pharma content marketing

8/12/2019 Pharma Content Marketing

1/25

CONTENT MARKETING FOR PHARMA

Copyright 2014. COUCH.

CONTENT

MARKETINGFOR PHARMA

HOW TO ENGAGEINFORMATIONHUNGRYCONSUMERS WITH

GOOD CONTENT

COUCH.

WRITTEN BY ASH RISHIMARCH 2014


2/25




Created by Ash Rishi B.Sc., M.Sc.

Ash is the co-ounder and managing

director o COUCH., Ash has over 10 years

experience in pharma marketing and has

delivered activities across UK, Europe, US,

Canada and Latin America. His areas o

expertise include: mobile, marketing tech,

branding, communications, stakeholder

development and digital engagement

strategies. One o Ashs accomplishments

was building the first ever product specific

eLearning platorm or a Top 10 pharma

company. Ash is also the ounder o a

digital engagement groupon LinkedIn.

FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER

@ASH_RISHI


3/25



CONTENTS

WHAT IS CONTENT MARKETING?

MAKING THE CASE FOR CONTENT IN PHARMA

BUILDING A TRUSTED BRAND THROUGH CONTENT MARKETING

DEVELOPING A CONTENT MARKETING STRATEGY

THE RULES OF CONTENT MARKETING IN PHARMA

CONCLUSION & ADDITIONAL RESOURCES


4/25



Content enables pharma to drivea more personalised customerexperience

With businesses across the board starting to take advantage o the

convergence o digital and traditional platorms, content and social

media in general offer a new approach to marketing. I the pharma

industry is to maintain relevance in this new landscape, it needs to

take action and embrace the challenge, or a number o reasons:

Customers ranging rom health care providers through patients

and caregivers crave inormation, which needs to be easily

accessible at the time when they want it.

Technology has provided new channels and platorms or

ocused, consistent delivery.

Strategic presentation o content enables patients to make

inormed decisions at any point during the liecycle o their

medical condition.


5/25



By taking advantage o this opportunity, marketers in big pharma

and other medical device companies can make difficult subjects

easy to understand, educate the customer to view pharma

avourably and bring them help as they need it. Content enables

pharma to drive a more personalized customer experience by

concentrating messages on providing value and disseminating

inormation to a highly defined target without getting hung up in

engagement and communications loopholes.


6/25



CHAPTER 1

WHAT IS CONTENTMARKETING?


7/25



Content marketing in pharma is the building o a narrative that speaks to brand goals

and audience needs through the creation o relevant and valuable content that attracts,

captures and engages them. Its much more than just digital advertising, social media and

blog posts. Its an overall strategic approach that encompasses all those and more, but the

basic principle behind it is not a sales approach. Rather, the point is to create resources

that serve multiple purposes, such as:

Consumer education

Freely available digital tools and inormation

Opportunities to engage in discussion around industry trends, products and services

Establish credibility and thought leadership in the field

Build a mailing list o interested consumers with whom to communicate

Obtain useul analytics and statistics on which to base uture marketing decisions.

ENGAGEME

NT

CONTENT

SEO

TRANSACTIONS

MARKETING

SALES

CUSTOM

ERS


8/25



CHAPTER 2

MAKING THECASE FOR

CONTENT INPHARMA


9/25



The use o inormation in pharma is nothing new. Companies have always had a treasure

trove o valuable data available or existing customers. Whats new is the idea o sharing

that inormation with prospective customers and random users, ree o charge and without

the guarantee o getting business rom it. So why should pharma embrace content

marketing? Here are some o the reasons:

1 Its essential or a strong online presence

More and more, doctors and other healthcare proessionals are starting to search online or

products and services that they need. As they get to grips with the new technology, they

are starting to spend less time taking calls rom sales people and more time seeking out

the inormation they want.

Pharma with a strong profile will be more likely to appear in the search engine results

pages (SERPs) than those companies that dont have an internet presence. Given that

search is driven by resh, optimised content it makes sense that companies need that

firstly to get ound, and secondly to establish their credibility online.

Storytelling wins people

The art o storytelling has been around since the beginning o time as a method o

entertaining and educating the population. Content is just the latest iteration o storytelling,

and the point remains the same: teaching customers about products and services using

a gentle approach, providing the inormation they need and serving a purpose they can

benefit rom. With the availability o multiple content channels including social networking

sites, video, blogs and sponsored search, content marketing uses a range o media to

present a collaborative message that hits home across the channels.

2


10/25



3 Traditional marketing has morphed into pull marketing

Traditional marketing works almost entirely on the push method o attempting to

sell products and services to ollowers. However, marketers are finding that its getting

increasingly difficult to interrupt customers, and this has led to the rise o and transition to

pull marketing.

To implement pull marketing effectively, pharma companies have to ocus on what

customers care about, not on sending out more inormation about products and eatures.

Whether a marketers goals are generating demand, creating customer loyalty or

developing brand evangelists, pharma companies are likely to succeed by selling less and

publishing more. And publishing means content.

One way pharma can do this, is by listening. Great listening audits synched with your enduser inormation as well as key terms associated with your drug category will not only

tell you where the olks are, but what kind o content they are already consuming. With

this knowledge comes power the power to craf your content into stories, graphics and

videos that will truly break through and drive engagement rom the right people, in the

right manner.

To implement pull marketingeffectively, pharma companieshave to ocus on what customerscare about, not on sending outmore inormation about products

and eatures.

!


11/25



4 Providing what they need, when they need it

The whole idea behind content marketing is to ensure that when a doctor (or patient!)

searches online or inormation, the right inormation is there waiting or them. Its resh,

recently published, up-to-date and tells them what they need to know without using a

hard sell technique. It marks the difference between sales and service and, i aced with a

choice, customers preer service every time.

!

!

!


12/25



CHAPTER 3

BUILDING ATRUSTED BRAND

THROUGHCONTENT

MARKETING


13/25



Building trust is essential to make a pharma company stand out in the market. With multiple

providers o similar products, its obvious that customers will choose to support the business

they believe is the most trustworthy. Trust is earned by increased brand awareness, and

good content gives customers a reason to become aware o and engage with the brand.

Content isnt the message; its the medium, and the quality o the material provided or the

different market segments is what drives engagement between the brand and the target

audience.

Promoting Values

With 85% o B2B marketers now using content to promote the values o their brands, it has

clearly become one o the cornerstones o internet marketing. The content produced by

a pharma company not only defines the personality o the business, but draws customersto the company. This means that companies generating content o an inerior quality are

likely to end up with an inerior reputation.

Strong Digital Profile

A strong digital profile is a vital aspect o building trust in a brand, because the first thing

a prospective client does is look or a suppliers profile online. A pharma company needs

to have a unctional website that ollows best website design practices, social networking

profiles on all major platorms and an effective content publishing arm that provides resh

material regularly.


14/25



Better Engagement

Now it is not enough or your sales reps to hold a tablet. The content they present must

be engaging on its own whereas the technology can only enable you to show it. The key

is to impress the physicians! When videos and animations are created, this is when the

astonishing moments are created. These are the rules or making that engaging content:

Customers always come first; nobody cares about your products and services except

or you. Think about what problems they have that you could help solve.

It is imperative that you define and connect with your goals beore working on a

detailed piece o content. I you begin by setting goals there is a better chance that

you will accomplish them.

You need to serve your prospective clients needs by delivering content that assists

them. By doing this is will gain their trust and they will consider you when it comes time

to making a decision.

The use o active words helps your audience participate in the presentation rather than

them just listening to it. It lets them become immersed in the content and makes it eel

like there is a story unolding.

The eatures o your product are an important sales tool; however discussing the benefits

your audience will receive is ar more convincing. Since eatures are logical and benefits

address your audience on an emotional level.


15/25



CHAPTER 4

DEVELOPINGA CONTENT

MARKETINGSTRATEGY


16/25



Developing a comprehensive content marketing strategy requires using insights and

analysis to understand the target market and its requirements. The data needs to take

account o who the company is trying to reach, what their key challenges are and what

type o content they need or want.

This inormation is then mapped against the company goals, whether they are generation

o demand, customer retention, increased visibility or maintaining ongoing relationships.

Regardless o the objectives, content marketing needs to take the approach o giving as

opposed to selling.

YELLOW

PAGES


17/25



Steps or building a trusted pharma brand through the implementation o content

marketing are:

Develop a content strategy that meets the needs and interests o the target audience.

Identiy ideal market segments and create customer personas to target, and create

different content or each segment that speaks directly to their issues.

Compile and implement an editorial calendar to ensure regular publishing o timely

and relevant content.

Create remarkable content that inorms, educates and engages the readers. Audit it

regularly to identiy any gaps in the inormation provided.

Map the content to the target audiences buying cycles, to ensure that prospects are

presented with the material they need at the time they want it.

Publish regularly and share via social media channels to generate as much exposure as

possible, which strengthens the voice o the brand.

The strategy should also include measurement criteria to enable the company to

determine whether the efforts have been successul and to evaluate the return on its

investment. One o the great advantages o working with digital content is that its possible

to adapt according to the picture gained rom analytics, and by comparing analytics data

marketers can tell whats working and whats not.


18/25



CHAPTER 5

THE RULESOF CONTENT

MARKETING INPHARMA


19/25



With every target market the rules change, and pharma is no exception. To achieve

successul content marketing, ollow these 7 golden rules:

1 The customer comes first

Companies requently make the mistake o promoting themselves and what they stand

or. Guess what? Nobody cares. What the customer cares about is what the company

can do or him and how its products or service can resolve his problems. Focus all content

marketing on addressing the customers needs rather than the companys.

Planning

Generate content that ulfils a particular objective, such as increasing the number o social

media ollowers, or obtaining contact inormation to build a mailing list. By setting the goals

at the outset, marketers improve their chances o achieving them.

2

Involve legal and regulatorycounterparts as early as possible inthe planning process. !


20/25



3 Help, dont sell!

Content marketing is NOT advertising copy. Skip the sales-speak and the use our product

angles and ocus on providing useul inormation that can help the client. Afer all, i a

sales person met with a prospective HCP ace-to-ace he would likely offer advice and

recommendations in order to make the sale. So why not do it in the content?

Take time

Nothing happens overnight. Dont expect to see results within a month or two. Even

expensive advertising campaigns seldom yield visible results in that short a period.

Particularly in the healthcare space, dont give up just as youre beginning to get a

oothold through content. Its a long term investment.

4

I a sales person met with aprospective HCP ace-to-acehe would likely offer adviceand recommendations inorder to make the sale. So whynot do it in the content?

!


21/25



5 SEO is irrelevant

One o the major reasons to adopt content marketing in pharma is to become

discoverable by search engines. That doesnt mean overdoing the keyword optimisation,

which can have the opposite effect o getting the site penalised by Google. By publishing

quality content coupled with the use o basic SEO practices such as headings and tags,

content will serve the dual purposes o getting indexed in search as well as providing a

valuable resource or customers.

Quality is paramount

Google regularly launches updates to its algorithm aimed at weeding out inerior quality

material rom its SERPs. Content is likely to get flagged i:

It contains more than 10% overall duplication o anything else online (including other

pages on the pharma companys website)

It contains numerous instances o more than five consecutive words that are duplicated

elsewhere.

Spelling and grammar are poorly executed, i.e. the piece is badly written or the

language is too highly technical or the average reader.

Keyword usage is nonsensical.

The piece includes too many images, or a low ratio o text to images.

6


22/25



Quality content ollows practices such as the use o plain language, subheadings, bulleted

and numbered lists, limited usage o keywords to a maximum o 1% density (once every

100 words), the use o alt and meta tags and an appropriate meta description o less than

156 characters (including spaces) that contains the primary keyword. All this makes it

easily readable and will result in a higher ranking than it would get otherwise.

7 Keep it Up

Consistency counts. Publish regularly and ofen. Maintain a high quality standard, avoid

industry jargon and sales speak. Check or spelling and grammatical errors, and provide

inormation readers can use that will boost brand awareness and establish the company

as an authority in the market place. Develop a strong brand identity that builds trust and

maintains the companys image among its customers.


23/25



CHAPTER 6

CONCLUSION& ADDITIONAL

RESOURCES


24/25



I you arent doing content marketing in your pharma organisation,

youre missing out. Get with the program and create a content strategy

that gets your company in on ground level. Youll benefit by increased

brand awareness, deeper engagement leading to better relationships

and a stronger market share.


25/25


We are COUCH!We came together because we believed what we could do with

COUCH would represent a shif in how people perceive phar-

ma marketing. You see, marketing is no longer just pushing out

messages, it is about conversations and engagement, whether this

be patients or healthcare proessionals. Your messages are your

assets, so lets get creative and harness their true power.

Working with our digital and creative healthcare communica-

tions agency means that you have one point o contact, you get

to maintain brand consistency and planning is always coherent;

ultimately saving you time and money. We offer:

Strategy and planning

Global and local brand development Advertising and integrated campaigns

Disease and patient awareness

Digital media

Content marketing

Scientific writing

Training material development

To contact us visit: http://www.wearecouch.comTo email us:[email protected] call us:+44 (0) 20 3714 4449

pharma content marketing

Documents