A Chaotic Moment for Pharma Marketing: Q&A with Julius Ramirez

May 13, 2025

Feature

Article

Stricter regulations on a fragmented media landscape is forcing the industry to rethink marketing.

Julius Ramirez
SVP & GM
Product & Partnerships
Doceree

Pharmaceutical Executive: What makes this moment chaotic for Pharma marketers?
Julius Ramirez: We’re at a moment of significant disruption across the healthcare and marketing landscape. Pharma marketers are being asked to do more with less—reach more specialized audiences, demonstrate greater ROI, and stay compliant in an environment that’s changing almost daily—all with limited time, investment and resources.

While traditional channels like in-person rep visits are declining and digital engagement is rising, media consumption remains fragmented with stricter privacy regulations. With the rise of digital, the overload of information and messaging to HCPs is creating chaos in providers’ feeds—resulting in ignored communications and wasted budgets.

Add in rapid shifts in provider behavior and preferences, and it becomes clear why many brands are feeling unmoored. Hence, the biggest challenge today is no longer just access—it’s relevance. Reaching HCPs isn’t enough; you need to connect with them meaningfully and ensure they engage with your messaging. And that requires a much deeper understanding of who they are beyond just their specialty or prescribing history.

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A good solution for this is a platform that can offer pre-curated, insight-rich, and privacy-compliant HCP datasets, that helps marketers cut through the noise and build campaigns grounded in deep provider intelligence. Eliminating the guesswork and inefficient campaigns, such platforms can streamline targeting, enabling pharma marketers to bring structure to chaos and deliver meaningful engagements at scale.

PE: What are some strategies that Pharma marketers can use to better engage with HCPS?
Ramirez: Pharma marketers need to evolve their approach by thinking beyond the clinic. Engagement shouldn’t stop at a provider’s credentials—it should extend into how they learn, communicate, and make decisions as people.

One proven strategy is leveraging data-driven audience insights to personalize outreach, thereby nudging HCPs to make the most apt clinical decision at the right time with the most relevant messaging. This doesn’t just mean segmenting by specialty; it means factoring in preferred communication channels, behavioral traits, and even attitudinal markers.

We've seen a shift toward more personalized strategies, where marketers use people-based insights to deliver the right message on the right screen—whether that’s a podcast, CTV ad, or mobile content. It’s about respecting providers’ time and preferences, and using smart, privacy-compliant data to meet them where they are.

Data exchange platforms or marketplaces can also support this strategy by giving marketers instant access to turnkey, enriched HCP data segments that go far beyond basic demographic targeting and can readily activate campaigns using data that reflects real-world HCP behavior, content preferences, and clinical interests.

PE: How impactful would the potential ban on DTC Pharma advertising be?
Ramirez: A ban on direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising would have a major ripple effect—especially for brands that rely heavily on consumer demand to drive provider conversations. Without DTC, there would be even more pressure on healthcare professionals to be the primary source of information and education for patients.

That puts a premium on strong HCP engagement. If DTC were limited or eliminated, pharma marketers would need to double down on provider relationships—not just to drive awareness, but to ensure physicians are equipped with the right information to support patient care. In that environment, understanding HCPs as people—not just as prescribers—becomes even more important.

Some emerging data marketplaces in the healthcare industry are proving to help brands adapt quickly by offering ready-to-deploy HCP segments that align with strategic therapeutic needs and market dynamics.

PE: What are turnkey HCP audiences and how important is it for Pharma marketers to engage with them?
Ramirez: Turnkey HCP audiences are pre-defined, ready-to-activate segments of healthcare providers that marketers can use to reach their target audiences quickly and efficiently. These audiences are built using a mix of professional and personal data points—things like specialty, prescribing authority, and even behaviors and preferences.

For Pharma marketers, this means campaigns can get off the ground faster and with greater precision, especially when working across digital channels. The more refined and predictive the audience, the more personalized the engagement can be. In today’s environment, where relevance and timing are everything, turnkey audiences allow marketers to scale smartly—while still delivering the kind of nuanced messaging that resonates with providers on a personal level.

That’s exactly what good HCP data marketplaces can deliver by removing the friction from audience sourcing by enabling access to curated, insight-led HCP datasets that can be instantly plugged into campaigns. In today’s environment, where relevance and timing are everything, turnkey audiences from such platforms allow marketers to scale personalization, increase speed to market, and deliver more value with every touchpoint.