Digital Marketing for Pharma Companies – Things You Need to Know

Digital marketing in the pharma companies will be the next big thing in the digital world as many of them are looking to level up their business and introduce a set of consumer brands. In past years, pharma companies had zero to least interaction with their end users since they entirely depend on their healthcare providers for any medical advice.

With digital operations marking themselves on every sector, there is a huge opportunity for pharmacies to develop patient centric strategies and upgrade their business model. Digital marketing for pharmacy undoubtedly will become a big differential for medical brands looking to rise in futuristic strategy growth. 

Factors which make digital marketing for pharma companies essential.

• Patients are being informed

Patients are no longer just recipients of prescriptions. They are assuming an increasingly active role in their healthcare, examining different medications and practising their rights to settle on final decision conclusions about their health. This simple access of data has both a negative and a positive side to it.

On one hand, it implies patients are more knowledgeable about their health than before. This permits them to make more caution steps about their recurrent health and fully understand side-effects that various drugs can have on their body.

On the other side, some information is not as accurate as it should be. As a counter measures  strategies in digital marketing for pharma can help brands develop maximum authenticity by providing patients with correct and reliable information. By having a formidable online presence and answering patients queries, pharmaceutical brands can develop a good connection with their audience.

• Battling with new competitors

Digital pharma companies are moving beyond just drugs, providing patients with high-tech solutions that offer them greater visibility and control of their healthcare. Some of them include wearable devices which track your health on a real time basis, AI and VR integrated solutions and other potential devices in frame. Pharma companies need to be aligned with today’s digital world. If not they might face tough competition with newbies in the market to win consumers.

• A wealth of data is available

With the huge volume of data available today, pharma companies cannot afford to neglect it. Brands can get a unique insight into their consumers concerns, behavioural habits and more. This data, that was previously unavailable, can help pharma brands build a more comprehensive digital strategy to engage with their end-users.

Digital Marketing Strategy for Pharmacy

Pharma brands have majorly worked in the offline space, it can be unsettling in the online world. With these digital marketing strategies for pharma, companies can soon start building a strong online appearance and engage with targeted consumers to drive positive business results.

• Content Marketing

Content advertising is the perfect digital marketing for healthcare services as it can efficiently produce long term results without disclosing their product entirely to the market. With the information-seeking mindset, most purchasers today have useful knowledge resources through content marketing that can establish an enduring, positive brand association.

Forms of content marketing that pharma companies should try out for:

• Videos
• Guides for consumers or healthcare providers
• Industry reports

• Search Engine Optimization

SEO and content marketing are equally important, one cannot survive without another. In terms of increasing visibility and growing organically, SEO is the most crucial part in digital marketing for the pharmacy sector. Ranking for top keywords depicts expertise in that field, one of the most important factors for the pharma industry is to develop credibility among patients and healthcare providers. It ensures that visitors, which can include doctors and patients, land on the company’s website when searching for a related query.

• Online Reputation management

Unfortunately, sometimes the pharma industry has to deal with negative reviews and inaccurate information on their certain products. Such things can be a major setback to a company’s reputation in the market. Online reputation management is the art of detecting negative aspects and developing strategies to tackle it. 

One of the most effective ways to do this is by search saturation. This is just an extension of Search Engine Optimisation, but with a different purpose. Instead of ranking for branded keywords alone, companies should keep tabs on negative keywords related to their brand. After identifying them, brands should target the same keywords and create new positive content based on it. This way, they can ensure that negative coverage is kept to a minimum.

• Build a comprehensive website

Website is the place where pharmacy companies have complete control. Pharmacy websites mostly tend to provide information and exact solutions as per users query as the brand image is projected on their websites. An attractive interface and most notably i.e user friendly interface on both desktop and mobile can help to engage page visitors. The most important aspect for pharmacy websites is, It should contain details about possible side-effects, benefits, recommended usage amounts and anything else that might be appropriate. Details about clinical trials, in particular, are a very important feature to have on the website as they build credibility.

• Build a strong brand through social media

Social media is the core of any digital marketing for pharma strategy. With such a significant portion of their target audience and consumers present on these platforms, pharma companies cannot afford to ignore them. The approach for companies is slowly shifting from merely communicating the benefits of a drug to healthcare professionals and medical reps to developing an emotional connect with patients themselves. Facebook is the perfect stage for brands to humanise their brand and reach out to a wider audience on a more personal level. 

• Chatbots

Chatbots have emerged as one of the biggest trends that is having an impact on every digital sector. As the technology gets more advanced and sophisticated, chatbots are beginning to sound more ‘human’ and are even proving to be more effective than actual humans. Pharma companies can use chatbots on their website as an innovative digital marketing for healthcare strategy to communicate directly with consumers, doctors or medical reps. They can be used to market their products and offer assistance on how to use them. 

Key Takeaways

Digital marketing for pharma has the potential to completely change the face of the industry. Getting a head start and adopting a strong digital strategy will give pharma companies the edge they need to stand out from the competition.