marketers, who doesn’t want to deliver relevant content?
11. Recommended software
Pressures from all directions means that pharmaceutical organisations need to
generate enough leads for its products and services, as well as demonstrate ROI for
the hundreds of thousands it spends on marketing within a given period. To achieve
this, strategic marketing plans are a great place to start. Marketing plans as such will,
however, include a range of technologies, platforms and software that will drive much
of the strategies and tactics within the plan.

The most common basis for a marketing software stack now concerns a website,
marketing platform and a database of contacts that work together to identify, nurture
and convert prospects to a customer, with the entire journey tracked from the first
touchpoint. Other additional software can be added to build on specific components
within the marketing team that tend to vary per organisation.

However, we’ll dive deeper into those technologies, specifically looking at the
pharmaceutical marketing software we would recommend that you bring into your
organisation. This is a list of potential providers and where the particular software sits
within a stack so you can gauge its features and functionality.

Following is a list of 14 pharmaceutical marketing software which we consider integral

to the success of the marketing operation (for any organisation, department or team
which looks to build awareness, rapport and relationships with others outside of the
organisations).

1. CAPSULE (CRM)
Capsule offers a streamlined, effective and user-friendly CRM solution suitable for
small and large pharmaceutical organisations. As a software package, it’s extremely
cost-effective and does everything a CRM is asked of and can integrate with over fifty
other software providers.

This said, as marketing campaigns become more complex, a full customer view is
required, and a pharma organisation conducts more and more digital campaigns on
its own platforms it is more likely that a marketing automation platform (which features
its own CRM) is required. We use Capsule within our agency and would recommend
that software should an entry-level CRM platform be the requirement.

2. SALESFORCE (CRM)
Salesforce needs no introduction. It’s considered the #1 CRM platform on the market.
Historically, Salesforce has offered solely a CRM solution with hundreds of
integrations with other platforms making building the stack relatively easy. More
recently, Salesforce has added a number of other complementary additions to its
offering geared around customer service and marketing automation.

Other notable CRM solutions for more healthcare, physician-based and perhaps more
operational organisations and companies include Veeva, PharmaCODE or Inova. It’s
worth mentioning, however, that these systems are largely bespoke and would not
work effectively out of the box like most the marketing-based CRM software on this
list aimed at marketing and business development professionals.
3. MRWEBPLUS (CRM/SALES)
MrWebPlus a flexible and cost-effective CRM/Sales Force Automation software
solution for the pharmaceutical industry sales forces. Fast and easy to use and
maintain, MRWebPlus enables instant call reporting data thereby empowering teams
to increase profitability through better customer relationship management.

4. HUBSPOT (CRM/CMS/MARKETING AUTOMATION/SALES)

With its cloud-based, customer relationship management platform, HubSpot helps
companies of all sizes track and nurture leads and analyse business metrics. HubSpot
is suitable for any B2B or B2C organisation throughout the pharmaceutical supply
chain. Orientation Marketing are a HubSpot partner and the software’s premium
offering, coupled with its easy-to-use dashboard, makes it the premium inbound
marketing/automation software on the market.

5. SHARPSPRING (CRM/MARKETING AUTOMATION)

SharpSpring is the marketing automation software that drives our pharma client
inbound marketing campaigns, as well as our own. It is targeted primarily at small and
medium-sized organisations, offering a wide array of features to make sure that users
get all the online marketing functionalities that they need without having to plug into
our clients’ websites.

We benefit from using the tool as it can track incoming sales and prospects. For our
clients and ourselves, we use its CRM and email functionalities to communicate with
and update customers on relevant developments. The solution accelerates workflows
as it stores all key sales and marketing materials in a single location improving users’
lead conversion rates. Orientation Marketing is a SharpSpring Silver Level Certified
Partner.

6. WORDPRESS (CMS)
WordPress is perhaps the most popular website engine on the market. It is an online,
open source website creation tool written in PHP that integrates with virtually every
other software tool. It’s widely associated as a blogging platform but soon evolved
into offering full website design and build capability with built-in membership, form
creation and mailing capability.

Every website, small or large, will sit on a CMS engine such as WordPress - the
Orientation Marketing website sits on Squarespace and some of our clients’ websites
sit on Sitecore, Drupal as well as WordPress - which doubles up as suitable for both
small and large websites. If you are looking for an enterprise-level website, perhaps
Sitecore would be better suited as opposed to Squarespace which is more suited to
smaller (brochureware) websites such as this one.

7. EWIZARD (CONTENT)
Pharmaceutical organisations all want to expand impact on the global market. But
localising content - to new markets - from country to country, continent to continent
takes time. eWizard allows you to localise effectively and within your budget by
building multi-channel communication with 100% content reuse and localising your
presentations in HTML5 format. Internal policy and legal reforms may make using this
tool difficult, but if those internal barriers can be overcome you will have a tool that
can save you a lot of time.
8. MARG ERP+ (ACCOUNTS)
Marg Erp Pharma Distribution Software gives full control over inventory, billing,
management of debtors, accounts management, automatic reconcile bank
transactions, track batch and salt wise inventory, MIS and file GST return effortlessly.
Depending on the marketing operation that you run, this piece of software could
become a useful tool in your stack.

9. MOZ (SEO)
Moz is an online SEO tool that offers keyword research, link building, site audits and
page optimisation insights to help pharmaceutical organisations become visible in
search engine results. Whether the target audience is B2B or B2C, it is likely that the
audience will be using search engines to find information. Moz is a great piece of
software to achieve better results in this organic department. SEMrush is a great
alternative if you are in the market for a provider and want to compare functionality.

10. SIMPLYCAST (WORKFLOWS)

SimplyCast is considered one of the world’s best customer flow communication
platform. It includes comprehensive yet simple communication and marketing tools.
Users can create sophisticated automated campaigns that appeal to each customer’s
unique needs and interests without having any coding knowledge.

11. LEADFORENSICS (SALES)

Lead Forensics is the B2B software that reveals the identity of your anonymous
website visitors and turns them into actionable sales-ready leads. For any B2B
marketing, sales or commercial department this sort of information can transform the
way you conduct targeted sales and marketing campaigns. Having previously used
the software, I can certainly vouch for it even if the cost of using the software is a little
on the pricey side.

12. VISEVEN REMOTE DIALER (SALES)

Viseven Remote Detailer is a digital solution that empowers pharma to go beyond the
habitual several-minute rep visits, allowing for remote interactions via a secure,
flexible web-based platform. While the platform incorporates a set of powerful
functionalities for displaying interactive content and can be effortlessly plugged into
any CRM system, its presence grants perfect convenience for the HCPs. Physicians
can interact with reps via stable VoIP and presentation interface from both desktop
and mobile devices, at the time and place of their choosing.

13. SENDPULSE (EMAIL MARKETING)

SendPulse touts a robust and feature-rich set of email marketing tools that are not
offered by most email marketing systems. This intuitive and user-friendly platform
makes it effortless for users to plan campaigns, target the right audiences through
segmentation, use A/B testing, create pleasing emails with a drag-and-drop editor,
and much more, all from within a centralized location. This email marketing
automation platform also allows users to manage all their marketing messages
through multiple communication channels including SMS, emails, web push
notifications, Viber, and Facebook Messenger.

14. ASANA (PROJECT MANAGEMENT)

Project management is important for every pharmaceutical marketing professional
and Asana helps you plan your time so you can get more done. With Asana, you can
create tasks and set them with dates so when deadlines are approaching Asana will
send you an email to remind you.

If there is more than one person linked to a task it will ask you to update it so people
can see how it is progressing and stop the work being duplicated. You can create
private projects so only the people involved have access to the data. We use Asana at
Orientation Marketing and would recommend every marketing team do the same or
at least use similar software such as Trello.

CHOOSING THE RIGHT PHARMA SOFTWARE

The long list of software available to pharmaceutical organisations - specifically
marketing teams and departments within pharma - can be confusing. But knowing
where each fits within an integrated stack helps narrow down the search for the most
appropriate pharma marketing software.

At the very least, CMS/CRM/Marketing Automation software is required. Then,

depending on the specific activities and tactics, a wide range of other software, once
fully integrated with the others, can supercharge the way pharmaceutical
organisations attract, connect and convert its audiences.
Market research. The concept sends shivers down the spines of most pharma
marketers as it is generally considered laborious, even monotonous. It’s the first step
in any marketing campaign or before a new pharma product is launched. A step that
must be completed to ensure the success of the future marketing activity, begin a
review of the current situation, and from a marketing perspective, an examination of
the current (or previous) marketing plan and activities.

The process also involves gathering, recording and analysing information about
customers, competitors and markets in a systematic way. So, if the marketing
plan/activity involves launching new products, repositioning an offer within a market
or to refine a marketing plan, this will always be the first strategic step. An important
one at that as it predetermines everything that follows.

In healthcare or big pharma, market research will look significantly different to that
within the B2B pharma supply chain. The former will relate to drugs prescribed by
doctors or medical devices or OTC products from chemists where the latter will
involve the various manufacturing methods and implications of the above that is also
related to research, packaging and distribution, which will be the primary focus of this
chapter.

CONDUCT RESEARCH EARLY IN THE DEVELOPMENT CYCLE

If you are researching the market for your pharma products and services, be sure to
do so early in the development cycle. An article in PharmaVOICE states that doing this
early helps organisations to shape a product’s positioning and message early in the
process, which will also mean that that message is likely to resonate better with the
market.

The article quotes the CEO of a market research company worth of repeating:
“Everybody says they do market research early in the process. But what they’ve really
done is a market sizing exercise, which should be done. What we’re talking about is
market research that is brand-specific, therapeutically relevant, and designed to help
the early design and development teams understand what doctors need. This enables
a unique positioning for the brand when it comes to market.”

UNDERSTANDING THE LAY OF THE LAND

Fully understanding the marketplace, and what goes on within, is the critical first step
within the research task. Getting an idea of market facts and events (such as sales
data) and the factors that contribute to those facts (such as the causes for a
growth/decline in sales) is the first port of call. You may wish to start with the
governing authorities, competitors or customers, but either way, we need to
understand what is going on from a sales/marketing perspective.

Next, is to find out the implications for the organisation, directors or stakeholders -
you will likely uncover opportunities or threats here. Understanding the general lay of
the land in this way can give you a general feel of the direction in which your
marketing efforts (from a strategy and tactics perspective) will go.
CONDUCT A SWOT ANALYSIS
There is a reason that the SWOT analysis framework is still used in organisations
around the world since it originally appeared in the 1960s, and that’s because it is
extremely effective in what it looks to achieve within the research process from an
internal and external perspective. A SWOT analysis, briefly, helps marketing
managers or organisations identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.
All four areas are considered highly important during the planning phase.

Strengths relate to characteristics of the business or project that give it an advantage

over others, where on the flip side, weaknesses relate to the characteristics of the
business that place the business or project at a disadvantage relative to others.
Opportunities will identify the elements in the environment that the business or
project could exploit to its advantage with the threats identifying the elements in the
external environment that could cause trouble for the business or project.

This process will generally look at the clients and their needs (the physicians, patients,
pharmacists or the organisations), competitors (generics, biotech etc.), intermediaries,
as well as the regulatory bodies (EMA, FDA etc.).

DETERMINE THE SUCCESS OF PAST CAMPAIGNS

Should we embark on a new marketing campaign - be via traditional marketing
methods or digital methods - for a new client, we always ask questions and request
access to data on past/current campaigns. We do this to determine the specific
strategy or tactics for future campaigns. This sort of research gives us an idea about
the route in which to take for these campaigns; should similar campaigns have failed
in the past, we would be looking to freshen up the approach and introduce different
(potentially more innovative) ideas.

MARKET/MARKETING INTELLIGENCE
I always feel that a market or marketing intelligence system can greatly help pharma
marketers with their strategic decision-making. For example, we hold and manage a
central repository of all of the major pharmaceutical publications - spanning across
the sub-sectors - and all of the adverts featured within each publication. The reason
we do this is to be able to inform our clients of competitor adverts within those
publications. Other organisations, publications and pharma intermediaries will hold
similar intelligence-based information which can inform your campaigns.

From a digital perspective, should you want to keep an eye on your clients' and
competitors' website traffic volumes, referral sources and website "stickiness" you
may want to invest in software such as SimilarWeb. Intelligence reconciles what
pharma marketing managers what to have to inform them on an on-going basis and
the specific data helps the overall market research task. The sources of the
information might even sit internally, with your sales teams or with your subject matter
experts within the lab.

Perhaps the tools and process you have already are enough, but it may be the case
that you need to use these older - tried and tested - tools more creatively.

SURVEY THE INTERMEDIARIES

An industry as large as the pharma industry will bring with it a range of intermediaries
across the whole supply chain. Most of the pharma organisations that we work with
are in fact intermediaries (organisations who act as a link between other
organisations). We, as a marketing agency, are also an intermediary just as our
partners in the media are.

To help understand the pharma, and therefore, pharma marketing landscape, it’s
important to engage with such intermediaries to (who also work or are aware of your
clients) help you understand those clients and their preferences without having to ask
them yourself. This is one of the most effective channels to help understand what
drives your clients to be able to enhance your offering for them.

BUT SPEAK TO YOUR CUSTOMERS AND CLIENTS

Contrary to the last point, interviewing and surveying current customers and clients
direct is a highly valuable market research option. You will get interesting responses
to your questions and you can also look to gauge an understanding of their general
behaviours towards the market and your organisation and its offering, as well as its
motivations.

Provide a variety of ways for customers to share their comments. Offer several
feedback channels to improve both the quantity and quality of the feedback from this
particular research method. Make feedback an integral part of the business/sales or
marketing operation (with KPIs) so that it is clear that the management team has given
the programme its full backing. Feedback can make a strong contribution to the
development and evaluation of new initiatives, and is integral for the market research
process.

ALWAYS BE BENCHMARKING
I also am a fan of benchmarking to gauge all kinds of aspects related to campaigns,
such as on processes, tactics and for the wider organisation. You may not feel that
assessing your competitor’s organisational headcount or resource allocation, or even
marketing tactics and or CRM choice or traditional/digital media is important, but I can
assure you this sort of information is gold.

We operate within a competitive landscape and even the slightest bit of information
may give you the upper hand so that you can be one step ahead of your competitor’s
moves. And there’s nothing unethical about accessing publicly accessible data on
those competitors, just how you decide to use it. Benchmarking, as a research tool,
can give you an overview of where you sit against your competitors and where you
need to improve.

Other elements to benchmark: sales team size, historic sales numbers, revenue,
R&D/clinical studies, training and commercial excellence. Whatever you feel can help
you make informed decisions, benchmark them.

HIRE A SPECIALIST MARKET RESEARCHER IN-HOUSE

If you are a pharma marketer reading this and thinking that you have no time to
conduct the tasks from the guide above, then you should be looking to hire an
internal member within the organisation. Such a specialist can help guide market
research so that it is faster, less expensive and provides richer customer insights.

Should this be out of scope for your organisation, look to organise a group of people
internally that can analyse and make decisions about marketing investments. Should
you be the person leading the market research, identify a minimal standard for
excellence to ensure the information you are gathering is up-to-date and useful for
future decision-marking.

QUALITATIVE OVER QUANTITATIVE

We are fast becoming a generation of marketing professionals obsessed with big
data. Qualitative data as such is highly useful once the vast amounts of data has been
analysed, interpreted and used to make sound marketing management decisions. But
the difficulty is to make sense of that raw data yourself to make marketing decisions.

Should you have your work cut out and need to gather the data yourself, look at
qualitative primary research methods such as focus groups, surveys or interviews and
ensure that more than one person is in charge of interpreting the results of research
to ensure that personal bias and individual personalities do not skew the results.
Away from the B2B space, for example, conduct physician satisfaction surveys as well
as store/hospital and patient surveys.

Ron Brand from IMS Health, however, provides a gentle warning: “The key is
integrating data from various sources to gain a big-picture perspective.”

SHARE ALL EXISTING INFORMATION

If you work for a large pharma organisation, it is likely that some of the information
you are looking for has already been acquired by someone past or present in your
organisation. Or, that person has data in their possession that can significantly help
the market research process. This is why the distribution and sharing of market
research is hugely important - especially within the complex pharma industry where
information as such is available is in abundance.

MARKET RESEARCH: A METHODICAL PROCESS

Methodical market research can identify ways to lower costs and improve revenues
because it informs future activities and campaigns. That methodical process involves
(1) Problem and research objective definition, (2) Research planning, (3) Data
collection, (4) Data analysis, (5) Data interpretation and finally, (6) Reporting of
findings.

This process will achieve a number of insights to drive your marketing, such as
identify a real customer need, determine the competitive market landscape as well as
address compliance regulatory factors that could affect your marketing campaigns. As
a precaution, be sure you understand the environment you operate within (markets to
assess) the best research methods to adopt that will provide the most useful data and
build an environment that can handle and interpret the data you collect.

Whether you are looking to create a new marketing plan or conduct pre-launch
studies or researching into price, or even looking to understand patient, physician and
pharmacist habits, ensure your market research plan is up to scratch. Use this guide
as an overview of the kinds of market research you can conduct - should either of the
points be relevant to you, dive deeper.
13. Journals and publications
Research - regardless of the end goal - takes time. But as a pharmaceutical marketer,
you’ll be fully aware of its importance within your role. The process includes sifting
through tens/hundreds of websites and journals and books (amongst other mediums)
to then examine the contents of each. And this is just the beginning of the process.

We find that when doing this sort of secondary research, we have spent a lot of my
time on something that will, in the end, turn into very little. The process is often very
wasteful. This chapter provides those interested in pharmaceutical marketing and the
promotion of healthcare products and services a list of notable publications (mostly
academic journals) to focus during the research process.

So, if you are conducting research to review current literature of previous studies or
looking to subscribe to a noteworthy publication which might provide future ideas and
insight to aid your marketing strategies, you will find it within the ten publications
below.

1. JOURNAL OF MEDICAL MARKETING

The Journal of Medical Marketing, edited by Brian D Smith ceased publication in 2017.
Which is a real shame as many of the articles featured were highly relevant. This said,
it’s still worth keeping the publication in mind when conducting research in the
marketing field. The journal contains contributions within 16 volumes of back issues
that focus on the issues of key importance to pharmaceutical and medical marketers.

2. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PHARMACEUTICAL AND HEALTHCARE

MARKETING
The International Journal of Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Marketing is a leading
specialist reference resource of academic information and analysis on pharmaceutical
and healthcare marketing. This quarterly publication covers a wide range of
contemporary subjects within the wider pharmaceutical field since 2007. Edited by Dr
Avinandan Mukherjee, you can catch up from the latest issue of the International
Journal of Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Marketing here.

3. THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL

The Pharmaceutical Journal covers various aspects of pharmacy, including
pharmacology and pharmaceutics and is the official journal of the Royal
Pharmaceutical Society. This isn’t strictly a marketing journal, but with its origins
dating back to the 1800s, with plenty of articles on marketing and promotion, this is a
monthly journal worthy of review which will require a small membership fee - you will
be joining more than 30,000 members by doing so. You can also sample a limited
number of articles on the website to get a feel for the content before becoming a paid
member.

4. JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH

Neither a pharmaceutical nor marketing publication, the Journal of Consumer
Research does, however, feature a wider range of suitable articles for the
pharmaceutical and science marketer. The journal is a bimonthly peer-reviewed
academic journal covering research on all aspects of consumer behaviour, including
psychology, sociology, economics and communications published by Oxford
University Press and covered by a range of editors from the field of marketing and
consumer behaviour.

5. BMC HEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH

An interesting article relating to pharmaceutical marketing strategies (by Dr Micheline
Khazzaka of the Toulouse Business School) appeared within the BMC Health Services
Research last year which diverted our attention to the journal. Founded in 2001, it
covers research on the broad subject of health services, and although not entirely
suitable to most of our B2B marketing audience, is one we will be keeping an eye on
in the future for similar contributions.

6. HEALTH MARKETING QUARTERLY

Health Marketing Quarterly is directed at academics and practitioners concerned with
the concepts, practice and research of healthcare marketing. Again, more health than
pharma, but pharmaceutical marketers across the B2B and B2C spectrum can draw
on the various articles to review new ideas, methods and programs that can help
influence future marketing strategies and activities. The latest issue includes an article
that reviews the burgeoning body of healthcare marketing literature with the aim of
mapping the research that has been undertaken in this area for the first time -
interesting to any marketing professional.

7. JOURNAL OF PHARMACEUTICAL FINANCE, ECONOMICS & POLICY

The Journal of Pharmaceutical Finance, Economics & Policy, established in 2003,
provides original articles, research reports and reviews of the current literature on
pharma-economics, outcomes research, patient satisfaction, quality-of-life issues,
financing and pricing amongst other topics.

8. JOURNAL OF PRODUCT & BRAND MANAGEMENT

Another publication not primarily focused within the pharmaceutical, healthcare or life
sciences, but it does provide comprehensive information for organisations that are
facing new challenges when managing their product and brand reputations. This
nationally respected journal examines critical issues, which need to be taken into
consideration when determining brand and pricing strategies and policies and has
been so for the past twenty years. We encourage all pharma marketers involved in
brand communications and product management to examine some back issues.

9. PLOS MEDICINE
PLOS Medicine is a peer-reviewed weekly medical journal covering the full spectrum
of the medical sciences. The journal featured Kalman Applbaum’s highly cited essay
entitled “Pharmaceutical Marketing and the invention of the Medical Consumer”
previously discussed on Orientation Marketing Insights. Since 2009, three years after
Applbaum’s contribution, the journal reaffirmed its scope to use an evidence-based
approach to give priority to studies on diseases and risk factors that cause the
greatest burden worldwide.

10. THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HEALTHCARE MANAGEMENT

The International Journal of Healthcare Management serves all those directly involved
in or concerned with, the organisation, delivery, marketing and management of
healthcare services at a strategic and operational level. The journal's content
addresses the diverse range of disciplines that healthcare services management and
marketing draws upon and its international scope and aims give special focus to
management issues.

THE PUBLICATIONS…
This chapter features ten pharmaceutical marketing publications considered amongst
peers within the industry as the most trusted. The list, however, is by no means
complete and there are other notable absentees which may be more suited to
particular functions and role within the pharmaceutical sectors. We have aimed to
provide a range of academic journals and publications - with example contributions of
what we feel are either most suited or best represents the type of content within the
journals - which the pharmaceutical marketer may be interested in. Feel free to get in
touch to suggest a publication for the list.
As a pharmaceutical marketer, you need to know where to find your potential
customers, talk to them in a language that resonates and know what motivates them
to take action. This requires a multi-layered approach consisting of the most suitable
channels, utilising all the tools available to you from content marketing to lead
nurturing.

The process of turning strangers into leads and then into customers requires
campaigns and touchpoints that go beyond most traditional advertising initiatives.
This pharmaceutical marketer’s guide can provide the methodology, ideas, tools and
knowledge to do just that. Should you need a helping hand, we are here for you.

We can help you uncover the opportunities to increase awareness with the
appropriate audiences. You’ll enjoy full support when it comes to media planning and
buying and content creation as we take away the demand generation work away from
you. We will ensure that you get the most value from your marketing budget.

Orientation Marketing is a media and marketing agency for the pharmaceutical,

nutraceutical, medical technology, life sciences, food and cosmetics industries.

We help contract manufacturing, development and research organisations uncover

marketing opportunities to become more visible, increase engagement, generate
leads and boost revenue.

Please get in touch should you have any questions related to the topics discussed in
this guide.

Chris Lawson, Co-Founder and Director

T: +44 (0) 1244 953 048 (Option 1)
E: [email protected]

Gareth Pickering, Co-Founder and Director

T: +44 (0) 1244 953 048 (Option 2)
E: [email protected]

For more, please visit Orientation Marketing Insights.