The world changes very quickly. Technology is multiplying the speed of transformation of the environment and innovation becomes the methodology to incorporate into our day to day to adapt to this transition.
In an increasingly digitized society, in which the digital world is already part of our lives, it is not the time to create new technologies, but to adopt existing ones. We are on the verge of experiencing a moment of singularity : whatever the human being can think of, surely there is currently a technology capable of achieving it.
The technological revolution is impacting the pharmaceutical world, and transforming it
Health is an essential good and we have realized that technology can help us in the approach of a pathology. Patients are increasingly digitized and take more responsibility for health, making the health professional also use this tool to establish a collaborative relationship with the patient.
This digitization of healthcare has opened the doors for the pharmaceutical industry to new ways of connecting with healthcare professionals. The sector has been facing multiple challenges, both economic, social and political, which make access to all stakeholders more difficult . In a context full of challenges, pharmaceutical marketing must find new ways of communication and it seems that in this sense, the digital world is emerging as a great ally.
As Roy Amara put it, “We overestimate the effect of technology in the short term, and underestimate change in the long term.” And it is that, in the short term, the benefits of these new tools are easily measurable, but in the long term the change has been spectacular. Not only professionals are digitized, but we are beginning to see agreements between the pharmaceutical industry and leading technology companies such as Google, Samsung, Huawei or Apple.
What are the benefits of incorporating technology and digital channels into marketing plans?
The pharmaceutical industry is experiencing a moment of transformation in which this digital strategy has become an opportunity. The use of digital marketing is no longer an innovation in the industry and we are seeing how pharmaceutical companies incorporate this digital marketing, combining it with traditional marketing. Including technology and digital channels in marketing plans not only improves our reputation as a company, reinforces our commitment to sustainable development or generates significant cost savings, but the use of these options allows us to reinforce and improve our commitment to our clients to optimize the professional relationship, since we can access them in many ways and in a more personalized way, adding value and establishing ourselves as a partner of the health sector.
Different digital strategies at different times in the product life cycle
However (and being realistic) in addition to this more relational or reputational advantage, one of the benefits that digital pursues is clearly an increase in the sales exercise. In recent years we have seen how companies are incorporating digital strategies into their marketing plans, but the strategy per channel depends largely on the life cycle of the products and must differentiate both in launches, in order to optimize sales and products mature to optimize a possible drop in sales that may occur in the presence of other competitors.
The delegate as leader of the multichannel strategy
In the end, we all want to carry out an effective marketing strategy, and this is achieved by optimizing resources and complementing them to enrich them. The important thing is not the technology itself, but what objectives we want to achieve with it. For this, we must strengthen the figure of the delegate as the leader in the execution of this multi-channel strategy, completing the traditional medical visit with digital support and making technology our ally.
In no case, digital comes to replace them, it is about teamwork!
The delegate must be the protagonist in the eyes of our target audience. Technology has allowed the union between departments to be stronger than ever: including the delegate in decision-making regarding digital channels and the medical-marketing team, facilitating different strategies, channels and tools for the delegate to prepare the cocktail of the best promotion.
