If social media is not the answer, what’s the future of DTC ?

About the Author

Richard Meyer is a passionate Internet DTC marketer with over 15 years of progressive experience in consumer marketing who`s worked on top pharmaceutical brands like Cialis, Prozac and Sarafem, as well as two years with Medtronic Diabetes. He is currently consulting for his own company, Online Strategic Solutions, and writes a DTC column for PM 360 magazine and blogs for Eye for Pharma in addition to his own blog, World of DTC Marketing.

I believe that first question we have to ask ourselves is “does DTC provide value to our audience”? The answer to that is yes. It makes consumers aware of various health issues and although consumers may chose to do more research online getting consumers to take action is key to both lower health costs and ensure that patients have a good quality of life.

Social media is not going to save DTC marketing or any brand for that matter. It is a part of an integrated marketing strategy that has to be executed flawlessly. So what can DTC marketers do to make marketing relevant again:

1. Take the message to the audience where they are online- Consumers may come to your product.com website but they are also going to your competitors sites and online health portals. You had better ensure that the message you develop is consistent on every website so that consumers take home the same messages.

2. Message development needs to be refined- Stop testing one message and think that it’s going to translate into new Rx’s. You need to develop a lot of messages for microsegments and then you need to reenforce each message. By the way if your message is more selling than fact than you’re farting in the wind because consumers will find the truth online.

3. How naked should you get? I have talked about transparency again and again but each brand needs to determine exactly how transparent they should be. Get too transparent and you may scare off consumers, hide data and word will spread via social media on the Web.

4. Social Media- Ask yourself a basic question: Can I develop a sense of community with my target audience and (more importantly) do I both have the resources go implement a program and will it meet brand objectives ? Above all you should be listening to what is being said about your brand via social media and then quantify which threats you’re going to respond to.

5. Help physicians help patients- Customized patient education at the point of care is a great opportunity and the launch of the Apple Tablet next year is going to be another enormous opportunity to help physicians help patients. You should also, as standard practice, make website content available to insurance providers.

6. Refine search engine optimization – Stop thinking clicks and start thinking cost per targeted action. If your agency is telling you to spend more on search and you’re just looking at clicks you’re leaving a lot of money on the table.

7. Test & retest-People will come to your branded website but the bounce rate could be very high. Therefore do some usability testing and remember it’s about them not you. Also why not do some A&B testing to determine which results in the best ROI.

8. Cut TV when awareness reaches a certain level- Once you have achieved awareness goals with your target audience you need to substantially reduce your TV budget. Do you really think the Cialis and Viagra spots are leading to new Rx’s? Probably not they are more a pain in the ass now.

Finally my advice is to look at your agency relationship, or lack thereof. If you’re using a big agency and have reduced your budget are you sure that you’re getting their “A” team? You have less dollars to spend and you need to stretch it as much as possible. Remember big agencies have big overheads and their goal is to get you to spend money. I have found that smaller agencies tend to give me both better service and better results.