trust of consumers (pharma trust barometer) An opportunity to earn the trust of consumers (pharma trust barometer) August 30, 2011 By richardm Leave a Comment Well at least the pharma industry is not at the bottom of the list. Gallup has released a new poll on which industries consumers have positive, neutral and negative views. The bad news is that pharma is once again near the bottom and, according to Gallup, has slipped 3% to a negative rating of 43%. While agency people continue to call for pharma to use social media they probably have not yet learned that a key element of social media engagement is trust. When almost half of consumers view your industry negatively social media marketing is not going to make any difference. A key basic element of social media marketing is that consumers trust you and have a positive view of your brand and industry. Pharma, and healthcare, continues to rank near the bottom of positive ratings by consumers and that’s not a good sign. The good news is that there are opportunities to improve these views but it’s going to take a new way of thinking about DTC marketing. So Rich are you telling us that we shouldn’t use social media marketing because of low trust by consumers ? Actually, no. What I am saying is there is a hell of an opportunity to turn these number around but it has to be with a new way of thinking about marketing. It means a more integrated approach and a move from push marketing to listening and engaging consumers with or without FDA guidance. DTC marketers should be alarmed right now because two new drugs are probably going to hit blockbuster status without any DTC marketing at all, at least not yet anyway. Vertex’s drug for Hep-C and Pfizer‘s new blood thinner drug are winning headlines and customers because of data not DTC marketing. Imagine data leading the way to blockbuster status ! Pfizer Inc.’s and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.’s Eliquis will lead the market for stroke-preventing blood thinners after “best-in-class” clinical trial results that marry safety with effectiveness, analysts said.Pfizer and Bristol-Myers may now take 60 percent of the market for blood thinners to ward off strokes in people with an irregular heartbeat, according to analysts for ISI Group and Leerink Swann & Co. Leerink estimates sales of warfarin replacements will reach $7 billion to $9 billion a year. I can visualize someone in the C suite asking “why spend money on marketing to consumers when we’re so strong out of the gate !” The answer lies in sustaining growth and thinking of your customers as patients within a community. One-quarter (25%) of online Americans strongly agree that a brand’s presence on Facebook signals that it’s interested in hearing what customers have to say, and another 51% of somewhat agree with that statement, according to a survey from Polaris Marketing Research. In addition, 9% of surveyed online Americans strongly agree they tend to think more highly of a brand’s products and services when the brand has a Facebook page; 33% somewhat agree with that statement. In other words having a presence on social media shows consumers that you are listening and want their feedback and this one of the first steps back to earn trust of a skeptical public.
