Online Marketing and eDetailing Europe - expert summit reflects on what's new.
9 July 2007, NetworkPharma Ltd, Oxford, UK have published another in their new KeywordPharma series of Conference Insight Reports intended for individuals working in and around the global pharmaceutical industry.
Online Marketing and eDetailing Europe: in-depth report from an eyeforpharma conference held in Berlin, 18-19 April 2007, written by Steve Doyle is now available for purchase.
The pharmaceutical industry's commercial strategy has long been dominated by the sales force. The combination of an over-reliance on traditional sales and marketing methodology and a naturally conservative industry mindset has seen the industry remain a slow adopter of new technologies. Yet, as usage among customers and patients alike continues to increase, the need to exploit the e-channel grows with it. The pharmaceutical industry must develop a new approach beyond the field force and deliver on the undoubted promise of e-marketing.
The pharmaceutical industry has made limited progress with online marketing and e-detailing. Pilot programmes have increased significantly in number, but despite their undoubted success, national roll-outs remain rare. Equally, as the sector becomes more familiar with customer relationship management (CRM) and its benefits, and the coordination and integration of e-marketing initiatives into traditional strategies improves, widespread support for the e-channel has yet to emerge. The e-approach is producing true, demonstrable results, yet uptake remains sluggish.
To cloud the argument further, the rapid advancement of online technology has led to what experts have dubbed 'the Web 2.0 phenomenon'. Internet capability has become more sophisticated, opportunity has increased and the way consumers use the internet has been revolutionised. The pharmaceutical industry is challenged with maximising new, dynamic and interactive technology, almost before it has embraced the opportunity provided by the web in the first wave.
This Conference Insights review assesses the eyeforpharma conference, Online Marketing and eDetailing Europe, held in Berlin, 18-19 April 2007. It summarises a wide range of expert insight into the industry’s e-marketing progress in the past 12 months, providing case studies of some of the most successful recent attempts to exploit the e-channel. It examines the online behaviour of the industry’s customers, the growth of CRM and the promise of e-detailing. The report also offers solutions to the many challenges facing the sector - not least how to capitalise on the opportunities provided by Web 2.0.
It concludes that the industry's biggest barrier to progress is not, in fact, technology, but its own mindset. Pharma must accept and adopt a new culture. Its customer base, long considered more conservative than pharma, adapted to the new environment a long time ago.
The author, Steve Doyle, said: "Many of the themes discussed at the conference were familiar, but they remain key to the successful utilisation of the online channel: how to integrate e-business with other commercial activities, how best to measure effectiveness and the thorny issue of return on investment (ROI), and how to maximise impact with the e-audience."
All KeywordPharma publications can be purchased from ThePharmYard at www.ThePharmYard.com
NOTES
About the author
Steve Doyle has over 25 years' experience in pharmaceutical sales and marketing management. After starting in the industry as a medical representative, Steve moved into marketing and has held senior marketing roles at blue chip companies such as Wyeth, Syntex and Roche.
On the service side, for 6 years he was the Marketing Director of a major UK e-detailing provider. He has experience in building and developing website communities, and has been involved in all aspects of online marketing, including e-mail marketing, e-CME, e-detailing and online market research.
Steve currently runs his own marketing consultancy - The Virtual Marketing Department - which specialises in providing outsourced marketing support and interim management to both pharmaceutical companies and healthcare agencies. The Virtual Marketing Department provides for its clients a full range of marketing expertise, from developing strategic and marketing plans through to campaign management and implementation. In particular, it focuses on online marketing expertise and how to integrate the online channel with traditional marketing activities. Clients have included Roche, Elan Pharmaceuticals, Ethicon and Innovex.
Written by pharmaceutical industry specialists, KeywordPharma publications are designed to be authoritative, relevant, succinct and helpful to pharmaceutical industry executives in their day-to-day work and in their longer term career development. Available to purchase individually as e-documents, they build into a specialist knowledge library for everyone working in and around the global pharmaceutical industry.
Developed and managed by NetworkPharma Ltd, ThePharmYard provides instant access to a unique database of specialist information which is particularly relevant to individuals working within the medical and pharmaceutical industries around the world. Titles from a diverse range of independent publishers are available to purchase in electronic document format for immediate access.
NetworkPharma Ltd is an independent, specialist company founded by Peter Llewellyn, to focus on novel approaches to disseminating information within the global medical and pharmaceutical industries. Peter Llewellyn previously founded and built the leading industry portal site, InPharm, which was subsequently purchased by John Wiley & Sons to manage alongside their other industry services, PharmaFile and Pharmafocus.
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