PM360 March 2010

DTC 360

PROVIDING PERSONALLY RELEVANT INFORMATION
By Richard Meyer

I DON’T THINK THERE HAS EVER BEEN MORE OF A CHALLENGE FOR DTC marketers than the current environment. Over the last year we have seen the FDA sending out letters to drug companies for paid search, the person spearheading the pharma lobby resigning, and most recently the FDA sending out warning letters for TV ad creative (Aricept) and making treatment recommendations inconsistent with national guidelines (asthma). It just became a lot harder for DTC marketers to do their jobs.

There can be no doubt that the FDA is in the middle of a transformation. They have requested and are receiving more money, and they don’t want to be seen as “being in the pocket of the drug industry.” In addition, the FDA said they face difficulties in reviewing certain medical devices and hurdles that may call for additional regulations and authorities, even as the industry defended the current approval process.

Wait and See Won’t Work
With all this going on, can DTC marketers afford to take a wait-and-see attitude? The answer to that would be no, they can’t. They can’t because too many patients are becoming consumers of healthcare and are taking a more active role in their healthcare decisions and choices. DTC marketing is no longer about the shotgun approach of reaching as many consumers as possible, it’s about providing personally relevant information to patients and consumers on their terms.

Health insurer sites are making the transformation from business sites to customer health portals. In the last quarter of 2009, the top health insurance sites had over 24 million unique visitors. In addition most companies have an intranet site that employees access and customize as a portal for everything from knowledge management to their benefits. It’s time to start integrating health information and reminders via these portals to both increase reach and promote compliance.

Drug and medical device companies should strive to share content with everyone they can, including companies that have intranets and that allow tools for employees to mange their health. The ROI for employers is increased productivity via fewer sick days, and for drug companies it’s getting relevant information to people who want to manage their health better.

The one thing for certain is that DTC managers cannot rely anymore on the old-school marketing metrics of reach and frequency. A recent poll of consumers found that pharmaceutical ads are among the least trusted, only behind the financial services companies. This means that the ROI for all types of DTC advertising has dropped dramatically, especially for TV ads.

Listen and Engage
Marketing today is about engagement, and a big part of that is listening to the concerns of your customers. Pharma can’t be afraid to try new ways to engage consumers and get them the information they want when they want it. They can’t wait for the FDA to make decisions that are outdated when they are published. DTC marketers need to take marketing textbooks and throw them in the trash and think as patients, customers,
and consumers rather than marketers. The risks of not changing DTC marketing are too great, and the stakes are too high. DTC marketing informs and educates consumers at its best, and marketers have to do whatever is necessary to ensure that DTC marketing remains relevant to drug companies and consumers.

Richard Meyer has worked in healthcare marketing for more than 12 years and is the author of www.worldofdtcmarketing.com and www.richsblog.com. He currently works in Internet consulting and can be reached at richardameyer@me.com.