How telehealth is reshaping pharma brand engagement

Explore key strategies, trends, and frameworks that help pharmaceutical brands connect with patients, enhance engagement, and stay competitive in an evolving industry.

Pharma Brand Engagement

Telehealth and virtual care have become increasingly popular among healthcare consumers as patients seek out more convenient, accessible methods to manage their health and well-being. While not all patients may be ready to embrace telehealth and virtual care as the “new normal”, the acceptance of these platforms for common health concerns like prescription management, patient education, and low acuity treatments continues to rise.

For many, the COVID-19 pandemic increased their awareness of and openness to virtual care, as scheduling in-person appointments became more difficult. This shift was significant, as utilization of telemedicine increased from 15.4% to 86.5%, according to the CDC—a roughly 465% increase.

Healthcare and pharmaceutical companies are taking note, embracing telehealth and virtual care technologies as a method to “go direct” and increase patient engagement. And when patients are engaged, the quality and timeliness of care improves, as does the likelihood of positive health outcomes.

Keep reading for an in-depth exploration of what brand engagement looks like for healthcare and pharma companies—and the role of technology in elevating the consumer experience and delivering successful outcomes.

What do you mean by “brand engagement”?

Brand engagement, as defined by Gallup, refers to “a customer's rational, emotional and psychological attachment to a brand, company, or product.” Engaged consumers serve as “better advocates of the brand and are more loyal and more profitable than their non-engaged counterparts,” according to Gartner.

In other words, brand engagement is all about creating meaningful experiences and long-term, productive relationships between a company or brand and its consumers (both current and prospective). While it’s frequently discussed in relation to customer-facing industries like ecommerce or retail, brand engagement can also be applied to the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries. Brands operating within this space benefit from loyalty over time, and aim to improve patient relationships through a more holistic (and less transactional) approach.

What is the goal of brand engagement?

As explained above, the primary goal of brand engagement—regardless of industry or application—is the creation of long-term, productive relationships between brands and consumers. This requires brands to thoroughly understand the priorities, preferences, and emotions of the people they are trying to reach and build trust at each touchpoint.

Once consumer-brand relationships are established, the work’s not over. Consumers can be fickle, and faced with ever-increasing choice, brands must consistently adapt to shifting preferences to maintain long-term customer engagement.

While brand engagement is traditionally associated with consumer goods, strong relationships can directly impact a consumer’s health and wellness while securing longevity for healthcare and pharma brands.

What are the three levels of brand engagement?

A typical brand engagement framework or strategy is multi-faceted, including different types or levels of engagement: awareness, action, and advocacy. These can also be thought of as “low,” “medium,” and “high” levels of engagement:

Low

The lowest level of engagement, awareness, relates to a consumer’s realization that they have a need—and that a specific product, service, or brand could likely be the solution. Brands can increase awareness by producing educational content and using social media to increase exposure, among other strategies.

Medium

When consumers reach the second level, action, it means they have considered potential solutions or answers, and are taking active steps to make a purchase (or similar action). This is where brands can pivot from simply providing information to building connections and inspiring specific action. Driving individual engagement and inspiring action requires more personalized outreach, which is where many brands turn to strategies such as targeted online advertising and personalized email campaigns.

High

Finally, the advocacy stage represents the ideal outcome of brand engagement. Here, consumers reflect on their purchase and, if they are happy with it, will take steps to tell others (friends, family members, or colleagues, for example) about their experience. This provides brands with a type of organic marketing that’s difficult to otherwise replicate: word of mouth.

What is customer engagement in the pharmaceutical industry?

Within the healthcare and pharmaceutical industry, how a brand engages its customers—typically consumers or patients—impacts its ability to build trust and develop meaningful, long-term connections over time. Patient engagement can help to empower and educate patients, leading to better outcomes related to their overall health and well-being.

The difference between an engaged patient and their non-engaged counterpart is difficult to overstate, as engaged patients develop a deeper trust in the brand or provider and take a more proactive approach to their own health. In turn, these advantages can lead to increased satisfaction, improved communication, reduced costs, and more effective treatment and outcomes.

Today’s patients have more options than ever when it comes to their healthcare, making patient engagement an increasingly important priority for pharma brands—especially against the backdrop of increased competition in the pharmaceutical industry. This requires brands to differentiate themselves by demonstrating increased understanding of consumer preferences and making authentic connections.

Even within the healthcare and pharma industries, consumer-centricity is essential. As TTEC notes, a patient-centric approach serves as “a blueprint for engaging all parties by focusing on their needs and priorities, highlighting product value, and delivering quality products and services.”

TTEC goes on to emphasize the importance of understanding the shifting perception of “total value of treatment” from the patient perspective. Pharma brands “must analyze and act on data about patients, physicians, payers, and other stakeholders” and think about the value they provide as being “driven by the value delivered to the patients and their experience during the treatment process” and not just the cost of treatment (without the added context).

What are the forms of brand engagement in pharma?

In most industries, there are a wide range of engagement tactics brands can leverage to build trust, win customers over, and develop long-term relationships. Some common examples include sponsored giveaways or contests, gamification, discount offers, conference or seminar appearances, and so on.

Within healthcare and pharma, however, many of these conventional strategies aren’t appropriate, due to regulatory and privacy-related requirements (among other factors). These consumers’ priorities are also different, and often more nuanced and complex, than those of the traditional retail or ecommerce customer.

So, what does brand engagement look like within a healthcare or pharma lens? Consider the following pharmaceutical branding examples:

Content Marketing: By producing and publishing informative and engaging content, pharma brands can increase awareness while educating patients about conditions or health concerns they may or may not be aware of.
Targeted Communication: When healthcare providers or pharma brands use data to segment their audience and develop targeted communications, they can make connections and build trust with patients in a more personalized way.
Patient Portals: Providing patients with a secure, personal portal for viewing and managing their records helps to create a more holistic approach to care. Today’s patients increasingly expect their personal information and records to be easily accessible, comprehensive, and up-to-date—and failing to provide this type of experience can lead patients to consider other options for their healthcare management.
Education: Patients often have questions or concerns that either arise at odd times or are difficult for them to discuss in person. By creating a vast and searchable repository of educational materials about specific conditions, treatments, and related topics, brands can more effectively meet consumers where they are and position themselves as a reliable and trustworthy resource for their care.
Omnichannel Engagement: Omnichannel engagement is a popular term within the broader marketing industry, but what is omnichannel engagement in pharma? It simply refers to a consolidation and streamlining of patient interactions and communication, so patients have a single, unified experience with shared context—even if they have to visit multiple locations, see separate specialists, and undergo different types of testing.
Telehealth and Virtual Care: Today’s patients prefer—and increasingly expect—telehealth and virtual care options to be available to them. This became especially clear throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused many people to try these options for the first time. One of the greatest benefits of telehealth and virtual care is convenience, especially for patients who prefer not to—or can’t—wait the average 26 days to see a primary care provider.

Especially within healthcare and pharma, the success of these (and other) engagement tactics requires a patient-centric approach. This, in turn, requires quality data—and a reliable way to understand and use it. The Wheel platform provides powerful tools for both companies and clinicians to increase engagement and promote positive health outcomes.

What are the benefits of brand engagement in pharma and healthcare?

Arguably the most significant benefit of brand engagement in pharma is its ability to shorten the distance (or reduce the time) between awareness and treatment for patients. Direct-to-patient pharma initiatives can improve patients’ access to care and make it easier for them to take a proactive approach to their health and well-being.

Telehealth and virtual care, discussed later in this article, enable healthcare companies and pharma brands to meet patients where they are, removing many potential barriers that might prevent them from otherwise seeking care. This helps to not only drive patient acquisition, but also reduces the time from initial awareness (or interaction) to patient-doctor consultation—which can impact the quality of care and increase the likelihood of positive patient outcomes.

What are some of the challenges of patient engagement in pharma & healthcare?

By understanding and adapting consumer engagement best practices to the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries, pharma brands and healthcare organizations can effectively address some of the top challenges in healthcare, including:

Inefficient marketing spend
Limited patient activation and adherence
Delayed access to treatment
Inequities and access barriers

Healthcare and pharma companies can drive significant impacts by developing proactive engagement initiatives to forge authentic connections with patients—empowering them with the insights and encouragement they might need to actively seek treatment. This can include providing educational materials as well as launching broader, awareness-focused campaigns related to specific symptoms, conditions, stigmas, or outcomes (Dove’s “Real Beauty” campaign and Eli Lilly’s “Get Better” campaign are highly-recognizable examples).

All too often, patients ignore their personal health concerns—for a wide range of reasons. They might not understand the severity of what they’re experiencing, or they may have had negative experiences seeking care in the past. They also might simply be uncomfortable talking about their condition, or they might be intimidated by the potential costs associated with diagnosis and treatment.

Overcoming these challenges in the pharmaceutical industry (or other healthcare settings) starts with a holistic and consumer-centric approach to developing patient relationships and earning patients’ trust—not just in the immediate moment, but across the preceding and following weeks, months, and even years.

For healthcare companies and pharma brands, there are several different tactics for creating consumer-centric care programs, including:

Consumer Activation

Capturing interest, educating healthcare consumers, and empowering individuals to take a more active role in managing their health.

Brand Value

Developing and delivering high-impact consumer engagement campaigns and implementing a direct-to-consumer approach that builds loyalty.

Market Expansion

Addressing healthcare inequity and social determinants of health (SDOH), such as economic or education levels, social and community context, and factors related to individual patients’ sense of community or belonging.

How do telehealth and virtual care increase engagement?

Today’s patients increasingly prefer to have telehealth and virtual care options when considering their own healthcare decisions. As you might expect, interest in these solutions increased greatly in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which saw “up to a 500% increase in engagement via remote channels.” In addition, research shows that even with the height of the pandemic behind us, patients’ preference for virtual care has remained relatively steady.

The benefits of telehealth and virtual care don’t just relate to convenience, however. Recent research indicates that the perceived quality of care also increases, as…

55% of patients “believe they receive better care via teleconsultations”, and
52% of clinicians “feel they deliver care more effectively through these digital channels”.

For many patients, the availability, accessibility, and quality of telehealth or virtual care options are primary concerns—meaning they are also opportunities for companies to differentiate by providing the best possible patient experiences.

Best-in-class virtual care delivery should include:

The ability to support live or scheduled remote consultations as well as asynchronous, “store-and-forward” capabilities.
Support for advanced care delivery technology such as remote patient monitoring.
An accessible and secure repository for electronic health records, including cross-compatibility with existing patient data systems.
Facilitation of ePrescriptions and automated processes for the request and review of lab tests and prescription administration.
Support for multiple payment methods, reducing another barrier to care.

What are some pharma brand engagement examples?

As more healthcare and pharma companies realize the importance of patient engagement, they often look to brand engagement examples to inspire their own approach. While every company or brand should tailor their strategies to their specific patients—and their specific needs—these examples provide a foundation for their implementation.

Consider the cases of VersalieCare and Rejoyn, two companies that are using the Wheel platform to educate and engage patients—and ultimately connect them with the care they need virtually.

VersalieCare

VersalieCare takes a holistic approach to menopause care and treatment, offering 1:1 virtual care appointments with highly-qualified and specially-trained clinicians. In addition to coordinating provider visits, they also offer a wide range of expert-reviewed content, a curated product storefront, and other resources to help women understand menopause and find the care they need, when they need it. By providing these resources, Versalie empowers patients with confidence to discuss their health and seek support and/or treatment as needed.

Learn more

Rejoyn

Rejoyn is the first and only prescription app for the treatment of major depressive disorder. Understanding that these individuals see better results with a well-rounded approach, the Rejoyn platform delivers cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and brain-training exercises to take on depression symptoms alongside antidepressant medication. By serving as a sort of “one stop shop” for care, patients using Rejoyn can feel supported at any point in their care journey, whether that means setting an appointment or accessing educational materials.

Learn more

How does technology increase patient engagement?

There are a number of ways in which technology advancements like telehealth and virtual care improve patient engagement and outcomes.

For patients, the number-one advantage of virtual care and telehealth is convenience. Rather than waiting weeks to see a provider, patients can use a smartphone or computer to schedule an online appointment or access care immediately on-demand. Speed-to-care not only improves the chances of positive health outcomes, but in many cases can be the difference between a patient seeking care or opting not to (as many patients will put off seeing care if they aren’t able to see a provider quickly). For patients in less populated or more remote areas, telehealth and virtual care platforms provide more equitable access to healthcare resources, screenings, and more.
For healthcare providers and pharma companies, direct-to-patient telehealth and virtual care services increase patient engagement by meeting patients where they are, providing more convenient touchpoints and more efficient care delivery. This, in turn, improves patient results and outcomes, while educating and empowering patients with the information and support they need to better understand and manage their own health and wellbeing. By providing virtual care and telehealth options, they can also drive patient acquisition and increase brand loyalty.

One of the most prominent healthcare and pharma marketing trends for 2025 and beyond is that patient engagement “will be more remote, digital, and informed.” It’s expected that patients will continue to expect convenient, accessible, and well-rounded care options, as they trend toward virtual care, “pushing the traditional pharmaceutical sales force to be reduced or restructured in favor of remote channels.”

Further, engaging patients in a way that builds trust and loyalty with healthcare companies will continue to require a focus on relationship-building across care touchpoints, which is made much easier with a consumer-centric digital health platform.

Consider the following takeaways from Wheel’s Consumerization of Care study:

If consumers have their way, virtual care is here to stay.

Nine in ten consumers (89%) who used virtual care in the prior 12 months wanted to continue using it.

67% believed virtual care improves access and makes it easier to find an appointment.
66% believed virtual care reduces high costs.
52% believed virtual care improves efficiency and reduces time spent seeing doctors.

For healthcare consumers, convenience is king.

There is a direct correlation between high-quality telehealth and virtual care options and increased patient engagement. It can even be the difference between a patient seeking out—or putting off—the care they need.

Half of consumers (52%) said virtual care motivated them to seek out preventative care that they wouldn't have if it required going in person.
Nearly three-fourths of consumers (71%) said virtual care saved them time and allowed them to see clinicians outside of conventional office hours.
Over half of consumers (51%) appreciated not having to leave their home to access care.

The healthcare playing field is now open to outsiders.

Recognizing the convenience and quality of telehealth and virtual care, consumers are increasingly open to receiving care from non-traditional providers, such as health insurers, retail drug store chains, and life science companies.

When it comes to receiving care from multiple providers, well over half of consumers (59%) had “little or no concern” that this approach would negatively impact their health outcomes.
Even the 43% of consumers that expressed some level of concern about receiving care from multiple providers were largely open to this approach if their concerns were addressed.

View the complete consumer-centric care study

What should I look for in a telehealth platform?

There are several factors to consider when evaluating modern telehealth platforms, including:

Security and Privacy: Robust security and privacy features are critical to compliant care delivery and fostering patient trust.
- Priority #1: Choose a platform with rigorous security and compliance features.
Proven Frameworks: Telehealth and virtual care programs should meet or exceed the standards of care, with quality care and patient safety always paramount.
- Priority #2: Choose a platform with proven clinical protocols and patient care best practices built in.
Patient Engagement: Keeping patients engaged and involved in their own care increases the likelihood of positive patient experiences and improved health outcomes.
- Priority #3: Choose a platform that provides an accessible and intuitive user interface to ensure that information and care are easy for patients to access and engage with.
Configuration: Rigid telehealth and virtual care solutions cannot deliver the personalized care pathways today’s patients expect—so your telehealth platform should allow for customization.
- Priority #4: Choose a platform that accommodates a wide range of configurable features, addressing a diversity of patient populations and treatment needs.
Scalability: Platforms that meet today’s needs but fail to continuously innovate may not be suitable for long-term virtual care program success.
- Priority #5: Choose a platform that aligns with current priorities and can scale to support advancements in technology and care delivery.

Wheel’s Horizon™ platform checks all of these boxes (and more), empowering life science companies and clinicians to deliver personalized, convenient, and comprehensive virtual care.

For more information about finding the right telehealth platform, view our Telemedicine Platform and Services guide. In it, you’ll find a detailed overview of how to choose the ideal platform partner. It covers the importance of telehealth and virtual care, core features of telehealth and virtual care platforms, the benefits of leveraging the right technology, and more.

What is brand planning in pharma?

Brand engagement doesn’t happen by accident. Now that we’ve covered the benefits and logistics of pharma brand engagement, it’s time to put those ideas into action. And that requires a plan.

Brand planning is just what it sounds like: creating a roadmap for developing and marketing pharmaceutical products. A well-rounded brand plan includes a few different components, including a combination of objectives, strategies, and tactics. Depending on the brand’s objectives and priorities, a brand plan can provide an effective framework for reaching new markets or audiences, among other outcomes.

Why is brand planning important in pharma?

A company’s ability to execute a brand plan can lead to numerous positive outcomes, including more effective communication, increased trust, and consistent, meaningful engagement that builds value and generates loyalty.

In other words, brand planning enables companies to differentiate themselves—as well as their products and services—within an increasingly-crowded marketplace. Patients are more informed and empowered than ever, meaning they are actively choosing where, how, and by whom their care is provided. By developing and executing a well-rounded, consumer-centric brand plan, companies can engage, educate, and influence consumers to make the best decisions possible for their health.

Another important aspect of brand planning relates to digital platforms and services—more specifically, evaluating digital health platforms to find the one that will meet the needs of both patients and providers, like Wheel.

Visit our website to learn more about how our AI-powered Horizon telehealth platform can increase patient engagement, advance next-gen care delivery, and increase the accessibility of care.

What Is a pharma brand engagement framework?

A pharma brand engagement framework is similar to a brand plan, but they are not quite interchangeable. Consider the following definitions:

A brand engagement framework provides a structured, repeatable framework or template to inform and align a brand’s overall strategy. Key components of a brand engagement framework in pharma include building productive stakeholder relationships and developing new engagement channels.
A brand plan, by contrast, is more tactical, as it relates to a specific objective (or small set of related objectives) for positioning and promoting individual products or services within the brand’s overarching framework. Key components can include market segmentation and target audience identification, as well as tailored messaging and marketing activities.

What does a pharma brand plan include?

In larger or more complex organizations, it often makes sense to create and use a repeatable annual brand plan template, rather than starting from scratch for each new initiative or area of focus. Here’s an overview of how to make a pharma brand plan, in 4 steps:

Define your brand identity, including its goals, vision, and target audience(s) ensuring that its value is clearly communicated and consistently reinforced.
Perform an analysis of the brand’s current position among patients as well as competitors.
Identify key priorities and meaningful opportunities to build trust and increase engagement with your target audience.
Set specific, measurable, and time-bound targets that prioritize patient-centricity and reinforce the brand’s promise.

If you’re looking for more specific information about what effective brand building looks like within the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries, this article from ZoomRX provides a more detailed overview of the key steps and how to successfully implement them.

Elevate the care experience with Horizon, powered by AI

Recently, Wheel launched its newest solution, Horizon, which promises to advance next-gen care and empower personalized connectivity between patients and providers, enhancing patient engagement and improving outcomes.

This proprietary virtual care platform connects patients with a national clinical network of providers and partners. It includes a wide range of features related to telehealth and virtual care delivery, including predictive care pathways, open connectivity and scalability, patient-centered programs, and more—all seamlessly integrated into your branding.

For more information, visit our Virtual Care and Telehealth Resource Center, or reach out to our sales team to discuss your needs.

Contact sales today