Most big pharma companies spend about $1 billion annually on DTC. GSK was the nation’s 7th largest consumer advertiser in 2006 with $2.4 billion according to TNS, JNJ was the 9th. So is DTC a wise use of your marketing dollars? A couple things to consider:
1. Recent TNS survey concluded that 64% of doctors said there should be some sort of moratorium on DTC advertising and 27% believe there should be no DTC ads at all.
2. According to Neilsen Net Ratings, two out of three people surveyed use the Internet to search for information just before and just after visiting a doctor.
Thus, search marketing for the pharma industry should be a significant investment. I say significant - but it pales in comparison to DTC campaigns. Move some of that very large media budget to search. I’m constantly told ‘we do not have a big online budget’.That’s because it’s invested offline. Why? Your docs don’t like it and your consumers are actively looking elsewhere.
Search is the manifestation of new consumer behavior. In the past, marketers predicted what consumers would do. With online access, it just got easier; consumers are now expressing what they want and expressing intentions. We as marketers need to change gears; we need to create the most relevant response. Our key role is to respond to intention. How are people talking about your drug, your competitor’s drug, your disease category, treatment for the disease, etc.? Google and Yahoo know. So go find out. Then ask yourself these questions: Have you created a relevant response for your consumer or doctor? Have you created a response at all?
One Comment
One of the problems with search Heather is that the market is not enough to absorb a lot of clients DTC money. For example, a drug might have a $35-50 million DTC budget that it can easily spend on print, radio and TV.
Conversely, the drug company could not spend $35-50 million on search (organic or PPC) because the search market is not big enough to absorb that type of spend.
David