Marketing

Marketing is the work needed to prepare and shape the market for an offer, so that the product advantages matter and the customer cares about them. Marketeers therefore need to have superior analytical skills, a basic understanding for mass-psychology and be able to grasp unexpressed facts fast, even intuitively.

In general there are three areas, or departments, of marketing within the pharmaceutical industry.

1. Strategic Marketing
2. Operational Marketing
3. Medical Marketing

Abbreviated Definitions

Strategic Marketing is most important and mainly conducted prior to the launch or a product, or in preparation of a change within the life cycle of the product. The core activities within this period and kind of marketing are market analysis and to obtain customer insights. But as one observes the market, one already influences the market. In this respect strategic marketing is a rather complex activity as both objectives are being served simultaneously:

• to identify what is important within the field
• which customer should be interested in the offer
• the market shaping activities are initiated
• via contacts to selected customers one (even without intent) starts to shapes the understanding of the offer

For more information, please see: Strategic Marketing

Operational Marketing

Once the market is defined, the product characteristics have been expressed and the core claims have been agreed, it is time to go out and make all of this important. This is the core of Operational Marketing. So, operational marketing is the continuous process of actively shaping the market and the understanding of the customer. Within the pharmaceutical world this means to ensure that the scientific work around the product continues and the development stays within the scientific discussion among the relevant experts. Others news-worthy events need to be created to ensure that the relevant target groups will be continuously informed about the product and it's proper use.

As marketing is about shaping the market and the customers' understanding of the product, the marketing department is also involved in the promotion of the product. Marketing provides here the messages for the sales force and prepares and produces the needed material to support sales activities. However it needs to be pointed out that promotion is just one part of the activities of operational marketing.

Frequently marketing is also confused with advertizing. Advertizing however is just a special form of promotion and thereby just a very small part of operational marketing.

For more information, please see: Operational Marketing

Medical Marketing

Medical Marketing is a specialized form of marketing, specific to the pharmaceutical industry and to manufacturers of medical devices. It deals with the scientific issues, the technical issues of the products or services, so to speak. One of the outstanding differences to classical marketing is that the scientific and medical communication of product features are highly regulated within the pharmaceutical market.

Medical marketing, like general marketing, can be differentiated between strategic marketing and operational marketing. The main activities of medical marketers are

• the identification or topics to be investigated via clinical studies
• the continuous flow of scientific information into the field to maintain the interest of the target group in the market segment
• the maintainance of the relationship with the medical experts, advising authorities and the target group(s)
• and to ensure that the promotional material is scientificly correct and that all the claims made can be substanciated with generally accepted data

For more information, please see: Medcial Marketing

This term was defined by: Max Beckmann
Status: May 2011