DECEMBER 2020CIOAPPLICATIONSEUROPE.COM9Brands can go much further in their ad management by focusing on the full customer decision journey (CDJ), offering a better experience that truly supports patients' needsPatients must often be their own advocate in dealing with health concerns, which offers your brand an opportunity to show up and back them as they prepare to speak, or continue to speak, to healthcare professionals. Use the digital tools and data available to ensure your content pre-empts and speaks to their concerns, whether they are an individual patient or a caretaker (and ensure your ad management strategy can recognise the difference). Examples include platforms like a self-directed symptom diagnostic tool or an app that checks if mixing medications are likely to cause adverse effects. The Marketplace is Increasingly Digital--You Need to Keep Up The recent pandemic has shifted a lot of healthcare practice online as patients aim to keep themselves and others safe--so much that telehealth platforms are having trouble keeping up with demand! And even before then, we have seen savvy patients pre-emptively order over-the counter drugs online, while direct-to-consumer (DTC) healthcare brands like Pill Club and Hims have virtualised the entire healthcare experience from writing prescriptions to delivery subscriptions. As digital plays a greater role in informing, prescribing and delivering medication to your patients, ensure that your ad management strategy is built to keep up and adapt to become more informative, effective and speedy. And embrace the need for fair balance: becoming a true advocate for customers means operating with greater transparency to serve customers who are interested in improving their own health--a strategy that has worked well for digital native healthcare brands. The evolution of ISI from overwhelming the marketing message to becoming more lenient and balanced should inspire today's leading pharma brands to take a more active approach to supporting customer wellness. With an abundance of digital channels and tools available, it's useful to upgrade your ad management strategy with a partner that can offer medical and editorial counsel. This role could continually monitor what has or has not been approved by the FDA, streamlining the creative process. This in turn helps pharmaceutical brands innovate, differentiate and strengthen consumer relationships with greater contextual support.
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