While the pharmaceutical market may be in a constant state of flux and change, it seems that there is a definite trend away from the marketing of big brand, wide reach products to more “niche” medicines and that this change seems to be accelerating. This poses an additional challenge for the pharmaceutical company’s sales staff, especially in the arena of professional education.
Pharmaceutical companies may now be more concerned with discussing product branding at an early stage of the development cycle, as they are keenly aware of the volatile nature of the market and additional constraints that will emerge as the company tries to penetrate and satisfy these more narrow-minded niche markets. It is possible that resistance could be significant and this can mean that more attention should be paid to branding as a critical early component of the marketing cycle.
Increasingly so, pharmaceutical markets are overcrowded. The consumer has a wide array of choices and is increasingly more influenced by a variety of external forces in addition to the direct advice that may be given to them by the professional or practitioner. We live in an age when information is instantaneously available and we are, in increasingly surprising numbers, spending our time interacting on social networks. We are becoming more in touch with every aspect of our lives as a consequence. While the consumer becomes more educated and the market becomes more crowded, the efficiency of a marketing program must be in sharp focus for a company’s senior executives.
Pharmaceutical companies are spending a great deal of their time moulding and shaping the market so that it is ready for the product when it is released. This only helps to emphasise the fact that marketing should be considered interactively during brand creation phases and that educational channels are explored.
While niche product areas are the subject of greater marketing emphasis, more emotions are involved in the end-user decision process as well and the professional is less likely to advise the consumer to go down the more beaten track. This requires a pharmaceutical company to be very clear and distinct in its marketing methods and messages, in order to differentiate itself from its competitors in the eyes of its target markets. This clearly puts pressure on the company’s sales force as these executives must now try and penetrate a sceptical barrier at the professional level and ensure that the message is stronger, yet more targeted than before.
A company cannot succeed without a strong sales force and senior officials are in close contact with pharmaceutical consultants and pharmaceutical consulting firms as they train and develop their sales forces appropriately. In most cases, pharma consulting plays a great role in helping the organisation to identify shifting marketing forces, especially when associated with niche concentration. If the professional is traditionally distant, sharper skills will be required and more cognitive training must be assured to enable the sales executive to break through and be successful. Effective implementation is almost always dependent on training, at least in equal part to ability and experience.
Alan Gillies is the Director of L2L Consulting, an elite pharmaceutical consultancy firm which specialises in Strategy Development and Implementation Excellence for prestigious multi-national organisations.