Evolution of the Medical Representative Marketing Kit

Medical Representative is an important link in pharmaceutical industry. In Pharmaceutical selling, a medical representative meets a physician at a pre-designated location either by fixing a prior appointment or impromptu. But to create and arouse interest in the doctors mind; Medical representatives need the help of supporting presentation tools and resources otherwise called as marketing kit.

Marketing kit assumes a great significance in marketing & presenting the product and service to the doctors and hospitals and institutional segments. Promoting products through Visual aids, LBLs, Clinical paper presentation and/or, free sample distribution is a part of a Medical Representative’s marketing kit.

What’s inside a Marketing Kit of a Medical Representative?

A marketing kit, consists of visiting cards, day planners, various promotional and free product samples. As a MR spends most of his day commuting, communication gadgets like mobiles, and laptop play an important role to be in direct touch with Head Office & nearby stockists.

Traditional Marketing kit for MRs

Perhaps the ubiquitous leather tote bags are the closest thing for any Medical sales representative. Such bags with company or product logos on them; are inexpensive and potent way for brand recall. In-fact very often – the bag in itself becomes the marketing kit.

What’s inside?

1. Visiting Cards.
2. Daily call planner.
3. Daily report format
4. Customer record card
5. Route plan
6. Free promotional samples
7. Gifts for the doctor (if any)
8. Promotional Stationery / product catalogs / Leave behind literature(LBL)
9. CD/ DVD give aways
10. any other items of personal nature

The marketing kit serves in building the image of the pharma company and that also of the medical representative. The traditional marketing kits are heavy as they are stuffed with bundles of glossy paper LBLs which may be outdated or irrelevant to the present marketing context. With no real-time communication tools, decision making becomes slow.

What is an Electronic Marketing Kit?

The business cycles have sped up for pharma companies, thus it’s important to quickly disseminate information to health care professionals.An e-marketing or electronic marketing kit consists of tools and Apps that improves productivity of MRs. Branding is all about consistency – thus it’s very important that the latest version of the presentation is detailed to physicians. And since it’s easy to update and share files on tablet devices, everybody can see the most current versions of documents, E-marketing kit comprises of handheld tablet, a smartphone and less baggage to carry with.

Equipping MRs with handheld tablets like iPad or Android tabs has given them a new way to communicate with physicians. With handheld tablets as a part of their Marketing Kit, Medical reps can show product video clips to health care professionals, along with 3D animations explaining the dosage, efficacy and indications for a particular drug. The high-resolution handheld tablet display makes presentations look crisp and professional. MRs can also use their handheld Tablets to display data from clinical tests and even setup a video chat with a MSL(Medical Science Liason) while sitting at the physician office.

Other benefits of e-marketing kit

Managers can respond to time-sensitive requests immediately, even when they’re out of the their territory or country. MRs can take better marketing decisions, as their managers can respond from wherever they are, approval times have been greatly reduced. Instead of carrying a big paper calendar, MRs can manage all their schedules on Android smartphones.

A medical representatives plays a very important role in the medical industry. Without them, it would be impossible to bring advancements in medical care and diagnosis to the public. However, their jobs are not without long hours, long travel hours, and personal sacrifice. Empowering them with the latest tools and detailing aids can make their life easy and greatly improve their field performance. Medical Representative’s dedication to their purpose & profession makes them the best marketing gurus on the planet. E-marketing kit supports them do it more efficiently; at minimal cost.