11-02-2020

Healthcare Marketing Budgets

4 Trending Impacts on Future Spends

As telemedicine takes a sudden and vital leap to continue healthcare levels during social distancing, marketing follows suit. In a timely Marketing Strategy and Spend Survey, April 2020, PM360 identifies a shift in marketing spends for pharma companies and their marketing partners towards digital tactics, agile consultancies, and other non-personal promotion. There is an opportunity for Healthcare marketers to capitalize on these trends and capture a share of the revised budget spends.

Changes in Healthcare Marketing Spend

  1. Shift from Salesforce to Digital
  2. Emergence of Agile Marketers
  3. Surge in Interest in Owned Media
  4. Virtual and Video Driven Telehealth

Traditional Sales Reps

While the human interface for sales still represents a sizable value to HCPs, the drastic reduction in access to reps during the pandemic has stopped this sales tactic in its tracks. Many companies are siphoning off those budgets to take advantage of advances in the use of video, social media, SEO, and digital marketing. While a live salesforce is still in place, the more efficient means of connecting reinforces the trend towards digital in the distribution of the spend.

Boutique Agencies
More room is being made in the budget to hire agencies that can bring an agile approach to the efforts of internal marketers. Boutique marketing agencies bring fresh ideas and can be highly responsive to new initiatives or jump in to complete more complex projects that are in progress. With the prospect of better results and added scope and scale, budgets traditionally allocated to AORs are now being adapted to include a more boutique agency.

Owned Media
A surge in educated customers has occurred with the newer generations coming of age as consumers of healthcare. Marketers can speak directly to the public, influencing via social streams and interactive websites. So when the point of care access plunged, marketers went with the flow. Look for strategic and creative changes to the web and social presence to encourage telehealth options with crises responsive content and marketing. 

More Coverage for Telehealth
Although virtual and video technologies for HCP visits have existed for years, coverage was minimal. Now private insurers are paying claims or being compelled by state regulators to cover these visits. Following the trend is smart marketing to promote these alternatives, at least while the crisis demands it. The increase in telehealth utilization has also caught the attention and support of Medicare with reimbursement comparable to in-office consultations. Keep in mind that this may be a temporary survival tactic and is no guarantee of equal treatment for telehealth once conditions return to normal.

At Xavier Creative House, we launched as a virtual agency in 2013, and we swiftly began infusing bold solutions and meaningful technology into our strategic marketing plans. Consider us the creative remedy for healthcare brands afflicted by the status quo, now supported by the shifts in marketing budget allocations. To take full advantage of the latest innovations in healthcare marketing, check out how we operate and the inspired originality of our strategic and creative solutions.

Reference: https://www.pm360online.com/covid-19-pharma-marketing-strategy-and-spend-survey-results/

Categories: Health Systems, healthcare marketing,

About Xavier Creative House

Founded in 2013, Xavier Creative House (XCH) is an award-winning healthcare creative agency specializing in pharmaceutical, biotech, and medical device. XCH’s global team of brand builders and healthcare marketers, tech-savvy go-getters, and innovative dream-vetters are passionate about the big idea that changes behavior in the healthcare marketplace. They believe life is about connections and that healthcare is about life. That is why XCH delivers bold and evocative creative solutions, amplified by meaningful technology, to energize brands and authentically connect with patients and HCPs.

Where Healthcare Brands Live®

For more information, contact

Sunny White
Founder & CEO of Xavier Creative House