Why do pharma marketers ignore the Internet?

Richard Meyer

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.

According to the latest research, the ROI on TV advertising is only 18% yet pharma marketers continue to spend heavily on this mass channel.  Manhattan Research recently indicated that more people get health information on the Internet than from their physicians and the average time with a PCP physician is only 10 minutes.   With the shift in marketing from push messages to pull information and empowered patients one has to wonder why DTC marketers continue to waste so much money with TV advertising?

The marketing environment for prescription drugs is difficult right now.  The FDA is in transition, to say the least, there is a lot of pressure to reduce healthcare costs and past marketing missteps have resulted in a negative image for the drug industry.   Along with all these changes consumers have discovered the power of the Internet, especially for health.   eMarketer research has shown that consumers trust drug company ads very little (almost last) and the days of seeing a DTC ad on TV and asking your doctor for an Rx are over.   CNN.com is urging consumers to be “empowered patients” and question everything from physician recommendations to prescription drug choices.   The bottom line is that people are using the web to learn about healthcare and they are taking an active role in their healthcare choices.

Social media news stories are everywhere but recent research that I conducted with consumers indicated that they do not want to have a relationship with a drug company.  They do, however, like the idea of a site where people can learn from each other and explore different treatment options.   Drug companies continue to spend a lot of money on product websites but in reality patients and prospects only use these websites for basic information and get additional information from other sources like Web MD or Mayo Clinic.   Just mention social media to a legal or regulatory person and their eyes roll and they reach for the antacids.  The FDA is ruling by what is done and is not being proactive with any guidelines and this in turn has led to risk avoidance by DTC marketers who want to play it safe.

With all of this going on drug companies are also cutting staff and often the people who are most passionate about marketing are the ones who are shown the door.  Business Week, in their last issue on MBA graduates, indicated that a career in pharma marketing is way down on the list for new marketers and given the reputation of pharma I can see why.

With all these challenges however comes opportunity.  Great companies are the ones that invest in marketing and acknowledge a new era of empowered consumers.  A key component of new marketing is moving away from push marketing and learning to listen to consumers and act as aggregators for the brand.  Another key component of new marketing is transparency which seems to be missing from most pharma marketers dictionary.

Pharma marketers had better learn to embrace the Internet and leave old marketing behind.  This means an end to those annoying Cialis commercials and more emphasis on solving consumers problems in human terms.  It means listening and knowing when to shut up but most of all it is a new respect for empowered consumers who are smarter than marketers.   The Internet is the new channel to reach consumers who are looking to make health decisions but is pharma prepared to truly engage patients?