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How Pharma Marketing Can Ride the Audio Wave Into Modern Times

Workers in the pharma industry may not be wearing capes or spandex body suits anytime soon, but they are wearing white lab coats and working tirelessly to keep us healthy. And there’s a unique opportunity to shift the perception of the pharma industry from arch-villain to superhero in the hearts and minds of consumers. 

From the onset of the global pandemic to the vaccine rollout, the well-deserved recognition that the pharma industry received was remarkable.

Pharma companies should take a bow and take credit (humbly) for the immense work done to benefit all of us. Indeed, their reputation as a result of the pandemic has improved with most Americans. But a recent Harris poll indicates a downturn in positive association for the industry with consumers.

Pharma marketers have the chance to build on the positive momentum with consumers, and all it requires is a smart couple of pivots.

Embrace digital audio

For years, pharma consumer marketing has focused on visual imagery with a core reliance on linear television. But these days, audiences continue to migrate away from linear TV towards digital, and they’re exhausted from looking at screens. They’re loving audio due to its inherent portability, plus its ability to personalize content to their moods, emotions, activities and more. In fact, according to Edison Research 71% of audio listening is happening on a digital or on-demand device. And as for frequency, the average American is streaming audio almost four-and-a-half hours on average a day. 

Yet, despite these numbers, digital audio is often either deployed intermittently as a tactic, or not used at all. It’s important that digital audio is thought about as a strategy. 

Define a device strategy

Connections are key.  

Humans love connectivity, whether it’s your addiction to your mobile device, your dependency on Bluetooth headphones for streaming The Office Ladies’ podcast or asking Alexa to play your “French Cooking Music” playlist while prepping dinner for the family. Smart technologies have infiltrated every single aspect of our lives.

It’s time to click ‘refresh’ on past perceptions that linear television is the only method for reaching pharma consumers in home environments. 

Your pharma marketing strategy should connect across multiple touchpoints and multiple devices. It has to start with the device you’re holding in your hand. Your smartphone is the very center of your device universe. When you think about the fact that six in 10 seniors own smartphones according to Pew Research, it’s necessary to define a marketing strategy that’s mobile-first.  

But you can’t stop there. 

Smart speaker adoption was already happening at warp speed before Covid-19. As we ease our way through the pandemic, large numbers of Americans continue to work from home, either full- or part-time. A cohesive device strategy has to include message delivery on connected home devices. It’s time to click “refresh” on past perceptions that linear television is the only method for reaching pharma consumers in home environments.  

Pandora’s proprietary listener panel of 75,000 listeners helps us better understand the importance of these devices to our audience. Almost half of our listeners in the Soundboard Study own at least one smart speaker, which is higher than the general U.S. population (of one in three). And, connected home listeners are Pandora’s second largest audience platform (our largest audience is on mobile). Your brand should be there.

Direct-to-consumer success

Consumption of streaming audio is here to stay. For pharma brands, staying contextually relevant means connecting with consumers on the right devices—with mobile and connected homes at the top of the list. Marketers need to tune in to where consumers are spending their time to maximize on pharma’s growing positive reputation.