Pharma ads up 14% YoY, how AI is leading connection
Kristina: Why is physician marketing never going to be the same after the COVID-19 pandemic?
Harshit Jain, MD, Founder & CEO, Doceree: Prior to COVID-19, the pharmaceutical industry was deeply focused on in-person interactions with physicians, but the pandemic forced the sector to embrace digital marketing efforts. This made pharma brands to evolve digital marketing initiatives as marketers transitioned communications to raise engagement with physicians on digital channels. The pandemic has afforded pharmaceutical brands the ability to gain a better perspective on the advantages of targeting physicians on endemic digital platforms. During the pandemic, the use of telehealth platforms has risen amongst physicians. So, the use of Point of Care channels has gained momentum for marketers to share messages while physicians are tending to patients. For the pharmaceutical space, programmatic marketing to reach physicians is in the early stages and will continue to advance the digital landscape as the usage of digital mediums become more prevalent to optimize future campaigns.
Kristina: Why is AI transparency important for pharma marketing?
Harshit: The pharma marketing category is evolving. So there needs to be greater AI transparency as the space becomes more reliant on AI solutions to generate insights that guide the direction of marketing plans. As pharma brands adopt more digital efforts, AI-powered analytics will become a focal point to generate insights that will directly impact the future of marketing campaigns. With pharma marketers, big data is now important to develop constructive campaigns and the industry must be transparent with the data sets that are being obtained to better understand their target audience. Pharma marketers should integrate AI technologies and use it as an opportunity to foster trust within the industry and be open about their methods to obtain and decipher advanced data to facilitate more efficient and effective campaigns.
Kristina: How are pharma marketers driving engagement with physicians via telehealth platforms?
Harshit: The rise of telehealth platforms during the pandemic has created a new digital journey for marketers to navigate to effectively connect with physicians. Pharma marketers have adopted digital marketing practices and focusing on targeting physicians with digital messages that resonate on telehealth platforms. With the transition to digital marketing initiatives, pharma brands now have access to real-time data analytics to enhance and refine campaign messages to increase engagement on digital mediums. The data amassed during the digital marketing efforts position marketers to gain a stronger understanding of physicians to personalize communications and deliver hyper-targeted messages that the target audience can relate with.
Communications between pharma brands and physicians can be streamlined with programmatic solutions. Therefore, pharma marketers are deciphering data analytics to personalize interactions and target physicians at an opportune moment to educate them more about a disease, product, prescription drug or treatment.
Kristina: What problem does your platform solve for this area?
Harshit: At Doceree, our platform empowers marketers to identify physicians across endemic networks and streamline programmatic initiatives to capture the attention of physicians while in the mindset to advance their medical knowledge with messages that can support their efforts to best tend to their patients. While physicians are active on telehealth platforms, we guide pharma marketers to develop initiatives that won’t disrupt the workflow of physicians to garner the greatest impact for a campaign. In addition, our AI-powered analytics provide insights on the types of messages and formats that will maximize engagement with physicians. The long-term digital efforts of pharma marketers will continue to evolve the marketing landscape as the industry usage of telehealth platforms continues to grow.