Thanks to a plethora of new media options, patients are increasingly becoming more and more involved in making their health care decisions. For a pharmaceutical company like Pfizer, this means communicating with consumers in a variety of media.
“We have to be respectful of how we service consumers on their terms,” says Deborah Radcliffe, team leader, relationship marketing, Pfizer Corp. “Consumers' level of sophistication varies based on their demographics and how technologically savvy they are. There's no one-size-fits all solution, and certain things are comfortable for some consumers that aren't for others.”
Addressing those needs — and ever-present privacy concerns — are two of the top issues Pfizer is facing going into the new year. Direct marketing is an important part of the company's marketing mix, says Radcliffe, who is general chair of the 2008 Caples Awards. “It's not the only tool we have, but its an appropriate tool given the business challenges that we face.”
General advertising is typically targeted to people who have enough information and are ready to move to the doctor to request a drug. “TV or print is an awareness-generating medium,” she notes. “We recognize that there's a tremendous need for information out there. Direct marketing allows us to provide that depth of information to people who need it.”
Pfizer targets both consumers and medical professionals in its marketing efforts, and generally promotes individual medications rather than the parent company brand.
“Consumers have the relationship with the medication, so they need to understand the disease state, they need to understand their medication options and, ultimately, if they decide to get on drug, the importance of staying on the drug and how it works,” she explains. “Consumers need to understand where a medication fits in with their treatment options.”
A variety of offline media are used in Pfizer's relationship marketing efforts, says Radcliffe, including DRTV, DR print, direct mail and business reply cards. Online, e-mail newsletters support some brands and, going into next year, Web 2.0 media, such as blogs, are being considered. “We need to see if they make sense for our industry and on a specific brand basis. Some brands lend themselves to [new media] more than others, depending on the target audience.”
Search engine marketing is also part of the mix. Patients tend to search conditions; some do search specific brands, depending how far along they are in the treatment continuum, says Radcliffe.
But above all, she adds, Pfizer is bound to make sure everything they do is HIPAA compliant and aware of patient privacy.
“The degree of difficulty is always a challenge, but we will never do anything that is not respectful of patient privacy,” Radcliffe says. “We always ask for consumer consent before we provide them with any information.”
