We’ll be kicking off this week’s theme of “Ones to Watch” by revisiting Pixels & Pills’ interview with Google’s Amy Cowan at the ePharma Summit earlier this year.

By Jason Brandt

Last month, Pixels & Pills’ Carl Turner interviewed Amy Cowan, head of the health industry for Google at the ePharma Summit.

In her conversation with Carl, Amy discussed how her presentation at the summit, similar to her presentation at the FDA hearings, had outlined some of the developing trends in search and online use, both in technology such as video and smartphones, as well as in user patterns such as those of physicians and senior citizens.

However, the flip side of Google is outlined in a video that’s been circulating over the last two weeks, describing Google’s extensive reach and questioning its means toward the end of advertising revenue. It would be disingenuous of us, despite our pleasure in meeting Amy, to pretend that Google has no detractors.

Really, though, any sentiment is beside the point, because regardless of your feelings about Google’s power, that it has such power is a fact. So Google’s involvement in the healthcare industry should be of interest to everyone else in it. And it has been, for years. Just see these articles about Google Health from 2006 on ZDNet, on Google’s own blog or from the New York Times in 2007.

Recently, though, as the video shows, skepticism and suspicion has been growing, as in this ZDNet article from last week titled “Google Health Is Not At All Well”. It has a decidedly different tone from the one in 2006: “There was fear expressed in the aisles [at the HIMSS conference]… that the company only wants your personal data so it can exploit it, make money with it…. Microsoft insists HealthVault is merely an ingredient in other players’ solutions. Google wants Google Health branded to Google…. Microsoft is seen as an upstanding HIMSS member, while Google is still seen as a foreign presence.”

Regardless, however, Google Health continues to add features and partners. And it’s important to consider that Google Health isn’t the only service offered by Google that can be relevant in a discussion of healthcare. Can augmented reality use Google Goggles, Picasa photos, Google Latitude locator, or YouTube video to provide relevant information to users? Can Google Voice or Google Talk enable doctor-patient conversations? Of course.

Whether you are a fan or a detractor, Google is a digital superpower, and its expansion deserves your consideration. As you develop solutions for helping patients and the healthcare system, never lose sight of how Google will fit into that paradigm – because they will.

Back in February, Damon Caiazza of GSW gave us a few good reasons not to abandon the sales force.  Now he’s back with another guest blog post packed with advice on how sales representatives can maximize their value to HCPs.   Read on for more of Damon’s insights.

By Damon Caiazza (@dcaiazza)

Knock knock!  Who’s there?  Pharma rep!  Pharma rep who?  Pharma rep with no new data or samples, but would you let me in anyway?

Far too often this is the reality for many brands.  In my earlier post “Don’t Abandon the Sales Force” I made my case regarding the value of the sales force.  The key to remaining valuable is being able to gain access to the practices, clinics, or hospitals in a rep’s territory.

Armed with no samples or new data, how does a rep still gain access?

My answer:  Find new and innovative ways for the rep to maintain a presence.  Only those reps that provide value will be successful.  Value is no longer just about the pills, it’s about a lot more.  To help you start down this path of value delivery, I’ll review 4 thoughts that are bound to be conversation starters leading to more access and stronger rep relationships.

Make the HCP Office more Productive

“Time is money” has never been truer in the daily running of a physician’s practice.  Given this specific pain point, pharmaceutical companies need to focus on solutions that make the office run more efficiently.  This can be anything from automated sample ordering, to reimbursement support, to billing systems and everything in between.

Open the door to more meaningful relationships with the office manager, physician, and nurse.

Help the HCP Better Educate Patients

The emergence of the ePatient has brought with it a lot of incorrect and misleading online information.  The more an office can provide in the way of patient education, the more certainty a physician has that their patients are getting the right help.  Who better to help provide patient education portals, customized patient education tools, and educational content than the pharmaceutical industry?

Open the door and build confidence with a valuable (and often overlooked) member of the team – the Nurse.

Share Your Marketing Know-how

There is no one in a better position to help the physician with marketing solutions than the pharmaceutical industry and its advertising agencies–agencies and resources that the average physician practice will never have at their disposal.  It’s time pharma unleash the big guns to help out those practices that want solutions which make them better marketers in an environment that will continue to get more competitive.

Open the door to key conversations with office mangers, often a key gatekeeper of the physician’s schedule.

Become an Information Clearinghouse

The pharmaceutical industry has a wealth of clinical and medical data at its disposal.  It’s time to leverage the enormous amount of content that is generated by your company in a meaningful way for the physician.  The more freely you share your content through HCP Web Portals, Mobile Applications, and in office Kiosks the stronger your relationship will be with the HCP and patient community.  Become a trusted partner, versus a necessary evil.

Open the door to more direct patient communication via the office environment and the health care professional.

The Key Takeaway

You may or may not agree with some of my suggestions, which is fine by me.  Regardless, what I hope you take away from this post is a new appreciation for the role a pharmaceutical company can play in the office and how it can enable its sales force to be the key delivery mechanism for solutions, not just samples.

Knock knock!  Who’s there?  Pharma rep! Pharma rep who? Pharma rep who is here to help you be a better practice.  [Door opens]

We were lucky enough to interview Damon Caiazza of GSW at the e-Pharma Summit a couple of weeks back. Damon’s insights generated a lot of buzz in the industry and he kindly offered to follow up on our conversations with a guest blog post. Read on for some lively and insightful observations from the sales trenches!

By Damon Caiazza

This post is in response to several inquiries about my comments made in a recent interview at the e-Pharma Summit 2010 related to the sales force.

In the wake of a continuing trend that sees drastic reductions in the pharma sales force taking it from a peak of 102,000 in 2007 to 75,000 by 2012, I beg and plead that pharmaceutical companies and their army of agencies don’t abandon the sales force.  Instead, EMBRACE the sales force in innovative ways that put a new face on the personal selling model that has existed for decades in the industry.  If me begging and pleading isn’t enough (which is probably isn’t) then allow me to make a case for further consideration.

The sales force isn’t stupid

Have you ever heard this or even worse, said it?  “My sales force can’t learn this new technology” or “My sales reps can’t deliver such a complicated mess”.

One thing that drives me absolutely crazy is the marketing team’s insistence that their sales force is incompetent.  Furthermore, that any solution that is developed should be done so with the lowest common denominator in mind.  Let’s think about that for a second.  What would life be like if we approached other aspects of our lives with the “lowest common denominator” mentality?

No automobiles = too complicated to operate

No computers = too complicated to use

No books = too hard to learn how to read

The truth is that we wouldn’t have most of what we have today if we took this mentality.  The truth is that we as people (the sales force are people) are extremely adaptable and do so readily in our daily lives when things are presented to us that make us better at what we do, make life more enjoyable, etc.

There is the point.  The solution is not to do anything.  The solution is to make sure that what you do makes the sales force better, more effective at their jobs.  So what if they have to learn something new or possibly complicated.  The bottom line is they will if it helps!

The sales force can’t be replaced by technology

Technology isn’t the answer!  Sounds sort of funny and contradictory coming from a guy who has spent 15 years developing technology-based solutions.  Let me try again.  Technology alone isn’t the answer!

When developing a strategy for how you’ll use technology, don’t do so with the mindset that it will replace the sales force.  It won’t.  The right approach is to view technology as a complement to the sales force, just as we’ve viewed other channels (television, print, direct mail) in the past.  The right technology solutions in the hands of the sales force provide a compelling arsenal of tools that can make them effective selling machines.

Office relationships are a good thing

Get your mind out of the gutter!  I’m serious about this.  We continue to get more and more data about the most influential people in a healthcare decision.  Guess what, there is more than just the physician!  In fact, I’ve seen several studies where Nurses represent the second most influential person in the healthcare decision making process.  Where are nurses?  In the office with the physician!

We also have an environment where cost pressures on a practice are at an all time high.  Thus relationships with the reimbursement specialist, the office manager, and others in the office are invaluable channels that can no longer be ignored.  The truth is, these people influence the physician now more than ever.

The physician’s office has become a complicated, well-oiled machine that can’t be ignored and can’t be addressed solely through technical solutions and static marketing messages.  The solution is to continue to have a physical presence in the office so that a relationship can be built, maintained, and grown.

Check my upcoming blog post “Conversation Starters: Rep Access Tools” to hear my strategies for growing the office relationship.

What does it all mean?

If you take anything away from this, I hope it will be the fact that the sales force still represents a key communication channel for your brand.  During the strategic planning process don’t treat them as a second-class citizen.  Instead, find ways to embrace them as an extension of your team.  Establish a “Use them, don’t lose them” mentality within your team and see where it gets you.  I think you’ll be surprised!

By DJ Edgerton (@wiltonbound)

Last week, Pixels & Pills’ Jennifer Abelson interviewed John Mangano of ComScore at the ePharma Summit.

In his one short talk with Jennifer, John brought up three powerful points that we thought were worth a bit more discussion.

1. Half of Americans go online for health information.

Believe it! That statistic came from a National Center for Health Statistics survey that came out just a couple of weeks ago. Read more information about it here at the CDC.

2. The Internet is a new game for both the FDA and pharma companies.

John pointed out that the reason that this is a new game is that information on the Internet is by its own nature uncontrollable. It can be collected, it can be passed on, it can be rebroadcast – and it can be edited and commented upon in the process. This is entirely unlike other health information that pharma companies and the FDA are used to creating and regulating, respectively.

But his words set up the potential for a paradigm shift – moving from antagonistic to collaborative, from suspicious to exciting. This game is new, so the rules aren’t set in stone yet. It doesn’t have to be pharma companies versus the FDA. It’s new to both sides. It’s new to everyone. It’s just new.

If the marketers and the regulators work together, we can figure out how to get health information to consumers in a way that is both profitable and responsible. The reason this will work – the reason this must work – is John’s first point. Consumers are already going online for health information. If the drugmakers and the drug regulators don’t address that, that’s what is irresponsible.

3. Online health information does not stand alone.

Can we all please put to bed the notion that there is such a thing as a “social media campaign”? That’s like saying you’re going to run an “magazine ad campaign” or a “sales aid campaign” or a “press release campaign”.  A campaign, by definition, is a series of actions toward a goal. (Thanks Google.) One tactic does not a campaign make.

The word that John hits on in his description is precise and accurate. He explains that social media can be “supportive”.

Social media activities are part of the communications mix. They can support the overall messaging. They can support “traditional” activities. They can support patients in their search for accurate information about their health. Social media activities can do all of this – if, that is, we create successful activities.

John, thanks for being so thought-provoking.

Concluding our event coverage, Kristen Paulick of IIR provides a conference wrapup and talks about what’s next for the E-Pharma Summit.

Robert Krensel of Xvivo gives his thoughts on the growing use of digital video in Pharma marketing.

Live From the E-Pharma Summit (#epharma)

Kevin Nalty of Nalts Consulting explains how he became a You Tube sensation and what Pharma marketers can learn from his success.

Live From the E-Pharma Summit (#epharma)

Seth Levine of One to One Interactive Health explains the new science of Neuro Marketing Research and how Pharma companies are using it to test new digital offerings.

Live From the E-Pharma Summit (#epharma)

Dave deBronkart, Co-Chairman of the Society of Participatory Medicine provides some unique insight in to the patient’s approach to digital media and healthcare.

Live From the E-Pharma Summit (#epharma)

Amy Cowan, Head of Industry, Health for Google talks to us about search, how physicians are using the Internet and what Google wants the FDA to know about social media.