Online Pharma Marketing: Why Aren't We There Yet?

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Online Pharma Marketing: Why Aren't We There Yet?
Not Just Regulatory Concerns are Holding Back Pharma from Doing More Online

Guest: Richard Meyer, Senior Global eMarketing Manager, Medtronic; author of World of DTC Marketing blog

Live Podcast Date: Wednesday, August 8, 2007, 2 PM Eastern US time

Duration: Approx. 35 minutes

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Background
DTC marketers will spend lots of money to test and develop TV ads but when it comes to developing a website the budget limits the strategy. There is a process for delivering a best in class user experience that supports the business and brand objectives but it requires money to do it right and a belief that the strategy dictates the budget. One more thing as well...once you have a website developed you need to continue to spend money to update and optimize the site as you learn more about your audiences needs.

Change maybe forced on pharma because the environment is changing rapidly. The Web is also changing and evolving. Just when some were learning about Web 2.0 there are rumblings about Web 3.0 on the horizon. But pharma marketers will continue to embrace the past and be a couple steps behind the trends as always.

Why is that?

Rich Meyer
Rich has been in DTC marketing for over 7 years now and is the author of the World of DTC Marketing BLOG.
Rich stared his DTC career with Eli Lilly on the launch of Prozac Weekly and Sarafem. He then moved to the global Cialis launch team as an eMarketing consultant and launched all the interactive activities around Cialis including an online ad campaign that delivered more than 2.5 million visitors to the website during Super Bowl weekend.
Rich was instrumental in bringing new eMarketing capabilities to Eli Lilly and as a result won two President's Awards and a Marketing Excel reward.
Cialis.com, which has not changed since Rich left Lilly was recently recognized by Manhattan Research as the top pharma site for conversion to new Rx's.
Rich currently works for Medtronic Diabetes as the Senior Global eMarketing Manager in California. Rich as an MBA in Marketing and has been in marketing for most of his 17 year marketing career.

Some questions:

Every year polls indicate that pharma is going to drastically increase online bugets. Has it happened?
Which regulatory issues stand in the way? Are these legitimate concerns and can they be overcome?
What's needed to get pharma up to par with other industries in the use of the Internet for marketing?
Got any case studies of pharma marketers doing a good job online?

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