Digital marketing is becoming increasingly important for pharmaceutical companies as consumers and doctors now rely heavily on digital resources and online information for healthcare needs. Social media and mobile apps will play a larger role in pharmaceutical marketing, with approximately half of companies expected to allocate over 20% of their budgets to digital marketing by 2019. Digital marketing allows pharmaceutical companies to broadly target doctors online at lower costs than traditional marketing methods. It offers equal growth opportunities for large and small companies to connect with doctors and consumers. A case study on a Facebook ad campaign for a prenatal supplement brand successfully generated over 10,000 leads at low costs.

1. Digital Marketing for pharmaceutical companies
“I think the biggest innovations of the 21st Century will be at the intersection of Biology
and technology. A new era is beginning” –Steve Jobs
Like all other businesses, the healthcare and pharmaceutical industry is also looking
keenly at digital for enhancing and marketing their products. Social media and mobile
apps are set to play a bigger role in the growth of this business. This will help people to
catch up with tech-savvy emerging markets peers, approximately half the
pharmaceutical companies are expected to allocate more than a fifth of their marketing
budget to digital marketing by 2019.
Website and applications for medical knowledge sharing such as Knowledge Genie to
those having on virtual and augmented reality to engage with doctors and patients,
Pharmaceutical industries are getting their marketing strategy aligned to digital
prospects.
The ease of access to information available online as well as the growing interest of
consumers to explore information online firs, has led to the success of taking any
business online and marketing it digitally. Doctors are not far behind and have started
to adopt digital technology in their medical practice as well, follow updates about the
latest advances in the medical field, and even changed their patient’s treatment plans
based on the information they obtain from electronic medical records or data that the
patient shares online.
In a world where PHARMA REPRESENTATIVES are increasingly finding it difficult to
contact doctors, Digital can be answer for companies to showcase their products to
RELEVANT DOCTORS.
Web is going to be the driver for the learning and training industry as well. Doctor
engagement programs need to utilize online mediums such as webinars more to reach
the targeted audience cost-effectively.
Enormous amount of data can be generated through different initiatives and the same
can be used efficiently FOR Retargeting the audience that has displayed interests on
your webpage.
A well-designed FUNNEL MARKETING STRATEGY can help pharmaceuticals
marketing create BRAND AWARENESS for their products, create INTERESTS and
they are eventually CONVERT through targeted digital marketing.

2. Overcoming regulatory constraints
Learning compliance from companies who have initiated the usage in this arena can
help avoid pitfalls.
HOW DO YOU PLAN FOR THE BUDGET FOR DIGITAL MARKETING FOR
YOUR PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANY
You can choose and spend wisely to get the maximum impact for your product very cost-
effectively and choose only the channels listed below to get the maximum impact for
your pharmaceutical business
AWARENESS STAGE/ PRE LAUNCH: Use of Social media such as Facebook,
Instagram, Pinterest, targeting doctors and RELEVANT THERAPY AREAS.
CONSIDERATION: Comparison with competitors. Highlighting your key aspects
CONVERSION: Highlighting yours USPs and GOING ALL out with your selling strategy
Site engine optimization (SEO) will yield results in the long term for your product.
When a Doctor is trying to find relevant information with respect to relevant keyword to
your business, your site should among the top search results and that should be half the
battle won for your social media campaigns.
A. Broad audience network
Digital influence has changed the way people deal with their healthcare concerns, a
study showed that 83% of patients visit website of the hospital before booking an
appointment, same study showed that 73% of patients use search engines to find
treatment. Another study revealed that 41% of patients agreed that social media
impacted their choice of healthcare providers. These facts clearly show the extent to
which people rely on digital resources for their healthcare concerns.
To deal with the digital patient, doctors have ensured their online presence; a study
demonstrated a 15.4% net increase in healthcare’s digital marketing spending between
2015 and 2016, this study also estimated that total spending of healthcare professionals
on digital marketing will be more than $3.1 billion by 2020.
These facts and figures indicate that a large number of healthcare providers are
connected to digital marketing channels. Pharmaceutical companies and medical device

3. suppliers have the opportunity to target them through these digital marketing channels.
In traditional marketing, representatives of pharmaceutical companies meet doctors
and REMIND about their brand. However apart from increasing costs, and increasing
number of Doctors giving lesser time for interaction, Pharmaceutical companies are able
to target only a limited number of doctors. With the help of digital marketing, a large
number of doctors can be targeted.
Unlike other businesses (where it is difficult to recognize target audience),
pharmaceutical companies and health equipment suppliers clearly know their audience
i.e. doctors and other healthcare professionals; there is no ambiguity involved in
selection of audience whenever they think about starting a digital marketing campaign.
B. Growth opportunities
Digital marketing offers equal growth opportunities to all pharmaceutical and medical
equipment businesses irrespective of their size and brand name. Moreover, digital
resources don’t require high marketing budget. In highly competitive GENERIC
pharmaceutical industry, a new or an existing business can grow rapidly by
implementing a strong digital marketing strategy.
Case Study: Femibion Brand Awareness Campaign on Facebook
Femibion, a German pharmaceutical brand launched a Facebook ad campaign to
increase its brand awareness and lead generation. This is a nutrient supplement that is
recommended to women during pregnancy. Special Facebook ad creatives were
designed to attract expectant mothers. This campaign consisted of several ad sets some
of which concentrated on brand awareness and other aimed at lead generation. Leads
were generated by offering an opportunity to get free samples of the product through
sign up. This campaign generated 10,000 leads and samples were also distributed at 2X
low cost
Conclusion
Digital influence in healthcare industry has compelled doctors to ensure their online
presence and this has proved to be an opportunity for pharmaceuticals and medical
devices suppliers to connect doctors on digital platforms and get more prescriptions for
their products. Digital platforms are economical and time saving mediums for this type
of businesses, they also help to increase potential reach and engagement of doctors. In

4. near future, it will not be possible for pharmaceutical companies to survive in highly
competitive environment without strong digital presence.