"Multimedia-ize" Your Display Ads with Embedded Playback Widgets

Simple banner and other format (e.g., box) display ads are usually static .jpg or .png images that solicit site visitors to "click through" to more information; i.e., the core message or "call to action" such as registering to attend a webinar or live event or to download a white paper, etc.

Aside from using eye-catching graphics and concise text, there's really little else that display ads can do to entice visitors to click on the ad and take the desired action. The formats of these ads are usually set in stone and do not allow for much detailed information to be delivered in an compelling format.

Pharma Marketing Network offers more value to our advertisers who purchase display ads to run on the network by "multimedia-izing" the ad! That is, we take your simple static image and combine with an embedded widget to playback an audio or video clip or even display a Twitter timeline. An example of a display ad with an embedded audio playback widget is shown in the image below:

(click on image for an enlarged view)

In this particular case, the ad appears on Pharma Marketing Blog. The top portion of the ad is what you might see in a typical simple display ad; i.e., a combination of graphics and text that links to the sponsor's landing page.

Inserted at the bottom is a widget that allows viewers of the ad to play back a short, 1 to 2 minute audio snippet from an Pharma Marketing Talk interview or a PharmaGuy Audio Snippet. Youtube videos and Twitter timelines can also be embedded within display ads.

So, which is more compelling and likely to generate clickthroughs? A simple graphical display ad or an audio-enhanced display ad as described above?

For details about display ads of all types -- including audio-enhanced display ads -- please contact sales@pharma-mkting.com

Effective Conference Promotion Requires More Than a "Contra" Media Partner Deal

Many conference promoters request a free listing in the Web version of the Pharma Marketing Network (PMN) Conference Calendar, in exchange for "Media Partner Recognition." The latter usually includes placing the PMN logo and link somewhere on the conference site -- either at the bottom of the conference home page or on an internal Media Partner page. Sometimes, such recognition also includes a short paragraph description and inclusion of the PMN logo in the printed conference brochure that is handed out to attendees.

These "contra" deals are valuable to conference producers who often must promote their conferences on a limited budget and PMN is happy to help our clients reach their goals while at the same time informing our Web audience of interesting pharmaceutical industry conferences.

But let's look at some numbers to see if  a pure "contra" deal is the best option for your conference.

The Web version of the Pharma Marketing Conference Calendar receives over 2,500 unique visits PER WEEK. Usually, for strict swap deals, the listing of your conference begins 45 days prior to the event. Thus, your conference listing is potentially seen by over 16,000 visitors! So, getting your conference listed in this calendar is very valuable.

A version of the PMN conference calendar -- Conference Calendar Update -- is sent via email to all 8,000 Pharma Marketing News subscribers every 2 weeks. It is the emailed version of the Update that generates the greatest number of clickthroughs.

If you just promote your conference via a Media Partner contra deal, your conference only appears in the Web calendar and NOT in the Update email version sent to all subscribers. The result is fewer clickthroughs on your conference listing.

Here's a typical timeline showing the clickthroughs on a conference that is listed in BOTH calendars:

Notice how many more clicks this conference gets from the email Update version of the calendar (the tall bars). A pure Media Partnership contra deal only gets you about 25% or less of the potential clickthroughs you would get with a paid, discounted Media Partnership deal that includes the listing in the Update.

Obviously, neither PMN nor its clients can reach their financial goals via pure "contra" Media Partner deals alone. Sometimes you need a more integrated, paid campaign that is more likely to get you results. What you pay for this -- at a discounted Media Partner rate -- can be a fraction of the return you are likely to get in increased registration fees.

Topics of Interest to Pharma Marketing News Subscribers & Pharmaguy Followers

Advertisers often ask questions such as "How many of your subscribers are involved in data or marketing analytics and market research?" One way to answer this question is by surveying Pharma Marketing News (PMN) subscribers and Pharmaguy™ Twitter followers to learn more about our audience and their interests.

Without further ado, here are the results of surveys to date. Remember, every e-mail ad (blast) sent to the PMN subscriber list is also posted to the Pharma Marketing Network® web site. When the e-mail goes out, a tweet is also sent to Pharmaguy followers -- learn more about them here -- with a link to the Web version of the e-mail blast. In addition, the ad is also summarized with a link in a "Messages from Our Sponsors" widget (see an example on the right) embedded on the most-visited pages of the Pharma Marketing Network. Thus, your ad reaches many more pharma professionals than just our subscribers and followers.

Topics of Interest to PMN Subscribers (N = 437)

(Click on the chart for an enlarged view)

Topics of Interest to Pharmaguy Followers (N = 2032)

(Click on the chart for an enlarged view)

Embed Your Conference Twitter Timeline in the PMN Calendar Page

Many conferences have associated Twitter hash tags that are used to

1. promote the conference prior to the event, 
2. gather tweets made during the conference, and 
3. keep the conversation going after the conference.

IIRUSA's ePharma conference, for example, uses the #epharma hash tag. The actual dynamic Tweet stream/timeline for this hash tag can be seen in the following widget:

Tweets about "#epharma"

A version of this same widget can be placed on the online Pharma Marketing Conference Calendar page as shown in this screen shot:

(click on the image for an enlarged view)

The widget is essentially a dynamic, interactive ad. As more tweets are made using the hash tag, the widget is automatically updated to display the latest tweet at the top. Visitors can scroll down to see previous tweets and click on links within tweets. Thus, the entire history of offers and highlights related to the conference is available within this single widget. You control the content.

A hash tag widget gives your conference extra visibility within the online Calendar, which receives over 2,500 unique visitors per week. Depending on your needs, we keep the widget on the page above the fold for 2 weeks, one month, or longer.

For more details, including pricing, Contact Us or email sales@pharma-mkting.com.

Add Social MultiMedia -- Audio, Video, RSS Feed -- to Your Conference Listing

If you are a conference organizer, you may be producing videos of presentations made at your conferences and using them to promote the next scheduled event. Perhaps you produced a short promotional video that highlights the important benefits of your upcoming conference. Or you may have produced an audio interview of a speaker about his or her planned presentation. Or you may have a Twitter account or Blog where you periodically post content and news that relates to your conference. If so, you are among a growing number of conference organizers who are leveraging multimedia and social media to promote their conferences. Pharma Marketing Network can help you do that.

Pharma Marketing Network now offers conference organizers the ability to embed playback "widgets" in the listings of conferences in the online PMN Conference Calendar. Let's look at a couple of examples to show you how this works.

ExL Pharma and Pharma Marketing Network teamed up to host a live Pharma Marketing Talk show that featured an interview with Philippe Kirby, EUCAN MCM IT Director, MSD (Europe) Inc., who previewed the topic he was scheduled to present at ExL's 5th Annual Digital Pharma Europe conference. After the live interview, the show was archived as an audio podcast, which can be played back using a widget. The playback widget was embedded within the listing for the conference as shown in the following screen grab (click on image to view in original size):

After listening to such a knowledgeable speaker, who can resist checking out the agenda and other speakers for this conference?

NOTE: The conference organizers liked the podcast in the above example so much, they embedded the same playback widget in the conference home page as shown below (click on image for an enlarged view):

Another example features an embedded YouTube video produced by eyeforpharma to help them promote the 11th Annual eyeforpharma Barcelona 2013 conference. The video featured a presentation made by Rebecca Jones, Head of Marketing Effectiveness, BBC Worldwide, at a previous eyeforpharma conference. Notice in the screen grab below that some introductory text was also included to explain the video content (click on image to view in original size):

The third example is a special widget created by a third-party -- Medstartr -- that helped Basil Strategies raise funds for  ePatient Travel Scholarships. The goal was to help bring more empowered patients to the Doctors 2.0 & You conference. The widget includes a short video and a link to the Medstartr site where viewers can donate to the scholarship fund.

Many conference producers have Twitter accounts or blogs devoted to specific conferences. Pharma Marketing Network has posted content from selected conference feeds to the Events Forum located here. It is possible to create widgets to display items from these feeds much like the widget that displays summaries of posts made to this blog (see the widget in the righthand column). These widgets can also be embedded in conference listings like the playback widgets shown above.

Contact us for the latest prices and for a specific proposal to meet your needs.

Featured Conference Listing Doubles Clickthroughs

The Pharma Marketing Network Conference Calendar is a great place to get your meeting, webinar, podcast, or any other event noticed by the pharmaceutical community. At any given time, there are two dozen or more events listed chronologically in the main calendar page located here. This calendar is also sent out by email to thousands Pharma Marketing News subscribers and by Twitter to many more thousands of @Pharmaguy followers every other Monday. Depending on how long your event is listed, you can expect several hundred clickthroughs as a result of this "push-pull" promotion.

But if you want to get even more exposure, especially within a specific timeframe (i.e., during the "Early Bird" registration phase), you might consider a Featured Conference Listing, which puts your conference at the TOP of the page in a highlighted box. Here's an example of a recent Featured Conference Listing (click on the image to view a full-sized version of this screen shot):

As you can see, a Featured Listing includes:

1. a “Featured Conference” box at top of conference calendar page; 
2. a large banner (528 x 91 pixels); and
3. a short paragraph that can include tag line, special offer, short description, etc. 

The typical Featured Conference Listing runs for 2 weeks online, plus one insertion in the Conference Calendar Update email version sent to PMN subscribers every two weeks. Of course, you can purchase more than two weeks.

A real case study illustrates how a Featured Conference Listing can generate twice (or more) the number of clickthroughs than what a chronological listing generates. The following chart shows the daily clicks for both the Featured Conference Listing ("f" clicks) and the chronological listing ("c" clicks) of the same conference from 19 November 2012 through 4 January 2013.

During the time period noted, the chronological listing, which in this case was an ENHANCED LISTING (i.e., included a small graphical banner, larger font and tag line), generated 88 clickthroughs ("c" clicks). During the same period, the Featured Conference Listing generated 270 clickthroughs ("f" clicks). Note the peaks in the chart every two weeks when the email version is sent out to subscribers and @Pharmaguy Twitter followers. In this particular case, the Featured Conference Listing ran for about 6 and one-half weeks. The chronological listing, meanwhile, ran for about 12 weeks and generated a total of 217 clickthroughs. Do the math: f/c = 270/217 = 1.24. In other words, the Featured Conference Listing more than doubled the number of clickthroughs! QED.

Contact Us for more details regarding Featured Conference Listing pricing and for a proposal that meets your needs.

Pharma Marketing Talk Podcast: More Than 15 Minutes of Fame!

As of July, 2012, Pharma Marketing Talk podcasts have been listened to a total of about 192,000 times. 2012 podcasts have received, on average, nearly 1,800 listens each and a few have received 3,000, 6,000, 8,000 or 10,000 listens. Of course, by now even more people have listened to these shows, which typically run about 30 minutes in length.

[For an update, see Pharma Marketing Talk: 2012 Stats and Top 5 Shows]

Each podcast is promoted before and after the interview to the thousands of subscribers to Pharma Marketing News, followers of @Pharmaguy on Twitter, and readers of Pharma Marketing Blog. This promotion gives our guest clients much more than 15 minutes of fame within the online pharma community!

Here is how podcasts are promoted via the Network:

• Podcast promotion page, which includes a summary of the discussion topic, lists of guests (including short bios), background information, list of topics and/or questions to be discussed, links to additional resources (eg, white papers, press releases, etc.) and, of course, information about listening or calling in to the live show. This promo page (see an example here) remains on the Pharma Marketing Network indefinitely.
• The podcast is included in the Pharma Marketing Talk RSS Feed and posts made to this feed are AUTOMATICALLY posted as threads in the Pharma Marketing Talk Forum where it gets added social media and search engine visibility!
• Listing the podcast in the online Conference Calendar. The listing includes the title of podcast, date and time of podcast, short description of podcast, photo of guest, and link to the podcast promotion  page. See example below (click on image for enlarged view).

• Same listing in the email Conference Calendar Update sent to all subscribers every 2 weeks.
• Box Ad promoting the podcast before and/or after the interview (see Conference Calendar Update). See example below (click on image for enlarged view).

• One or two Tweets about the podcast via  the @Pharmaguy Twitter account is posted before AND after the live interview/discussion.
• A Playback Widget for the show is available after the show is archived on BlogTalkRadio and iTunes. This widget is included in the podcast promo page so that the audio is played back as soon as the page is accessed. Guests can also copy this widget and place in on their web sites and/or blogs. 

For more information about Pharma Marketing Talk podcasts click here. If you are interested in being a guest on a Pharma Marketing Talk podcast, please fill out this ONLINE FORM today! or call 215-504-4164 or e-mail request@talk.pharma-mkting.com.

A Twitter Campaign Can Reach a Whole New Pharma Marketing Network Audience

Over the past year, I have noticed that Twitter has been used by more and more Pharma Marketing Network advertisers to promote their events, white papers, expertise, and even their products and services.

Many advertisers have their own Twitter accounts, but a few also take advantage of Pharma Marketing Network's Twitter account (@pharmaguy) to have "Pharmaguy" send out tweets on their behalf. DISCLOSURE: In case you didn't know, Pharmaguy is me, John Mack, Publisher of Pharma Marketing News. You can find an archive of Pharmaguy tweets here.

Factoid: The use of Twitter among the nation’s largest corporations has nearly doubled: 60% of companies listed on the 2010 Fortune 500 have a corporate Twitter account with at least one tweet issued in the previous 30 days, up from 35% who did so a year earlier, according to research from the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth. Meanwhile, 56% of Fortune 500 companies have a Facebook profile.

Over 26,600 people follow Pharmaguy on Twitter as of October, 2016, and that number is growing rapidly.

Twitter is an effective channel for reaching an entirely NEW Pharma Marketing Network audience; ie, Pharmaguy's Twitter followers. To learn more about this audience, every new Pharmaguy follower is asked to complete the Pharmaguy "Getting to Know You Twitter Survey." Over 1,500 have complied and given valuable feedback about who they are and what they are interested in (see a detailed summary here).

A single tweet, however, is fleeting; the vast majority of Pharmaguy followers may never see it.  An independent Twitter Campaign may include SEVERAL tweets that link directly to the registration page.

The typical Pharmaguy Twitter Campaign includes 6  tweets sent on different days/times to Pharmaguy's followers. Each tweet is uniquely worded as in the following example (this campaign is not related to the CD offer above):

Check out the aggregate results of the ePrints Medical Marketing Survey commissioned by Reprints Desk: http://goo.gl/tb94 [Sent 25-Oct, 10:30 AM]

Top 2 uses for eReprints 4 physicians according to ReprintsDesk survey are Websites & portals; slide 5: http://goo.gl/tb94 #epharma [Sent 27-Oct, 10:30 AM]

Multiple contact pts., diff licensing T&Cs r top probs in use of clinical eReprints by pharma says ReprintsDesk survey: http://goo.gl/tb94 [Sent 28-Oct, 10:30 AM]

Good Promotional Practices Alliance (GPPa) is sponsored & managed by Prolifiq Software and Reprints Desk. #gppnews http://goo.gl/X3kO [Sent 28-Oct, 1:45 PM]

#FF @GPPnews For best pharma collaborative practice 4 sales, marketing & reg compliance. Also C http://goo.gl/X3kO [Sent 29-Oct, 9:45 AM]

Visit Good Promotional Practices Alliance forum 4 resources re balanced approach to sales, marketing & compliance. http://bit.ly/dkE10C [Sent 3-Nov, 10:30 AM]

Note the use of hash tags and short, trackable URLs. This helps us track how well the campaign has done (more on that in another post to this blog).

I recommend that you consider adding a Pharmaguy Twitter Campaign to your Pharma Marketing Network promotional mix. Here are a few reasons why:

• The majority (62%)  of Pharmaguy's followers are pharma marketing professionals working within a pharmaceutical company or a pharmaceutical marketing agency or consultancy. These are people you want to reach.
• About half of them are looking for "new ideas" for drug marketing; ie, just the sort of information you may have.
• Only 24% of Pharmaguy's Twitter followers are subscribers to Pharma Marketing News, which means that at least 76% of them may not see e-mail ad supplements that are sent to subscribers.

If you are interested in learning more about ordering a Pharmaguy Twitter Campaign and pricing, please Request a Media Kit & Rate Card here.

Leverage Your Podcast Interview

Here's a typical scenario editors and publishers like me often encounter.

A PR person calls calls or emails to tell me about his or her client's new product or service. I explain that I usually don't publish press releases in Pharma Marketing News, my monthly electronic newsletter. I suggest that the client Sponsor a Forum dedicated to the company. The client will then be able to self-publish (post) all their press releases, white papers, etc.
What more can I do? My readers want me to inform them about new products and services that may help them in their jobs. Also, I want PR people to be successful, especially if it helps me and my readers. Therefore, I agree to a phone interview.

If the fit is good and the founder or CEO knows his or her stuff, I usually invite him or her to be a guest on the Pharma Marketing Talk live BlogTalkRadio Show and podcast (see "Pharmaguy Interviews: More Than 15 Minutes of Fame!"). I've done over 200 of these shows. You can find a complete list of archived shows (podcasts) here.

Usually, the show is part of a larger campaign such as an "Advertorial" (for more information about that see "Promoting Your Products & Services" and download this pdf file).

A fair amount of promotion is included with each show I produce. First, there's the show information page, which includes the title of the show, brief description, guest bios and photos, date and time of the live show, background information, list of questions or topics to be discussed, and instructions for participating LIVE by phone or online. After the show, this page includes a "widget" that automatically plays the podcast when the page is viewed. There's also a link to the BlogTalkRadio page where you can hear it. See "Solving the Medical Marketing Blues" as an example.

Pharma Marketing Talk (PMT) shows may be listed in the online Conference Calendar and in the Conference Calendar Update sent by email every two weeks to subscribers of Pharma Marketing News. I also notify my thousands of Twitter followers about the show. The show information is also posted in the Pharma Marketing Talk Forum under Events.

Most of this promotion occurs before the live show. In this busy world, however, who has time to listen live, especially in the middle of the afternoon when most of my shows air. Of course, I could change the air time to make it more convenient for live listens, but it's still not likely that more than a few dozen will show up. [BTW, people can listen live online via the Web or call in to listen and/or ask questions live during the show.]

Most people listen to the podcast audio archive of the show, which is kept online indefinitely and is available to download (mp3 format) for listening on mp3 devices such as the iPhone or iPad. The promotional page also stays on the PMN site indefinitely and there is a list of show archives available as well. This makes it easy for PMN visitors to find shows and for the shows to be indexed by search engines.

If you search for "Sanofi-Aventis facebook" on Google, for example, you will find the PMT podcast interview of Dennis Urbaniak, VP US Diabetes at sanofi-aventis, in the #2 position with a link to "What Sanofi-Aventis Learned from Its FaceBook Experience & What the Experts Recommend It Do Now." The #1 link, BTW, is the Pharma Marketing Blog post "Disgruntled Patient Shuts Down sanofi-aventis Facebook Page," which explains the issue being discussed.

As a result of all this promotion, the Sanofi-Aventis facebook podcast has been listened to over 1,300 times since it was recorded. The PMT show had 130 live listeners via the web and 37 people calling in.

Obviously, not every show is as popular as this. On average, podcasts of shows that aired in 2010 have been listened to 486 times (aver live listeners = 19; aver call ins = 9).

[For an update, see Pharma Marketing Talk: 2012 Stats and Top 5 Shows]


As time goes on, this number will increase.

The question is How can you increase the number of listeners to YOUR podcast? Here are a few suggestions:

• You can promote the podcast to your clients via email and/or via your website. You can place the BlogTalkRadio widget -- the same widget I use -- on a page on your website and even in your HTML-formatted email messages! It costs you nothing to link to the podcast or download the widget.
• If you order an Advertorial Promotion Package (see "Promoting Your Products & Services" and download this pdf file), a podcast may be included. The article will include a box ad about the podcast with a direct link to the podcast promo page on PMN.
• A sidebar ad can also be included in a reprint of a relevant Pharma Marketing News article reprint (past or upcoming article) that includes a link to the podcast.
• Order a text transcript of the interview. You can then easily create a summary of the discussion to post on your website or as a press release.

If you are interested learning more about the Pharma Marketing Talk show and how to leverage the podcast archive to reach more PMN subscribers, please Contact Us and we will be very happy to discuss the details and get you a quotation/insertion order.