Pharma to increase spend on digital marketing - report

A third of pharma companies will be spending more than half of their marketing budget on digital channels over the next three years, according to a new report.

The Indegene Pharma Marketer 2020 report predicted a shift in spend to emerging new channels of communicating and engaging with healthcare providers.

On average, the report forecast that the number of organisations already spending more than 20% of their budget on digital marketing channels will increase by more than 70% over the next six years.

According to life sciences services firm Indegene, the budget increase pattern highlights how marketing organisations across the globe are undergoing a structural change.

While brand portals, KOL webinars and social media are frequently used channels, third party websites and online journals in US and tele-detailing in Europe/Asia received the highest rating for “white space marketing” – where there is no defined market for a given product.

Personalising content has also emerged as the most effective strategy for markets, with respondents confirming this has generated maximum returns on digital investments, addressing the challenges of reduced face-to-face meeting time for sales reps.

Besides personalisation, geographical nuances of content strategy in the US included retargeting and localisation of content; European companies focused on adapting content to device compatibility and promotion of content through infographics while in Asia, repurposing content into videographics and content promotion through infographics remained an over-arching priority.

Digital Analytics seemed to be the most popular technology choice among pharma marketers with close to 65% stating that it has already been implemented.

Campaign Automation is the next most widely implemented technology, with over 60% of respondents already using them within their organisation. The companies however scored poorly on tools deployment for Social Listening, which has a significant bearing on collecting real world data.

For a complete insight into the survey, download a copy of the full report here.