In the highly competitive field of pharma marketing, the importance of good tools that help marketers reach or exceed their many goals—and add value for all involved stakeholders—cannot be underestimated. While technology offers a variety of tools, the single most important tool may well be the one thing—when done well—that keeps marketers on track and competitive: The marketing plan.
In our cover story, 10 Crucial Steps to a Powerful Marketing Plan, Jeff Meehan, Chief Commercial Officer of MDOL, provides a blueprint for plans that will succeed in the healthcare environment—one that is constantly reshaping itself to meet stakeholder needs, and especially, the needs of the patient. Meehan notes that pharma marketers can no longer afford to focus on getting patients to use their products. Instead, he advises, marketing is now, “…about having your product bring value to the marketplace by meeting the needs of patients…in other words, becoming patient-centric, not product-centric.”
Okay. It’s not something pharma marketers haven’t heard before, but it is something that bears repeating if pharma is to catch up with all the industries that have already found success by putting their customers at the center of their marketing efforts. Yes, some pharma marketers are already, or nearly, there. But everyone needs to be onboard for the industry to be successful in a healthcare environment that is truly experiencing a tectonic shift. A dynamic marketing plan—one that can be tweaked and adjusted as a campaign rolls out—can be the very thing that creates that success. Click here to see what elements are absolutely crucial to today’s marketing plans.
It’s also the time of year when we present the Greatest Creators from the many agencies that serve the pharmaceutical industry. This large group of creatives has grappled with the changes the industry faces and has come up with the new ideas, the bold ideas that add value and move healthcare forward. What are they doing? How are they doing it? Take a look, get inspired and get to work on your next stunning campaign!
Finally, PM360 is pleased to announce that Donna Hodge, Product Manager, Metabolics, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Johnson & Johnson, and Moriah J. Weissman, PharmD, CCP, Medical Information Manager, Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp., recently joined our Editorial Advisory Board. Welcome, Donna and Moriah!
Cheers!
