4 Takeaways on Human-Centric Pharma Marketing from HealthNEXT 2024, PulsePoint’s Annual Summit
“Cookies!” someone from the audience called out during PulsePoint’s Annual Summit on July 23, 2024.
No, it wasn’t mid-afternoon refreshments being wheeled into the conference room—it was the news that, after several delays over four and a half years, Google had decided not to deprecate third-party cookies.
As we heard across insightful panel discussions, client success stories, and presentations on the latest trends and innovations in healthcare marketing, it doesn’t require getting rid of legacy digital identifiers to put your customers' needs first. Here are some core themes we took away.
- It’s about using technology to understand your audience
Something pharma marketers often don’t talk about enough is that they’re trying to reach DTC audiences in a super emotionally charged environment. There are also pre-conceived notions of what a drug trial may or may not be about and a short period to work with further complicating matters. But, using the best technology to find audiences, to activate them, to serve them up content that’s going to be motivating to them is critical to easing some of these challenges and genuinely reaching intended audiences, said Dan Haller, EVP of Engagement Strategy at Heartbeat.
“Being more authentic to the audiences we are trying to engage is always a winning proposition,” he said. “We’re also living in an age where technology enables us not to make so many assumptions about our audiences and what will resonate with them.”
- Use data well and wisely
Before you can use data to hit the marketing zenith of the right person, place, time, and message, you must get your internal data house in order.
Integrating your data internally is a massive undertaking that could involve 20 different departments. But brands can expedite that process by ranking their data, deconstructing silos, and focusing on a few essential data sets initially to achieve low-hanging fruit.
“So perhaps you would look at different brand pain points, quantify the opportunity there, but then leverage data in some of these more new and creative ways to bring value and truly demonstrate you’re being customer-centric,” said Elaine Gamble, a senior omnichannel leader.
- But don’t forget to test and optimize
Machine learning and artificial intelligence allow pharma marketers to test in broader ways and optimize more immediately, allowing them to have a more comprehensive selection of options available or make more changes. They can iterate on a set of messages and placements and enable the data to dictate what direction they need to take.
As PulsePoint VP of Marketing Maria Simeone said, this test-and-learn approach also has merit outside marketing. “Testing, getting started, and building an authentic relationship…I think it also has applications in our daily lives as humans and individuals in the workplace,” she said.
- There’s another four-syllable “o” word as crucial as “omnichannel”
At this point, omnichannel pharma marketing to HCP and DTC audiences is table stakes. Where some brands make a misstep is not accounting for the right “orchestration” across these channels. With an ever-evolving media landscape, how can pharma marketers meet each consumer or HCP with individualized messaging—that next best step in their interaction with your brand so they’re treated not as a group of specific diagnoses but as humans?
“Orchestration is how easily you can automate these channels connecting, which is why I have such a deep relationship with PulsePoint,” said Erica Hawthorne, VP of Media Strategy at Klick.
If you missed the 2024 PulsePoint Annual Summit, you can watch the panel sessions HERE. We are so thankful to all our partners and clients for sharing their perspectives on some of the biggest challenges facing pharma marketing today.