It is not news that social media can be leveraged for
effective marketing and communications programs at the corporate and brand
level alike. Social media has been
around for years (more than ten considering Wikipedia was launched in 2001),
and has been deployed with success by many pharmaceutical brands. Examples include the myriad pharmaceutical corporate
and brand sponsored online patient communities, blogs, Twitter feeds, and Facebook
and YouTube pages. While some of these
programs have focused on healthcare professionals, the majority has been
designed to address patients or patient related issues.
So what’s next for pharmaceutical companies and brands that
want to leverage social media in productive and unique ways to help grow their
business? Well, an opportunity exists to
use social media more broadly as a vehicle for better understanding, reaching
and engaging a wider spectrum of stakeholders beyond the old standbys of
patients and healthcare professionals. For
instance, engaging critical pharmaceutical constituents such as providers,
payers and distributors will be more important than ever as the provisions of
the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act begin to impact the healthcare
marketplace. Social media can and should
be a powerful tool to reach, engage and sustain strong relationships with these
valuable stakeholders.
This might not sound like an exciting or creative use of
social media. It is proposed, however, that
if approached in a deliberate and strategic manner, using social media to
deepen relationships with these important stakeholder groups can have a meaningful
impact on business growth, whether measured against financial or brand equity performance
indicators. It could also make
pharmaceutical companies more valuable, and responsible, contributors to the
healthcare value chain.
Why the Time is Right
for Broader Stakeholder Engagement Programs
It’s been over fifty years since Theodore Levitt’s seminal
article “Marketing Myopia” was published in Harvard Business Review in 1960. In that article, Levitt criticized the
practice of marketing that was prevalent at that time in that it heavily focused
on selling products rather than meeting the needs of customers. This, Levitt argued, resulted in strategies
that were overly product focused and, in many instances, out of alignment with the
demands of the marketplace. Needless to
say, the publishing of “Marketing Myopia” was a watershed event that changed the
nature of marketing to this day.
Some might question whether pharmaceutical marketing as a
whole has fully realized the lessons of Levitt’s message (I’m sure we have all
see our share of go-to-market strategies that are more product focused then necessary). However, several trends have been evolving in
recent years that seem to make this question beside the point.
There is a growing chorus among several leading marketing
academics and practitioners that cautions marketers to avoid what they call the
“new marketing myopia.” This new concept
was first articulated in an article in the Spring 2010 issue of the Journal of
Public Policy & Marketing. The
authors of that article defined this new marketing myopia as the failure of
marketers to “…see the broader societal context of business decision making,”
that can sometimes lead to less than optimum business and societal results.
This cautionary crowd is not alone. For instance, the principles of this new
marketing myopia concept are inherent in the American Marketing Association’s
current definition of marketing, which refers to marketing as “…creating,
communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for
customers…, and society at large [emphasis added].”
Using Social Media
for Broader Stakeholder Engagement
Social media can be a powerful tool throughout the multiple
phases of an ongoing stakeholder engagement program. For instance, pharmaceutical companies can
leverage social media to better understand, engage and deepen relationships
with key stakeholder groups. In this way
pharmaceutical brands can become more attuned to the needs of these important
constituents, and be a more responsive, and accountable, member of the broader
healthcare delivery system.
The pharmaceutical industry has clearly embraced the principles
espoused by this new marketing myopia concept.
Plenty of evidence can be found in the greater priority pharmaceutical
companies are putting on corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives. This has resulted in countless corporate good
works of which there are no shortage of examples: From pharmaceutical company involvement with
health related community groups, to their greater emphasis on more
environmentally sustainable manufacturing practices, to their increased
enforcement of codes of corporate conduct.
Stakeholder management, likewise, is not a new idea. Social media-based stakeholder management programs that further CSR goals across a broader sweep of pharmaceutical constituents is not, however, an idea that is widely practiced today. Adding this important strategy to the marketing and communications mix could be an opportunity for brands to differentiate and grow their business by creating new stakeholder value propositions in unique and uncontested ways.