- 2 November 2007
- Author: Onyx Health
- Posted in: e-Marketing
- Tagged under:
Getting Behind e-Marketing
For some reason UK pharmaceutical companies seem to be very slow adopters to the benefits of e-marketing. Just over 1% of companies are using e-detailing as a sales tool. Bearing in mind that access to doctors is at an all time low, big pharma sales forces are being slashed and PCTs are putting more and more pressure on GPs to prescribe generically, it is quite amazing that 99% of sales and marketing teams are still sticking to traditional techniques.
Having spoken to many brand managers over recent months, there is a huge interest in e-marketing but many feel it is unchartered territory. The biggest barrier many face is convincing their boss, and their boss’s boss to move out of their tried and tested marketing comfort zone, and get on the Net.
Another hurdle is identifying exactly what to do on-line, most believe they need to develop ground breaking tools and programmes to support the e-revolution. But in fact that is not the case, we just need to be more sophisticated in what we do and put the customer’s needs at the centre of sales and marketing activities.
My biggest frustration is seeing the lack of follow-up with customers after an event. We all experience blood, sweat and tears to get ready of an educational event and give each other a great pat on the back when we get all the right bums on seats. A doctor who attends a symposium or spends more than 5 minutes on an exhibition stand, is interested in your product and is showing buying signs. All too often it is left to a local sales rep, who probably was not even at the meeting and has no idea what was discussed, to try to get back in front of them. More often than not a potential customer is left to walk off into the sunset in to the arms of a competitor. Can you imagine Foxtons doing that?
How different it would be if that doctor could be given a password to a company website and in his or her own time, watch a re-run of the symposium and check out their knowledge by doing your eCME course, review your e-detail, read the key papers, ask medical information specific questions, and download diagnostic tools or patient information. Nearly every company will have all this information available in a traditional form but it is probably hidden in the back of a dusty stock room.
Companies need to get over the paranoia of e-marketing, get out of their traditional marketing comfort zones, look at all the materials they have got and start putting some of them on the web, so that doctor who showed an interest in their product can be converted to a prescriber.