With the US economy teetering on a recession, sales and marketing budgets are expected to take a hit among businesses across sectors. The pharmaceutical industry is no exception.
When any organisation looks to slash its budget, the old adage about acquiring new customers costing five times as much as retaining existing customers becomes an alluring data point. For decades, advertising expenditures have been trending downward as a percentage of drugmakers’ overall revenues, from 6.1% in 1979 to 2.8% in 2018. In 2023, expect manufacturers to further shift their focus away from acquiring new patient prescriptions to retaining existing customers.
The notion of making fewer mistakes with your existing business practices, rather than expanding your footprint, might seem overly conservative for a robust industry. But against the backdrop of current global events, a conservative approach makes sense.
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Read my latest column on pharmaphorum.