Lets face it. Right now the e-Pharma space in Canada is mostly just a bunch of isolated tactics. A brand site here, a patient site there, living for the most part in isolation, without a overarching strategy in place. There are some exceptions – Lilly’s product portal at www.lillyinteractive.ca is definitely a product/customer service portal approach (although the indicators are that these portal visits are declining in the US) – but by and large, interactive efforts remain purely tactical in nature.
With the economic realities of today, shrinking sales forces, and the curiosity that web 2.0 has generated , the call for brand managers to investigate “non-sales force promotion” has never been louder. And the opportunity has never been greater to move from a purely tactical approach to a strategic one. But what does that really mean? “Strategy” is one of those $5 words people like to throw around to sound really smart. What does strategy in the Canadian e-Pharma space look like?
To start, it requires that Product Manager get the following things about their customers, their brand, and the Internet:
- An understanding of your customers – GP, Specialist, pharmacist…
- An understanding of branding & interactive branding.
- An understanding of the key touch-points for each target.
- An understanding of the key brand issues.
- An understanding of interactive opportunities – from types of properties, types of online media…
- An understanding of the regultory environment.
To be sure – there’s a lot you need to need to know. And an as you probably can infer, Interactive Strategy can’t be separate from the Brand’s overall Communication Strategy. And there are many Product Managers, especially those new ones who have been recently promoted from the the sales force, will know a lot about their brand, but will be lacking in experience on many of the interactive fronts.
It may be that Pharma Companies need to invest in education around the e-Pharma space. A little “Interactive Boot-Camp” if you will, run by the e-Business group if there is one, or a trusted agency partner. Its tough enough for people to acknowledge they don’t know something, but its impossible if they don’t know what it is they don’t know. When Marketing VP’s ask PM’s to think about “non-sales force promotion”, are they also giving their people the tools to do that effectively?
At the end of the day, its great to want to talk about interactive or integrated strategy. Its even better to have some knowledge and tools in place so that those efforts are are effective as possible.
M- Love the trusted agency partner!
D.