iPad Apps: Are You Content with your Content?

“Pharma is not an industry known for launching headlong into new ideas and new ways of doing things—at least not without indulging in a considerable period of cautious study first. So its embrace of the iPad—both as a new sales tool and as a new way to communicate with and educate patients—stands out as somewhat anomalous. Granted, the sheer economic and cultural impact of the device, which was first released in April 2010, has been hard for any technologically focused industry to ignore: Apple sold 15 million iPads in the first nine months of launch. And its uptake among the medical profession has been particularly staggering. In May 2011, Manhattan Research reported that 30 percent of physicians in the U.S. already own an iPad, and this proportion will have already risen considerably, given that another 28 percent revealed they were planning to purchase one ‘in the next six months.’

But recognizing the iPad as a phenomenon and making a quick decision to embrace the hardware is just the beginning. The iPad revolution brings with it a new challenge, that of effective content creation. And this is where pharma has sometimes come undone.

Of course, says Bill Drummy, founder and CEO of Heartbeat Ideas, the elements of an app are dependent on the marketing objectives of the brand. But Drummy does believe in five key principles for approaching app development: ‘Identify insights about your audience and product differentiation (don’t start by thinking about the iPad; start by thinking about the marketing problem at hand); explore the unique capabilities of the tablet to generate meaningful engagement; consider innovation within practical boundaries (for example, does the app need to talk to CRM systems?); test at every stage (no one knows exactly what will work best, so develop, measure, improve); and optimize for the future.’ ”

See the full article on PharmExec.com

Source: Pharmaceutical Executive Magazine
Date Published: January 1st, 2012