By Greg Reilly, Senior Vice President, Publicis Health Media
For years, pharmaceutical companies have maintained a straightforward and clear business model: research, develop, manufacture, and sell drugs that treat an illness or condition. Patients, for the most part, relied on their physicians to tell them what they had and what medication to take to treat the symptoms or disease. As recently as 10 years ago the business model was relatively static.
Fast-forward to 2015 and we find that the pharmaceutical business of today is much different. Technology and media have created a whole new class of empowered patients and caregivers who are no longer sitting idle and hoping that what they are prescribed will "do the trick." Patients are increasingly taking an active role in managing their health, and physicians are tasked with providing better outcomes and options. Layer on top an incredibly complex insurance environment, the impact of drug prices on innovation, an increasing trend of personalized medicine, and the focus on preventative care, to name a few, and you have an entirely different industry that requires a different game plan.
Customer centricity has been a central rallying point in business for the last decade. The health industry is no exception. It has crept its way into presentations, mission statements, speeches, and just about every business planning conversation that we have. Being truly customer centric, however, is much easier said than done. Companies must change internally to shift the way that they approach business and for our part, as media partners, we are constantly looking for opportunities to help our clients better align themselves with the needs of their patient and physician audiences.
Three areas that we see as being critical for our clients to provide a more customer centric experience are: 1) aligning their message at key moments during the patient journey, 2) engaging in the conversation, and 3) creating and aligning with valuable content.
Moments in the Patient Journey
At every stage of the patient journey there are moments which trigger an emotion and in turn, an emotion which triggers an action. Patients turning to the web, often on their mobile device, will be looking for information. What are these symptoms? What does this test mean? What are the side effects? How much will it cost?
These questions, and countless others are all attempts by patients to inform themselves to make better decisions. In order to do this, the information must be relevant, contextual, and valuable. Pharmaceutical marketers must always ask themselves are we providing the right information, in the right format (Text, Video, Infographic, etc.), on the right device (e.g. Mobile vs. Tablet vs. TV vs. In-office etc.)? Each patient's journey is intimate and personal. By recognizing the patient mindset at each stage of the journey, pharmaceutical brands are more likely to provide relevant information that helps patients make better decisions.
Talk with Patients, Not at Them
Brands that are willing to challenge the status quo and accept the issues that come with an open dialogue with patients, will win over time. Social media appears to be the frontline for this battle with those who understand the need to embrace and engage consumers, (who, by the way, have become accustom to this type of engagement from the best brands) slowly winning over those who would rather their customers find out information from someone else. Brands must first listen to patients and doctors and the conversation around their conditions and treatments. By employing sound analytics and powerful technologies, brands will extract actionable insights, which can lead to thoughtful, authentic, and valuable interactions with those taking or prescribing their product.
Content is More Valuable than Ever
For today's empowered consumer, content is being created and consumed at a blistering pace. Brands are increasingly embracing the role of content creators and it will be more important than ever for pharma companies to define their approach and role in the content marketing dynamic. Brands will be best served by setting a clear content strategy that defines the type of content they will produce and the type of content they will align with. Identifying and aligning with 3rd party publishers with high quality content that addressed a need in the marketplace will help brands meet the needs of their audiences, patient or professional.
Conclusion
Aligning with moments along the patient journey, engaging with the existing conversation, and rethinking the approach to content, while not easy, will be necessary to be increasingly customer centric. Pharmaceutical executives willing to accept the challenge today and change how they engage with their customers will be the beneficiaries of this new mindset tomorrow.