Interact and engage with patients

Sep/30/2007 09:52 Filed in: DTC Environment
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Push messages, repurpose brochures, one message for all segments, add video to our website but above all don't engage customers. This seems to be the current model for pharma DTC advertising and marketing. "After all we're a regulated industry". That is nothing short of a cop out by people who are more interested in appeasing the internal powers than really talking with patients and consumers in a relevant way.


I was surfing the Internet this weekend when I came across the following from the Blue Cross and Blue Shield website:


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What a novel idea and to pharma DUH ! They know that engaged consumers and patients can lead to lower health care costs. They know that patients research medical conditions online more than talking with their physicians. So why is that pharma doesn't get it? Could it be they don't know or is that they don't care? I am afraid the answer is a little bit of both. While pharma likes to put on a public face of helping patients and providing breakthrough medications behind closed doors they are asking "what's the ROI"? Instead of really trying to engage patients they continue to push the same 'ol same 'ol content or use actors to communicate with patients. The ignorance sometimes is astounding.



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According to Blue Cross people will turn to the Web before their doctor for health information



So you can see from the chart above that more people are in fact turning to the Web than their physicians for health information. Why not? Online you can not only read about treatments but read about what others are saying about treatments, namely the side effects. People want to know the trade offs of taking different medications and judge for themselves what medication they want to use. It has been my experience that one of the top 5 pages within any product.com website is the "side effects" or "safety information page". The chart below illustrates why...


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What are the side effects and how much does the drug cost? Sounds to me like people are shopping and comparing, another trend marketers ignore even though there are more me too drugs on the market. What is amazing about the Internet is that 8 out of 10 Web users are going online for health information, but it's OK DTC marketers you don't need to talk to these people you can continue to push information to them and when you get low on money you can go before senior executives to show how TV has increased your business.



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As you can tell I am passionate about the use of the Web for health information, especially when I see pharma continue to ignore patients and consumers online. Yes some have added video but once again they are doing it wrong. The video is not personally relevant and does not engage customers the way online video should.



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So think about engaging rather than preaching...think about ways to make a message more personally relevant and how to reach consumers and patients who now have a lot more power than ever before.




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