CBC.ca | The Age of Persuasion | Season 5: Marketing the Unpleasant

CBC.ca | The Age of Persuasion | Season 5: Marketing the Unpleasant

Pharmacy students are a tough audience.

I constantly search for interesting stories to interject into discussions about marketing pharmaceuticals.

This podcast describes the marketing of things that are not mentioned in polite company.

See for yourself.

This seems a little bit like Woody Allen in the movie "Sleeper"

The future keeps coming at us faster and faster

Marketing to Men -- It's not easy

I gave a recent presentation on marketing to men at a Men's Health Seminar. The main argument of my presentation was that "Marketing to Men -- It's not easy".

I decided not to go with the original title: "Marketing to Men -- It's Hard" to avoid any immature "That's what she said" comments.

We had a big auditorium, a panel of expert presenters (physicians, exercise physiologists, dietary researchers, and me), raffles, free food, and vendors. It was heavily advertised on the radio and TV. Advertisement posters were placed strategically above urinals in key bathrooms across the J. Sargent Reynolds campus (all four). It was well designed and promoted.

How many men do you think attended?

Answer: 15

My point was made. "Marketing to Men -- It's not easy".

I don't know the future but...

There are a lot of blow hards who predict the future of pharmacy.

Since I was a student, educators and leaders have been saying that pharmacy needs to change. It needs to move from a drug-centric focus to a professional-service-centric focus. Well, we still focus on the drug product.

And we may be product-centric in the future. I don't know.

But I do know that change will occur. One of the reasons is illustrated in this website which totals up the cost of various elements of each taxpayer's tax bill.

Health care's portion of the tax bill is 24%. That is unsustainable.

We can't afford to continue doing things the way we always have. Taxpayers -- including you and me -- will not stand for it.

The only question is, "How will pharmacy change?"

The answer is......beats me.

This is why the image of PhRMA is so bad!!

Pharmaceutical companies spend significant time and money developing, "The first and only approved FDA treatment for inadequate and not enough lashes," and come up with new diseases like "hypotrichosis."

I predict that there will soon be a series of studies presented at medical meetings showing the burden of Hypotrichosis on society and the cost effectiveness of Latisse compared to fake eye lashes.

Marketing doesn't hurt people -- people hurt people

I love to read the comics each day in my local newspaper -- yes, that thing that used to be "black and white and read all over" but is mostly just "black and white" now.

One common stereotype seen in comics is that marketers are useless, lazy, carbuncular, and so on. The reason this stereotype is so funny is that it is often true.

Nevertheless, just like with handguns and pitbulls, marketing is only bad because people who use marketing are lazy, stupid, careless, unethical, and sometimes even criminal.

In other words, "marketing doesn't hurt people -- people hurt people".

Marketing is just a tool. And as we know, a tool can be used for good or evil.

People who learn the proper philosophy and practice of marketing can do good and change the stereotype of marketers.

But I won't hold my breath.

Pharmacy and Beer -- Never Fear

In a previous post titled "Beer and Pharmacy -- Two of my favorite things" I talked about how a Duane Read Pharmacy in New York is now serving BEER. The beer is a microbrew that sounds pretty tasty.

Not to be one-upped by any New York pharmacy chain, Walgreens has introduced their own beer brand called "Big Flats". As made clear in my previous post, I am not against pharmacies selling beer. I am just against pharmacies selling bad beer.

I have some expertise on this topic because Walgreens pharmacies in Chicago used to be my beer supplier back in the 80's. I clearly remembered that their beer tended to get skunky -- meaning that it got stale setting on the shelf for way too long.

I think that selling bad beer can hurt the Walgreens brand. I am not accusing "Big Flats" beer of being bad because I have never tasted it. I do know someone who HAS tasted "Big Flats" beer (see the clip), and he does not think too highly of it.

Placebo effect

Daniel Ariely is a behavioral economist who provides interesting insights into consumer behavior. In this presentation, he describes how placebos provide a real therapeutic benefit.

Really -- Pharmacists are going to need to change

As pharmacy students, many years ago, we were told that pharmacy practice needed to move from a profession that focuses on drugs to a patient centered profession. Since then, pharmacy practice in community settings has continued to focus on selling drugs. And pharmacists and their employers have been highly paid for doing so.

Now it is different.

Really.

Here is why.

Economics.

We can't afford to pay pharmacists to do what they are doing. Over the years, pharmacists made a good living by counting and pouring. Now, the profit margins are shrinking for the dispensing of drugs. And the way to increase profits is to either make up the revenues elsewhere in the pharmacy (on greeting cards and motor oil) or reduce dispensing costs. To reduce dispensing costs, pharmacies need to use more technology such as ATM-style dispensing machines, hire more low paid pharmacy technicians and give them greater responsibilities, prepare drugs for dispensing in assembly line type centralized medication filling centers, and/or find some other way to remove the pharmacist from drug preparation.

So, it is clear to me that pharmacists need to change the way they help patients.

The $64,000 question is "change to what?"

Ten Common Marketing Misconceptions of Pharmacists

1. My job is not to market. The design and promotion of pharmacist services is someone else's job -- not mine.
2. Everyone gets the same service, no matter their need or interest.
3. I know what is best -- not the patient.
4. Patients only care about low drug prices.
5. It is OK to provide exceptional service one day and mediocre service the next.
6. Loyal customers will always be loyal.
7. Satisfied customers are loyal customers.
8. Patients know what pharmacists do.

9. Talking with patients is not "market research". Market research is done by marketing departments.
10.Marketing is advertising and advertising is marketing.

How strong is your brand?

Each pharmacist has a personal brand whether they like it or not. Your name is your personal brand. You can chose to manage perceptions of your personal brand. Pharmacists who effectively manage their brand are more likely to be successful in their practice and career.

Branding is the process of developing strong, positive, and consistent images of your brand in the minds of patients and others. Your brand’s strength is determined by the extent that people (1) recognize your brand when they see it and (2) recall it when making a choice. The more familiar and memorable your name, the more likely patients will choose you when they need a pharmacist. The more positive and consistent your image, the more coherent the message patients have about your brand.

What images and adjectives come to mind when people hear your name?

Using Marketing Principles in Teaching

Marketing can be useful in many ways. Take teaching for instance.  I segment my students into the following three market segments. 


The first is "dedicated learners".  They are easy to teach.  Just guide them to what they need to know.  They do well in almost any educational environment whether it is lecture, online teaching, or group instruction.  Just give them good content and provide them with opportunities to apply the concepts in problems, discussions, and exercises.  Typically, they already know a lot because by nature, they are learners.  Sometimes, I have to even tell them to back off a bit.  


The next segment is  "skeptical learners."  These people want to learn, but they need to be convinced.  They have been asked to learn a lot hogwash over the years and are choosier in how they spend their time.  They are often older, mature students who have stronger opinions of what is important and not.   Skeptical learners require the instructor to build a persuasive argument for the value of the material and the need to learn.  Once that is done, they are often even better learners than dedicated learners because they fit the ideas into their daily lives.  


The last, and most difficult segment is "unmotivated learners."  For them, learning is not important, so coercive educational strategies are needed.  Rewards and punishments, such as assigning attendance grades, are needed.   Even then, they often do the minimum amount possible unless you can spark their interest enough to turn them into skeptical learners.  


My target market is the skeptical learners.  Good teaching can influence their learning.  My secondary market is the motivated learners who will succeed if I do a good enough job with the skeptical learners.  Unmotivated learners are NOT my target students.  Of course, I will encourage them to engage, to learn.  But time is better spent on the other two student groups.  

The image of pharmacists need improvement?

Although pharmacists are one of the most trusted professionals, their image in the minds of the public is weak and poorly defined. Google the phrase "pharmacist are" and you will get the following output. I think that this indicates some work we need to do to project a more positive, stronger image.

Best Video of Pharmacist value

Welcome to the first post in The Pharmaco Marketer Blog.  I really wanted to name this blog "What I should have learned in pharmacy school".   But I wondered if people could remember that name.  And abbreviating the site with the first letters results in WISHLIPS. 

So I decided to name the blog "The Pharmaco Marketer" because that pretty much describes my approach to solving problems in pharmacy.  I use a marketing mindset which consists of:

• a focus on serving the consumer/customer/patient,
• providing real value that meets the consumer's needs and wants,
• a realization that no matter what you do, you are competing with others, and
• knowing that you can't satisfy everyone so you must target those who you can best serve

I will talk more about this in future posts.