DTC Marketers rate web high in importance but money is still scarce

Marketing on the Web is not inexpensive, it requires a substantial investment up front and then a steady investment to keep online marketing fresh and relevant to visitors. Take a look at pharma product websites today and chances are that you will the exact same website 3 months and a year from now. There seems to be a philosophy that once the website is up 90% of the heavy work is done when in fact most of the work is just beginning. In addition to analytics that marketing and business people can understand eMarketers have to ensure that the message stays relevant in a changing environment. As you analyze click stream analysis you can determine the thought process that people are going through as they research treatment options and optimize your website accordingly. However many marketers ignore this or decide to completely change their website. Take Cialis.com as an example; this was a website that was rated number one in consumer conversion by Manhattan Research a couple of years ago. So what did the brand team do? Instead of making it better they completely changed the site and added actor portrayals on the site. Like men can really identify with actors and want someone on their computer talking to them about ED in a household where others maybe present.


It has been my experience that when you layout the costs of developing a world class marketing program on the Web that management will run and hide. I was lucky to have a great budget when we launched Cialis because the DTC manager believed in the Web and what we were doing but as that budget declined the Web for the first to go and the last to know in favor of TV.


It can cost millions of dollars to develop a website including market research and usability studies. If you want a 100% share of voice on Google that is going to cost you as well and remember that Google can sell your brand name as a keyword to competitors. Then there is the optimization costs...the continued dollars that need to go to the Web to keep things fresh. Just look at the click stream analysis of your customers and you will see that most come to your site from a competitors site and or leave your site to go to a competitors site. Don't you want to ensure that your message stays fresh with these people as they research new information?


Finally, there is social media...that black hole that nobody in pharma want to step in. People are talking to each other in droves and they trust each other a hell of a lot more than any marketers message. Pharma marketers are at a loss on how to leverage social media and seem to be taking a wait and see approach. Nobody seems to want to take that first step. Even if the CEO wrote a BLOG would people really believe what he had to say given the misinformation that has come out of pharma over the last couple of years?

So while DTC marketers talk a good game when it comes to write the check I don't think you'll see a lot of money moving to the Web other than to keep pace with things they HAVE to do. That's too bad but then what else would you expect from a non-transparent industry?