This document provides a summary of a term paper submitted by Zubayar Rahman to their professor on the topic of "Prospect of Digital Marketing for Pharmaceutical Companies of Bangladesh". The summary includes: 1) An introduction to the topic and objectives of evaluating digital marketing prospects for pharmaceutical companies in Bangladesh. 2) A literature review summarizing several sources that express the growing scope and importance of digital marketing in the pharmaceutical industry. 3) An overview of the pharmaceutical industry in Bangladesh and some key statistics on market size and growth of major companies. 4) A high-level discussion of six emerging needs for digital strategy in the pharmaceutical industry based on new communication tools, informed patients, data-driven approaches

1. Report On
“Prospect of Digital Marketing for Pharmaceutical Companies of
Bangladesh’’
Submitted by:
Zubayar Rahman
Department of Pharmacy
University of Asia Pacific
Submitted to:
Mr. X
International Business Manager
Y Company Limited
Date of Submission: DD. MM. YEAR
Department of Pharmacy
University of Asia Pacific

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Forwarding Letter
DD. MM. YEAR
Mr. X
International Business Manager,
Y company Limited
Subject: Submission of Term paper on “Prospect of Digital Marketing for
Pharmaceutical Companies of Bangladesh’’
Dear Sir,
With due respect, we would like to submit our term paper on “Prospect of Digital Marketing
for Pharmaceutical Companies of Bangladesh’’ We think that this study is very much
beneficial on this era of digitalization.
This term paper is prepared by our own work and also ensure that to the best of our
knowledge and findings. This is described about the scope of digital marketing in
pharmaceutical companies of Bangladesh.
We would very much grateful to as such your support and guidance. We hope you will accept
our term paper and find our labor we have put in it.
Yours Sincerely,
Zubayar Rahman

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Letter of Acceptance
This is to certify that the term paper on the topic “Prospect of Digital Marketing for
Pharmaceutical Companies of Bangladesh’ ’is prepared by group Zordiac as a requirement for
the fulfilment of Pharmaceutical marketing course from the Department of Pharmacy,
University of Asia Pacific. This work has deliberately carried out by group Zordiac under my
supervision. The report is accepted in the term of quality and form. I wish them all the successes
in life.
____________________________
Mr. X
International Business Manager
Y Company Limited

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Executive Summary
Digital marketing is replacing traditional marketing strategies in the pharmaceutical industries
in this era more pharmaceutical companies utilise social media sites or e-commerce sites as
digital marketing platform because patient’s are using social media as a major source of
information and health care research. It is mainly centred around the promotion of new drugs
and treatments as well as promoting of old ones. Digital marketing improves patient’s
awareness and satisfaction. It is the field where there will always be continuous growth through
investment in research.

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List of Contents:
Page
Forwarding Letter………………………………………………………………………… 2
Letter of Acceptance……………………………………………………………………… 3
Executive Summary………………………………………………………………………. 4
List of Contents…………….……………………………………………………………. 5-6
Chapter 1: Introduction
Introduction……………………………………………………………………………… 7
Literature Review………………………………………………………………………... 7-8
Objective of the Study…………………………………………………………….……… 8
Methodology………………………………………………………….……………….…. 8-9
Limitations of the Study…………………………………………………………….……. 9-10
Chapter 2: The Pharmaceutical Industry in Bangladesh
• Pharmaceutical Industry in Bangladesh…………………………………………. 10-12
Chapter 3: Pharma Digital Strategy: Six emerging needs
• New digital communication tools………………………………….……………. 12-13
• Informed patients…………………………………………………….…………... 13
• More control over communication………………………………......……………. 13
• Digital services…………………………………………………….……………... 14
• Actionable data…………...……………………………………….……………… 14
• Connected multichannel: Digital transformation in pharma……….……………. 14-15
Chapter 4: Factors which make digital marketing for pharma companies essential
• Patients are better informed……………………………………………………… 15
• Transparency is forcing greater accountability……………….…………………. 15
• New competitors are closing in……………………………………….…………. 15-16
• Online Reputation Management………………………………………….……... 16

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• Build a comprehensive website………… …………………………….………… 16
• Build a strong brand through social media……………………………………… 16-17
• Nurture consumers through online communities…….………………….……… 17
Chapter 5: Ways that digital is transforming the pharmaceutical and healthcare landscape
• Better patient communication………………………………………………. …..………. 17-18
• Providing services, not just drugs…………………………………...…………… 18-19
• Improving diagnostics and adherence………………………………………….………. 19-20
• Better sales practices…………………………………………………….………………. 21-22
• R&D and supply chain efficiency……………………………….………………………. 22
Chapter 6: The general people are informed about any pharma product in following ways
• SEO………………………………………………………………….…………. 22-23
• Content marketing………………………………………………………………. 23-24
• Reputation management………………………………………………………… 25
• Social media marketing…………………………………………………………. 25-26
Chapter 7: Findings and Recommendations
• Findings………………………………………………………….……………. 26-27
• Recommendation…………………………………………….….……………… 27
Conclusion……………………………………………………………….………………. 28
Reference……………………………………………………………….……………… 29-30

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Chapter 1: Introduction
Digital marketing encompasses all marketing efforts that use an electronic device or the
internet. Businesses leverage digital channels such as search engines, social media, email, and
other websites to connect with current and prospective customers. Digital marketing is
replacing traditional marketing strategies in the pharmaceutical industry.
This study evaluated multiple aspects of the use of social media by the physicians & the current
role of digital marketing in the pharmaceutical industry, and its impact on the change in clinical
practice.
We choose this topic for our term paper because today is the era of digitalization. In every
sector digitalization is getting very necessary for product or brand development. Digital
marketing in pharma sector is also important for greater levels of transparency, patient
communication and drug development.
In addition, due to its unrivalled cost-effectiveness, digital marketing strategies offer a variety
of meaningful ways to connect and treat prospective clients and customers.
Literature Review
Dhara, et al (2016) described in his publication ‘Digital' has become an important part of the
everyday life. All the sectors have been adapting to the digital era at a faster rate. However
other than the website, the pharma industry has not quite been able to adopt digital marketing.
In this era more pharmaceutical companies utilize social media sites or ecommerce sites as
digital marketing platform. This enables online purchase of products by the customers. Some
organisations are trying to understand the true value of digital while others are integrating it
into the wider marketing strategy. However, all the companies cannot sell products online as
they manufacture prescription drugs, which cannot be sold online. For example, Pfizer is active
and responsive to the customers via social networking platforms. YouTube, Facebook and
Twitter were used to communicate with customers. Johnson and Johnson was one of the first
companies to launch a YouTube channel. Quantum Pharmaceuticals and The Specials Lab,
North East based pharmaceutical companies offer online ordering of special medicines
promoting e-commerce and digital marketing.
Madhu bala, et al (2018) in a journal “Digital marketing is cost effective and having a great
commercial impact on the business”. Based on this study, it can further be argued that knowing
which social media sites a company's target market utilizes is another key factor in

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guaranteeing that online marketing will be successful. The effectiveness of Internet marketing
with respect to different business can be analysed. The study can further be extended to
compare the internet marketing techniques with specific to various businesses.
Ritu, et al (2017) describe in a journal “Digital Marketing should now be part of your overall
marketing strategy, no matter which industry you are in”. As you might have guessed from
above, it is true for Pharma Industry as well. Digital marketing in pharma industry has already
picked up and starting to transform the Pharma and Healthcare industry in the ways it has
already transformed retail, media, banking, airline, telecom and education industries.
Masood, et al (2018) reported through their paper on “Digital marketing is replacing traditional
marketing strategies in the pharmaceutical industry”. This study evaluated multiple aspects of
the use of social media by the physicians of Pakistan, the current role of digital marketing in the
pharmaceutical industry, and its impact on the change in clinical practice.
To overall of the literature expresses that there are many scope available on digital marketing
in overall pharmaceutical companies of Bangladesh. Whereas a few studies are conducted some
problems on digital marketing of pharma products. Hence the study is a small attempt to find
out the problems and how being faced the problems and also overcome the problems on digital
marketing in pharmaceutical companies of Bangladesh.
Objectives of the Study
1.To identify the best digital marketing media.
2.To find out the prospect and potential in the digital marketing of pharma product.
3.To find out the problems in digital marketing.
4.To suggest some ideas for overcome these problems.
Methodology
To attain the first objective, we need to find out the media associated with digital marketing
and the scope of digital marketing in this era of digitalization. There are many other digital
marketing media such as search engine optimization (SEO), search engine marketing (SEM),
content marketing, influencer marketing, content automation, campaign marketing, data-driven
marketing, e-commerce marketing, social media marketing, social media optimization, e-mail
direct marketing, display advertising, e–books etc. All the digital marketing media we can be
used in pharmaceutical companies for different pharma product.

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To attain the second objective, we need to improve tele medicine facilities. In this system, the
patient can get virtual care in 24/7. In telly sky shop programme, the patient can get the product
by communicating with companies with discount. Through social media, the advertising of the
product can improve and make the people concern about the product and increase selling.
To achieved third objective, we have to find all the problem associated with the digital
marketing of pharma product. Though it is difficult to advertise many pharma products through
digital marketing. Some pharma products are complicated in nature and it is difficult to concern
the people through digital marketing. Also some products are rated in high price and also
including delivery cost which is not affordable for some people. It is difficult to inform the
people about the product who are not used internet service. Product authentication is not
ensured properly through digital marketing.
To accomplish the fourth objective, after completing all the analysis of collected information
both primary and secondary data will be used to conduct the study of this paper but have higher
intensity of secondary data. As such It is difficult to advertise many pharma products through
digital marketing. Some pharma products are complicated in nature and it is difficult to aware
the people through digital marketing. In digital marketing, some products are rated in high price
which is not affordable for some people. It is difficult to inform the people about the product
who are not used internet service. Sometimes product authentication is not ensured properly
through digital marketing. Pharma product advertising should be understandable to the people.
The pharma companies should import raw materials of good qualities at low cost. Thus the
price of the product can be decreased. The product’s features should be elaborated so that the
people can aware of the product properly. Product advertising should be increased on mass
media like television so that the product information can reach to the large number of people.
Limitations of the study
Like any other study the limitations of this study is not out of questions. But the following
factors seem to me as some points of weakness of this study, despite all out co-ordination from
the organization.
• One of the notable limitations of this report is sales report is not disclosing some data
and information for obvious reasons, which could be very much useful.
• It was not possible all the time for observing all the Marketing promotional tools used
in pharmaceutical sector both in national and international.

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• It was impossible to find out the exact effect of marketing promotional tools used in
pharmaceutical industry.
• Entrance to every nock and corner of the organization was not possible for me.
For organizations to survive and thrive in a digitalized healthcare industry, pharma and
healthcare companies must start generating ideas and implementing digital strategies
immediately to develop a business model that allows them to transform their capabilities and
strengths. At the end of the day, it’s vital that pharma and healthcare companies keep their end-
goal at the center of their mission: the health and safety of their patients.
Chapter 2: Pharmaceutical Industry in Bangladesh
Pharmaceutical sector in Bangladesh is one of the rising sectors which start its journey in 1950
in this sub-continent. The pharmaceutical industry, however, like all other sectors in
Bangladesh, was much neglected during Pakistan regime. Most multinational companies had
their production facilities in West Pakistan. With the emergence of Bangladesh in 1971, the
country inherited a poor base of pharmaceutical industry. For several years after liberation, the
government could not increase budgetary allocations for the health sector. Millions of people
had little access to essential lifesaving medicines. With the promulgation of the Drug (Control)
Ordinance of 1982 many medicinal products considered harmful, useless or unnecessary got
removed from the market allowing availability of essential drugs to increase at all levels of the
healthcare system. At present there are more than 200 pharmaceutical companies in Bangladesh
and from those companies there are thirty to forty company are in good position in production
of pharmaceutical products. All the companies are always trying to increase their market share
and as a result they use several new techniques for promoting their own products though there
is a strict limitation on promotion. In last year the sales of Opsonin increase by 57.03%, sales
of ACI increases by 34.12%, the sales of Aristo pharma increases by 32.7%, the sales of Drug
International increases by 31.21%, sales of Incepta increases 27.35% all these indicate all the
companies are trying to increase their sales using attractive promotional tools.
In Bangladesh the pharmaceutical sector is one of the most developed hi-tech sectors within
the country's economy. After the promulgation of Drug Control Ordinance - 1982, the
development of this sector was accelerated. The professional knowledge, thoughts and
innovative ideas of the pharmaceutical professionals working in this sector are the key factors

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for these developments. Due to recent development of this sector it is exporting medicines to
global market including European market. This sector is also providing 97% of the total
medicine requirement of the local market. Leading pharmaceutical companies are expanding
their business with the aim to expand export market. Recently few new industries have been
established with high tech equipment’s and professionals which will enhance the strength of
this sector.
Two organizations, one government (Directorate of Drug Administration) and one semi
government (Pharmacy Council of Bangladesh), control pharmacy practice in Bangladesh. The
Bangladesh Pharmaceutical Society is affiliated with international organizations International
Pharmaceutical Federation and Commonwealth Pharmaceutical Association.
According to Bangladesh Pharmaceuticals and Healthcare Report Q1 2011, Bangladesh
medicine sales reached Tk 7,000 crore in 2010. Business Monitor International in its latest
report (Q1 2011) said Bangladesh has moved up one place to occupy the 14th position in 17
regional markets surveyed in BMIs Pharmaceutical & Healthcare Business Environment
Ratings for the Asia region. Still, Bangladesh has a long way to go, the report said. This
adjustment now sees Bangladesh placed below Vietnam and above Sri Lanka. Bangladesh's
pharmaceutical rating is 40.2 out of 100, a figure that has changed marginally from the previous
quarter but remains lower than the regional average of 53.1. Globally, Bangladesh occupies
67th position in BMIs 83 market-strong pharmaceutical universe.
The industry players forecast the growth trend would take the sales volume to Tk 10,000 crore
in 2011. Square, Beximco, Eskayef, Incepta and Acme are the top five manufacturers by sales
and growth rate.

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Digital marketing will be the next frontier for pharmaceutical companies as many of them are
scaling up their consumer businesses and introducing an array of consumer brands.
Traditionally, marketing innovation in the pharmaceutical industry has been stunted by heavy
regulatory restrictions. Historically, pharmaceutical companies have had little to no interaction
with their end-users-patients-since they depended entirely on their health care providers for
medical knowledge and advice. With the digital medium democratizing information in every
sector, however, there is a huge opportunity for the pharma industry to develop patient-centric
strategies and transform their fundamental business models. In fact, as patients become more
digitally-savvy, the lines between pharma companies and patients will most likely become
increasingly blurred. Digital marketing for pharma and healthcare will undoubtedly become
the key differentiator for brands charting out a futuristic growth strategy.
Chapter 3: Pharma Digital Strategy: Six emerging needs
What pharma wants is changing. This is partly in response to an emerging landscape — one
that has new players, new voices and where the roles of traditional decision makers are shifting.
New needs also result from changing business models. Companies that are building themselves
around patient centricity or an outcomes-based model needs to act in different ways and require
the tools to do it.
To discover what’s required today, we spoke with industry thought-leaders and life science
executives about the big challenges facing the pharma industry.
So what does pharma want? Agnitio has uncovered six clear needs to inspire your
pharmaceutical digital strategy - that are emerging now and likely to only get more pressing in
the future.
1. New digital communication tools:
With prescribing decisions being taken more centrally by governments, health authorities and
insurance companies, the objectives for healthcare professional communications are changing.
Couple this with the long-term trend for declining access and it’s easy to see why people are
questioning traditional practices — and companies are looking to try something new.

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Healthcare professional interactions are increasingly more about ensuring that doctors are
getting the best possible results from a product rather than convincing them to use it in the first
place. The focus has moved downstream to helping doctors solve their treatment challenges.
New objectives — and often new kinds of customer-facing staff — require new communication
tools. In response, digital technology can provide not only on-demand services 24-7 but also
empower staff to help solve specific problems like screening, diagnosis and adherence.
2. Informed patients
There is growing awareness that products need to be better supported throughout the treatment
pathway - with a particular focus on ensuring that patients have all the information that they
need.
While the delivery of information usually remains the domain of medical professionals, there’s
increasing industry interest in supporting them — especially in the face of the on-going trend
for empowered, more-demanding patients seeking to be better informed.
Digital communication technology opens up new ways to ‘help doctors help patients’ by
empowering healthcare professionals with credible information on-demand, together with the
means to deliver it to patients in fast, simple and direct ways. This not only better supports
products but also boosts healthcare professional relationships by providing them with more
value.
3. More control over communication
As the options for digital communications increase, so does complexity of managing it. Now
there are different versions of materials for different markets, new kinds of content provided to
multiple types of customer-facing staff, and more channels than ever before.
All this has to be controlled. Knowing what’s where — and what needs to be updated, retired,
or adapted — is just the start. Content needs to flow from one channel to the next, customer
interactions tracked, data delivered to the right people – with all this happening in a timely
way, everywhere the company operates.
Marketers need true content systems that are scalable, reduce human error, and account for the
complexity at play — actually making it easier to realize the potential for rich communications
that the technology offers.

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4. Digital services
Companies are adapting to a new paradigm, in which providing a product is just part of a
solution that delivers the right treatment outcomes. This requires more holistic approaches to
your pharma marketing strategy — valuable, outcome-improving services that surround every
drug or the medical device.
While this is unfamiliar territory it offers the potential for huge gains for companies that
respond to the challenge. Businesses can add value far more quickly with services than via
therapeutic product pipelines — especially if digital technology is deployed more effectively.
With expectations that whole regions will become entirely outcomes-based, adding digital
service elements provides significant commercial advantage. Yet companies need the systems
that enable them to build services around their products.
5. Actionable data
Digital technology has opened up the opportunity to better understand customer needs by
tracking content. Now data is flowing in from e-detailing, websites, apps and other channels.
What’s missing is a way to manage it and put it to work.
All the data in the world isn’t of use if it’s all piled up. Companies are looking for not just data
collection but also an easy way to manage it, with processes that get the information where it
needs to go.
Some aggregated customer data needs to be handled in HQ, some by affiliates, some by R&D
or market access. Individualized data needs to reach customer-facing staff so they can provide
relevant services. Getting data to flow to the right person in a timely way, and in a format that
enables it to be actionable, is increasingly essential for your pharmaceutical digital strategy.
6. Connected multichannel: Digital transformation in pharma
The spectacular growth in digital channels in recent years has actually started to become a
problem. If you search for diabetes apps you will find hundreds of examples. The sheer number
of websites, social media projects and mobile applications can be confusing for their intended
audiences.
What’s in focus now is not the actual channels but the relationship between them. Rather than
a series of isolated initiatives, companies are increasingly asking how to provide coherent,
holistic customer experiences.

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What’s needed is an ecosystem of connected channels. Patients might move between web-
based communications, social media and mobile apps; while healthcare professionals travel
from e-detailing to portals and back again. What matters is the experience that’s delivered.
Chapter 4: Factors which make digital marketing for pharma companies essential
1. Patients are better informed
Patients are not just passive recipients of prescriptions anymore. They are playing a more active
role in their healthcare, researching various drugs and exercising their right to make the final
decision about their health. This easy accessibility of information has both a negative and a
positive side to it. On one hand, it means patients are more educated about their health than
ever before. This empowers them to take more informed decisions about their health and fully
understand side-effects that various drugs can have on their body. On the flip side, however,
all information isn’t necessarily accurate information. To counter this, digital pharma strategies
can help brands develop authority by providing patients with accurate, reliable information. By
building a strong presence online and answering queries that patients might have,
pharmaceutical brands can also develop a closer connection with their audience.
2. Transparency is forcing greater accountability
One patient’s experience with a drug no longer operates in a vacuum. The ability to track key
physiological responses, progress and efficacy of medication (made possible through
wearables and the interconnected Internet of Things network) has given individuals greater
visibility into their healthcare. If they have a negative experience, they are very likely to share
their journey publicly over social media and cause large-scale damage to a pharma company’s
brand image. Unlike in the past, companies cannot control how much information about their
product is available and how it is distributed. In this environment, digital marketing for pharma
brands can effectively communicate the USPs of their drugs and develop a bond with
consumers to win their trust.
3. New competitors are closing in
The pharmaceutical industry is unlikely to preserve the oligarchic market it enjoys today. With
the proliferation of technology making user’s vital information more accessible, patient
healthcare information is no longer in the sole control of healthcare providers. This has led to

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the emergence of new competitors in the pharma space -particularly from the tech industry.
These digital pharma companies are moving beyond just drugs, providing patients with high-
tech solutions that offer them greater visibility and control of their healthcare. Some of these
include wearable activity trackers, ‘chips’, AI, VR and other potential disruptors in the space.
If traditional pharma companies do not realign their strategy, they might not be able to compete
with recent entrants to win the new age ‘consumer/patient’.
4. Online Reputation Management
Unfortunately, the pharma industry has to deal with negative coverage and inaccurate
information from niche groups. Left neglected, this type of coverage can do major damage to
a brand’s reputation in the market. Online reputation management is the art of detecting
negative coverage and charting strategies to tackle it.
One of the most effective ways to do this is by search saturation. This is just an extension of
Search Engine Optimization, but with a different purpose. Instead of ranking for branded
keywords alone, companies should be vigilant about negative keywords related to their brand.
After identifying them, brands should target the same keywords and create new positive content
based on it. This way, they can ensure that negative coverage is kept to a minimum.
5. Build a comprehensive website
The one place where pharma companies have complete control over the accuracy of
information shared and the brand image projected is on their website. Since both patients and
doctors are looking to do intensive research before consuming or prescribing drugs, the website
needs to deliver all the information they will require to make this decision. It should contain
details about possible side-effects, benefits, recommended dosage amounts and anything else
that might be pertinent. Details about clinical trials, in particular, are a very important feature
to have on the website as they build credibility.
For IHHC, we developed an AMP landing page to improve a user's experience with the ad and
the website. Through this strategy, we achieved a 33% lower cost-per-lead as compared to
previous campaigns.
6. Build a strong brand through social media
Social media is the core of any digital marketing for pharma strategy. With such a significant
portion of their target audience and consumers present on these platforms, pharma companies

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cannot afford to ignore them. The approach for companies is slowly shifting from merely
communicating the benefits of a drug to healthcare professionals and medical reps to
developing an emotional connect with patients themselves. Facebook is the perfect stage for
brands to humanize their brand and reach out to a wider audience on a more personal level.
Marketing for most drugs on Facebook might violate their policies, however, digital pharma
strategies can include promotion of wellness and lifestyle-related posts. Emotional content is
also something brands can always bank on to resonate with audiences.
7. Nurture consumers through online communities
Social media, like for most other industries, is equally important in digital marketing for
pharma as well. But unlike in a typical B2C, the winning strategy for B2B companies like
pharma will be to use social media platforms for community building rather than for brand
awareness alone. This strategy is useful to engage with both, physicians as well as patients.
The platform brands choose to focus on will largely depend upon their audience. To reach out
to physicians, LinkedIn might be better suited as users are looking to broaden their industry
knowledge and grow their network. Platforms like Facebook, on the other hand, can be a useful
tool to get faster brand awareness among a wider audience. Brands can engage with users here
through a mix of informative and emotional content to build a strong personal connect with
them.
Chapter 5: Ways that digital is transforming the pharmaceutical and healthcare
landscape
The pharmaceutical and healthcare industry is rapidly coming to terms with digital technology.
New tech companies are entering the market and existing players have had to up their game,
across marketing, sales and operations. If you’re relatively new to pharma, like me, here’s a
summary of just some of the biggest trends.
1. Better patient communication
A fairly obvious area for improvement, and one we can pretty much all relate to as consumers.
The typical patient journey is ripe for digital disruption, as the diagram below from DRG
Digital shows. From the healthcare provider’s point of view, the visit, diagnosis, treatment

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selection and condition management stages are all points where the patient could be more
involved / better updated.
Patient portals, apps and online communities are increasingly commonplace. The second and
third generations of this technology should help improve customer experience.
2. Providing services, not just drugs
It’s fairly obvious that whilst drugs are vital in treating many conditions and diseases, there is
much more for the patient and physician to consider. That could be anything from education
or lifestyle advice, to emotional support. Pharma companies have always engaged with the end
consumer but digital technology ultimately promises much greater scale.
One such example is AstraZeneca’s Day-by-Day coaching service for patients recovering from
a heart attack. The service provides a combination of digital content and one-to-one coaching,
partnering with the HIPAA-compliant Vida app.
The app helps patients to manage stress, find information, learn about caregiving and chat with
a coach. Novartis has taken a similar approach with its Together in HF social network.

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The ultimate aim, of course, is for pharma companies to look more to outcome-based solutions
which involve greater engagement with patients and third parties. In order to achieve this they
must not only assist with holistic patient care in this way, but must also advocate a combination
of therapeutics, whether or not they themselves manufacture them.
Providing this type of customer experience may be quite a step change, but pharma has for a
decade been coming to terms with the internet’s impact on patient knowledge and behaviour.
Consumers are ever more motivated by finding the best treatment and the cheapest price, and
pharma must provide the best outcome-based approach to cut through. Indeed, some companies
are partnering with third-party tech companies in an effort to promote an unbiased presence in
the market.
3. Improving diagnostics and adherence
The concept of the connected human being given personalised care and improved diagnostics
is one long foreseen by science fiction. Since wearables entered the market, the idea of ongoing
measurement has seemed less fanciful. Indeed, the ubiquity of the smartphone now gives the
prospect of reliable access to patient data in the real world.
One well-publicised example of digital medicine is the ingestible sensor in development by
Proteus Digital Health. The company received FDA approval in 2012 for a drug-sensor-app
system, which is used to montor adherence.
When the patient takes their pill, it dissolves in the stomach and causes a small voltage (as a
small amount of magnesium and copper come together). This voltage is then picked up by a

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sensor on the body (stuck to the arm) which relays the information (time of ingestion) to a
smartphone app and then on to the physician.
Proteus has trialled this system with an antipsychotic and a hypertension pill. The obvious
extrapolation is to a future where a range of patient data is securely transmitted to the physician
and this will mean less time spent on diagnostics (or more accurate diagnostics) and more on
personalising treatment.
This aggregation and analysis of patient data is a field where the seeds of disruption in pharma
could already be sown. Watson Health Cloud was created in 2015, in partnership with Apple,
Johnson & Johnson and Medtronic, and provides analytics services to healthcare professionals.
Watson Health Cloud analyses data from personal devices, connected medical devices,
implants and other sensors, and can support clinical decisions and reduce incorrect diagnoses.
Consumers may be motivated to use services such as Apple HealthKit as they pursue value and
the best treatment.
This is an area where pharma companies will have to keep step, especially when it comes to
proving the value of their drugs. Payors, too, may use more patient data to determine payment.
However, it’s worth pointing out that a big wave of extra data doesn’t necessarily represent a
panacea. The fully quantified self has many ethical and privacy concerns – as Watson builds
out knowledge of genomics, clinical and exogenous data, these issues will continue to be
debated.

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4. Better sales practices
Back to some good old-fashioned marketing now. Too often, private healthcare professionals
or providers must meet with multiple reps from the same pharma company. This is
understandable given the expertise needed within each specialism, but from a customer point
of view, busy healthcare professionals (HCPs) may be left wanting a more flexible solution.
Increasingly, pharma companies are using digital technology (both customer facing and back-
of-house) to provide this. CRM systems can achieve a single customer view and digital
communication channels can provide access to samples and resources (for HCPs and patients).
SKURA is one tech company that provides such digital sales enablement for life sciences, and
it defines this role of supporting HCPs as ‘the trusted concierge’. The aim is just like that of
CRM in many other sectors, to ‘deliver personalized messages to customers at the right time
using the right channel in order to increase revenue and reduce costs.’
Digital sales aids and marketing are now firmly on the rep agenda.
A related area is that of more effectively targeting patients. Patient finder technology such as
Vencore Health Analytics combines clinical knowledge with big data to allow drug
manufacturers to identify potential patients that may have a disease that is hard to diagnose.
This is similar to the Watson solution discussed above, using health records, genomics and
claim data. Such data analysis will not only ultimately improve treatment, but necessarily
increase the number of diagnoses.
Havas Health partners with Vencore

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5. R&D and supply chain efficiency
In a recent post on CRM, marketing automation and data management, I discussed the concept
of XRM (‘anything’ relationship management). CRM is not just about increasing sales through
customer-facing technology or through analytics. There’s much to consider in drug production,
too.
R&D can be improved by bringing real-time technology to bear on clinical trials, and the supply
chain could benefit from better sales and operations planning. This would bring better
productivity, inventory levels, and service levels.
A common theme in the digital transformation of any industry, the digitization of the supply
chain represents a security risk to pharma but is a necessary step in meeting raised expectations
from all parties.
Chapter 6: The general people are informed about any pharma product in following
ways
1. SEO
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the cornerstone of any Internet marketing strategy. It
makes your website (and individual pages) show up in Google search results so consumers and
doctors can find you when they want information about your products.

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SEO is the most important part of any Internet marketing strategy because it brings traffic to
your website. And when visitors come to your website, you can be sure they're consuming the
accurate, important information that you publish.
This also helps you stay competitive with other pharmaceutical companies online. If you want
to promote your brands over a competitor's, your website needs to be streamlined and optimized
to beat everyone else in your industry.
That's a full-time job all on its own, especially since pharmaceutical companies are so large.
Even small pharmacies fight an uphill battle against their local competitors.
To rank well in search engines, your site needs:
1. Optimized title tags
2. Eye-catching meta descriptions
3. Helpful, informative content
4. Multimedia
These four qualities turn every page on your site into a lean, perfected product.
Then, when someone searches for a keyword related to one of your pages, it will show up above
your competitors.
That means more clicks to your website, more people reading your content, and more of your
information getting out into the public. This makes it a passive way for you to promote your
brand 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
So no matter how you look at it, it's an extremely valuable marketing strategy.
2. Content marketing
Content marketing is the practice of writing, designing, and publishing information online.
"Content" typically refers to text on a page, although it can also include accompanying images,
videos, interactive elements, and more.
As a pharmaceutical company, you can use several forms of specialized content, like:
1. MSDS documents
2. Consumer guides

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3. Physician manuals for how to prescribe certain products
These three forms of content are hyper-targeted to the pharmaceutical industry, and they're
perfect complements to your other Internet marketing strategies.
On top of those three types of content, you can also use your website to publish:
• Blogs
• Articles
• Statistics
• Shareholder reports
• Transparency reports
These five additional kinds of content are more typical for corporate websites.
Blogs let you write about industry events, changes to your company, and other timely news or
information
Articles are the perfect way to target new keywords with high-quality, informative content that
teaches your website's visitors something new.
Statistics are excellent for stealthily promoting your brand. By publishing statistics about your
products, you encourage data analysts and designers to use that information in their own
publications, which will help build links to your site.
Shareholder reports are ideal for quarterly reports you have to make to stock owners. You can
publish them on your site for everyone to see as well, which makes your business appear more
transparent.
And speaking of transparency, you can also go out of your way to publish full transparency
reports that discuss your non-classified methods, mission statements, and other ideas behind
your business.
Transparency reports are difficult to create for pharmaceutical providers since you (and your
competitors) probably have a lot of trade secret protections. But any extra glimpse into the
inner-workings of your pharma business will help your reputation.

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3. Reputation management
Reputation management is the practice of shaping your online image by influencing or
publishing positive content online.
One of the most common and powerful forms of reputation management is search saturation.
Search saturation means finding a keyword that shows negative results about your pharma
brand(s), creating new content based on that keyword, and publishing it online.
Then, when people search for those terms, they'll only see the positive content that you
published while the negative results are pushed off the first page.
Pharmaceutical companies have a lot of critics in the public, especially niche subgroups like
anti-vaxxers and new age medicine disciples.
That means you'll have your work cut out for you when it comes to refining your online image.
But on the plus side, the organization of activist groups level the playing field in Google search
results by publishing trustworthy, researched information that tells the public the truth about
your company's products.
Even if you're a pharmaceutical distributor, you can benefit from this strategy. Eventually, you
can dominate the search results of a keyword to make sure the public gets information straight
from the source
4. Social media marketing
Social media marketing is the method of reaching out to your customer base and product users
through Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other social networks.
The goal is to bridge the informational and sentimental gaps that naturally lie between you and
the public. Most companies in other industries also use social media marketing to sell their
products.
But as a pharmaceutical company, you can't do that.
Instead, you can use social media as a way to promote new research, upcoming products,
higher-ups in your staff, and more. You may not actually generate sales from your Twitter
account — but you can at least help people feel more comfortable with your products.

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When you post on social media, it's important to be concise and use multimedia. Photos are
especially good additions to networks like Twitter and Facebook, and videos work surprisingly
well, too.
It's also important to know that no matter what you do on social media, you may experience
some kickback.
Like we said earlier on this page, pharmaceutical companies have a lot of critics — and even
pharmacies get their fair share of criticism.
That means people may respond to your posts harshly, and many of them will probably be
unfair. Still others might just be trying to promote themselves by criticizing a bigger entity than
themselves.
Regardless, it's essential that your company (and your social media team) roll with the punches.
For every one person who critiques you, there are 10 more out there who are genuinely
interested in what you post.
The downside is that since they like it, you probably won't hear from them as much as you hear
from your detractors.
Chapter 7: Findings and Recommendations
Findings
In this era of digitalization, the main changes in marketing of pharmaceutical companies of
Bangladesh are-
➢ Digital marketing through internet.
➢ Patients are better informed as before.
➢ Services are available 24/7.
➢ Patients are communicating with the doctors or pharmacists more easily.
➢ B2B communication easier through digital media.
There are big opportunities for pharmaceutical companies in this time such as-

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➢ To contract with patient and informed them about the pharma products and the feature
of the products.
➢ To easily contract with the buyer or supplier.
➢ To easily know about the other company’s products.
➢ Direct contract with doctors to write a drug in the prescription through digital
marketing media.
There are also some problems arise in digital marketing of pharma product such as-
➢ All patients cannot use all the digital media.
➢ Patients will be confused thus there are various products in digital media.
➢ In time transport is a major problem throughout the whole country.
➢ There are huge competitors in digital marketing.
Recommendation
Thus digital marketing transformed the pharmaceutical companies in very high position but
time to time some difficulties arise and “Where there is a problem, there is a hope”. The
problems find in the study that can be solved as such way-
➢ To target the highest using digital media and concern the patients about the other digital
media which pharmaceutical companies are used for their marketing.
➢ To ensure patients through doctors or pharmacists about the products that is in digital
marketing media.
➢ To use the own transport media and increase the distributors all over the country.
➢ In all the marketing place there are many other competitors but if the product quality
is the best between other companies, patients will buy the best product.

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Conclusion
The pharmaceutical companies apply digital marketing for better product and brand
development and for patient’s satisfaction. Now a day, many pharmaceutical companies are
rapidly coming to digital technology. For that reason, people can aware of their product’s easily
and it helps to improve public health. Through digital marketing, the export of product is also
increasing in many countries. It also helps to earn remittance. So the future of digital marketing
in pharmaceutical companies are bright

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