Pharmaceutical companies invest heavily in building credibility with healthcare professionals (HCPs), patients, regulators, and partners. Yet, over time, even the strongest brands face challenges: generic competition, declining trust, new market entrants, or changing patient expectations. When these shifts occur, pharmaceutical companies often turn to brand repositioning to redefine their place in the market.
But effective repositioning cannot rely on assumptions. It requires reliable, first-hand data on the people who matter most – patients, physicians, pharmacists, payers, and stakeholders across the healthcare ecosystem. This is where primary research in healthcare becomes indispensable. By collecting anonymized data from representative respondent groups through market research companies, healthcare businesses can align repositioning strategies with real-world perceptions, needs, and opportunities.
Utility of Primary Market Research for Pharma Brand Repositioning
Primary market research services give pharma companies the evidence base to make informed strategic decisions. Unlike secondary research, which relies on published data or existing studies, healthcare primary market research captures fresh data based on a brand’s unique challenges.
Key benefits include:
- Understanding Brand Perception: By accessing aggregate, anonymized data from representative respondent groups of HCPs and patients through market research companies, pharma companies can uncover how their brand is currently perceived. Are patients struggling with adherence? Do doctors see the product as outdated compared to newer therapies? Such market data highlights areas that need repositioning.
- Identifying Unmet Needs: Primary research reveals gaps in treatment outcomes or patient support. Addressing these unmet needs through repositioning can strengthen a brand’s relevance.
- Benchmarking Against Competitors: Pharmaceutical primary market research helps identify where competitors are stronger and where differentiation is possible. Repositioning then becomes a strategy to occupy a unique, defensible space.
- Testing New Messaging: Before launching new positioning, companies can use primary research companies to gather anonymized data on brand narratives, promotional materials, and messaging concepts with representative HCPs and patient groups.
- Measuring Impact Over Time: Ongoing research ensures repositioning efforts are not just effective at launch but remain impactful as markets evolve.
Ultimately, healthcare primary research firms provide the actionable market data that pharma brands need to rebuild trust, resonate with stakeholders, and drive growth in competitive markets.
Types of Primary Market Research
Healthcare primary research relies on multiple qualitative and quantitative methods. Each serves a distinct purpose in gathering market data that informs repositioning strategies.
1. Computer-Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI)
CATI is a cost-effective and efficient way to conduct structured surveys with large respondent groups of healthcare professionals or patients. With advanced systems, interviewers follow predefined scripts, ensuring consistency while still capturing nuanced responses. CATI is ideal for validating hypotheses and measuring opinions across geographies. Data is anonymised and aggregated before delivery to pharma companies.
2. Virtual In-Depth Interviews
These interviews allow researchers to dive deeply into experiences of representative target groups. Physicians, for example, can provide detailed feedback on prescribing habits, patient outcomes, or barriers to adopting certain therapies. The in-depth nature of these interviews uncovers data that more structured surveys might miss.
3. Focus Group Discussions
Focus groups bring together multiple participants to discuss perceptions, experiences, and expectations. For pharma repositioning, groups may include patients, caregivers, or specialists. These discussions reveal shared attitudes, highlight consensus or disagreement, and surface emotional drivers that shape brand perceptions.
4. Online Bulletin Boards
Digital bulletin boards facilitate discussions over days or weeks, allowing participants to share opinions, thoughts, and motivations at their own pace. For pharma, this format is valuable for exploring sensitive topics like chronic illness management, side effects, or treatment decision-making, where participants may prefer more privacy.
5. Online Questionnaires
Surveys remain one of the most scalable methods in healthcare primary market research. They enable companies to collect quantitative data from large sample sizes, making them ideal for statistical validation of perceptions, satisfaction levels, or treatment preferences.
6. Observation Studies
Observational research involves watching patient or physician behaviors in real-world settings through wave or phased studies. For example, respondent observations may reveal how patients use pharma products at home or how physicians integrate a drug into treatment protocols. These studies provide objective data on usage patterns, adherence, and barriers.
Together, these methods give pharma companies a 360-degree understanding of the market landscape, enabling repositioning strategies rooted in evidence rather than speculation.
How Primary Research Enables Pharma Brand Repositioning
Repositioning a pharmaceutical brand is a complex process. It involves balancing regulatory compliance, scientific evidence, and market realities. This is possible through primary research in healthcare, which enables:
1. Redefining Value Propositions: Research helps brands identify which features – efficacy, safety, affordability, convenience, or innovation – matter most to stakeholders. Repositioning then emphasizes the value most likely to influence adoption.
2. Strengthening Patient-Centric Messaging: By understanding the language, needs, and concerns of representative audience groups through anonymised data from research companies, pharma companies can create messages that resonate more authentically. For example, shifting focus from clinical jargon to empathy-driven communication often improves brand connection.
3. Engaging HCPs More Effectively: Physicians are key decision-makers. Pharma primary market research reveals what influences prescribing behavior, from clinical data to patient demand, helping repositioned brands align messaging with medical priorities.
4. Supporting Market Expansion: For brands entering new therapeutic areas or geographies, primary research uncovers cultural, regulatory, and practical differences that must shape repositioning strategies.
5. Rebuilding Trust: In an era where public skepticism toward “big pharma” persists, repositioning grounded in transparent, accurate market data demonstrates a commitment to listening and adapting – building stronger trust with both HCPs and patients.
Pharma brand repositioning extends beyond marketing – it is a strategic shift that determines long-term relevance and trust. To succeed, companies must ground their efforts in reliable, evidence-based insights. Primary research in healthcare provides this foundation, ensuring that repositioning strategies are not only innovative but also aligned with the real-world needs of patients and HCPs. By partnering with specialized pharmaceutical primary market research firms like Unimrkt Healthcare, pharma companies can confidently navigate repositioning journeys, enhance patient engagement, and secure a stronger market presence.
Partner with Unimrkt Healthcare
Unimrkt Healthcare is one of the leading healthcare primary research firms, trusted for delivering rich market data to global pharmaceutical companies. With over 1,200 multi-country qualitative studies conducted annually across 90 countries in 22 languages, Unimrkt Healthcare combines qualitative and quantitative primary market research services to support effective brand repositioning. Leveraging state-of-the-art CATI systems, dedicated project managers, and end-to-end support from planning to post-field analysis, we ensure on-time delivery of anonymized, credible market data that informs strategies, helping pharma companies reposition brands with impact and long-term relevance. To learn more about how we can help your primary healthcare market research efforts, call +91-124-424-5210 or +91-9870-377-557, or email sales@unimrkthealth.com. You can also fill out our contact form, and our team will connect with you promptly.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Why is primary research in healthcare important for pharma companies?
Primary research provides insights from representative audience groups (whether it is patients, doctors, and other stakeholders). Unlike secondary data, it gives pharma companies fresh, brand-specific intelligence to guide repositioning strategies and strengthen competitive advantage.
2. What’s the difference between primary and secondary market research?
Primary market research involves gathering original data through methods such as, Interviews, Surveys, and Observations. Secondary research relies on existing reports, publications, or databases. Both are useful, but repositioning strategies benefit most from first-hand input collected through primary methods.
3. How do healthcare primary research firms ensure accuracy?
Reputable firms, such as Unimrkt Healthcare, use robust methodologies, trained interviewers, advanced CATI systems, and strict quality controls. They also comply with ethical standards and data protection regulations to ensure reliability and credibility.
4. What role does pharmaceutical primary market research play in brand repositioning?
It helps companies gather data on evolving HCP and patient expectations, test new brand narratives, and identify unmet needs. This evidence-driven approach ensures repositioning strategies resonate and deliver measurable business impact.
5. Can primary market research support global pharma companies?
Yes. With partners like Unimrkt Healthcare – operating across 90 countries – global studies can capture regional differences in treatment patterns, cultural nuances, and regulatory expectations, enabling repositioning strategies tailored to each market.
6. How do pharma companies choose the right primary market research services?
They should look for partners with proven industry experience, multilingual capabilities, advanced technology platforms, and the ability to provide both qualitative and quantitative market data, and Unimrkt Healthcare is well-positioned to ensure this.
7. What is the cost of healthcare primary market research?
Costs vary depending on scope, geography, and methodology. While it requires investment, the ROI comes from reduced risk in repositioning efforts and improved brand success in competitive markets. To get an accurate quote, contact Unimrkt Healthcare today.
8. Why should pharma companies partner with Unimrkt Healthcare?
Unimrkt Healthcare offers global reach, methodological expertise, multilingual capabilities, and end-to-end support. With a track record of delivering timely, accurate market data, we are one of the most trusted healthcare primary research firms worldwide.
