Building brand experiences as opposed to traditional advertising in the pharmaceutical industry

The pharmaceutical industry is highly complex due to the nature of the products and consumers. Users of pharmaceutical products are persons with health problems that need to be dealt with effectively. Their main preoccupation is to ensure that as they consume, the specific need for which the product was intended is sorted out. This means that as brands market, they are supposed to concentrate on getting the customers to have the confidence that they will get the experiences they desire. Pharmaceutical products are not general satisfaction products that consumers simply fee; great about buying: they are actual utility products that consumers are keen on obtaining the desired experiences from...

One of the ways through which pharmaceuticals build brand experience is by providing guidance for the use of their products. One of the leading causes for remedies failing to produce the intended effect is when the drugs and medicines being used are not administered appropriately. Products whose use requires care such as skin care and remedies for other complex ailments have to be applied carefully and accurately for them to be effective. The pharmaceuticals build a brand experience by ensuring that they are available to guide the consumers. The consumers can also seek clarifications on product use from time to time. In addition to this, brands can volunteer to work with the consumers by providing them with prompts and reminders for when they need to undertake certain tasks. For instance, if both the consumer and the brand have agreed on a schedule on application of the remedies, the organisation can have representatives making calls to the consumer to ensure that they do not forget. This increased interactivity and commitment to providing solutions for the consumer is expected to increase the quality of the brand experience. This could increase satisfaction and get these consumers to refer others to the organisation.

The word of mouth strategy is only effective where current consumers have been very satisfied with the organisation. They will have had a pleasant brand experience through guidance and care given by the organisation and would be confident that the friends they refer will be satisfied as well. The effect of the word-of-mouth strategy is very significant in the pharmaceutical industry for a number of reasons. Firstly, consumers are very sensitive about their health and their bodies. They do not want to take risks with their health. They want to be sure that the solution they are about to embrace is the best they can get in the market. This requirement leads to the question of trust and how it manifests into competitive strength for the pharmaceutical companies.

Since consumers would tend to trust the testimonials of persons they already know, a lot of the advertisement messages sent out by pharmaceuticals go unnoticed. There is a general perception that organisations will never provide an objective review of their products and what these products can do. They are expected to make claims that may not be necessarily true. This is why independent referrals are important to the organisation. As consumers get a pleasant brand experience, they are more willing to share about these experiences and recommend the organisation.