What to budget for digital marketing as a pharma or life sciences company

Fibvo editorial · 15 October 2023 · 4 min read

A single qualified API supply relationship in pharma can run for years and represent substantial recurring revenue, which makes even a meaningful digital marketing and documentation budget easy to justify against the value of winning even one or two such relationships a year.

What the spend typically covers

• Website and technical documentation maintenance, an ongoing cost as filings and certifications change.
• Targeted Google Ads on molecule and regulatory search terms.
• Trade show and conference presence, which remains important in this relationship-driven category.
• Document security and NDA workflow tooling.

Why content and documentation spend often outweigh ads here

Because the sales cycle is long and searches are highly specific, well-maintained molecule and technical documentation pages keep earning qualified enquiries for years, making this a better use of budget than heavier ad spend alone.

A well-documented molecule page keeps earning qualified enquiries long after the cost of building it is paid.

Adjusting around trade shows and conferences

Budget extra digital marketing effort around major industry events like CPHI, since search interest in your company and specific molecules typically spikes around and after attendance.

---

Written by Fibvo — Bengaluru and Erode, India — working with clients in other time zones. Questions, or think we have it wrong? Tell us.