How To Build A Pharma Brand Through Direct Marketing

Direct marketing is one of the best tools in a marketer’s arsenal. When appropriately targeted, it can cut through the noise to effectively communicate with your ideal audience, which is especially important for pharmaceutical companies in 2020.

According to professional services consultant PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), the future of pharma marketing is highly targeted, thanks to the explosive growth of demand for medicine and reticence among regulators to approve experimental medicines.

PwC’s “Pharma 2020” report predicts that as global pharma spending increases so will modern marketing, making it harder to build your brand and speak directly to your targets.

“Companies will need to demonstrate that their brand adds value to patients and they will have to offer a package of products and health services that the market not only wants and needs but is willing to pay a premium for,” writes the company.

Here’s how to use direct marketing to build your brand, beginning with the obvious questions.

How do I use direct marketing to target the right audience?

Before anything else, you need to identify your target audience. How you talk to prospects is going to depend on who you’re talking to, what they’re interested in, what their pain points are, etc.

Using hyper-targeted, clean HCP and pharma lists is one of the best ways to reach the right audience, every time. PDQ can help you choose the right targets; working with us is one of the best ways to leverage direct marketing to build your brand.

What kind of direct marketing is most effective?

Direct marketing includes direct mailers such as letters, brochures, and FAQs, and email campaigns.

Maximize your direct marketing by using a multichannel approach and reaching out to your prospects via direct mail and email. According to marketing agency Sagefrog’s 2018 B2B “Marketing Mix Report,” direct mail is one of the “top sources generating sales and marketing leads.”

Here are some best practices for brand-building with direct marketing:

Send direct mail that visually stands out. The more eye-catching, the more likely busy HCPs and pharmacists are to see your mailer—and open it.
Use consistent font size and type.
Use color and logo placement to create a cohesive, aesthetically driven brand and increase brand recognition. Universalizing your aesthetic will make you stand out and strengthen your brand every time you send new materials.
Capitalize on the so-called “Blink Test”—the first five seconds recipients spend deciding whether they’ll continue reading or not—with email, and create eye-catching, personalized subject lines and copy.