Direct marketing: the case of pharmaceutical industry in Nairobi

Abstract

This study was conducted with the objective of determining the level of awareness of direct marketing practices in the Kenyan pharmaceutical industry. The study also set out to determine the current direct marketing practices in the pharmaceutical industry in Kenya and the importance of personal selling in this industry.

To achieve the above objectives primary data was collected fr011150 respondents fr0111 pharmaceutical firms and a similar number of prescribers. All the respondents were located within Nairobi due to the limited budget and time available. The data was collected through use of questionnaires.

The study led to the following conclusions;

1) It emerged that majority of the Marketing Managers are unable to distinguish which marketing tools are direct marketing techniques and which are not as a result 93% and 43% of the respondents picked sales promotion and advertising respectively as direct marketing techniques. II) Ranked with other promotional elements direct marketing emerged as the second most important promotional 1001 after sales promotion. Among the direct marketing techniques use of samples was the most important followed by telemarketing, sales presentation and mail in that order. III) Among the prescribers medical representative presentation was ranked fourth after medical literature, medication inserts and CMES in that order as source of

prescribing information. Also among the respondents it emerged that the medical representative presentation was most important in prescribing decisions involving new products while it was least useful in existing products.