Year in Review 2013: Digital
2013 has been a mixed bag for digital in the pharmaceutical space, while many seem to have adopted a sound digital ethos; we’ve yet to really see many substantial projects. We’ve certainly yet to see the ‘next big thing’ emerge from this space for healthcare, but you know what? That’s okay.
Why? I’m glad you asked. Because like any change, it generally comes incrementally, only every once in a while will someone successfully capture lightning in a bottle and change things beyond all recognition, the rest of the time positive change comes in much smaller steps. Take the current digital landscape for example; you have Facebook, Google, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram, all the undisputed leaders within their fields. But their fields are all very different. You have one king of search – that would be Google, one king of social networks – Facebook, one king of current events & microblogging – Twitter, one king of… well you get the picture.
So what then can be done to further enhance the digital landscape for healthcare? First of all stop trying to force it – decide what you want to achieve and then look at the platforms available, use what applies. If you’re going into this thinking you need to maximise your Facebook presence then you’re approaching it incorrectly. If you somehow manage to capture that lightning in a bottle along the way then great, if you don’t, that’s okay too – you’ll still have helped the numerous patients who do find value in your new product or campaign and taken another step forward in innovative thinking to boot.
As for digital sales, CLM, eDetailing et al, again, these are tools. Designed not to replace the salesperson; but to enhance them. In the same way that the Filofax, the PDA and the laptop computer did beforehand, digital is simply another tool to help your sales staff work smarter, not harder. But to ensure you’re maximising output you do need to properly integrate the tools your using into the sales practice.
Enough waffle from me though, and straight into the first of my favourite digital pieces from 2013:
#1 - A Healthcare Revolution: Virtual Innovation at Full Speed
Clinical trial recruitment is a notoriously difficult process, you’ll always be limited by the demographics of the group you’ve selected, and that’s if you’ve managed to recruit enough patients at all. This is why this piece from earlier this year grabbed my attention. What if today’s computer modelling could provide you with those patients you so desperately need? Head of Clinical Innovation at Pfizer, Craig Lipset, believes that ‘virtual patients’ could be the key for future drug development:
“Technology is a new way of putting all the information together […] it will disrupt the entire model of getting clinical trials conducted around hospitals and trial sites.” Click the link above for the full story.
#2 - How Much are Non-Adherent Patients Influenced by Social Media?
At some point over the past few years, ‘social media’ and ‘social network’ have gone from being very general terms to something a lot more specific and restrictive – how often do you think of platforms other than facebook or twitter when these words are mentioned? However social media is any platform on which groups of people can share ideas or content. Reddit, Stumbleupon, Proboards and Digg are social media, as are other usergroups and forums. I mention this because when you’re working on a social media strategy, you also need to consider sites other than the usual suspects as part of that strategy. If they have a patient community, then they need to be considered. Highlighting the reason why is this article, which examines how strong the influence of such a social platform can be in determining whether your patients are going to remain adherent or not.
By having a presence and by putting interventional measures in place, you can ensure that patients using these groups are properly informed and their concerns properly addressed. Click the link above for more.
#3 - Social Media - It’s all About the Principles, not the Tactics
If you do a quick Google search for ‘top social media marketing tips’ you’ll get 85.5 million results (or thereabouts) and many, many of them will say the same thing: be genuine, be social! It sounds so simple that it barely warrants a mention, yet when you’re in full marketing mode, it’s easy to get so bogged down in the strategising that you forget this basic principle. It’s how companies like McDonalds (#MDStories), Sony (fake blog) and American Apparel (seriously) found themselves coming quickly unstuck.
Hence this article. Monthly columnist, Dr Andree Bates shares some core principles for social media marketing, so have a look and don’t forget to keep it real.
#4 - Listen More Than You Speak: The Value of Social Media for Pharma
Another golden rule for social media marketing, it’s very, very important to listen to your followers/readers and understand what the trend and mood is. It’s the reason we don’t delete negative comments on eyeforpharma, it’s also the reason we’ll directly address any questions and concerns sent to us via twitter. It is important to acknowledge criticism and not to hide from it, because on the net there is nowhere to hide. How you gather, process and address feedback is the topic for this piece. Click for more.
#5 – (White Paper) Implementing CLM
So you’ve read the article on the benefits of CLM (if you haven’t there are many), you’re sold on the idea, you understand it can improve your sales process, possibly drive down costs and also increase revenues. Fantastic. Now what?
Our first white paper of 2013 was on precisely this topic, you’ve said yes to CLM, but the road from saying ‘yes’ to having a fully implemented system in place is a long one, hopefully this free guide will go some way to helping you on that journey!
#7 – (White Paper) Innovation: From Concept to Reality
Forgive me this assumption, but being interested in all things digital, you’ve probably got a bit of a creative streak correct? As such, you may occasionally come up with ideas that are slightly ‘out there’ by your company’s standards. Maybe something that goes against the grain, so much so that you envision nothing but headaches should you ever share it.
This free guide was written for the innovators, for the mad few who like to do their thinking as far from the box as possible. Our guide will help you sell your idea internally, assisting you with who you need to speak to, how to generate buy in and hopefully, how to bring your idea to fruition. Download for free now.
Warning: This is a guide on getting internal buy-in, ideas not included!
That’s the end of my digital round up from 2013. For more insights from the digitally savvy within the industry, visit the digital section of our website. Alternatively we’ll send you the best digital articles every month in our newsletter if you sign up here.