This month’s published document for The Orange Pages
focuses on Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) as increasingly central players
in the pharmaceutical marketing and marketing research process. While
using KOLs in pharmaceutical marketing research is not a new concept,
they are being used more often for two reasons. First, it is more
cost-effective to use KOLs for a variety of tasks than send out a
phalanx of 100,000 representatives to detail physicians. And second,
many of the products now being introduced are specialty products that
are being sold to high-powered specialists who demand complicated
answers that only KOLs can provide.
For these reasons, there is a need to better use the knowledge,
credibility and expertise of KOLs in the current environment. To assist
in this task, several companies specializing exclusively in the KOL
business are working with pharmaceutical manufacturers — some
of which have set aside millions of dollars to fund such initiatives
— to identify, build and maintain KOL databases.
With greater emphasis now being put on identifying and using KOLs,
it is important for companies planning KOL initiatives to first step
back and ask the question, “What is a KOL?” Chances are
your definition varies greatly with your colleagues and this inconsistency
can lead to confusion. As this article discusses, there is no ideal
defining characteristic for a KOL but instead, many ways (e.g., position,
nomination, association, etc.) by which KOLs could be identified.
Therefore, it is important to remember that grouping these influential
doctors together conceptually, maintaining them on one KOL list and
dealing with them interchangeably is not the appropriate approach
to take. Rather, to be successful, companies must choose the right
KOLs for the task at hand.
To download the complete January 2008 discussion on the new marketing
– and marketing research – focus on KOLs, please click
here.
The monthly issue-based discussions that we publish in this newsletter
can also be distributed to you in hardcopy format via a complimentary
subscription-based resource we publish for our clients called The
Orange Pages. The Orange Pages is intended to serve
as a living, breathing resource of “Information, Education and
Issues Exploration for Today’s Pharmaceutical Marketing Researcher”
that we hope will be read with interest and kept within reach for
ongoing reference.
The format is a three-ring binder designed to hold packets of content
that we will develop and distribute on a variety of topics. Content
packets will come to you in an easy to identify (and appropriately
colored) orange envelope and be delivered on a monthly basis. The
materials will be three-hole punched for convenient one-click assembly
into your binder.
If you would like to receive a complimentary copy of The Orange
Pages binder, and get on our distribution list for monthly addendums,
please fill out the form below.
