Clear Words, Obscure Benefits

Next Tuesday at 3:05 PM, I am scheduled to give a presentation entitled "Obscure words, clear benefits" at the eyeforpharma "e-Communication and Online Marketing" conference in Philadelphia, PA.

This is the description of my presentation:

Understand business blogging, podcasting, videocasting, SMS and other new technologies

• Keep pace with the evolution of technology: What's hot and what's not!
• Impact vs. Risk: Learn how to evaluate the potential of interactive technologies and put them to work immediately
• Reaching all your clients with the most effective technology. Understand why your clients love new interactive tools and find out how to use them to improve your competitive advantage
• Will you be in the mix? Learn about the Future of Brand Marketing and discover why you cannot do without interactive media

This is very impressive, but I prefer the title "Clear Words, Obscure Benefits" to the official version ("Obscure Words, Clear Benefits"). I guess mine is the glass half-empty version.

Several weeks ago, I presented some evidence that there is a "slump" in pharmaceutical online ad spending (see "Pharma eMarketing in a Slump"). Obviously, the benefits of online marketing are not clear to pharmaceutical marketers who determine the marketing mix for their brands.

Or, it could be that they don't believe the benefits outweigh the risks. And there are risks associated with online marketing, which I have pointed out here in this blog as well as in Pharma Marketing News (see, for example, "The Brand Marketing Mix").

What I will cover in my presentation is a methodology for analyzing the risks versus the benefits of online marketing. There is no one answer for every pharmaceutical company nor for every product.

But, I don't want to give the whole thing away!

Live Podcast from the Conference!
I hope you plan to be at the conference and attend my presentation. If not, give me a call during my half-hour live podcast from the conference at 1:00 PM on Tuesday, November 14, 2006. This is a segment of my bi-weekly show entitled "Pharma Marketing Talk," which is a "talk radio" style show that you can listen to live or download to your iPod.

I plan to interview attendees on their opinions on trends in using technology for pharmaceutical marketing. I will also take calls from online listeners during the show.

This may be the very first time anything like this has been attempted at an pharmaceutical industry trade show. For more information, including instructions for listening live and calling in during the show, see www.pharma-mkting.com/talk/pmtalk.htm.