The pharmaceutical industry is the most scientifically advanced, but the most retarded world when the adoption of new technology, particularly new media, is considered.
Can you imagine how much the pharmaceutical industry spends for internet advertising? According to Pharma Marketing blog, only 1 % of the total media spending!!!!
There is huge resistance in embracing social media among pharmaceutical companies because of two main factors:
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Regulatory hurdles: The freedom of speech is very, very, very limited in pharmaceutical marketing. All the information going to consumers must be reviewed by the company’s medical, legal and regulatory body and submitted to FDA at time of dissemination. There is NO possibility of having REAL-TIME conversation in the pharmaceutical marketing.
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Psychological hurdles: Pharmaceutical companies tend to control their internal and external environments to the same extent as they are regulated by the government. We must admit that we have less power to control our messages on new media. Pharmaceutical companies won’t want to hear about some adverse effects caused by their products through their blog, Twitter and Facebook. Do the companies expect more negative stories than positive ones?
I was too much pessimistic on this post, wasn’t I? Wait….In spite of the above hurdles, there are some positive cases on the usage of new media in the pharmaceutical marketing. Stay tune for my next post 🙂
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