Guest Column: Top 5 Medical Marketing Misconceptions
1. “Sales is marketing.” To be effective, marketing should begin at the earliest stage of a product’s lifecycle. Marketing involves identifying a particular want or need of a target group of customers, and further developing a product or service to meet those needs. Marketing involves activities that can be undertaken well before you actually sell the product, such as research, competitive analysis, focus groups, awareness programs, and public relations. In fact, a company needs to engage in marketing activities years before hiring a sales force. Sales are a result of successful marketing not a substitute for marketing.
2. “Pending FDA approval signals the start of marketing activities.” Marketing activities need to take place well before the approval process. Activities include analyzing market nuances, identifying potential clinical supporters, assessing the impact of ongoing clinical trials, and raising company visibility to attract investors or partners. Big pharma begins to undertake these activities as early as Phase I.
3. “Build a better molecule and they will come.” A novel or even a better molecule or device clearly provides advantages for a company. However, if the scientific, clinical, and investment communities are unaware of the product and its relevancy, does it matter? History is littered with examples of innovators failing to capture the full market potential of their innovation.
4. “It is too early to engage clinical thought leaders.” Key opinion leaders (KOLs) are a very strong source for building product momentum. When engaged early on in the product life-cycle, they can provide you with clear ideas on how to best position and market your product.
5. “Marketing is not a measurable investment.” Marketing is an investment, similar to research and development. By developing metrics and setting clear expectations marketing can be measured similar to any other business activity.
David Fishman is the president of Snowfish, LLC a healthcare marketing consultancy.
