The pharmaceutical industry has undergone major shifts in the past two years, becoming more digitally savvy than ever before.
The significant push towards digitalisation has revolutionised the way marketers engage with Healthcare Professionals (HCPs), making the space more dynamic and hybrid in nature, combining both in-person and digital tactics to reach out to HCPs as part of their marketing initiatives.
Technology offers multiple benefits to pharma marketers – the one surely being the way they connect with HCPs to establish meaningful communications with them with the use of digital technologies like AI, programmatic marketing, blockchain, etc. The adoption of digital tools among the HCP fraternity has also helped in creating a thriving ecosystem.
Despite many benefits, there are some challenges that hinder the widespread adoption of digital technologies in the sector.
Difficulty in interpreting outcomes of digital campaigns
Running digital campaigns is one thing and running them effectively is another. What is important is measuring outcomes, which is still something pharma marketers struggle with greatly. Without knowing how a campaign has performed, improvement of any kind is not even remotely possible. The increased usage of digital channels makes it crucial for marketers to interpret the outcomes of digital campaigns, more so in markets where e-prescription data is unavailable. There is a need to adequately measure campaign outcomes in an orderly manner to derive quantifiable metrics of digital initiatives that could help marketers design and build campaigns with a better understanding of the variables that are important for the overall success of digital campaigns.
For the pharma industry, digital is becoming an essential medium for formulating marketing strategies. The power to measure the success and failure of a campaign, broadly called the performance of a campaign, has the potential to shape the future of digital initiatives for pharma brands.
Need for a structured framework in the pharma industry
The pharma industry has always been at the forefront of innovation – from research to discovery of new drugs to the development of cutting-edge technology. The fast paced adoption of digital medium calls for a structured framework for the industry to keep pace with the changing landscape.
It is even more needed at the time of prescription. How much medicine is likely to be prescribed yet remains a mystery. Research work in this field requires resources and efforts must be made to aptly measure the likeability. A step in this direction would be immensely helpful to pharmaceutical marketers in running a digital campaign, thus making it the norm in the healthcare sector.
The right step towards creating a structured framework would be immensely helpful to pharma marketers in running a successful digital campaign. For one, communicating relevant messages to HCPs at moments when they are making informed decisions enhances the chances of prescription lift.
Evaluating digital campaigns
In order to efficiently and effectively run a digital campaign, it is important for marketers to identify and evaluate the appended parameters so that marketers could take informed decisions:
Identification of the right channels
It’s important to efficiently manage a brand’s visibility. There is a need to identify the right mix of physician-frequented and other digital channels in order to achieve maximum ROI for a campaign to be successful. A marketer that can identify the right channel to advertise or market the product will be able to reach the HCPs in an effective way, thus making the digital campaign effective.
Identification of the right exposure
A crucial step in decoding the success of a digital campaign is to identify the effective exposure range for a brand where it can create an impact while optimising the media efforts. This identification will help marketers identify the appropriate number of exposures, thus helping optimise their campaigns.
Evaluation of the creative stickiness
Creative or message stickiness is a message that cuts through the clutter and stands out from the rest. Many factors lead to a message’s stickiness – the message itself, engagement, view time, etc. A smart marketer should be able to optimise the various parameters associated with it and be able to evaluate how much the creative/message would be able to attract its viewers.
Evaluating Digital Effectiveness
Bolstering digital efficiencies, undoubtedly, is crucial to evaluate results. To enable marketers to gauge the performance of their digital initiatives, a tool like Intentto-Prescribe or I2P plays a critical role, especially in markets which lacks the ability to correlate the effectiveness of a digital campaign with quantifiable metrics such as prescription data.
Leveraging established metrics and markers in a precise formula, I2P brings data-led accuracy in predicting ‘Intent to Prescribe’ score for HCPs who have either viewed or engaged with any campaign.
Its predictive power enables decision-makers to enhance or transform their campaigns or initiatives. For example, a low I2P score could alert the teams to reevaluate their choice of channel or change frequency.
I2P has been worked upon to bring data-led accuracy in predicting the ‘Intent to Prescribe’ score. The framework intends to bring transparency to digital outcomes by offering the first-ever measurement tool. The predictive power of the I2P tool enables pharma marketers to measure the performance of digital efforts with increased precision and enhance or transform their digital initiatives or campaigns.
Improving digital outcomes with Intent-to-Prescribe or I2P
Intent-to-Prescribe or I2P Score is a probability score that shows whether or not the targeted group of HCPs from a digital campaign have the intent to prescribe that product. It’s a metric that factors in digital marketing standards like impression counts, CTR, view time, etc. with pharma-specific metrics such as HCP perception lift (Message Affinity) and HCP channel potential, defining how close an HCP is to prescribe a brand.
There are certain aspects of the tool that makes it efficient and empower pharma brands to optimise their campaigns:
- There are relevant makers that make Intent-to-Prescribe match industry standards with values comprising channel potential, view time, message frequency, and message affinity.
- Every marker has been given the right weightage based on the value and contribution each has towards building the probability score.
- I2P is designed to work accurately across HCP frequented platforms. It can be used for a variety of platforms such as telehealth channels, EHR, POC networks, a medical journal, and even for social media platforms where the campaign is being run.
- I2P not only measures the score but also empowers marketers to see which metric needs to be improved to get the desired outcome out of the digital campaign.
- The tool not only gives insight into current campaign performance, but also transforms the strategies for greater effectiveness.
In the age of changing digital infrastructure and accelerated digital adoption in the healthcare sector, I2P is a highly effective tool for pharma brands and businesses to stay ahead of the competition. The tool has been designed to empower pharma marketers by impacting their digital strategies and enhancing their future outcomes.
With technological evolution taking place in the pharma industry, the demand for effective digital campaigns and strategies is anticipated to rise rapidly. Investing in new-age technologies and developments strengthens the digital ecosystem. Tools like Intentto-Prescribe or I2P are innovations that will prove transformative for the entire pharma industry.
Views expressed by Preetha Vasanji, President, Emerging Markets, Doceree
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