Posts Tagged ‘Pharmaceutical PR’

Why Do Pharma Companies Fire Their Social Media Agency?

January 21st, 2010

Working in the agency world is a little bit like the dating scene—if you are around it long enough, you are bound to get your heart broken (or wallet as the case may be) once or twice.

It’s no secret that agencies are let go for a variety of reasons that range from the completely justifiable to the head scratchers.  The average retention rate of clients in the PR business is something in the neighborhood of 12-16 months depending on which reports you choose to believe (I am happy to report SHIFT’s is much longer!).  With such a revolving door, one must wonder: what drives a pharmaceutical company to fire its social media agency?

There is no definitive list of reasons that leads to an agency getting the boot.  It can be a result of missed metrics, poor strategy outlines, faulty execution, budget constraints, etc…And while the list is long, I’d venture to guess that there are two primary buckets that cause a pharma company to fire its social media agency—false promises made by the agency and unreasonable expectations of the pharmaceutical company (sometimes one causes the other).  We’ll take these one at a time.

False Promises Made by the Agency

I touched on this one a bit in yesterday’s post.  Too often, agencies walk into a pitch eager to win business and selling whatever they think the company at the other side of the table wants to buy.  They do this without regard for whether or not they believe they can deliver on those lofty promises.  Why?  They don’t care.  The goal is to win the business and earn a quick buck—not create sustained value.  This breeds the thinking that social media is a silver bullet.  With people out there selling it as such, it is no wonder that some marketers think that social media has the ability to mask existing problems.  It does not.  Because agencies are selling false hope, when they can’t deliver on that hope, they get the axe—justifiably.

A good social media agency will outline challenging goals, but not make promises of a brand remake over night.  A good agency will highlight the risks of engaging in social media and have a plan in place to mitigate those risks and deal with them when they arise.  Most importantly, a good social media agency will say “no”.  They won’t be afraid to tell you if your strategy is off base, or if your line of thinking will fall down when engaging with a community online.  If your social media agency is afraid to tell you “no” I can almost assure you the program will fail.  False promises are a quick way to the unemployment line and only makes the job of legitimate agencies that much more difficult.

Unreasonable Expectations of the Pharmaceutical Company

The message I have been trumpeting recently, along with others, is that social media does not shovel problems under the rug—it rips the rug off the floor.  If a company walks into a social media engagement thinking that it can distance itself from product problems or damaging messaging it is sorely mistaken.  The more likely result is the social media community will expose that problem quicker than you ever thought was possible.  And not only will it be exposed, it will run rampant until you step up and offer a solution.  The thing people often forget about social media is that it acts as one giant neighborhood watch.  Phonies are uncovered, bad products are rooted out and shifty salesmen are pinpointed.  It’s not a comfortable place to be if you have skeletons in the closet.

Unfortunately, some pharmaceutical companies are willing to throw caution to the wind and hope social media can work miracles.  When those miracles fail to materialize, the social media takes the fall.  Sure, it is the job of the agency to steer the client in the right direction and set appropriate expectations, but sometimes it is not enough.  In those cases, the pharma company is bound to fail because it simply demands too much.

The Lesson?

The new marketing model increases accountability on both the vendor and client side.  The days of arm’s length relationships are coming to a screeching halt.  In order to truly succeed in social media, you better have a true partnership.  Afterall, if you can’t master that relationship, you can forget about the new ones you will be forming through social media.

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Don’t Write Off Traditional PR Entirely for Social Media

January 14th, 2010

It’s no secret that social media is the trend of the day in pharmaceutical marketing.  A combination of constant evangelism on the part of social media wingnuts (I mean advocates), an uptick in real-world examples from pharma companies and the FDA public hearing has vaulted social media into the limelight.  Since attaining such prominence, social media seems to have a stranglehold on the marketing discussion (or maybe it’s that whole echo chamber thing I posted about).  But the limelight can be so bright that it causes you to miss other things right before your eyes.

If you haven’t picked up on my thinly veiled metaphor just yet, social media is the bright light in this case.  In recent months, social media has been relegated to shiny object duty.  It’s the marketing tactic of the day being waived before pharma executives at every strategy session to increase patient engagement, raise brand awareness and break into new markets.  That’s a good thing.  The level of conversations that are occurring regarding social media is encouraging.  It indicates that pharmaceutical companies are slowly but surely buying into its potential.  But there is a fine line to walk between realistic potential and hype—we are getting dangerously close to the edge.

Social media enters into the hype zone when it causes otherwise level-headed marketers to write off alternative, viable marketing tactics.  And if they are not written off, they are certainly placed on the backburner.  As an aforementioned wingnut, I believe in the value of social media as much as the next guy.  But social media CANNOT exist in isolation.  It has to be conducted in the context of a larger marketing strategy that includes a broad range of tactics.  I’m a PR guy.  In fact, while I tout the benefits of social media on a regular basis, a large chunk of my work is dedicated to so-called traditional PR.  That’s right, writing press releases, reaching out to editors and forming relationships with the main-stream media.  Can you imagine?

(Warning, here comes a small commercial, bear with me, I think it is relevant).

At my agency, SHIFT Communications, we describe ourselves as a hybrid agency in the sense that we do both traditional PR and social media.  I think that’s crucial.  We do this not so we can sell both services, but because we firmly believe that social media, and traditional PR should happen in concert, not in isolation.

Social media is important.  It will only grow in importance as companies become better at engaging with relevant communities.  But remember, social media should not happen at the expense of the remaining parts of the marketing mix—even traditional PR.

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Change the Script for Pharma Social Media

October 26th, 2009

The discussion around pharma social media has become so predictable that you can write the script prior to a discussion.  If you ask a pharmaceutical marketing person their thoughts on the topic you are likely to get some variation of this response: Well, it’s difficult.  I would certainly like to do it but there are just far too many challenges to overcome.  Legal will have a fit, and even if we get it through that department, why bother as the message will be so watered down to meet regulatory requirements that it won’t be worth the effort.  On top of that, what are we going to do with adverse events and off-label usage discussion?  It’s too much and there is not enough for me to justify the spend.  Why bother?”

In other words: it’s not me, it’s you.

But does this defeatist attitude merely create a self-fulfilling prophecy of failure?  Are we as marketers as much a part of the problem as the supposed hurdles we face?

It’s always prudent to evaluate the landscape before diving into any type of activity.  You wouldn’t jump on a ski lift one morning and head straight for a black diamond the first time you’ve ever donned a pair of skis.  The same holds true with pharma social media.  You don’t want to blindly approach social media without understanding the risks involved and the potential benefits.  But the key is: you should approach—even if it is cautiously.  The current mindset of some pharmaceutical marketers is akin to sticking your fingers in your ears and running in the other direction.

As an industry, we spend a lot of time evaluating the external factors that prevent successful social media campaigns.  Meanwhile, many of those external factors are trending in a favorable direction.  Conferences such as the ePatient Conference and Digital Pharma 2009 are sparking lively discussions on how social media can enhance pharmaceutical communications and improve patient outcomes.  Even the FDA is holding a public hearing on where social media fits into the new media landscape.

Rather than pointing the finger at all of the reasons we can’t use social media for pharmaceutical companies, maybe we should look at why we can.  More and better feedback from patients.  Real-time communication on key health issues.  A more complete understanding of the patient.  A dialogue on societal health issues, etc…

The challenges facing the pharmaceutical industry when it comes to social media are real and numerous.  I don’t dispute that fact.  But when they create the attitude of “why bother” marketers are predestined for failure.

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Welcome to PRforPharma.com!

October 15th, 2009

It’s no secret that as an industry, pharmaceutical companies spend billions of dollars a year on marketing, yet public distrust continues to grow.  Why?  The system is broken.  The tried and true methods of marketing for pharmaceutical companies are quickly losing relevance.  To augment these tactics, many pharmaceutical companies have started to consider how to better leverage their public relations programs by tapping in to social media.  But the landscape for social media in pharma is littered with landmines—regulatory, culturally and tactically.

That’s where PRforPharma.com comes in to the picture.  I hold no allusions that there are significant barriers to successfully implementing social media programs for pharmaceutical companies.  But I also firmly believe that it can be done with the right mix of strategy, determination and execution.

On this blog, I will attempt to address the challenges facing pharmaceutical companies when it comes to effectively utilizing social media and public relations.  I look forward to chatting with you!

One quick programming note: I posted a few old blog posts I wrote from various other blogs including SHIFT’s (my employer) staff blog, Slice.  I did this for a couple of reasons—not the least of which is to get some content up here in a hurry.  But more than that, I think these posts are indicative of how hard social media for pharma really is.  Some of these posts first appeared in 2007 and are still relevant today.  That alone should tell you something.  There are a lot of issues to grapple with and two years later we are still trying to solve the same problems.  Progress has been made, but there is a lot more to go.

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