American academic John M. Richardson once said that when it comes to the future, there are three kinds of people: those who let it happen, those who make it happen, and those who wonder what happened. We choose door number two and offer five New Year’s resolutions in response to some changes and trends that had an impact on pharma marketers in 2010. #1: We resolve to keep pushing the envelope when promoting brands, despite ...
In pharma marketing, the most critical point in the marketing equation is when the physician's pen meets paper and a script is written. But why does a doctor prescribe one drug over another? What factors into their decision? With today’s regulatory rules governing what we can and can’t do, it is pretty hard to form a relationship, let alone get doctors to feel any sense of loyalty to us — and our ...
Over the last 20+ years I have watched thousands of one-on-one market research interviews with physicians and healthcare specialists to determine what will drive prescribing habits for clients. My findings? Doctors are humans. They take in and analyze a wide range of factors (even some irrational ones) when making a choice. As a veteran specialty pharmaceutical marketing consultant, I’ve dedicated my entire career to influencing and changing the behaviors of physicians and their ...
In this 3-part series, I explore the "tried and true" bag of tricks that marketers rely on; the role the physician plays in changing a behavior; and an emerging relationship-driven era in pharma marketing. I invite you to explore with me by commenting or contacting me. For pharmaceutical marketers, the quintessential moment of truth is when the doctor's pen scribbles on the prescription pad — and then hands the script to the patient. So ...
It is an increasingly rare day when patients, their physicians, and the pharmaceutical industry all agree on something. In this case, the something is the treatment of chronic pain, and they all agree that it is grossly undermanaged. Why is pain so poorly managed in the United States? It's not because the healthcare community has no access to potent analgesic medications. Actually, it is just the opposite. US physicians have a number of effective opioid ...
How many of you are familiar with this image? First time I saw one, two things came to mind: (1) This was a maze and I had to somehow find the correct path from start to finish. (2) It was a new version of the Rorschach Test. I was wrong on both counts. What you see in front of you is a new technology that is being used to enhance customer relationship marketing ...
I watched the Indianapolis 500 this Memorial Day weekend and noticed something interesting. The fastest car completed 4 qualifying laps around the 2.5-mile oval with an average speed of 227 mph. However, the average speed of the winning car was a meager 162 mph. That is a big difference when you consider the conditions were, to the passive observer, similar. But a closer look reveals the underlying realities. During qualifying, there is only one car ...
Life is difficult for healthcare professionals. Every day is fraught with treatment challenges, economic woes, and patient frustrations. Like any consumer, to break through the clutter of their everyday lives, you have to get to their motivating principle — what is in it for them? Sadly, many brands fear differentiation. Despite the creative constraints imposed by the current regulatory environment, pharmaceutical branding can always rise above the sea of sameness without ...
In my last post, I established that a stringent regulatory environment is no excuse for not making an emotional connection between your brand and its target audience. Too often, however, pharma marketers mistakenly assume that physicians will "get" a brand's benefits if they are presented the same way they get information from medical textbooks. This is a weak approach that never effectively motivates an audience to take action ...
"Keep it safe" seems to be the mantra of a legion of pharmaceutical marketers these days. Unfortunately, their attempts to try to fly under the regulatory radar can end up being more hazardous to their brands than they think. Over the next few days, I’ll be exploring some of the pitfalls that marketers are falling into — and how to avoid them. One of the biggest traps when you go down the yellow brick ...
