Aug/28/2007 06:40 Filed in:
Internet
& DTC Marketing
By
far the most common misunderstanding of the Web
is that once you invest in and build a website
management feels that you shouldn't need anymore
money. We have come so far in eMarketing but we
have so far to go. The reality is that a great
Web strategy requires continuous investment to
ensure it meets both patient needs and business
objectives. think of it this way: If you spend a
lot of money to develop a Website and then don't
continually invest in online initiatives then
your initial investment is worth $0 and you are
telling your customers that their needs are not
important to you. Read
More...
Aug/26/2007 01:39 Filed in:
DTC
Environment
The
2007 Consumer Medical and Health Information poll
found that 70% of adults use the Web as a primary
source for health information, while 72% cite
their doctor as a primary source. Yet health
information on the web is harder to sort through
than ever before because there is too much and
not all of it is accurate. Read
More...
Aug/22/2007 05:46 Filed in:
HCP
Marketing
Social
media and other websites have allowed consumers
to Amazon.com their physicians; that is they can
rate their physicians. But some doctors are
trying to fight back according to an article in
today's
Wall Street Journal.
Some doctors actually have the nerve to ask
patients to sign a form that would prohibit
patients from rating physicians on websites or in
social media. A quote from the movie "Cool Hand
Luke" comes to mind "what we have here is failure
to communicate".
Read
More...
Aug/19/2007 02:24 Filed in:
DTC
Environment
DTC
marketers are great at coming up with a myriad of
excuses why they can't do things because the FDA
regulates the DTC industry. The truth is that
there are many ways to connect with customers
using Web 2.0 that will keep even the most
conservative legal and regulatory people happy.
We're all paid to take risks and part of that
risk taking is working with internal resources to
make them understand that the battlefield has
changed. Read
More...
Aug/18/2007 07:35 Filed in:
Internet
& DTC Marketing
I
am always ready to talk to a colleague about
eMarketing programs and strategy development. As
many of you know I am very passionate about
eMarketing as it forces us to think first like
customers and second as marketers. One theme
keeps reoccurring in my talks with eMarketing
people: budget (or lack thereof). It seems that
people within pharma don't understand how
expensive a great eMarketing program is to
develop but more important why online initiatives
require a continuing investment to provide
maximum ROI. Read
More...
Aug/17/2007 07:22 Filed in:
Pharma
Business
The
pharma industry is suffering a dearth of new drug
approvals thanks to an increasingly stringent
FDA, according to a report released Wednesday.
The Food and Drug Administration approved 38 new
drugs through July of this year, down 31 percent
from 55 approvals during the same period in 2006,
according to a report from James Kumpel, analyst
for Friedman, Billings, Ramsey. One has to ask if
the delays in new drug approvals is providing a
service or hurting patients? Read
More...
Tags: FDA
Aug/14/2007 05:47 Filed in:
Internet
& DTC Marketing
An
interesting article in today's
New York Times
detailed new plans by Google and Microsoft to
provide online health solutions for patients. In
summary they are both working on ways for
patients to store medical records online via a
secured site. This would of course allow patients
to take their medical information with them
anywhere they go but to get physicians to adapt
this model is going to be one tough wall to break
down.
Read More...
Aug/08/2007 02:57 Filed in:
Media
(Internet)
For
the first time since 1997, U.S. consumers spent
less time using media in 2006 compared to the
previous year. Media usage per person declined
0.5% to 3,530 hours. This drop is mainly
attributed to changing consumer behaviors and
advances in the digital space, according to data
by Veronis Suhler Stevenson. Digital space, that
means Internet to all you marketers who still
spend most of your money on television and print.
Yet pharma continues to waste dollars on TV ads
that don't drive conversion and alter numbers to
show their campaigns are a success. Listen to
this
audiocast with John
Mack Read
More...
Aug/06/2007 01:16 Filed in:
Media
(Internet)
It's
interesting to look at comparisons of website
traffic for pharma websites. For example, in the
ED category the websites ranked in order of
unique visitors are Viagra.com (130,000 Monthly
Unique Visitors), Levitra.com (69,000 MUV) and
Cialis.com (45,00 MUV). This while Viagra is on
the air with Viva Viagra, Cialis is on air with
36 hour message and Levitra is touting "I didn't
know it could lead to ED" campaign. If this is
indeed an indicator of future success then Cialis
maybe in trouble and Viagra will continue to
dominate the ED market. Read
More...
Aug/05/2007 07:45 Filed in:
DTC
Environment
Eventually
the lobbyists are not going to be able to give
away enough money to keep new legislation off the
floor and DTC will get reigned in. Rather than
spend money on the lobby pharma should come
together, look at the new environment in which
they market and propose new DTC guidelines that
show Congress and consumers that they CAN be
proactive in policing their own policies. Here
are some of the things that pharma can and should
do to self regulate DTC advertising.
Read
More...
Aug/01/2007 06:34 Filed in:
DTC
Environment
Transparency
and truth are quickly becoming cornerstones of
any marketing organization. Consumers today are
better informed, better armed to resist
marketers, and more skeptical than ever about
businesses behaving badly. With thousands of
messages bombarding them every day, buyers are
demanding brands they can believe in from
companies they can believe. This is especially
true in pharma which has been under a media and
consumer spotlight for the past five years. Yet
pharma marketers don't acknowledge this fact and
continue to hide data, make information hard to
get and push sales messages to an increasingly
skeptical public. Read
More...
