What CDOs need to know about pharma marketing in 2019

Chief Disruption Officers first began appearing on pharma c-suites in the early 2000s. At the turn of the millennium, only a small handful of companies had the foresight to envision what the healthcare landscape would look like in the forthcoming decades. However, between 2014 and 2018, the majority of players in the pharma space had added a CDO to their rosters.

During that time period, the role of CDO matured from a strategy specialization into something between the roles of chief technology officer and chief marketing officer. Indeed, if you asked the average pharma CDO what their main focus is in 2019, you're likely to hear two words: transformation and disruption.

According to Medical Marketing & Media, CDOs at global companies like Bayer, Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer utilize their experiences from retail, industry and technology to create new value for their employers. Considering that the healthcare industry as a whole is gradually shifting toward a value-based, data-driven paradigm, the role of CDO is more important than ever. The winds of change will certainly affect the marketing strategies used by pharma companies. 

What lessons can CDOs learn from retail?

In the retail space, companies that were quick to adopt digital solutions won big. Indeed, one of the biggest retailers of the 20th century, Sears, declined rapidly due to competition with digital sellers like Amazon. Though the parallels are not identical in the healthcare space, companies want to avoid the decline that comes with failing to keep up with emerging technologies.

In recent years, retail marketers have developed new ways of reaching customers wherever they are, whether that's online, in an app, or at a physical store. CDOs can help pharma make similar strides, using digital technology to engage healthcare providers on their own terms. Multichannel campaigns can capture audience attention in an environment that is crowded with marketing messages.

CDOs can help pharma companies build better relationships with healthcare providers.

How can CDOs and CMOs work together?

Aside from transforming analog processes into digital ones, CDOs analyze every aspect of their business's target customers. This focus on the end consumer - or in pharma's case, prescribing doctors - creates a natural overlap with the CMO role. Rather than competing for the customer's attention, however, CDOs and CMOs can complement one another by combining their unique skill sets.

A CMO's job is to drive growth through awareness campaigns, engagement strategies and market research. A CDO can support and augment those efforts by determining which digital means work best in reaching the target audience. In the pharma space, this could mean leveraging EHR systems, medical journal apps, social media and more. With the right data, CDOs and CMOs can develop optimized campaigns that not only create business growth, but also support the needs of the target audience.

In 2019 and beyond, CDOs will take valuable lessons from other industries and apply them in unique ways to meet healthcare providers on their own terms. Leveraging digital solutions to foster positive relationships with prescribers and payers is a key trend that will continue to mature as pharma companies move into the future.

If there's one thing CDOs understand, it's the value of multichannel. Physicians, payers and other stakeholders live in a world of constant communication. Pharma companies need the ability to reach these key decision-makers wherever they are, whether that's on mobile, at events or in print materials.

To learn more about how Elsevier helps advertisers get the most from their multichannel campaigns, schedule a conversation with an expert consultant today.