7 Reasons Why Pharma Marketing Can Be a Thankless Job (but doesn't have to be)

Pharmaceutical marketing can be a thankless job for a variety of reasons. But in 13 years in this industry, I’ve met so many wonderful people and seen so many positive patient outcomes that I refuse to give up. Here are 7 reasons why marketing pharmaceutical products can seem like a thankless job. But also why it doesn’t have to be.

1. The industry still has a horrible reputation. When I tell people what I do for a living, sometimes I feel like I have to apologize. And thanks to some well-publicized instances, the industry in many cases deserves its reputation. But the Vioxx debacle is now seven years behind us. Life expectancy and quality of life continue to rise. “I don’t get why people don’t see how valuable these products are to their lives,” one new-to-pharma colleague recently said to me. The industry needs supporters and defenders, and it needs a human face. For example, I lost some weight last year thanks, in part, as I openly tell people, to the “miracle of pharmaceutical products” (an appetite suppressant). Every day, at work and at home, what can each of us do to help bolster the perception of our industry?

2. No one WANTS your product. Understandably, there’s a general negative mindset toward taking medication. With the exception of some categories like cosmetics, it’s just not the type of product people publicly rally around or gush about. In some categories, physicians talk about the “goal of getting the patient off of medication,” furthering associated negativity. Often, a prescription medication is a product that consumers hate to have to take. They don’t want the disease, they don’t want the medication. The two go hand in hand. How can we flip this on its head and, where appropriate, help patients and healthcare providers see the positives?

3. Legal, Medical, Regulatory Review. “LMR.” It’s the arch enemy … The trifecta of doom …. The roadblock to all of your brilliant ideas. Right? Remember pharma companies have legal, regulatory, and medical reviewers for a reason: to keep patients safe and to keep the company within the law when promoting a product. While a pharma marketers’ job is to market a product, these guys keep you and the company out of trouble. (Talk about a thankless job!) The best marketing programs are born out of a mutual respect and healthy working relationship between the marketing and LMR teams. What have you done to help foster that lately?

4. “But I Want to Be Creative!” This is not an industry known for its brilliant marketing or creative advertising. I think that’s due to a variety of reasons. DTC television ads blasting side effects drive people to reach for the remote faster than you can say “oily discharge.” And sometimes the people in charge of marketing are under-qualified and don’t lean on the experts for advice. People also move around quite a bit on the client side, which hinders consistency, efficiency, and momentum. But hopefully those times are changing. And I’ve always maintained we have to be more creative with our programs due to regulatory hurdles. There are nuggets of marketing brilliance out there if you look for them. Often they are the on-the-ground, behind-the-scenes tactics not winning awards or being blogged about. We should all strive to do better, do more, and provide value.

5. There’s no rulebook. The rules aren’t written down. People new to pharma ask where the rulebook is for what can and can’t be done and said – especially when it comes to direct-to-consumer advertising in the U.S. And even when the rules are written down, as in the case of recent FDA draft guidance, they are up for interpretation. There’s no easy answer for this one. Each company must determine its own understanding and threshold for risk. And the more we watch and understand FDA mindset, the more likely we will be to stay within their (albeit nebulous) boundaries.

6. The decision-makers are many, and the reasons are complex. The reasons a prescription product is requested, prescribed, filled, and refilled are extremely complex. It goes without saying that there are many stakeholders and factors along the way. Consider the emotional, behavioral, financial, and psychographic drivers on the patient side, payer complexities, cost, coverage, physician preference, physician experience, switches at the pharmacy, and adherence barriers. The “sale” of a prescription product can feel completely out of your control and impossible to influence. Taking the time and effort to understand all of the aspects of this cycle for your particular product in your particular market will help create the formula that’s right for you. And watching and adjusting and optimizing things over time will make it even better.

7. ROI measurement is impossible. Or – at least – some people think it is. And sometimes people hide behind this statement to not make the extra effort to set KPIs and measure against them. Sure … when it comes to eCommerce, retail, consumer packaged goods, restaurants, and most other industries, less privacy barriers are in place and marketers clearly understand if their efforts are moving the needle. In pharma, it’s more difficult to understand the fruits of our labor. But with tools like Crossix, in many cases, ROI CAN be measured by tactic, channel, and creative execution. It’s not impossible. It just takes focus, planning and effort. It’s entirely possible that effort will pay for itself in the long run. We just have to have the guts to measure it.

I’d drafted this post prior to fellow (former) pharma blogger Jonathan Richman’s announcement that he was leaving the industry. His reasons I am sure are complex and many, but he does note that the pace of change is slow, and can be frustrating. And I realized that’s one of the “reasons” I missed. It’s true that change happens at a snail’s pace. I often say “big wheels turn very slowly.”

But change in pharma marketing hasn’t been completely non-existent. When I started this blog in 2008 I was most frustrated with the fact that digital marketing didn’t get any respect in the pharmaceutical industry. Online spending and focus just didn’t match up with the way consumers and professionals sought and consumed healthcare information. Today, that’s changed. Unfortunately it took a recession, a patent cliff, and an increased demand for proof of ROI to see that shift, but we’ve seen it.

Sometimes those of us in the industry get lucky enough to hear a patient say “thank you.” We see, first-hand, the difference one of our company’s products has made in the life of a person or family. Quality of life is improved. Worry is abated. Lives are saved. And it’s those moments that make it all worthwhile.

Maybe it’s time I stop apologizing for being a pharmaceutical marketer after all.