The post-Covid world is unpredictable; there is little that hasn’t been touched by the pandemic. Whilst the “new normal” has many remnants of our old lives, there is a sense of unpredictability and vulnerability that we didn’t have to face before. For the patient on medication(s) life got a lot more complicated during and post pandemic. There is a vulnerability and uncertainty that cannot be ignored by Healthcare Marketeers.
What does this uncertainty mean to Marketeers? What does does it mean for Healthcare Marketing?
In my own view there are 3 key aspects to highlight:
- ROI from digital transformation of the Patient Voice
- Big data > actionable data
- Reflecting patient experience in realtime
ROI from Digital Transformation of the Patient Voice
Healthcare Marketeers know how to market drugs, they have some of the best agencies in the world driving strategy and execution of campaigns. However, in these new times do they know how to unlock the exponential value & ROI from unlocking the digital Voice of the Patient for prescription medicines? The value of the Patient voice is known; a stakeholder that cannot be ignored and yet as a marketing industry are we using the right tools to be able to unlock the full potential & ROI? The driving forces post pandemic have been transformational: patients have found each other online at a time when face to face physician visits have been less easy, at a time when normal prescription schedules have been disrupted. Finding peer to peer support online has surged at a time of difficulty and that is across age groups; it’s not just about young people. Allied to this the Pharma industry has been less able to rely on Rep visits as a source of patient feedback, driving a need to look to technology and digitalisation in new ways across the marketing chain. Now is the time to leap forward in the way that the digital patient voice is harnessed recognising its role in driving marketing strategies and creative campaigns for prescription medicines.
2. Big Data >actionable data
This is the era of Big Data; it enables a new way to make decisions. However, as we know there can also be too much data; which data source tells me about the patient? Value comes from actionable data that will help orientate data driven decision making. It is metric driven data that can be drilled into to find the data constituents. At a time of FUD (Fear/Uncertainty/Doubt) understanding the moving constituents within big data will orientate brand strategies and creative campaigns. At the same time as Covid there has been a rising awareness on the role of Diversity and Inclusion – from clinical trails through to post launch support there is no single patient voice. Patients are made up of different groups/ personas by gender, by income, by ethnicity, by location. Data can give huge clues to how those personas’ experience their drug pathway differently. Diversity is a Board issue for Pharma and one that will need embracing and addressing across Healthcare Marketing.
3. Reflecting patient experience in real time
With uncertainty comes change. Traditional patient research is rear mirror and retrospective. Real time data tracking has value in reflecting change, sentiment and experience now. In driving better patient outcomes there is value in keeping an agility to actively listen to word on the street and how that is changing patient experience, aspirations and experience. Keeping a finger on the pulse is part of managing the contactless world where patients have a voice and want a democratisation of access to information, care and medicines. To manage patients as a stakeholder needs a real time understanding that recognises that environmental factors can also play a huge role in change.
To manage this change Talking Medicines have launched its on demand patient insight platform PatientMetRx® using AI technology to accurately pinpoint the patient voice from social listening in the context of prescribed medicines.
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