Pharmaceutical Marketing Transformation due to COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Background: Since COVID-19 spreads from one person to others, it is necessary to stay away from others or reduce contact. This habit or practice is called social distancing. It encourages people to stay at their homes and to avoid crowded and/or public places. Objective: To evaluate and discuss changes and shifts in the pharmaceutical marketing strategies due to COVID-19. Methods: This is a narrative review articles and we use triangulation method to collect the related information from multiple electronic database. The results and findings of the selected articles were summarized and synthesized. Results: As the number of COVID-19 infected people grows and the uncertainty of finding a cure continues, the people are becoming more apprehensive. Pharmaceutical companies made changes to their marketing strategies. From being too invested with in-person marketing, most companies are now exploring options that do not require as much physical interaction. Pharmaceutical companies have been reliant on telemarketing, digital marketing, and miscellaneous offers. This change is primarily driven by fear of being infected by the virus and self-preservation. Conclusions: Based on the studies collected and reviewed in this paper, the changes appear to be successful especially with regard to digital marketing. This review provides an insight to marketing managers in the pharmaceutical industryto continue adjusting and modifying theirmarketing strategies due to COVID-19.Because this study focused on a specific sector (i.e., pharmaceutical)the results cannot be generalized and extended to other sectors.Future studies are needed to investigate the trends of changes and shifts of the pharmaceutical marketing strategies due to COVID-19.