How to Create a Winning Pharma Product Launch Strategy

For pharma companies, launching a product is a high-stakes activity. After all, the leading pharma product launches in 2024 each have a forecasted revenue of over $2 billion.

So, how can your team execute a successful** pharma product launch?** In this article, we'll walk through how to build a strategy—from planning to promotions to analysis—including how Livestorm can help.

Map out a pharma product launch strategy

A successful pharmaceutical product launch strategy starts with research and planning. Here's how to lay the foundation for your launch.

Define product launch goals

Before you begin brainstorming event setups or mocking up marketing materials, start by defining the goals for your product launch. What do you need the launch to achieve?

In some cases, you may want to build relationships with certain key opinion leaders (KOLs). Or you may want to get buy-in from influential groups of healthcare professionals (HCPs).

In other cases, you may want to generate enough interest in the product that you get a certain number of early adopters to commit. Or you may want to secure a specific number of prescriptions.

Quantify your goals when possible. This way, your team can easily measure success and course correct if necessary.

Create a product launch roadmap

Next, develop a roadmap for the launch. This roadmap should feature every touchpoint you'll create for your target audience, including public-facing events and marketing campaigns.

Your roadmap should also include internal initiatives. Successful launches in the pharmaceutical industry often require training stakeholders like spokespersons and sales representatives on drug features, benefits, and side effects.

List responsible departments or stakeholders for each initiative. This way, you can get your team on board, begin delegating tasks, and ensure you won't miss key deadlines.

Keep in mind that research and development, market access, or regulatory issues may cause delays during the commercialization process. Make a backup plan to shift key dates if necessary.

Recruit stakeholders and marketing partners

Even the largest pharmaceutical companies can't carry out successful product launches completely independently. Instead, many partner with KOLs to share messaging, build trust, and increase influence.

If you don't have a KOL engagement strategy yet, now is the ideal time to start. Work with your medical affairs team to develop a list of KOLs to connect with well in advance of your planned launch.

It's also worth recruiting an experienced pharma product launcher to join or advise your team. Only 39% of first-time launchers exceed prelaunch forecasts, while 49% of experienced launchers achieve this goal.

Refine your product messaging

Work with your team to create and refine messaging for the new product. A typical product launch needs two essential messaging elements:

• Benefits: How will the new drug help patients? What problem(s) will it solve? How will they feel after completing treatment? How will it positively affect their lives?
• Differentiation: How is the new drug different from other available options? More importantly, how is it better than other treatments or solutions?

Turn your answers to these questions into marketing copy. Then, use this messaging in your launch events, social media promotions, and advertising.

Host and promote product launch events

Once you've mapped out a preliminary launch plan, it's time to kick off your event schedule. Here's how to maximize the impact of your launch events.

Develop a teaser launch campaign

Your team could certainly launch the campaign with an announcement highlighting the new drug. But starting with a teaser is an even better way to build interest and generate buzz about the product.

For maximum effect, roll out the teaser and start the countdown several months before the launch. This way, you can capture the attention of key members of the healthcare industry in relevant therapeutic areas. During this time, you can also build a registration list for the launch event.

Record a pharma product demo

Next, plan and record a product demo video that introduces the drug and explains benefits, treatments, and side effects. Demo videos typically weave together multiple formats. For example, yours might show a talking head-style feature showing spokespersons and animations showing the effects of the drug.

After recording the video, repurpose it into multiple formats. For example, you'll likely want to show the full video during the launch event. But you can also show snippets during conference presentations.

You can break demo videos into much shorter clips for social media or ads, too. You can even turn the video into a deminar that sales reps can use to educate and sell.

Host live and virtual events

In-person events are an important part of pharma launches. However, when planning a product launch, pharma companies should increasingly prioritize virtual events. More than 80% of physicians want to maintain or increase the number of virtual interactions with pharma companies.

Consider hosting a virtual or hybrid event to announce the new drug. With a webinar software platform like Livestorm, you can prerecord the launch event or livestream it to a global audience.

Livestorm makes it easy to invite anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand attendees to your webinar event. No matter the size of your audience, you can make any virtual event interactive.

For example, you can host live Q&A sessions with KOLs or internal spokespersons. You can also use polls to gauge the audience's reactions and planned product usage. Our healthcare toolkit can help you get started.

Plan field marketing events

Next, engage your target audience with a series of field marketing events. While field marketing events often focus on in-person happenings, they also include virtual and hybrid components.

Consider hosting hybrid panel discussions that explore trending topics related to the new product. When you stream these events via Livestorm, you can engage audience members virtually, too.

Another option is sponsoring a booth at a trade show. During trade shows, you can have conversations with HCPs and other influential figures in person.

Promote the event across channels

To maximize the reach of your launch, take an omnichannel approach. In addition to virtual and in-person events, promote the launch across:

• Landing pages that highlight the features, benefits, and side effects of the drug
• Email marketing campaigns that connect with HCPs in their inboxes
• Social media campaigns that connect with your target audience across platforms
• Ads that reach HCPs and patients across websites and social media platforms

Reflect on pharmaceutical product launch results

After your new product launch concludes, collect the results and analyze the outcomes. Then, use the valuable insights you glean to make your next drug launch even more successful.

Distribute launch event recordings

The events themselves may seem like the highlights of the launch. But the post-event period is a critical time to reinforce the product information you announced and share it in other formats.

If you opted to host a virtual event with Livestorm, you can easily distribute the recording. This way, attendees can rewatch key parts, and people who couldn't attend in real time can watch on demand.

You can also send a post-event poll to follow up with attendees. This tactic gives your team an opportunity to gather both qualitative and quantitative data to gauge launch success.

Measure the impact of the launch

Then, use all the analytics at your fingertips to measure the total impact of the launch. For virtual events, you'll typically want to analyze:

• Total number of people registered for the event
• Real-time viewers
• On-demand viewers
• Viewer retention

For other digital marketing channels like email and social media, you'll likely want to track:

• Total number of people who saw the promotion
• Click-through rate
• Engagement rate

To determine other metrics to measure, refer back to the goals your team set at the beginning of the process. For example, you may need to gauge KOL reactions, review HCP statements, or tally revenue numbers.

Make time for a postmortem with your team

Finally, gather with your team to recap the launch. Share the analytics and the total impact of the event so everyone can understand the results from a quantitative perspective. Then, share qualitative input from KOLs, HCPs, sales reps, and other attendees.

Together, discuss what worked well during the launch and what could have gone better. Make a plan to optimize your team's next launch so you can make it a cross-functional success.

For example, your optimizations may focus on offering more virtual or hybrid events. Or they may center on developing an even more effective teaser campaign to generate more buzz before the launch.

Livestorm for your next pharma product launch

With Livestorm, you can plan successful virtual and hybrid launches, connect with healthcare professionals, and build relationships with key opinion leaders anywhere. Our webinar software makes it easy to:

• Host live events with multiple stakeholders and a wide range of media components
• Restream content and cross-promote across social media channels
• Engage attendees in real time using live Q&As, polls, and live chat
• Follow up with attendees after the event to distribute on-demand content
• Integrate Livestorm with your existing tech stack

Curious how our video engagement platform will work for your pharma team? Sign up for Livestorm, connect your tech stack, and organize your first virtual event in just a few minutes.