As compliance and loyalty levels, brand elasticity and volume quotas continue to challenge pharmaceutical marketers, our job as agencies and clients is to identify and find prospects that will become profitable customers, and to maintain and grow those relationships over time and, in some cases, during the transition from prescription to over the counter.
Unlike megabrand packaged goods, marketing our products requires an integrated combination of brand positioning, lead-generation advertising and ongoing curriculum marketing.
What was once referred to as "value-added" marketing and which included education and support, is now expected by consumers. They're eager to learn more about drug side effects and interactions, disease symptoms, proper use of products and new drug research; and they remain unsatisfied with the efforts marketers are making to reach out to them.
Today consumers demand two-way dialogue with drug companies.
Success is driven by managing an individual's transition through four discrete phases: We must move a person frombeing a disinterested, uninvolved consumer into an engaged prospect; we must leverage all points of contact with that person to transform the consumer to a shopper; and we must provide the necessary information and incentives to ensure that the deal is closed and that a customer emerge.
Once this initial relationship is established, we must manage it effectively to reduce future acquisition costs, ensure compliance and maximize profitability.
Throughout the course of the marketing process, we must continually refine our programs based on learning from our previous efforts and develop meaningful benefits for customers through our understanding of their needs. This means that we must manage our data collection and maintenance from a marketing perspective so that we are equipped with knowledge rather than saddled by data that does not enhance our marketing capabilities.
We urge our clients to prepare to capitalize on the transition to new and emerging media. Interactive media will have great impact on the way customers prefer to learn, inquire, shop and communicate.
Manufacturers must seek ways to put these new media to work, to reduce marketing and customer-care costs and to take advantage of the relationship-building opportunities and immediacy that they present. At the same time these marketing dollars must be as "accountable" as those spent on other direct channels.
Consumer to Prospect
In this initial phase, you should develop a strategic plan and work to understand current perceptions of your brand in general and among your target. As "me-too" products proliferate the marketplace, brand awareness and perception must be measured in order to develop positionings that differentiate your product from those of your competitors and to leverage the brand's strengths.
Consumer insights obtained through research can help to profile and model your current customers as well as refine the target audience and guide media selection. Be sure to consider the economics of your business, with an eye toward lifetime customer value and allowable marketing costs in order to ensure cost-efficient program development. Build awareness of your new product through announcement advertisements and educational vehicles which will also drive prospects to identify themselves to you.
Prospect to Shopper
Once you have primed consumers' awareness of your product, begin to segment your target audience to understand the profitability dynamics of each segment. Develop creative executions and messaging for each target audience and test them to determine the optimal sequencing, timing and channels to reach prospects. Use media vehicles that can leverage your company's image, while moving prospects to action.
We warn our clients to acquire customers with the intent to keep them; acquire only profitable customers and integrate loyalty-building tactics into your programs even in the acquisition stage.
Shopper to Customer
Once you identify profitable prospects you must convert them to sales. In order to do this, however, you must first understand the drivers that will move customers to buy from you versus your competitors. This work can often be done for you if you can drive the shopper into the doctor's office. Fifty-one percent of patients ask physicians about specific drugs and 83 percent of physicians will consider or discuss a patient's request for a specific drug.
Successful marketers anticipate the barriers t a sale in the shopper's mind and eliminate them through relevant educational vehicles, messaging and offers.
Only 86 percent of the 1.6 billion prescriptions written annually are filled. Once the customer has chosen the product, be sure he purchases it and reinforce that decision by developing a strong relationship with the customer. Since compliance is so important and so difficult to manage, develop relationship-building programs that educate the customer about how your product is affecting them and anticipate points of compliance drop-off.
Don't let your products get caught among the 77 percent of eligible prescriptions that are never refilled.
Customer-care efforts are integral to loyalty-building, particularly with medications; and integrating these activities with your marketing efforts is the key to building strong customer relationships.
Of course, no one system applies to every product, brand or consumer segment. Indeed, no one piece of the marketing puzzle - brand advertising, lead generation, consumer education, database management or loyalty/compliance campaigns - works alone. As we await new guidelines from the FDA, we must prepare now to take advantage of the opportunities.