What’s going to happen to healthcare marketing if direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising of prescription drugs is banned?
Most people won’t miss those commercials with patients dancing or jingles about how great life is when you take this new drug. Advertisers will switch to symptom education, and doctors will regain greater influence over prescribing decisions since patients wouldn’t be arriving with brand-name requests. $6 Billion will be redirected from branded advertising to physician marketing, market access strategies, digital health partnerships, or patient support programs, and unbranded ads.
Drug companies already use unbranded advertising to educates people about symptoms and directs them to learn more at branded websites. The website will super optimized to be even more effective, giving consumers complete presentations of side effects and balanced information about alternative treatments, success rates, and much more. There will be plenty of other strategies employed; many will be completely new forms of marketing.
We plan on looking for them and updating this post as they appear in the marketing-verse.