The landscape of oncology marketing is evolving with the advent of Industry 5.0. With new cancer cases expected to rise by around 70% in the next 20 years, the demand for more patient-centric oncology treatments will propagate, exerting more pressure on HCPs.
There happens to be plenty of challenges for both patients and caregivers and relevant HCPs. Oncology treatment is complex for patients too, driven by several factors- from advanced digital platforms and precision medicine to navigating insurance and overseeing cost structure.
Today, oncologists have a lot to take in because of the rapid development of drugs and innovative treatments pitching in every minute. Due to this, HCPs are having a hard time navigating through all the big data and offering patient-centered care.
These hurdles pose an opportunity for pharma enterprises to leverage cutting-edge technologies in the oncology market and assist HCPs in coping with the latest treatments and drug discovery. Oncology marketing thus acts as the branch of the cancer care ecosystem that bridges the gap between stakeholders and evolving technological inclusions in this market for more patient-centricity. The catch- transformative oncology marketing techniques are bringing vital data sets to the table that are driving oncologists’ ethical R&D and decision-making toward patient care.
How the Cancer Care Ecosystem is Turning Detrimental to the Oncologists’ Potential
Oncologists face a plethora of hurdles in the competitive cancer care market and with time they are striving to keep pace with the advancement of the relative pharma sector. This seeks a revolution in marketing techniques.
Staying on top of precision medicine techniques, such as targeted therapies and genomic profiling, requires continuous learning and monitoring, which goes beyond traditional medical training. This, in turn, affects their already hectic schedule towards patient care. HCPs in this scenario also suffer without access to the latest technologies that notify them of the trending scientific data, thus limiting their knowledge about genetic therapies.
Moreover, oncologists act as emotional support to patients as well as to their families. Subsequently, it asks them to stick around throughout a long treatment journey, spanning several years and involving multiple phases- from diagnosis, chemotherapy phase, post-treatment monitoring, recurrence prevention, and offering survivorship care to advanced or metastatic cancer patients. Within this timeline, they strive to keep updated with the latest oncology treatments and the new-age oncology marketing plan by the pharma sector, while addressing side effects of the current drugs. Therefore, gauging the emotional and medical weightage of this industry, at the end of the day, takes a huge toll on the oncologists, often leading them to burnout and fatigue.
To support cancer patients and offer customized treatments, oncologists are becoming more inclined towards RWEs and big data to structure their treatment strategies. This makes each one of them go through large sets of RWEs to be able to comprehend a specific patient’s condition. This calls for a large amount of time investment in a fast-paced oncology market, which withers them from their regular focus and thus creates mental distress.
A significant inclination toward Medical Science Liaisons (MSLs) for the interpretation of complex data and treatment methodologies further complicates the overall decision-making of oncologists. This is happening just because the evidence-based data sets are being provided by external pharma resources making them the next-generation marketing professionals, in real-time. While MSLs continue to offer critical insights, over-reliance on them may hinder oncologists’ ability to make fully autonomous decisions, potentially affecting the balance between independent insights and MSL-driven data.
Strategizing Robust Oncology Marketing Plan and Fostering Engagement of Oncologists
Oncology pharma marketing needs a robust plan that best chalks out ways to engage oncologists more toward patient-centric treatments without sacrificing their work-life balance. Strategies like scientific insights, omnichannel engagement, and customized communication might transform the overall landscape of patient care in this industry.
- Omnichannel marketing: Continuity in Patient Care
Omnichannel experiences can enhance awareness in HCPs regarding current trials within their locality and boost the health system. Secondly, with a hyperlocal approach, oncologists gauge better regarding resources and needs, craft communication to address local healthcare disparities, and eventually, provide a more nuanced and patient-centric approach. Subsequently, with the inclusion of compassionate content into omnichannel experiences, a fluidic ecosystem (with advocacy partners, family members, and healthcare team) can be curated for both patients and HCPs. And lastly, with RWEs organizations can shift from industrial to more ecological outcomes.
- Strategies for Ideal Engagement
Smooth engagement strategies lead to the closure of knowledge gaps and minimize duplication of content across platforms. This includes the inclusion of digital tools, MSL insights, and personalized content delivery. MSLs leverage bonds between pharma enterprises and oncologists thus fostering engagement efforts towards more customized care and precision medicine.
- Offering Value through Content
In this industry, high-value content such as case studies and clinical trial summaries keep oncologists hooked to the latest information. Leveraging interactive knowledge platforms like webinars and virtual Q&A sessions, oncologists gather deep insights while maintaining their busy schedules.
- Enhance HCP engagement with Data and Analytics
With Pharma 5.0, enterprises are relying on insights from CRM systems and AI which are quick and reliable, offering personalized outreach, and predicting early adoption of cutting-edge therapies by oncologists. On the other hand, with behavior science deep patient-centricity can be achieved by identifying oncologists’ favored content formats, fostering greater engagement.
- Enable Access and Aiding Reimbursement
Oncologists in the private sector face hurdles in terms of guidance towards access and reimbursements, and safeguarding insurance coverage and patient affordability. Payers pressurize for substantial evidence which makes oncologists adhere to tight regulations. Pharma can ease the situation by delivering data like cost-benefit analysis and health economic outcomes to oncologists. This eventually demonstrates the value of treatments to both parties. Educational contents (like policy clauses and coverage plan documents) further help in dissipating knowledge regarding insurance policies and processes.
With Industry 5.0 reshaping cancer care, oncologists continue to face numerous challenges and some have second thoughts about their careers. Gradually, reformative oncology marketing techniques fueled by data and analytics are bridging the gap between patients and HCPs, fostering robust relationships. Sailing with this paradigm shift in oncology marketing, pharma enterprises can exploit digital marketing tools/techniques to promote improvement in patient outcomes as well as the engagement of oncologists in this sector.
Newristics have been a key facilitator of this reformation in the marketing sector for quite some years now driving innovation in pharma messaging strategies. Blending the best of both behavioral science and AI messaging, Newristics optimizes omnichannel messaging for the best 20 out of 20 pharma companies and numerous pharma brands. For more information, reach out to learn more.
