Marketing Forecast from Ad-ology

According to a new study, pharmacists at a retail store are the most influential health care “voice” in getting patients to take medicine as prescribed. Face-to-face discussions between pharmacists and patients in a store were twice as effective boosting adherence rates as programs where pharmacists talk with patients on the telephone, the researchers found. According to Troyen A. Brennan, MD, MPH, executive vice president and chief medical officer of CVS Caremark, and an author of the review, “pharmacists and nurses are among the most trusted health care professionals” and the study shows “that trust translates into effective patient communications.” Improving adherence is important as it is a cost-effective way to avoid unnecessary doctors’ visits or hospitalizations. Non-adherence to medications costs the health care system up to $290 billion a year because many of the hospitalizations can be avoided if people take prescriptions as doctors direct.

In the good old days, consumers went to their physicians to learn about medical conditions and prescription medications that might be available for treatment. About 15 years ago, pharmaceutical companies started advertising pills and potions directly to consumers (DTC) and changed the nature of healthcare marketing. Today, pharma companies split their marketing budgets between the DTC and the medical professional channels. The results of a new study on advertising in this industry indicates this model will continue along with the evolving ‘collaborative care’ platform.

Seniors are a natural target for pharmaceutical and healthcare marketers but so far have formed a relatively small part of the online audience for health information. However, with aging boomers, online health info seeking among seniors should rise rapidly. Thus, now is the time for marketers to sow their seeds online. To that end, advertising to seniors should focus on providing helpful information about drug side affects and safety, be visually appealing, be trustworthy, and provide information about diseases and how to cope with them.

By most accounts, pharmaceutical companies have been slow to engage consumers through new media formats like social networking and online communities. To date, the largest share of marketing in this industry has been directed to physicians who prescribe medications and to consumers via TV ads. Accenture has been reviewing this topic and analysts believe that pharma companies are missing an opportunity.

Ad-ology Research recently updated their Industry Marketing Insights report for Alcohol and Substance Abuse Centers. The following are the predicted Top 3 Opportunities/Challenges from the report for this industry for the upcoming 12 months:

* More treatment centers are offering nicotine replacement therapy. In 2009, the number of abuse centers providing this type of therapy increased 6% from 2006.
* The abuse of prescription drugs is considered to be the nation’s fastest-growing drug problem, and hospital emergency room visits involving non-medical use of prescription narcotic pain relievers more than doubled between 2004 and 2008.
* A continuing challenge for these facilities is consumers’ inability to pay. The top reason why those needing treatment didn’t receive it was their inability to afford treatment and lack of health insurance (cited by 36.8%). For nearly 10% of those who didn’t receive treatment, the primary reason was that their insurance company did not cover treatment.

Executives in the pharmaceutical industry still appear to be grappling with their digital marketing efforts. To date, businesses in this industry allocate less than 10% of marketing expenditures to digital activities. A recently issued report from EPG Health Media points to 2 major problems in the digital realm for pharmaceutical marketers: Regulations and lack of expertise. The report focused on how the lack of expertise is holding back progress in digital marketing by pharmaceutical firms.