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 ...
Would you want to know that you were genetically predisposed to developing a disease or condition for which we today have no cure, nor any real therapeutic course of management? This is a question more and more of us will need to answer. Science and medicine are moving so quickly today that we are now at the crossroads where diagnostics can begin to out-pace therapy. My colleague and fellow CoreNationRant-er Ken Kramer asked me recently ...
I am currently reading the book Switch by the Heath brothers. I think it is a brilliant account of what drives us all to make decisions big and small. I am so thankful to the boys for providing an easy and clear explanation for what I have been ranting about with clients for years: everyone makes decisions based on emotions that are somehow steered by logic. Another important point the Heath brothers make ...
How often do we underestimate the power of social norms? Let’s face it, just like many animals, humans learn by imitating the behaviors they observe, and they continue this learning process through adulthood. Modeling, if you will, is widely accepted, even by us corporate types. Modeling is one of the pillars of sales training. By watching and imitating others, we learn to act in ways that make us effective at activities such as sales, surgery, ...
So many have written on this topic. I recently read (and highly recommend) a book titled the same, as well as an article in Forbes about the lack of story in PR. I have to say this is true. We continue to forget that there needs to be a story behind our products, services and brands. In fact, without a story, you do not have a brand. But why do we continue to ...
Well, I have to say one of the biggest recent lifts to my ego was our companies’ (Brandkarma and Core-Create) nominations for two Manny Awards. And while some may be jaded to all the fanfare and hoopla (including myself), I recognize how darn good it felt to receive that first notification. And if I could feel good after so many years of the jade build, just think how others ...
I’m tired of talking about social media as if it is the “next thing” or the latest fad. Social media, or the premise, has been with us as long as we have had verbal communication. It is human nature to recommend things, discuss problems, complain, and brag. So I can’t understand why there is so much reluctance to become active in the conversation, even if you are a pharma company. The excuse that the “rules” ...
Don’t get me wrong, I love it all, but I have to admit, I can’t get used to the amount of work it takes to keep up with the social media outlets I am interested in. [...] ...
