Ways Pharmaceutical Brands Will Benefit from the Post-Cookie Era
By Harshit Jain MD, Founder & Global CEO, Doceree
By 2023, marketers will no longer have access to third-party cookies on Google Chrome. The move aligns with the policy of Apple Safari and Mozilla Firefox, which have already blocked third-party cookies and left Chrome representing 92% of the remaining cookies on the internet. Many pharmaceutical brands haven’t invested solely in a cookie-based approach over the years, so those marketers were able to pursue additional marketing tactics on endemic and Point of Care channels to engage physicians during campaigns.
As third-party cookies are phased out, pharmaceutical brands have the opportunity to benefit from the post-cookie era and usher in more advanced data-driven solutions to shape the future landscape of marketing strategies in the pharmaceutical industry to better understand, reach and engage physicians with impactful campaigns.
Accelerate advancements in programmatic solutions
Without the availability of cookies, pharmaceutical brands have the advantage of utilizing more advanced programmatic solutions that have the infrastructure to shape the future iterations of messages being served to physicians. The COIVID-19 pandemic accelerated digital marketing efforts and forced brands to revamp their approach to embrace virtual channels. As the programmatic ecosystem evolves in the pharma category, digital platforms with AI capabilities provide greater data analytics that will guide marketers on the type of messages that drive results for marketing initiatives. By combing logged-in activity, engagement data and platform usage, data-driven approaches without third-party cookies will lead digital communications to secure more favorable interactions via hyper-targeting content that is purposeful for physicians to advance their knowledge in their specialty.
Greater emphasis on first-party data to better reach and understand physicians
While cookies allow for cross-site and cross-app tracking, alternative technologies will deliver a deepened understanding of a physician’s interests. With access to first-party data, pharma marketers are able to build stronger audience personas to more effectively communicate with physicians. The insights garnered from first-party data will enrich precision targeting capabilities for pharmaceutical brands to more efficiently deliver messages. Further, the data analytics obtained via digital platforms will equip marketers with the comprehension to enhance trigger-based campaigns. Those physician-level insights empower pharma marketers with the capability to identify the opportune moments when physicians are most receptive to messages, and the personalized information that will pique their interest while tending to their patients.
Contextual marketing will evolve physician communications
With the precision targeting capabilities of reaching physicians with content that is of significance, a greater amount of marketing efforts will focus contextual marketing strategies to increase traction for campaign messages. When delivered on endemic and Point of Care platforms, contextual marketing content is very impactful given the related context is top-of-mind for the physician. While physicians are logged in to telehealth, EHR and eRx platforms, pharma marketers have the ability to interact with physicians when they are in a mindset to gain knowledge pertaining to their specialty and can drive meaningful interactions, which wouldn’t have been as easily cultivated and consistent via a third-party cookie-based approach.
Data privacy spurs more significant audience tracking and measurement technologies
Regulations are nothing new for pharmaceutical brands. Protecting the privacy of individuals is a certainty of the industry with HIPAA guidelines amongst the requirements for pharma marketers to adhere to. Utilizing Point of Care and endemic platforms more proficiently without third-party cookies, elevates the value pharma marketers bring to the category to share information on the latest treatments, prescriptions and illness research findings with physicians on professional-centric mediums. These digital platforms with profile, opt-in and login-based data provide significant knowledge about the preferences and habits of physicians for marketers to adopt the appropriate channel to execute campaigns. Without the ability to use cookies, pharma marketers will adopt tracking and measurement technologies that are industry compliant and instill data analytics to optimize messages served to physicians. So, marketers are afforded the opportunity to be creative on digital networks with the delivery of messages to achieve the campaign objectives based on the tracking and measurement learnings. Therefore, a deeper connection will ensue for pharmaceutical brands by delivering more meaningful communications with physicians, which will raise the ROI of marketing efforts.
Pharma marketers should be in the midst of their planning to not miss a beat once the cookie-less era commences next year. The policy change on third-party cookies is a beneficial opportunity for pharma marketers to embrace marketing tactics that raise the impact of marketing campaigns with physicians. The shift away from cookies as part of the evolving marketing landscape will elevate the success of pharmaceutical brands that are adopting marketing innovations within the space to better understand medical professionals and deliver messages that support the professional growth of physicians.
Harshit Jain, MD
About the Author:
Harshit Jain MD is the Founder and Global CEO of Doceree, the first global network of physician-only platforms for programmatic marketing. With Doceree, Harshit is aiming to address the acute problem of rising cost of healthcare by bringing in efficiency and effectiveness in marketing to physicians by pharma brands on digital platforms with methodical use of data and creativity. Learn more about Doceree at: doceree.com.
