
Guide to healthcare and pharma advertising in 2021
Budgeting pharmaceutical ads
In medical advertising, who you’re competing with is just as important as where you spend your budget. We’ll consider these two areas to prepare your marketing tactics for the differences brought about by digital channels.
Where you need to advertise
Research has shown that digital videos on healthcare topics lead to greater returns for companies. In one study, 39% of patients made an appointment following a health-related video. This should come as no surprise considering that over 65% of people are considered visual learners, meaning they need to see something to understand it.
Further, messages that use some type of visual are 43% more effective than those that don’t: increasing conversions, improving ROI, building trust, and increasing visibility on social media. This includes television advertising, which has increased 65% in the last five years. COVID has made digital even more critical for the foreseeable future, directing people to the internet for both business and pleasure.
If you're seeking to grow your business, invest in social media marketing. More and more people are spending their time on social networks — video advertising in particular has massively expanded its reach. Marketers report skyrocketing engagement from video advertising on Facebook, doubling clickthrough and increasing conversions by 30%.
Who you’re competing with?
Increased Chinese involvement in the pharma industry
To be approved for use, drug therapies created in the United States must receive FDA approval, which requires meeting specific regulatory requirements. These drugs must undergo several testing phases to prove themselves safe and effective, conforming to standards that far exceed China's. The FDA approves roughly 18-26 drugs per year, while China’s National Medical Products Administration approves upwards of 50 medications classified as ‘chemical drugs’ or ‘biological products.’
When promoting specific drug therapies through medical ads, one of your best strategies is to explain the benefits of safety standards and drug trials conducted in the United States. While customers in the Chinese market may have access to more treatments overall, the higher standards in the United States make it far more likely that treatments will be effective. At the same time, strict FDA regulations sharply decrease the chance of adverse side effects.
Advanced technologies in medicine
These technologies can provide big benefits to pharma companies who know how to apply them. They make it easier to find the right audience, develop ads, and deploy new strategies utilizing real-time data analysis. Likewise, AI’s advancement can benefit overall disease control and patient care by, for example, identifying the best drug for the treatment of specific conditions.
Final thoughts
By engaging fully with each of these areas and looking for digital medical advertising methods that focus on building communication with the client, pharma companies will make the most of their advertising budget.