Last week’s ZEST Digital Breakfast gathered over 60 pharmaceutical marketers to hear a report on the latest digital marketing strategies from the recent DigiPharm conference in London. Our last post summarised some of the key take-outs from the meeting and one thing was clear: not adopting digital media into your marketing strategy means an increasingly limited opportunity to connect with your target audience.
But it’s not that easy is it? More often than not, the suggestion of undertaking ‘digital communication’ is met with an unequivocal ‘no’ from the medical and regulatory departments, or at least swiftly relegated to the ‘too hard’ box. But how long can we continue to do this? It’s not just that digital is growing, but it’s popularity is such that ‘traditional’ channels are becoming less and less effective.
So the challenge in the pharma world is to find ways in which we can be part of this communications revolution, while still remaining compliant. And its certainly not impossible, you just need to be prepared to be open-minded...
Don’t be limited by your own understanding
Too often, our understanding of how social media tools can be used in marketing has been learnt through non-pharma industry examples. This creates a very limited view of how these tools actually work and the variety of ways in which they can be adapted, so we’re quick to dismiss them. ZEST can help you reopen the conversation by providing examples of how different digital tools have been adapted specifically for healthcare communications.
Tools that target
Digital media can also be used to target very specific audiences. This helps with Code compliance as well as your marketing strategy. For example, we can build a web-based education platform that displays different information depending on whether the user is a patient, doctor or member of the public. Or set up a secure forum where your Ad Board members can share information with each other.
Start small, in a place you’re comfortable in
Finally, don’t assume that it takes a huge investment to start benefiting from digital technologies. ZEST can help you to identify areas in which you’re already working that can be enhanced or simplified by bringing a touch of digital into the mix. Start with one small project, see how it goes, then build from there.
If you’d like ZEST to give you and your team a fresh perspective on digital marketing, call Fiona Grigg on (02) 9409 7614.