The marketing of medicines and parapharmaceutical products has a number of special features that set it apart. Strict regulations designed to protect public health and the ethics of the sector, as well as techniques, professions and, above all, technological innovations, make "health marketing" a subject that is both specific and fascinating to discover.
Between regulations, protagonists, careers, tools and trends, Sidely explores the different aspects of pharmaceutical marketing to provide you with an overview.
Enjoy your reading!
Pharmaceutical marketing encompasses a range of practices designed to increase the sale of medicines and parapharmaceutical products. Pharmaceutical companies and brands are the main players in this field, and their targets include doctors' surgeries, pharmacies and parapharmacies, healthcare establishments, and consumers themselves.
Pharma" marketing is divided into different specialties, ranging from product marketing to brand strategy and scientific communication. One diploma, the Master of Pharmaceutical Marketing and Health Technologies, enables you to aim for a managerial position in major pharmaceutical groups, and a multitude of operational professions contribute to healthcare marketing. We'll list them at the end of this article.
In France, pharmaceutical marketing is governed by strict laws designed to protect public health and avoid commercial abuses. This is particularly true for prescription drugs, whose direct promotion to consumers is prohibited.
Marketing actions must comply with several reference frameworks. In particular, the ANSM monitors drug safety and validates promotional communications. LEEM (Les Entreprises du Médicament) issues ethical rules for all players in the pharmaceutical industry.
In addition to these two reference entities, numerous texts and institutions govern or monitor communications relating to pharmaceutical products. In particular, laboratories must comply with the French Public Health Code (CSP) and European Directive 2001/83/EC.
When authorized, advertisements must still be clear, precise and not mislead the public about a product's effects or indications. In addition, promotion to healthcare professionals is limited, with restrictions on financial incentives. The "anti-gift" law ensures this.
Regulations require laboratories and brands to strike a balance between promotion and ethical responsibility.
Pharmaceutical marketing is aimed at several target audiences, each with specific needs and expectations.
Doctors, pharmacists and other healthcare professionals are the primary targets of pharmaceutical marketing. Their support is essential to ensure the prescription and recommendation of products to customers, who are first and foremost patients in the case of medical products.
To encourage these players to distribute their products, brands have three main levers at their disposal:
These outlets play a strategic role in promoting health products:
Pharmaceutical representatives and medical representatives are responsible for communicating with these different professional categories.
Secondly, pharma marketing also focuses on consumers themselves.
For OTC and parapharmaceutical products, customers represent an important target that can be addressed through campaigns that include:
There's a world of difference between the medical sector, which is highly regulated by French and European law, and the parapharmaceutical sector, which enjoys a great deal of freedom when it comes to advertising methods. For example, it's not uncommon to see influencers promoting dermatological products on their social networks!
Finally, public institutions such as ARS (Agences Régionales de Santé), hospitals and mutual insurance companies play a major role in ensuring access to certain treatments and promoting associated products. Laboratories can collaborate with these players to integrate their products into public health programs or institutional partnerships.
Pharmaceutical marketing is becoming increasingly omnichannel, using both traditional and digital channels to reach its various targets. Brands are also tending to digitalize their marketing processes.
The medical sales call remains an essential tool for informing healthcare professionals. The Anglo-Saxons use the word "detailing" for these presentation appointments, which are designed to encourage the professional to prescribe the products of the laboratory "prospecting" him.
However, the rise of digital technology has led to the development of e-detailing, an online solution enabling interactive presentations to be made at a distance. This reduces costs and optimizes the time of medical representatives.
In pharmacies and parapharmacies, POS tools play a decisive role in highlighting products. Explanatory brochures, interactive screens or promotional offers help to attract customers' attention and make it easier to suggest a purchase.
However, once these agreements have been reached between brands and points of sale, it is still necessary to verify the proper installation of these marketing tools in pharmacies and parapharmacies. That's why mobile CRMs are gradually gaining a foothold in this industry.
As merchandising is at the heart of pharmacy and parapharmacy distribution, laboratories generally use a pharma CRM to optimize shelf surveys, order placement from shelves and merchandising control. These mobile CRMs enable brands to ensure that all parameters impacting sales performance are aligned with their specifications. This is what we call retail execution.
Sales software is also an excellent tool for segmenting sales outlets and optimizing pharmaceutical sales rounds. Finally, real-time feedback enables manufacturers to adapt their actions and campaigns in real time.
Welcome to the era of data-driven marketing!
Digital has also profoundly transformed pharmaceutical marketing, with several innovative practices:
Pharmaceutical marketing is a constantly evolving discipline, driven by several major trends.
The first is undoubtedly the digitalization of the sector, which is revolutionizing the relationship between laboratories and healthcare professionals. As we have just seen, intelligent CRMs, digital campaigns, data analysis tools and marketing actions are more targeted, more effective, and enable real-time interactions.
Teleconsultation is another significant change in the healthcare sector, with marked development since the Covid pandemic.
A hypothetical future for e-health, "wearables" could also develop, enabling manufacturers to interact with their patients via connected objects. This development remains conditional on the adoption of technologies that are sometimes considered intrusive, and whose compliance with the RGPD is sometimes problematic.
However, we can already see that the sector is clearly moving towards a "patient-centric" strategy, placing the patient at the heart of its concerns. This translates into educational content, but also the development of follow-up applications and support programs to improvecompliance and the patient experience.
Regulatory pressure also remains a key factor. In France, the requirements of health authorities such as the HAS and the CEPS oblige laboratories to justify their prices and therapeutic benefits. Marketing strategies must therefore be rigorously aligned with these constraints to guarantee rapid market access.
Last but not least, the promotion of CSR policies is also a strong trend among healthcare manufacturers. In fact, social and environmental responsibility are on the rise, with initiatives such as eco-responsible packaging and carbon footprint reduction, all commitments made to strengthen the reputation of laboratories and meet the growing expectations of healthcare professionals, but above all of consumers.
Pharmaceutical marketing is thus becoming more digital, "responsible" and patient-oriented, all trends that are enabling manufacturers to improve and modernize their image by adopting a societal mission.
Pharmaceutical marketing is a constantly evolving field, where regulations and societal expectations play a central role. By combining ethics, innovation and digital strategies, companies can meet the needs of healthcare professionals and patients alike, while complying with current standards. A balanced approach between responsible promotion and scientific information remains the key to effective and sustainable pharmaceutical marketing.
And for the younger among you who would like to focus your career on pharmaceutical marketing, here's a list - unfortunately not exhaustive - of the many careers to which you could aspire.
