As more and more pharma companies go online and devote budgets to digital marketing, the question of digital advertising for pharma arises. What are the most ideal channels for advertising for pharma, and what tactics can pharma companies use? What is the return on investment and does it make sense financially? Here are our findings.
Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising for pharma
When it comes to digital advertising, PPC is one of the most common and most effective types of advertising there is. If you’ve ever encountered results that show up first on Google every time, they come from PPC – and you can do it for your pharma company too.
First, you need to select the most relevant keywords to go after. For example, you can choose clinical trials UK as your keyword. Presumably, you’ve done proper research and you know that physicians will most likely come to your website if they come from this search query. Now that you have a keyword, it’s time to set a daily budget, which can range anywhere from $1 to $100 per day and higher. Remember, you’re only charged once somebody clicks on your ad – not if they don’t take any action.
Keep in mind that many other pharma companies use PPC advertising as well. Depending on the term you go for, you may have fierce competition from other pharma companies. This affects the price of clicks, which is why some terms cost much more to advertise for than others.
Finally, AdWords rules for pharma-related keywords are very heavily regulated, and in most cases, you will have to ask for an exception with Google in order for your ad to come through. Add FDA regulations on top, and you’ll come to find out that setting up a successful PPC campaign requires quite a lot of time to do right.
Content marketing for pharma
If you’re looking to make a safe bet on advertising for your pharma company, content marketing is the answer. The reason is quite simple – it offers the best return on investment of all the types of digital marketing out there.
Compared to paid search, such as pay-per-click ads, content marketing gets 3x as many leads for the same amount of money spent. With PPC services such as AdWords, you’ll only get effects as long as you’re paying. Once you stop your budget, leads stop coming in. On the other hand, by doing quality content marketing, you’ll be able to reap benefits months and even years after publishing a piece of content. As people read and link to quality content, it will get views and engagement as time goes on.
There’s another reason why content marketing works – physicians simply ignore ads. They’re used to seeing them all over the place, so they simply don’t notice them anymore. As one famous study states, the average person in 1984 saw 2,000 ads per day, and by 2014, that number bumped up to 5,000. If they don’t simply ignore ads, physicians will use ad-blockers to avoid them. On the other hand, not only will they not ignore quality content – they will naturally be attracted to it.
So, how much does content marketing for pharma cost? There are multiple factors involved, but in general, it will set you back anywhere from $2000 to $50000 per month, depending on what kind of services you’re looking for. While this may sound a bit steep, remember that the return on investment beats all other platforms.
How to cut the costs of digital pharma advertising
For some pharma companies, the cost of advertising online is simply too high, which is completely reasonable. In order to cut costs, they hire someone internally to take care of advertising, hoping to cut the costs and have the job done in-house instead of outsourcing.
However, this is a strategy that rarely works because you are forced to hire a jack of all trades. This person has to have a good grasp of the pharma industry, along with excellent knowledge of paid advertising. Needless to say, someone skilled in PPC probably won’t be a good match for content marketing in pharma. Essentially, you’re hiring one person to take care of an entire range of digital marketing efforts. Instead, it’s a much better solution to hire a digital pharma marketing company.
Get the most out of your digital advertising for pharma
Do you want to know that you are spending your advertising money wisely? In order to avoid guessing and spending money on advertising channels that do work, you need the help of an expert. At BlueNovius, we worked with over 50 pharma companies across the world and we know the value of great advertising online. Reach out to us today so we can find a strategy that works for you!
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