How Online Events Support Pharma’s Digital Transition

A common conception about the Pharma industry is that it’s behind the times when it comes to implementing digital strategies.

As a result I sometimes feel the pharmaceutical sector suffers from a bit of unfair criticism. I have been scanning over articles relating to the subject and I get the impression that it’s popular to highlight pharma’s perceived lack of adoption compared to other business sectors.

Not just when it comes to implementing digitally focussed technology for marketing and communications, but across the board.

Two things I love about my role at WorkCast are that not only do we offer a product that is universally beneficial across all sectors, but also I'm not restricted in where I look for new client relationship opportunities.

I continually see the benefit of online events for our clients who belong to the pharma sector. I appreciate the unique challenges it faces in migrating to digital and just why pharma is branded as the 'tough nut to crack' when it comes to introducing new technology principles. But I'm here to say, it doesn't have to be.

Half of the top 10 global pharma companies (listed on pmlive.com) see value in delivering marketing and communications online events with our platform, not bad for the sector recognised as being slow on the uptake.

These online events could take a number of forms and are delivered for various different reasons, whether it’s a webinar series, an online product launch or live demonstration, a webcast to share company results/ updates, or some online learning.

We understand from our existing client relationships that there are lots of different ways we can support pharma companies and the individual brands within them, regardless of your product life cycle stage.

So what are the challenges and considerations you face when making the move towards delivering digital marketing and comms?

I spoke with the brand managers and marketing professionals we currently work with to find out first hand:

1. Approved Suppliers

Seeing the value in giving something a try and getting your business to agree to actually let you can be two very different things. The greater the size of the business, the more internal processes come along with it. Not least of which is the challenge of approved supplier lists which can get in the way of you moving quickly on a project or striking when the iron is hot.

2. Demonstration of Competency

It's only natural before initiating the process of having a new supplier approved that you would want to see a demonstration of competency in delivering events to your sector, and the value you would receive from doing it. This is not always easy when your marketing and comms strategies are often niche and brand specific.

3. Approvals  

Working in such a heavily regulated industry you can also face the challenge of ensuring all of your strategies are compliant. This can be a little trickier with the use of external suppliers.

4. Data Security

Once everything is approved and your content is ready to go live you also have the consideration of whether it is hosted in a secure environment and the data you collect from your audience is handled diligently by the service provider.

5. Data Access

Having only the selected individuals you chose being able to access the content shouldn't be overlooked either. The content you are sharing is often sensitive and you don't want it falling into the wrong hands.

Despite all of these factors there are a number of reasons that you absolutely should be delivering online events as part of your brand's marketing and communication strategy and there are a couple of key WorkCast features which help make introducing them as painless as possible.

You may need to promote your brand with thought leadership content, identify new contacts and build your marketing database.

You can keep users of your product engaged with interactive learning, make remote employees feel more involved by providing company performance updates and announcements by key opinion leaders.

Or you may simply need to keep pace with your competitors, possibly most important of all!

So why is WorkCast proving to be the right choice for the Pharmaceutical Industry? Well I think the key is our flexibility. Regardless of what type of event you are looking to deliver WorkCast can completely absorb your brand appearance making it a lot easier for you to get your event pages to meet the approval standards.

We handle Powerpoint natively too, so if you go to the trouble of getting your presentation approved we won't reformat it undoing all of your hard work.

For the technically minded we also boast an ultra-secure, cloud-based infrastructure with a plethora of contingencies in wait to ensure the successful delivery of your events. This means that any information captured from your attendees, during the online event, such as viewing figures and active times etc. are yours and yours only.

All of this helps us make short work of becoming an approved supplier.

To conclude, we understand the challenges you have implementing digital marketing and communications, we are all set to overcome them.