PR as important as salesforces, say marketers
pharmafile | November 24, 2005 | News story | Medical Communications |
A new survey of the UK pharmaceutical industry has found PR is considered just as important to marketing efforts as salesforces.
The poll, carried out by the Healthcare Communications Association seems to demonstrate the growing importance of PR in the marketing mix, with pharma marketers now considering it vital to the success of their brands.
The HCA surveyed 30 industry executives, half of them working in communications functions, 13 in marketing/commercial and two in procurement/purchasing.
The respondents were asked to rank the value of different media – PR, advertising, medical education and salesforce – according to their personal opinions and also how they thought their company perceived their relative worth.
The survey found the respondents believed their companies rated salesforces most highly, earning a score of 9.1, compared to a score of 6.2 for PR.
However, when expressing their personal view, PR emerged as equally important as salesforces, both earning a score of 8.1.
There was a similar gap in perceptions regarding advertising and medical education, where respondents thought their employers underrated medical education and overrated advertising.
Overall, the survey suggests that executives with marketing responsibilities believe the industry needs to re-balance its priorities away from the salesforce and towards PR.
Fiona Hall is Chair of the HCA's Benchmarking Subcommittee and managing director European healthcare practice at Weber Shandwick.
Commenting on the results she said: "This survey shows that those who are less sure of PR's effectiveness will lean more heavily towards salesforces, direct mail and advertising. But they are missing a trick; if you join all of your marketing investment up youll get a better return on investment."
The research was carried out at the time of the Health Select Committee's inquiry into the influence of the pharma industry and planned revisions to the ABPI's Code of Practice.
The new ABPI Code has put further restrictions on advertising to doctors while a shift towards secondary care products in the industry is making primary care salesforces less important.
The survey found 69% of respondents felt that increased scrutiny on pharma marketing would increase the need for increased diligence in practices.
Hall said PR was becoming increasingly important but added: "It would be unrealistic to say it was going to become the single most important element as a result of some of these changes."
She said marketers would consider very carefully which medium was the most appropriate marketing tool to use when putting their plans together.
Return on investment (ROI) is an increasingly important issue in marketing, with the survey showing strong demand for ways to benchmark the real value from PR.
HCA Chair Julia Cook said: "The HCA is very focused on ROI at present and it is hoped that tools will be available in the near future."
Despite being recognised for its high value, the survey showed PR was still seen as most useful in its traditional role in media relations.
The survey showed development of Key Opinion Leaders/Advocacy was seen as its second most important function, with Issues/Crisis Management in third.
Other objectives such as developing patient advocacy and communicating brand messages were also ranked, with 21% and 17% mentioning them respectively.
The HCA hopes to conduct the survey annually and to increase participation from procurement executives, in recognition of their growing role.
"The role of procurement is increasing in our industry and evolving. It looks as if they're going to be part of the team going forward," Hall said.
In many companies they are only involved in the negotiations post-pitch, but some are a little bit more sophisticated and work very much as partners to the client and agency.
The HCA is an independent, not-for-profit organisation of marketing and communications professionals from the pharmaceutical industry and PR consultancies, and aims to evaluate and raise standards in the sector.
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