Trust in Pharma websites As physical access to doctors falls for a variety of reasons, the Internet opens up a huge new gateway to reach the customer. At the moment, however, doctors may be online, but research tells us that they aren't playing the game. To quote directly 'Datamonitor believes that, in the short term at least, physicians will continue to distrust information on company sites, irrespective of content. A harsh reality, which is ignored at peril during the development of an e-business marketing strategy. The key to both brand placement and manoeuvreing customers to Pharmaceutical sites is to ensure you are a part of their current online world.
Doctors access medical sites for many reasons, and two important factors are content and community.
Knowing that the required resources are in one place is highly attractive to a busy clinician. A less tangible but equally important factor is the loyalty developed through an online community. This may be judged by indicators such as the activity within online discussion fora and 'ownership' of the site through ongoing contribution of content by members - by doctors, for doctors. Beyond the banner - online partnerships The formation of partnerships between industry and third party sites means that trust which has been developed will be shared by association. If the relationship brings high quality resources to the doctor's desktop, then brand awareness and perception will benefit.