Medicosnext
The “covilution” (covid induced revolution) change is occurring in most industries, and more importantly, consumer behavior, globally. In the pharma industry, traditional pharma marketing methods are now becoming mostly dysfunctional and ineffective. Pharma marketing leaders are still confused and not very clear about how to respond to the changed situation. Most of the Nepalese pharma companies started marketing operations once the lockdown was relaxed, sending their field force equipped with all safety measures, along with COVID insurance, instead of understanding the mindset of doctors.
The companies were under huge pressure, because of loss of sales in the last five-six months. It was high time for doctors to receive a plethora of SMS and WhatsApp messages, emails, and other digital communications to promote different brands. As a result, we witnessed responses from individual doctors, hospitals, and medical associations during the initial period of lockdown. Unfortunately, we still see such actions even after nine months of the crisis, and many companies are still following the traditional marketing operation model.
It is obvious that our traditional marketing approach will not go back to working, in the way they did—making one to one physical calls during pre-COVID times. COVID-19 has accelerated the continuous change in modus operandi for the coming years as far as communication with the customer is concerned. Many companies are realizing that marketing operations need a completely new approach and new skills sets. The COVID-19 restrictions have significantly reduced doctor-pharma interactions, thus demanding new HCP (healthcare personnel) engagement programs.
It may be from sales to more of scientific, unbiased, and balanced marketing communications. For the first time, we can observe that doctors are more attracted towards scientific communication via digital media, and it is playing a key role in the coming future. Now, unique scientific communication will be essential, and the key driver of HCP engagement, to regain their trust. The traditional sales rep’s role needs to be redefined along with the new trends. They need to be up-skilled and trained accordingly, considering the HCP’s preference. Marketing operations should be focused on building engagements and relationships adopting new methods. The key to success of pharma marketing in the COVID era is in building new skills and inventing new operational methods to engage the HCP more effectively.
