Identification of the Promotion Strategy Components of the Iranian Pharmaceutical Products

Abstract

Background: One of the most important factors in developing competition ability in Iranian pharmaceutical companies is principled and systematic planning in the marketing area. Investigating all marketing variables is outside the scope of this article. Thus, the main purpose of this research was to extent the pharmaceutical companies’ applicable knowledge about promotion strategies; which is one of the most attractive subjects of marketing science.Methods: To achieve deepen extensive and comprehensive understanding of the dimensions and components of the pharmaceutical companies’ promotion strategy, a general framework was first developed by the literature review. Then, the required data was collected by conducting qualitative field research as well as through interviewing with the sales and marketing managers of pharmaceutical companies. The acquired data were analyzed using content analysis method. This process continued until the theoretical saturation was achieved.Results: The data analysis results suggested that the promotion strategy of Iranian pharmaceutical companies has 6 main components, including advertising, sales promotion, public relations and publicity, personal sales, events and experiences, and Word of Mouth Marketing (WOM). Moreover, the methods and tools of these components have different attributes that distinguish the promotion strategies of pharmaceuticals firms from other industries.Conclusion: Examining the promotion strategies of pharmaceutical companies from a close and operational perspective suggested that innovative practices and creative ways for market penetration and forerun. Some of the promotion strategies, including direct and interactive marketing were not common among Iranian pharmaceutical companies; however, many of the others were prevalent in different and innovative ways.