The sale of miracle cures, many of which had low success rates, was common in history. Before scientific advances, Pharma products and their sales were more about showmanship than actual success. If you projected your voice, dressed well, and made the most compelling claims, sales would soar.

Marketing of non-prescription medication, including pain relievers and allergy medicine, has been alive and well since medicine’s inception; however, it wasn’t until 1997 when the marketing of modern-day prescription medications to patients entered the equation. Prior to then, it was believed that the mass marketing of medicine was fruitless, since it was doctors who chose which medicines to prescribe; patients had virtually no say in their treatment. With that belief, marketing to medical professionals seemed to be the smartest route.

Marketing to healthcare professionals included detailing in doctor’s offices and hospitals, and placing ads in professional journals; an important part of these efforts was marketing to medical students.

Things changed drastically with the advent of the Internet and the introduction of e-marketing. Healthcare professionals now had a vast reservoir of information at their fingertips. But so did patients, and with this knowledge began an era of patient empowerment, with patients now taking a more active role in their healthcare.

The other day, while cruising the net, I came across this funny video about the Internet-spurred growth of pharmaceutical marketing, created by well-known pharmaceutical digital marketer Kevin Nalty.

The empowerment of patients was critical for marketing, especially for those suffering from rare diseases. Some diseases are so rare that many physicians are unaware they exist, let alone know how to accurately diagnose and treat them. So these patients have taken to the Web to find information about their disease and how to diagnose and treat it. They’ve also found the Web useful in connecting with others with similar experiences via social media. Before the internet, educating patients with a rare disease like NAGS deficiency would have been very difficult. And it simply would not have made sense to market to physicians who most likely would never encounter a patient with such a rare disease. But the Internet has brought people closer together than they’ve ever been, and opened doors that didn’t exist just several years ago.

And opening doors is just what Compass is here for. Compass knows that when patients understand their diagnosis, disease state, and treatments options, they are much more likely to engage in their own care. Compass focuses on empowering patients and their caregivers with rare diseases. By understanding their unique experience, pharma companies, healthcare professionals and other stakeholders in the rare disease community can provide greater support, which can lead to better outcomes. Whether through social media, mentor programs, conferences, and disease state awareness campaigns, or a myriad of other ways of engaging the community, Compass is determined to make a difference. And seeing how far pharmaceutical marketing and patient empowerment has come in just the last 15 years, being able to reach and positively impact the life of every patient with a rare disease doesn’t seem as unrealistic as it once did. It is now a very real possibility, and Compass is doing everything in our power to make it a reality.

Now imagine you have the opportunity to work with a medication for a rare disease. All excited, you fire up your favorite keyword research tools to find that people DO search for Medication X 12 times per month (and for those of you who know the AdWords Keyword Research tool it’s probably more like three searches/month). You then perform a search on the rare disease to see what content is out there—nothing except a Wikipedia article and something from the NIH. Panic sets in, you cry a little in your soup, and you’re now in the fetal position. You realize that content, links, and ranking isn’t going to deliver the traffic and conversion you’re used to. You have to CREATE that marketplace and build awareness of not only the medication, but the disease itself. That’s no small task, but here are three tips to help you on your way:

1. Build your keyword list with paid search

• It’s cheap and it’s effective. If you have little luck when using your usual keyword research tactics, then use paid search. Aim broad with the campaign and use it to identify some mid/long-tail keywords that your keyword research is unable to provide. My recommendation would be:
  • Use a head term (the disease itself), and run it as a modified broad match on Adwords, and broad or phrase match on AdCenter.
  • Make sure that you have 100% impression share.
  • Run search query reports in AdWords and AdCenter.
  • Identify terms that have search volume and add to your keyword list.

2. Widen your sights—think category

• Outreach is a HUGE part of SEO for rare disease therapies. Its job is not only to build links, but to provide content and build awareness of the therapy and, in some cases, the disease. The problem here is that there is usually limited content dedicated to these rare diseases to target. Here are some tactics that I use to build my outreach lists.
  • Use the [related:] operator on Google.
  • If you know at least one site or community built around the targeted disease this operator [related:site.com] will provide you other sites that are topically relevant.
  • Look for category sites
  • If the therapy treats a rare bone disorder, try to identify sites that talk about rare diseases, or bone disorders in general. This approach will widen your set of sites.
  • Use the [related:] operator here, too, once you have identified a few sites
  • Analyze your targeted sites links
  • Once you’ve done the previously mentioned steps, use a tool like Open Site Explorer to identify more topically-relevant sites that link to your targets.

3. Target HCPs

• A common problem with rare diseases is that they are often misdiagnosed. Naturally, targeting HCPs through outreach would be the most effective way to address this predicament. Here is how I would go about doing this:
  • Identify the physician category (e.g. endocrinologist) that would most commonly treat someone with the disorder.
  • Use a tool like FollowerWonk and search for mentions of their specialty (e.g. endocrinologist) in the HCP’s profile.
  • Mine for mentions of their websites/blogs .
  • Validate the site as a target & add to outreach list.

TinEye is great if you want to know where an image is from or if you need a better version. You can upload an image and find where the hi res download is available. That is pretty neat, but it doesn’t help you if you are trying to learn about the content of the image itself.

Goggles is great when you’re on the go. It can currently identify famous landmarks, paintings, and even allow you to translate a sign through optical character recognition (OCR). Simply snap a picture and you immediately know what you’re looking at and why it is important.

This week, Google took it to the next level with a desktop version – Search by Image. It allows users to search places, art, and even animals by image instead of keywords. Users can search by uploading an image, dragging and dropping, or pasting the image URL into their search bar. It is also available as Chrome and Firefox extensions.

So now, if during your vacation planning you see a random picture of the perfect place to snorkel, you don’t have to ask everyone on message boards, travel agents, or scour images for hours. Simply drag the picture into your search bar and voila – you’re heading to Hawaii.

Hopefully, with increased awareness and usage of Goggles and Search by Image, Google will make good on their plans to beef up the capabilities beyond famous places, famous things, and OCR. They stated they plan to evolve it so that you can search by pictures of plants, cars, and pretty much anything.

Now, don’t get too worried. They aren’t using it for facial recognition, and think about how it could empower patients!

Imagine your son was just bit by a scorpion. What should you do? Is it poisonous?

Step 1: Take the little guy’s picture

Step 2: Drop the picture in the search bar

Step 3: Find out if an antivenom exists

Step 4: Start first aid and get him some Anascorp!

This could also help locate poison ivy or identify the cause of a rash. Even further, patients who may not remember why they take a certain medication or aren’t sure what it does could simply snap a picture of the pill, device, or packaging and be directed to the product site. That is, if Google recognizes the picture.

If you weren’t paying attention to the images on your website before, you might want to get started…

There are some basic criteria you should consider when car shopping. Some of the basics to consider include budget, size (e.g. compact, sedan, crossover, SUV, etc), needs (e.g. pick-up truck for work or hauling), available options/equipment, fuel economy and overall ride enjoyment. It’s no secret that we all want to get the most for our money. Much in the same, there are various ‘trim levels’ and upgrades available in a website build or revamp.

We here at Compass have implemented several innovative tools on some of our client’s websites, which include:

Proleukin.com – Treatment Center Finder

A consumer-focused interactive tool that helps patients and caregivers identify a treatment center, in this instance for PROLEUKIN^®.

Users have the ability to search by zip code or a city/state combination and distance in configurable mileage increments from the provided zip code or city/state provided.  Results include the closest Treatment Centers to the specified location.

Elestrin.com – Self Assessment Tool

A patient assessment tool that educates patients to talk to their doctor about Elestrin^® therapy.  This tool asks patients basic questions about their symptoms and previous/current therapies with a goal being to encourage patients to discuss Elestrin therapy with their doctor.  Users have the opportunity to learn about menopause through a series of facts that are presented contextually with the questions. Upon completion of the assessment, patients can view and print the results along with discussion points to share with their doctor.

In addition to upgrading your site with cool features such as the above Treatment Center Finder and Self Assessment Tool, it’s also good to keep several things in mind that your site should include such as budget, SEO, paid search and comprehensive analytics. It’s one thing to develop a cutting edge website, but another to make sure it’s running smoothly, that it’s optimized for search and that your users are getting to the content and messaging you want them to receive resulting in them performing the desired actions.

Its 2011…Make Sure Your Site Technology Reflects That

Remember when George W. Bush took office or the debut of the Chrysler PT Cruiser?  Yeah…Internet Explorer (IE) 6 is that old.  A site built to be IE6 compatible is like driving your PT Cruiser with outdated technology, worn brakes and bald tires.  You’re not experiencing the cars full potential, while at the same time risking your safety.  Make sure your sites are compatible with current, modern browsers such as Mozilla Firefox 4, Google Chrome 10, Internet Explorer 9, and Safari 5.

There are several issues with old browsers such as IE6.  A main issue is that of security.  Using an old browser is like leaving your brand new BMW M3 running with the doors unlocked while you run into the grocery store.  With an old browser, your information is more vulnerable and prone to possible attacks; much like your M3 would be an easy target for a thief.

Old browsers are also an issue for web developers.  If web developers have to always take the time to make sure the sites they are building are compatible with both outdated browsers and new browsers, it inevitably takes away from their time to incorporate new and innovative technologies such as CSS3, HTML5 and JavaScript.

Offer a Mobile-friendly Version of Your Site

It’s not news that people are busy (consumers and physicians alike), so when they visit a site, they want to find the information they are seeking quickly without having to use their finger to scroll across or down the page.  Much like having user-friendly touch screen navigation (e.g. Ford’s new MyFord Touch™ technology) with audible turn-by-turn directions in your car helps you find your final destination; you want your website users fully absorb your content and messaging with minimal effort while also enjoying the site it’s delivered on.

Solution – Offer a mobile-friendly version of your site.  Here’s some research to support why:

Physicians Rapidly Adopting Smartphone Use at Work

According to a Manhattan Research study published Q3 of 2009, titled How Digital is Shaping the Future of Pharmaceutical Marketing which states that the internet is no longer a foreign territory for physicians seeking information.  Most physicians are spending up to 8 hours a week using the internet for reasons pertaining to work, up from just 2.5 hours a week in 2002.  “Mobile technology has played a significant role in increasing physicians’ dependency on online resources – 64% of doctors own smartphones and are using them to supplement their desk or laptop computer usage to be “always on.””

The PT Cruiser received a lot of hype and owner loyalty when it was first released back in 2001, only to later be cheapened and purchased by most rental car companies, to then ultimately being no longer produced.  Like anything else, technology ages and if you don’t keep up you’ll be left behind.  Flash development is quickly becoming a tool of the past.

For a moment, let’s focus solely on the recent release of the iPhone 4 on Verizon.  Sales predictions of the iPhone 4 (which does not play well with Flash, nor does the iPad) on the Verizon network alone are expected to reach 19-25 million this year alone according to R.W. Baird & Co. analyst William Power (figure includes current Verizon customers, current Verizon customers with another smart phone and AT&T iPhone customers), consumers on the go with limited time should be able to view your site for all it has to offer.

Some alternatives to Flash include: jQuery, JavaScript and HTML 5

Thinking in the mind of the end user, some of the best tools available on pharma web sites are videos. By educating and appealing to your audience through video you are increasing the chances they will remember what they viewed and talk to their doctor. According to Manhattan Research study titled, ePharma Consumer® v10.0 posted on January 13, 2011 “most consumers online for pharma information take health-related action after their online research, and they are more likely to discuss the information with their doctor rather than to make treatment decisions on their own.”

Having the latest technology and keeping up on regular maintenance is imperative–whether it be on your car or your website.

Only about one in seven patients will visit a brand site when researching health information.  While this may be a disheartening statistic to a brand manager, this shouldn’t be seen as a death knell for the brand site.  This represents a key missed opportunity for brand managers to interact with and support a captive patient and caregiver audience.  Shifting the approach of the brand site and evolving best practices are paramount to make brand sites relevant.

Research tells us the effort will pay off.  Patients and caregivers who visit brand sites are more likely to have unaided and aided awareness.  They are more likely to discuss treatments with their physician, mention the product and request it.   They are more likely, if already on treatment, to adhere to their medication.

Evolving the Brand Site

Making the site primarily an informational experience – not overly promotional experience – is the first step as patients have come to expect tools and lifestyle information – not just promotional content.  Providing valuable, relevant content is a key step in establishing, or re-establishing, credibility with your audience.

Leveraging the informational gap in the health care system is another way for brand sites to reengage audiences.  Patients report not getting the education they need from physicians – comprehensive information about disease management, follow-up, medication information and lifestyle tools.  This is a key opportunity, especially for patients with chronic illnesses where misinformation could limit adherence.

Changing the dialogue from one-way to two-way communication is an important mind shift that needs to take place.  Typically, the patient experience is one-way communication, not interacting with the pharma company or other patients.  This doesn’t have to be the case.  A good example of brand site that has started to explore this idea is www.ampyra.com.  The site provides a way for patients to recommend questions/resources that others may find helpful.  It does so without opening the company to receive adverse events or other information, thereby reducing risk.  While not revolutionary in approach, it provides a safe way for patients and caregivers to interact.

(The Facebook “like” button is also a tool where patients and caregivers to interact with the brand, outside of the brand site, but that will be covered in a separate post.)

Videos are an excellent channel to provide interactive content and a relatable patient story.  We are in a time where video is ubiquitous – having it on your brand site is becoming a “must-have” for audiences who’ve now come to expect it.  Seven out of 10 health searchers are interested in watching-related health videos online.  Nearly half of users report that online health videos are a top resource when searching for medical conditions and prescription drug information.

It also makes sense for your brand – video viewers are more motivated and active; 93% take action after viewing health information in video form.  Nearly 70% are more likely to conduct more research after watching health videos online.  (A tip for brand managers: keeping the video embedded on a page with related content is a quick win.) After watching a video, 60% speak with their doctor.

Understanding that the customer’s expectations of content has evolved is key to making brand sites more relevant for patients and caregivers.  We are moving in a direction where marketing is customer focused.  The feedback channels have vastly improved.

Observing through social media is a simple and essential step to learn from patients.  They are providing their opinions, unvarnished, about your brand.  Patients also identify key areas of unmet needs that your brand can satisfy, whether online or offline. Listening via social media is a great way to keep insights fresh.

Patients these days have choices.  The steps to having a relevant and up-to-date website are worth it to keep users engaged, fill the information gap and motivate patient behaviors.

While most are washing up and thinking about how they forgot to print the agenda, I’m cursing the bathroom sink designer under my breath. It’s not that I can’t wash my hands effectively; it’s more that for an efficiency freak like me it’s extremely frustrating.

The soap dispenser is placed in a way that once you’ve gotten soap on your hands and start to lather up it spits more soap on your hands.

You can tell when someone is not a building regular as they experience the same double soaping. Others have been trained by the bad design to skew their hands and arms to the left. Others try and beat the sensors quickly going in for a rinse and then back out. I’m in the “get out of my way” camp. The dispenser is just loose enough that you can turn it so it doesn’t dose you again.

Bathrooms are one of the key areas that user experience designers look at as it’s something that’s so universal and is often over looked when looking at the whole building project.

In fact there is a whole community devoted to the importance of bathrooms in user design. During the annual bathroom blog fest bloggers from around the globe write about the importance of bathrooms in the customer experience. Their posts come from a wide range of perspectives that include sociology, marketing, research, psychology, environmental, customer experience, and user-experience design.

So what do bathrooms have to do with your website? Hopefully your site was built so that not only the main areas of your site were user-friendly but also the areas that could be considered the “bathroom” of your site. These are important utility pages on your site, but might be over looked because they are boiler plate or an afterthought once live.

Some of these pages might be a custom 404 page, a contact us form or thank you page. Apple has a simple but interesting 404 page that helps users find what they may be looking for.

Other times it might be something that users are doing that just makes sense, but didn’t appear until your site has been real-world tested. Just like when people move the soap dispenser out of the way, people often click on items that they think should be clickable.

One new tool that we’re starting to pilot can tell us this data. It shows where users are clicking, while most tracking tools only let you track things you determined should be clicked on like links in sentences or buttons.

I only wish that a building manger would notice all of the people moving the soap dish and make a change. If they only knew how much each extra dose of wasted soap was costing them.

Other useful tools that are becoming easier to implement are eye tracking studies. At the end, you get a very clear idea of where the majority of users are looking and if they are seeing your key call outs or messages. With their permission, we’re now able to tap into a user’s webcam, calibrate the software and present them with a simple image or webpage for testing.

It’s very important to make sure that you’re not just putting up a site to check it off of your tactics lists as a required need like a bathroom in a building. Taking the time to look at an optimal user experience across your site can make sure that your users view the “bathrooms” of your site like a high-end resort rather than your local dive bar.

In Part I of this blog we will address the first three of these best practices, “Begin Collaboration at Initiation,” “Measure Twice, Cut Once,” and “Plan for Integration.”

1 Begin Collaboration at Initiation

By clearly defining roles and responsibilities from the start, you can head off any potential turf wars. Define each partner’s role in the marketing campaign. On the client side, a “conductor” should be appointed to own the agency relationship and be responsible for facilitating collaboration. Additionally, both core agencies (there should be only two to three agencies core to the marketing efforts) and supporting agencies should be defined. A senior-level committee comprised of the client and the core agency representatives should be formed for monthly/quarterly meetings to discuss brand issues and marketing strategies. A clear understanding of responsibilities and dependencies both upstream and downstream also helps partners work together to deliver a consistent, engaging message.

Communicate your brand position and strategy with all involved parties from the beginning. Chances are there are numerous parties involved from broadcast, print and interactive agencies to public relations, event marketing and packaging firms. It’s easy to see how without excellent collaboration, you could end up with a very disconnected message.

For a truly integrated marketing plan to be successful, all parties must have a seat at the table from day one. From there, you can weigh the strengths of each medium and leverage them to their maximum potential. The strength of each channel should be fully leveraged to achieve a sub-objective of the overall campaign’s marketing objective. E.g. the Web gives you the deepest, closest interaction with consumers. By simply repurposing a print ad for your Web presence, you dilute your opportunity to connect with the consumer.

2 Measure Twice, Cut Once

This is solid advice that has survived the test of time, but what does it really mean? Actually, this advice could be applied on multiple levels of marketing. When defining the consumer experience you’re looking to deliver through a process that flows from your business strategy, takes shape from your brand positioning statement and manifests through every touchpoint. When everyone starts off on the same page, you’re more likely to end up on the same page.

There’s no doubt each partner has a wealth of knowledge on its own area of expertise. Encourage everyone to share data and insights with all the partners. To help this process along, set up a public repository for everyone’s data or use share software. This is a critical step, although it rarely happens. Too often partners are so focused on their own deliverables that they don’t stop to consider how their research and insight could help others. Sharing data like the media buy, sales data and Web performance analytics are beneficial to all parties as it helps the team pull insight that can spark more powerful marketing efforts.

Additionally, use consumer insight when determining your strategy to ensure the consumer is always top of mind. Again, make sure this information is available to all partners.

3 Plan for Integration

First, understand what it means to have a truly integrated marketing plan. Simply tagging your Web site at the end of a TV commercial or print ad does not equal full integration. Merely having both print and interactive pieces is not full integration either. An integrated, well-planned marketing campaign requires a holistic understanding of brand strategy, includes efforts that drive the brand strategy and elements that become transformers of the business model, and is the comprehensive foundation of all marketing efforts.

As with any marketing campaign, coordination and strategic usage across all channels is crucial. This makes it much easier to understand which channels best meet each objective and execute accordingly.

In Part II of “Getting More Out of Your Integrated Marketing Efforts” we’ll discuss the need to ensure your planning is aligned with your customer’s needs, the importance of sharing ideas and benefits of ensuring alignment across projects and partners. Stay tuned!

Recently the FDA has given a great deal of attention to video, and pharma companies are grappling with the best way to communicate through this medium within regulatory boundaries. DDMAC is focused on identifying videos that overstate benefits and minimize risks, with the most recent letter issued was on a patient video on Premarin.com. According to the letter, the video overstated efficacy of Premarin by suggesting that it would eliminate all hot flashes and other symptoms associated with menopause. Additionally, it minimized side effects – available on the website only in text, under the video player.

Similar circumstances led to warning letters for brands such as Eisai’s Gliadel, which included voiceover of the risk information, but lacked prominence. A video on Herceptin had a different, but no more successful approach. Risks were presented in text only prior to the start of the video, and very little risk information was integrated into the video. Patients noted “mild fatigue” and “joint pain,” hardly a thorough discussion on risk that should accompany a product with a boxed warning.

Where to Go From Here

Benefits of a product discussed in a video should be on-label, of course, when delivered by any spokesperson. Thorough preparation, detailed screening and a highly trained interviewer can go a long way in eliciting responses that are natural, yet appropriate from the FDA’s perspective. Capturing physician footage to accompany the patient story is a best practice, particularly as physicians will cover side effects more comfortably and naturally.

Online videos should follow the same approach as contemporary DTC commercials. Safety/side effects/risk information should be integrated into the content of the video itself. It should be part of the story narrative, not a before or after thought like the videos cited above.

Further, “balance” should be as consumer friendly and natural as the discussion of benefits. Accompanying any contextual balance should be the full ISI, integrated in the video itself as well as on the page. The ISI should not be minimized by distracting visuals and other competing elements.

Planning for Success

Planning for video success begins sooner than the editing suite. With proper planning and expertise the integration of risk information within video is an achievable best practice that will increase credibility, drive understanding/comprehension and share risk information in a digestible format. And make FDA happy.

As a marketing tool, video offers distinct advantages. It demands engagement—consumers would rather “watch” than “read” while they’re online. It’s also easy to digest and understand. And above all, video tells a story. While video has been shown to deliver important advantages across all industries, within the pharmaceutical industry, the medium is actually ranking above the curve in terms of engagement. Why is this?

One reason is that video is used not only to promote but also to educate, which is particularly relevant to pharma. Video can help bring your audience’s awareness to a higher level by providing a different level of understanding. It can also help to humanize your company and engage HCP’s and patients in a more emotional, empathetic, and personal way. Consider a video in which a patient describes his or her experiences living with a serious or rare condition. Patients see themselves in those they’re viewing and thus are able to connect in a personal way with your brand and your message. In this way, video offers a more engaging and intimate understanding of your brand beyond a mere listing of product attributes that might appear elsewhere.

By its power to educate, promote, and engage, video can help move your audience along the continuum from awareness to engagement to acquisition and ultimate loyalty.

Few of you are old enough to remember this Dr. Doolittle, two-headed, camel-like animal, but some may recall a time when there were about 8 TV channels, prime-time TV ruled and there was no Internet. Well times have changed and with them, the entire way we reach our targets and market to them.

At the risk of being too broad, within the past year, we have made the conversion from any type of “push” advertising to almost exclusively a “pull” advertising society.

What does this mean?

“Push” advertising describes the interruptive way we used to “push” our ads at the unsuspecting consumer. This poor sop would be reading an article or watching a show and—blam—he would get hit with an ad. It didn’t matter if the guy watching the news wasn’t in the market for Playtex Living Gloves; he saw it anyway. Inefficient you say? Not exactly. Back then, we marketers identified a single benefit and a single target, wrote our ad, bought a 30-second slot on prime time TV and hit 75% of our audience—easy, efficient.

As we all know, those days are over. With DVR’s, Hulu, iTunes, etc, consumers can now select what they watch as well as when and how much. In fact our children are the first generation since the advent of TV who will watch less of it than the previous generation did.

So the consumer is in control. Therefore we, as marketers, can no longer “push “ our message at them. They will decide what they want to “pull” down and devour.

Good News. Bad News.

The good news? With fragmented yet targeted marketing vehicles–smartphones, the Internet, satellite radio, etc.—we cannot only find, but pinpoint our target consumers.

The bad news? We must deliver content that the target will voluntarily select or pull. Your product not only has to be relevant but consumers have to be interested in what you are saying about it. Crack that code and you win.

Being Internet marketers for the past 7 years, we have always understood and valued great content and tools. Since online has been the lead vehicle people use to proactively search for specific information, our job has always been to put content they value in the right place for them to see and use.

Now it’s time for this type of content to be utilized in all forms of marketing.
If you build it—relevant and valuable content—they will come—and consume it.