Moving past vanity metrics

Pharma CMOs in India have had enough of dashboards cluttered with “likes,” “clicks,” and “reach.” Those numbers look good in quarterly reviews, but they don’t answer the only question that matters: did engagement with doctors translate into prescription behavior and brand growth?

This is where MarTech for Pharma changes the game. It isn’t about more data. It’s about better data, the kind that links engagement with outcomes, compliance with execution, and marketing spend with real ROI. Let’s break down the 10 metrics that will actually matter in 2025 for Indian pharma marketing leaders.

1. Doctor Engagement Score

Forget impressions. The single most important metric is how engaged doctors really are. This goes beyond counting touchpoints. A robust Doctor Engagement Score factors in rep visits, WhatsApp interactions, webinar attendance, and content downloads. It tells you whether a doctor is actively interacting with your brand, passively consuming, or disengaging altogether.

2. Prescription Uplift Attribution

If engagement doesn’t move prescriptions, it’s noise. With integrated CRM and analytics, pharma companies can now tie digital interactions to Rx behavior at the cohort level. Did the cardiology webinar lead to more scripts? Did localized WhatsApp updates shift GP prescribing? This metric closes the loop between marketing and sales, and it’s where serious CMOs are focusing.

3. Omnichannel Consistency Index

Indian doctors are fatigued by fragmented communication: one message from a rep, another from email, something else on WhatsApp. The Omnichannel Consistency Index measures how unified those touchpoints are. In MarTech for Pharma, consistency isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s the difference between trusted brands and ignored ones.

4. Time-to-Approval for Content (Compliance Lag)

UCPMP 2024 has made compliance non-negotiable. But slow approval cycles kill campaigns. This metric tracks the average time it takes for content to move through Medical, Legal, and Regulatory workflows. In high-performing systems, compliance is automated, cutting time-to-approval by 40–50%. That’s agility pharma can’t afford to ignore.

5. Tier 2/3 Engagement Penetration

The real growth market in India isn’t in metros. It’s in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. Measuring engagement penetration outside metros, via localized PWAs, WhatsApp bots, and vernacular campaigns, tells you whether your MarTech stack is built for urban comfort zones or national reach.

6. Content Utility Ratio

Most pharma content sits unused in libraries or gets ignored by doctors. The Content Utility Ratio tracks how much of your approved content actually gets deployed by reps or engaged with by doctors. A low ratio means your teams are overproducing irrelevant assets. A high one means content is working as intended, delivering clinical value and brand recall.

7. Rep-Digital Synergy Index

Reps and digital teams often work in silos. This metric measures the overlap: how often a rep visit is followed by a digital touchpoint within 72 hours, or vice versa. Companies that master rep-digital synergy see prescription impact multiply. Those that don’t just flood doctors with disjointed noise.

8. ROI per Engagement Pathway

Traditional ROI reporting just divides campaign spend by total reach. In MarTech for Pharma, ROI must be calculated per pathway. Example: WhatsApp updates to diabetologists may deliver 4x ROI compared to email campaigns, while webinars may outperform rep visits in oncology. This level of granularity helps CMOs double down on what works.

9. Compliance Risk Incidents

Every non-compliant WhatsApp forward, every unapproved deck circulated, is a liability. Tracking compliance risk incidents: the number of flagged messages, percentage of unapproved content used, gives CMOs a clear view of exposure. In 2025, marketing performance is meaningless without compliance safety.

10. Patient Adherence Impact

Pharma marketing doesn’t end at prescription. The real value is in sustained adherence. MarTech tools now make it possible to track how patient education programs, SMS reminders, or adherence apps influence refill rates. For chronic therapies especially, this metric will separate mature marketing organizations from those stuck in one-time campaigns.

Why these 10 matter now

Indian pharma marketing has matured. CMOs no longer accept vanity dashboards. They want systems that tie every rupee of spend to measurable outcomes, doctor engagement, prescription uplift, and patient adherence, while keeping compliance airtight.

The research is clear: the companies that integrate these metrics into a single analytics view see ROI visibility rise by 30–40%. The ones still chasing likes and clicks are burning budget without learning anything.

The boardroom takeaway

Pharma CMOs in 2025 don’t want another pilot. They don’t want more fragmented tools. They want a MarTech partner who builds systems capable of tracking what really matters: the 10 metrics that link marketing effort to prescription reality.

The shift is already underway. The question is whether your marketing stack will keep up, or whether your competitors will own the data that proves impact.

If your dashboards aren’t showing these 10 metrics, you don’t have MarTech for Pharma, you have noise. Let’s talk about building the system that does.

Talk to any pharma CMO in India and you’ll hear the same story. Everyone wants to sell them a pilot. A chatbot pilot. An omnichannel pilot. A CRM pilot. After two quarters of experimenting, the results look good on slides, but the moment you try to roll it out to 5,000 reps or 50,000 doctors, the system cracks.

CMOs are tired of this cycle. They don’t need more experiments. They need systems that work across brands, across geographies, and across therapy areas, without collapsing under the weight of real-world complexity. That’s why the conversation has shifted from “innovation pilots” to “execution at scale.”

Why pilots fail

On paper, pilots look harmless. Small budget, low risk, quick proof-of-concept. But here’s the catch: pilots hide the hardest problems.

1. Compliance workflows are skipped.
2. Integration with legacy CRMs is ignored.
3. Multilingual needs are overlooked because the pilot only runs in English.
4. Reps in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities aren’t included because it’s easier to test in metros.

So the pilot “works.” Everyone claps. But when you try to scale, the missing pieces come crashing down. Doctors stop engaging. Reps abandon the tool. Compliance flags pile up. Marketing ROI never materializes. What looked like innovation turns into shelfware.

CMOs know this pattern too well. That’s why they’re done with pilots.

The cost of staying in pilot mode

The numbers are stark. A Deloitte report found that nearly 70% of pharma digital pilots never scale beyond the test phase. McKinsey adds that companies spend millions annually on pilots that deliver no enterprise impact. For Indian pharma, where marketing budgets already hover around 8% of revenue, that’s money burnt on projects that never move the prescription needle.

The hidden cost is time. Every pilot delays true transformation by six to twelve months. In a market where competitors are racing to engage doctors digitally, that delay can mean lost share. For CMOs under pressure to prove ROI quarter by quarter, pilot fatigue isn’t just emotional, but financial.

Scale is the only proof that matters

Pharma is not a startup ecosystem. It’s a heavily regulated, high-stakes industry. What matters is whether a system can handle compliance, integrate across divisions, and deliver consistent engagement at scale. Anything else is noise.

That’s why the role of a healthcare digital marketing agency isn’t to churn out pilots. It’s to engineer tech-led marketing systems that scale from day one. Systems that work for 100 reps and for 10,000 reps. Systems that serve one brand’s CRM needs and then expand to cover the entire portfolio. Scale is the only metric that counts.

What systems that scale look like

CMOs don’t need promises. They need proof that technology can handle the messiness of Indian pharma. A system that scales has a few defining characteristics:

1. Compliance is automated, not manual. Approvals, audit trails, and medical-legal-regulatory checks are embedded into the workflow. If it depends on human discipline at scale, it will fail.
2. Integration is non-negotiable. The system talks to Veeva, Salesforce, email platforms, WhatsApp APIs, and analytics dashboards. Silos don’t scale; networks do.
3. Regional diversity is baked in. A solution that works only in English for metro doctors is not scalable in India. Multi-language, mobile-first, offline-ready systems are.
4. Data drives iteration. At scale, manual feedback loops collapse. Systems must be designed to learn from data and adjust engagement strategies automatically.

Anything less is just another experiment.

What CMOs are really asking for

Behind the frustration, the ask from CMOs is simple: stop wasting my time with proof-of-concepts. Bring me systems I can roll out to my entire field force without hand-holding. Show me platforms that deliver results in Mumbai and in Nagpur, for oncologists and for general practitioners, today and tomorrow.

This is why pilots are now a red flag. A healthcare digital marketing agency that starts the conversation with “let’s do a pilot” is signaling that they can’t handle scale. CMOs want partners who come in with confidence, and the architecture for full deployment.

The execution gap in Indian pharma

Indian pharma companies are no strangers to ambition. Everyone wants omnichannel engagement, AI-driven personalization, and real-time dashboards. But where most stumble is execution.

Global platforms like Veeva dominate, but they don’t solve local challenges out of the box. Tier 2/3 engagement. Multilingual workflows. Integration with legacy systems. That’s where pilots collapse because the agency never thought beyond the polished demo.

The gap is not vision. The gap is execution at scale. And that’s exactly what CMOs are demanding now.

The shift CMOs are leading

This shift is visible in boardroom conversations. Instead of asking “what’s the next innovation we can test,” CMOs are asking:

1. Can this system scale to 10,000 reps?
2. Will it stay compliant under UCPMP 2024?
3. Can it handle multiple therapy areas without rebuilding from scratch?
4. Will doctors actually use it six months in, not just during the launch buzz?

These are not pilot questions. These are enterprise questions. And the agencies that can’t answer them are being shown the door.

The end of pilot theater

For years, pharma has tolerated “pilot theater," a steady rotation of demos and short-term projects that look innovative but never shift the prescription curve. That patience is gone.

The winners in the next phase of pharma marketing won’t be those with the most pilots. They’ll be those with systems that scale reliably, compliantly, and across India’s diverse landscape. For CMOs, anything less is no longer acceptable.

The boardroom takeaway

CMOs in Indian pharma are done with pilots. They want execution at scale. They want systems engineered to handle compliance, integration, and real-world complexity from day one. And they want healthcare digital marketing agencies who understand that scaling isn’t an afterthought: it’s the only thing that matters.

If you’re still stuck running pilots, you’re losing time and market share. Let’s talk about building systems that scale across brands, geographies, and doctors.

Why engagement is the real battleground: Every pharma company in India wants the same outcome: higher prescription uptake. The problem is, too many still think of it as a sales rep issue. Send more reps. Knock on more clinic doors. Distribute more material. But the data tells a different story. Prescription behavior doesn’t change with more noise. It changes when doctors feel genuinely engaged.

That’s why the choice of a healthcare digital marketing agency matters. Not for creative campaigns, but for building the data-backed engagement systems that influence prescribing behavior. If you want to win the market, you need to understand what engagement looks like in measurable terms, and how it translates into prescriptions.

The data doesn’t lie

Across global and Indian pharma markets, studies show a direct correlation between consistent doctor engagement and prescription growth. Let’s break it down with some hard numbers:

1. Veeva Systems’ global CRM data indicates that HCPs who receive at least five coordinated digital and rep touchpoints per quarter show prescription rates 20-30% higher than those with two or fewer.
2. A ZS Associates study of Indian pharma marketing found that doctors engaged through at least two digital channels in addition to rep visits were 3.2 times more likely to change prescribing behavior than those engaged only through in-person calls.
3. Internal case studies across Indian mid-tier pharma firms reveal that localized WhatsApp updates in Tier 2/3 towns increased engagement rates by 5–6x, leading directly to higher prescription intent for newer therapies.

This isn’t about theory. It’s about measurable cause and effect. Doctor engagement, when done right, drives prescription uptake.

Why most CRMs fail at this

Here’s the irony: almost every large pharma company in India has invested in some form of CRM or engagement platform. Yet adoption is abysmal, and data is patchy. The result? Marketing leaders have activity reports but no predictive insight into prescribing behavior.

The core problem is design. Too many CRMs are built for reporting upwards, not for engaging downwards. Doctors don’t interact because the platforms don’t serve their needs. Reps bypass them because workflows are clunky. Marketers stop trusting them because the data is incomplete. Without real engagement data, linking activity to prescription uptake becomes impossible.

A healthcare digital marketing agency with a tech-first approach flips this. The system is built to be doctor-centric first, analytics-rich second, and management-friendly third. That order matters.

What the right data looks like

If you’re serious about linking doctor engagement to prescription uptake, you need to capture the right signals, and not vanity metrics. Here are the kinds of data points that actually move the needle:

1. Content consumption patterns: Which clinical updates are downloaded most often, by which specialties, and in which regions?
2. Channel preference shifts: Do certain doctors respond better to WhatsApp nudges versus email reminders? How does this change across therapy areas?
3. Engagement timing: Does prescription intent rise when follow-ups happen within 48 hours of a rep visit? The data says yes, consistently.
4. Peer influence markers: When a KOL (Key Opinion Leader) engages deeply with digital content, how many other doctors in the network mirror that behavior in prescriptions?

These are not hypothetical. With the right integration of CRM, omnichannel campaign tools, and analytics dashboards, this is the view pharma CMOs can have on their screens. It’s not about more data; it’s about smarter, compliance-safe data.

Doctor engagement is not generic

One of the biggest mistakes pharma marketers make is treating “doctor engagement” as one-size-fits-all. The data says otherwise.

1. Therapy-specific differences: Cardiologists may prefer detailed e-detailers, while general practitioners may engage better with short WhatsApp summaries.
2. Regional variation: Urban HCPs log into webinars regularly. Rural HCPs may never. But they will open a local-language PWA on their phone.
3. Generational gaps: Younger doctors are more responsive to digital-first touchpoints, while older HCPs still prefer rep-led interactions complemented with follow-up PDFs or printed material.

Without tailoring engagement strategies based on these patterns, prescription uptake will plateau. The best CRM for healthcare is one that adapts dynamically, not one that pushes generic content in the same format to every doctor.

Compliance makes or breaks adoption

In India’s pharma landscape, compliance is not a footnote. UCPMP 2024 has made sure of that. Doctors won’t engage with content they don’t trust. Reps won’t risk using tools that feel like a legal minefield. Marketing leaders won’t bet budgets on platforms that create exposure.

The way forward is compliance baked into workflows. Approval pipelines, audit trails, role-based permissions, and content usage rights: all automated within the CRM. When doctors know the information is credible, and reps know the system won’t land them in trouble, engagement levels rise. And so do prescriptions.

Turning data into prescription impact

Here’s where the loop closes. Engagement data isn’t valuable until it drives decisions that change prescription behavior. The difference between pharma companies that see ROI and those that don’t is how fast they can act on engagement signals.

1. If a doctor downloads three clinical briefs in cardiology but hasn’t prescribed, the rep should be nudged automatically to follow up.
2. If a Tier 3 GP clicks on a diabetes education video, the next touchpoint should be localized material in their language.
3. If prescription intent data spikes after a webinar, the system should trigger timely reminders before momentum fades.

This is execution at the speed of data. Without it, you’re collecting engagement stats with no bearing on prescription reality. With it, you’re engineering measurable uptake.

The boardroom takeaway

Pharma CMOs in India don’t need more lectures on digital transformation. What they need is proof that doctor engagement, executed correctly, translates into prescription lift. The data already says it does. The missing piece is a healthcare digital marketing agency that can engineer systems where this link is not anecdotal, but visible in dashboards.

Prescription growth isn’t magic. It’s the natural outcome of structured, compliant, and technology-led engagement. The question isn’t whether you should link engagement and uptake. The question is whether your current systems are capable of showing you that link. If they aren’t, it’s time to rethink who is building them for you. 

If you don’t have data proving the link between your doctor engagement and prescription uptake, you’re flying blind. Let’s build the system that makes it visible.

Every pharma leader in India today is asking the same thing: How do we build meaningful digital relationships with doctors without wasting budgets on tools they never touch? The answer isn’t hiring another creative shop or stacking more channels. The answer lies in choosing a healthcare digital marketing agency that understands technology deeply enough to build a CRM system doctors actually want to use.

This isn’t about logos, color palettes, or campaign gimmicks. It’s about engineering trust and usability into the very backbone of pharma marketing. And here’s the thing: most CRMs fail not because the idea is wrong, but because they’re designed around reporting needs of management, not the working reality of HCPs.

What doctors really want from CRM

Doctors don’t want another dashboard. They want clarity, relevance, and speed. If a CRM cannot provide information at the point of need, without friction, it will get ignored. They’re done with fluff. They need execution.

That’s where a healthcare digital marketing agency focused on tech-led solutions changes the game. Instead of “campaign-first, tech-later,” the system has to be designed around the workflows of HCPs. Simple, mobile-friendly, multilingual, compliance-embedded, and fast. If it doesn’t save time or improve interactions, doctors will default back to WhatsApp groups and word of mouth. That’s the brutal truth.

The Indian pharma challenge

The Indian pharma industry is unique. Reps still dominate field engagement, yet digital touchpoints are non-negotiable now. Regulations like UCPMP 2024 have tightened the leash on traditional incentives. Doctors are more digital-savvy, but also less tolerant of irrelevant messaging. Rural and Tier 2/3 markets have massive untapped potential, but only if reached with the right blend of tech and local nuance.

In this context, building the best CRM for healthcare isn’t about copying global platforms. It’s about rethinking how technology, compliance, and execution come together for Indian realities. A healthcare digital marketing agency worth its salt will recognize this and won’t sell a shiny tool without making sure it works in small towns as well as metros.

Compliance is non-negotiable

One of the biggest reasons CRMs collapse in pharma is compliance. Legal and medical approvals slow everything down. Reps bypass the system. Campaigns stall. The result? A fancy database nobody trusts.

The fix is straightforward but hard: compliance has to be baked into the workflow itself. Not as a manual afterthought, but as an automated checkpoint. Role-based access, audit trails, digital approvals, and consent management built right into the CRM. That way, content moves faster without compromising integrity. Doctors see verified, accurate information. Marketing leaders sleep at night knowing nothing slipped through. This is where a tech-first healthcare digital marketing agency proves its worth; not in slogans, but in systems that respect regulation.

Integration beats isolation

Another failure point of most CRMs is that they sit in silos. Reps log visits in one system. Emails go out from another. Analytics sit somewhere else. The doctor sees none of this in a coherent way.

A CRM system doctors actually want to use doesn’t live in isolation. It integrates. It talks to email, WhatsApp, webinars, portals, and field force tools. When a doctor attends a webinar, the rep knows. When they download a clinical brief, the marketing team adapts the next message. Omnichannel is not a buzzword here; it’s the difference between scattershot campaigns and a unified engagement journey. And it takes a healthcare digital marketing agency with serious tech chops to stitch it all together.

Data must drive action

Collecting data for the sake of dashboards is pointless. The best CRM for healthcare doesn’t just track clicks and log calls; it translates those into insights that change behavior. Which doctor prefers quick WhatsApp updates over email? Which therapy area is seeing higher engagement in Tier 3 towns? Which content is leading to actual prescription uptake?

If the CRM can’t answer these questions, it’s not working. A results-first agency ensures that analytics aren’t vanity metrics but direct inputs into strategy. It’s the difference between knowing activity happened and knowing impact happened.

Usability is everything

Here’s a harsh truth: doctors don’t care about your CRM. They care about their time. If your system slows them down, it dies. If it feels like another reporting burden, it dies.

This is why usability has to be treated as non-negotiable. Mobile-first interfaces, offline access for reps in low-connectivity zones, regional language support, intuitive design: these aren’t “nice-to-haves.” They are the only way adoption happens. A healthcare digital marketing agency that prioritizes usability over vanity features will always deliver better ROI.

Making it real

Let’s get practical. Imagine a cardiologist in Nagpur. She gets a quick WhatsApp alert with a link to new clinical trial data, which is localized in Marathi and pre-cleared for compliance. She taps, reads a concise summary, and saves the PDF to her phone. A week later, when the rep visits, he already knows she opened the file and can start the conversation from there. That is a CRM system doctors want to use. Not because it’s called a CRM, but because it respects their time, their language, and their workflow.

This doesn’t happen by chance. It happens when pharma companies partner with a healthcare digital marketing agency that knows how to design for Indian doctors, integrate with existing platforms, and automate compliance into every step. It’s not glamorous work, but it’s the kind of execution that moves the needle.

The boardroom question

At the end of the day, this isn’t a marketing-side issue. It’s a boardroom issue. Every pharma executive knows that digital transformation is no longer optional, and yet most investments still don’t deliver adoption or ROI. Choosing the right healthcare digital marketing agency is about choosing a partner who can translate ambition into execution.

Pharma doesn’t need another agency promising awareness. It needs a tech-led ally who can engineer systems that work in the messiness of real-world practice, under the weight of regulation, and across the vastness of India’s markets. The best CRM for healthcare is the one that blends compliance, usability, and omnichannel intelligence, because that’s the only one doctors will actually use.

If your CRM isn’t delivering adoption, it’s time to rethink the system, not just the strategy. Let’s talk about how tech-led marketing can build a platform your doctors will actually use.

The old model of field-force-led marketing is wearing thin. Doctors are busier, more digital, and less responsive to reps than ever before. Access is dropping. Differentiation is vanishing. And yet, pharma marketers are still expected to drive brand recall and prescribing behavior across crowded therapeutic categories.

You're no longer competing just on molecule or pricing. You're competing on perceived value in a world where attention is scarce and trust is earned digitally.

The Friction Is Inside the System

Most marketing teams are sitting on powerful tools, but they’re scattered. Sales data lives in one place, content in another, and campaigns somewhere else entirely. The result?

1. Brands launch content with no visibility into what gets used or ignored.
2. Reps are overloaded with PDFs, but not insights.
3. Teams push campaigns, but don’t get feedback on what's actually shifting behavior.
4. Digital spends rise, but field impact plateaus.

And then there’s compliance. Every asset, every message, every interaction must now pass through regulatory filters. But that process is slow, manual, and error-prone. It’s not just slowing you down; it’s making you invisible.

What a Modern Pharma Marketing Agency Should Actually Do

The answer isn’t “go digital.” It’s “get smarter.” And that starts with a system that understands how pharma really works.

1. You must have a stack where content is built once, modularly, and instantly localized across formats, geographies, and channels, without duplicating effort.
2. Every campaign is automatically MLR-compliant out of the box, with audit trails, consent logs, and expiry tagging baked into the workflow.
3. Engagement data from emails, reps, and webinars flows straight into your CRM, showing you what content is working, with which doctors, and when.
4. Sales reps are armed with dynamic content that adapts based on region, specialty, or doctor behavior, not static pitch decks.
5. You can launch campaigns faster, scale them deeper, and track impact in actual Rx terms; not vanity metrics.

That’s not theoretical. That’s already live with large pharma clients across multiple therapeutic areas.

Smarter Marketing, Real ROI

When content ops are modular, teams produce 3x more campaigns in the same budget.

When CRM integrations sync with rep usage, HCP engagement rises by over 40%.

When field data loops back into campaign planning, prescribing impact becomes trackable, not guesswork.

The result? More efficient teams. Faster launches. Less waste. And most importantly, a marketing function that drives brand preference, not just awareness.

What’s Next?

The challenge isn’t a lack of tools. It’s a lack of orchestration.

Pharma doesn’t need more tech. It needs tech that speaks the language of compliance, content, and commercial impact: all at once.

If you're a CMO trying to modernize without burning out your teams or drowning in complexity, the question isn't if this shift will happen. It's when, and with whom. 

We are the only tech‑first pharma marketing partner delivering purpose‑built martech for compliance, engagement, and scale. No vanity built-in, only performance that shows up where it matters: HCP mindshare, rep productivity, and real prescribing impact.

The Valuebound Edge

The Indian pharma industry in 2025 is facing a pretty clear set of marketing challenges. Let’s get right into it.

1. Commoditization and Me-too Products

The biggest pain point: everyone’s selling the same damn thing. Whether it’s generics or branded generics, there’s a sea of sameness. Every company has amlodipine, metformin, and azithromycin, but the difference isn’t the product; it’s the brand name and how you pitch it. So marketing teams are stuck trying to differentiate things that aren't all that different. That leads to desperate tactics, price wars, and diluted messaging.

Why it’s a problem:

When 10 companies are selling the same molecule with slight branding differences, what you’re marketing isn’t the product; it’s a perception. And that perception is fragile. Doctors start seeing your brand as interchangeable, so decisions boil down to price, freebies, or rep relationships. None of that builds long-term loyalty. It also becomes incredibly hard to command premium pricing or stand out.

What's driving it:

India’s generic-heavy market makes it easy to launch fast, but hard to differentiate. Most companies don't invest in real innovation or lifecycle strategies. So you're left competing in a sea of sameness, with no story to tell.

2. Diminishing Doctor Access

Field force effectiveness is down. Doctors are saturated with reps, short on time, and increasingly reliant on peer recommendations or digital sources over pharma reps. That means the old rep-detailing model doesn’t pull the same weight, but most companies are still running on that muscle memory.

Why it’s a problem:

Reps don’t get the kind of time or attention from doctors that they used to. In urban areas, reps barely get 30 seconds at the clinic door. That destroys the effectiveness of detailing, sampling, and relationship-based selling. Your entire marketing message gets reduced to: “Please remember our brand.”

What's driving it:

Too many reps chasing too few doctors. Increased patient load, hospital-based practice, telemedicine, and compliance policies (especially in larger institutions) are all tightening access. Doctors are filtering out low-value interactions, and pharma hasn’t adapted fast enough.

3. Digital Confusion, Not Digital Transformation

Everyone talks about going “digital”, but very few know what that actually means or how to execute it. You’ll see companies launch apps nobody uses, webinars nobody attends, and WhatsApp blasts that annoy more than they inform. The core issue: they’re not thinking in terms of value or insight; just output.

Why it’s a problem:

Most companies jumped on the digital bandwagon without a plan. You get WhatsApp messages, PDF e-detailers, webinars, and emailers, but very little of it is targeted, engaging, or actionable. There’s a ton of content, but hardly any strategy. So digital becomes noise, not leverage.

What's driving it:

Executives want digital transformation on paper, but they don’t invest in understanding user behavior, or how HCPs actually consume content, or what format fits into their workflow. So digital is treated as an extra, not a core channel.

4. No Real Brand Thinking

Branding in pharma is mostly tactical: logos, monographs, sample packs. There's very little long-term brand strategy or positioning. Marketers are stuck doing activity after activity without asking: What does this brand mean to the doctor or the patient?

Why it’s a problem:

Without a brand strategy, marketing becomes reactive. You throw tactics at the wall through CME sponsorships, freebies, more reps, but nothing sticks long-term. The brand becomes just a name on a pack, not a preference in a prescriber’s mind. There’s no emotional or clinical anchor.

What's driving it:

There’s little time or training around positioning, segmentation, brand narratives, or patient insights. Most marketing teams are overworked and undertrained, managing 15 brands instead of owning one. The system rewards activity over strategy.

5. Compliance Pressure

Especially for exports and MNCs, marketing is being watched more closely. You can’t just make wild claims or throw freebies anymore. That’s cutting off a lot of traditional incentive-based selling, forcing teams to actually think, which many aren’t ready for.

Why it’s a problem:

With stricter rules on inducements, pharma marketers can’t use the old playbook of gifts, samples, travel sponsorships, etc. That removes a major lever, one that many reps and brands were overdependent on. If your brand can't justify itself without incentives, it collapses under scrutiny.

What's driving it:

Global pressure, regulatory tightening (like UCPMP becoming enforceable), and institutional policies. Large hospitals and chains are now cracking down on undue influence. That’s forcing a shift from transactional selling to actual value-based engagement, and most marketers are unprepared for that.

6. Data is Available, But Insight is Rare

Most companies have sales data, prescription audit reports, maybe even digital metrics. But very few are actually turning that into insight or action. Either the data sits in silos, or nobody's asking the right questions.

Why it’s a problem:

Marketers are sitting on sales data, prescription audits, and rep feedback, but they rarely connect the dots. Without analysis, you can't identify high-potential doctors, optimize rep routes, or understand what's actually working. That leads to missed opportunities and inefficient spending.

What's driving it:

Data is either siloed (sales team has one view, marketing another) or underutilized (Excel dashboards with no interpretation). And frankly, most teams don't have people trained to derive insights. They’re busy firefighting day-to-day operations.

Where it's headed? What's the future?

Indian pharma marketing isn’t suffering from a lack of tools or money. It’s suffering from unclear positioning, outdated habits, and underdeveloped strategy muscles. Until that changes, the same problems will keep cycling: low differentiation, over-reliance on reps, and a lot of effort with not much brand equity to show for it.

The next few years will demand actual strategy, not just frequency and visibility. Indian pharma marketers will need to shift from push tactics to value-based engagement, and from mass activity to segmented thinking. Otherwise, they’ll burn through reps, doctors, and budgets without building anything that lasts.

There was a time when brand recall was enough. You ran a few awareness campaigns, sent reps out into the field, printed a visual aid or two, and hoped for the best. But that era’s done. What’s replacing it is far more complex and far more demanding.

Digital marketing in pharma has shifted from visibility to precision. From reach to relevance. From content volume to context. And right now, the single biggest expectation from pharma CMOs isn’t bigger budgets or better creatives. It’s smarter personalization.

This isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s the difference between doctors remembering your brand or forgetting it entirely.

The Pain: Doctors Are Numb to Generic Messaging

You already know the problem. Every pharma brand is shouting. Everyone’s pushing similar content, across the same platforms, to the same HCPs. It’s become noise. Doctors are tuning out.

Whether it’s diabetes, cardiac, respiratory, or mental health, every therapy area is now overcrowded. Your reps are getting fewer minutes per call. Your emails are ignored. Your webinars don’t convert. Because the messaging isn’t tailored. It’s just repeated.

At some point, even good science starts to look like spam.

And the truth is, this isn’t just an HCP problem. It’s a brand problem. Because when your campaigns feel interchangeable, your molecules start to feel interchangeable too.

The Friction: Siloed Tools, Fragmented Data, and Legacy Thinking

Most CMOs want to personalize. But they’re stuck. Here’s why:

1. First, your data is scattered. Sales data, CRM inputs, field force activity, email metrics: they all live in separate tools, owned by separate teams. None of them talk to each other. So you can’t build a clean doctor profile, let alone personalize content journeys.
2. Second, the tools you do have weren’t built for Indian pharma’s complexity. They’re clunky, rigid, or made for markets with different regulations, behaviors, and infrastructure.
3. Third, most agencies don’t know how to personalize. They’ll give you “campaign ideas,” not behavior-based journeys. They’ll send the same WhatsApp message to 10,000 doctors and call it targeted engagement. That’s not personalization. That’s polite spam.

This friction leads to wasted spending, lower engagement, and, worst of all, zero improvement in prescription behavior.

The Solution: Contextual Personalization, Not Just Custom Names

Let’s cut through the noise. Personalization in pharma doesn’t mean slapping a doctor’s name on an email. It means sending the right content, through the right channel, at the right time, based on actual behavior.

A doctor specializing in endocrinology attends your webinar on diabetes management. Three days later, she receives a WhatsApp message with a clinical case study. A week after that, a rep follows up with a visual aid tailored to that case. All of this is tracked, triggered, and context-aware.

This is personalization that respects time, understands need, and increases engagement quality.

This is what modern digital marketing in pharma must aim for.

Done right, it doesn’t just “feel better.” It performs better. Doctors are more likely to read, recall, and act on communication that feels relevant to their current clinical practice, not just brand-driven noise.

ROI: What You Can Measure, and What You Can’t Afford to Miss

This isn’t theory. The impact of personalization is measurable. Brands that personalize doctor journeys consistently see:

1. Higher open and click rates across email and WhatsApp campaigns
2. Increased rep-digital synergy, where reps use content that aligns with the doctor’s interest
3. Better adherence in patient programs
4. And, most importantly, a tangible lift in prescription intent and frequency

Even field force productivity improves. When reps know what content has already been shared digitally, they can skip the repetition and drive meaningful conversations.

If your current campaigns aren’t delivering that kind of ROI, chances are, they’re not truly personalized. And if your team can’t show you engagement analytics tied to doctor specialties, therapy areas, and past interactions, you’re flying blind.

CMOs can’t afford that anymore. Not in 2025. Not with UCPMP in play. Not with budget scrutiny rising.

The Compliance Layer: Personalization with Guardrails

A concern we hear often: “Can we personalize without crossing compliance lines?”

Short answer is yes.

Long answer is that it depends on how well your systems are built.

Personalization doesn’t mean wild targeting or unapproved messaging. It means using pre-cleared content in smarter sequences. It means building MLR workflows that allow content modularity, without chaos. It means consent-first data capture, with opt-in transparency and audit logs.

Any serious approach to digital marketing in pharma must bake compliance into its personalization logic. It’s not a blocker. It’s a requirement. And the technology already exists to do it right.

What’s missing is intent. And skill.

What CMOs Should Be Asking Right Now

If you’re a pharma CMO in India, here are the questions that matter:

1. Are we treating all doctors the same in our campaigns?
2. Are we sending content based on clinical interest, geography, or engagement behavior?
3. Do we have clean, structured HCP data across digital and field interactions?
4. Can we launch and measure personalized journeys without waiting for agency timelines?
5. Are our personalization efforts fully compliant and auditable?
6. If the answer to any of those is “not really,” then you already know where your gaps are.

This isn’t a knock on your team. It’s a reflection of how fast the industry has moved and how slow most systems and vendors have been to catch up.

Why This Is a Boardroom Issue, And Not a Creative One

Here’s what smart CMOs are realizing. Personalization isn’t just about campaign performance. It’s about brand equity. It’s about HCP trust. It’s about building a system where marketing becomes a strategic engine, not a cost center.

You can’t keep pushing mass messages and expect tailored responses. Doctors are busy. They’re smart. They’re flooded. If your communication doesn’t respect that, they’ll move on.

The winners in Indian pharma over the next two years won’t be the loudest brands. They’ll be the most relevant. And that only happens when you stop treating personalization like a marketing tactic, and start treating it like an operational strategy.

Everyone in pharma talks about “digital transformation.” Most mean a new CRM, maybe an e-detailer, or a few YouTube videos. But no one’s looking at what’s right under their nose. WhatsApp. It’s already in every doctor’s hand. It’s already the default app for patient communication. And yet, almost no pharma marketing team is using it like they should.

This isn’t about gimmicks or viral videos. It’s about WhatsApp marketing becoming the most direct, scalable, and underleveraged tool pharma has in India, and what it would take to use it properly.

Doctors Are Already There. Pharma Isn’t.

Your reps know it. Your MRs use it. Your medical affairs team gets queries through it. WhatsApp is already part of the informal marketing stack in every pharma company. But that’s just it; it’s informal. Untracked, unstructured, and often non-compliant.

The irony? Doctors prefer it. In India, WhatsApp is how most HCPs want to engage, but on their time, in their language, at their pace. Whether it’s CME invites, post-call summaries, product PDFs, or prescription reminders, this is the channel they’re checking, not their inbox.

Still, most pharma brands continue to build content for channels their doctors barely touch. Meanwhile, the one tool that could actually scale engagement, personalize journeys, and support field teams gets ignored. It’s not a creative failure. It’s a system failure.

Compliance Is the Elephant in the WhatsApp Room

Let’s be blunt. The biggest reason pharma doesn’t lean into WhatsApp marketing is fear. Legal doesn’t want trouble. Regulatory is wary. And rightly so, the broadcasting branded content on WhatsApp without consent, audit trails, or control is risky business.

But that’s not a reason to avoid the channel. It’s a reason to get serious about how you use it.

A good digital pharmaceutical marketing agency won’t treat WhatsApp like just another content dump. It will build compliant workflows: opt-ins, audit logs, regional approvals, template tagging, and role-based access. It will integrate with your CRM and ensure you can trace every message back to intent, not accident. WhatsApp can be compliant. It just can’t be a free-for-all.

WhatsApp Isn’t for Blasts. It’s for Journeys.

A major misconception in pharma is that WhatsApp is just a better SMS. That’s lazy thinking. WhatsApp marketing isn’t about sending product flyers or pushing event links. It’s about creating a smart journey: timed, personalized, and action-driven.

Say a rep visits a doctor. Right after the visit, a pre-approved message goes out via WhatsApp: a follow-up summary, a link to a case study, a feedback form. A week later, based on engagement, the doctor gets a patient education kit or a video explainer. All tracked. All contextual. All in the palm of their hand.

That’s what WhatsApp can do. For example, if someone builds the logic, integrates the backend, and understands the behavior patterns of Indian HCPs. This isn’t creative flair. This is executive muscle. And it’s exactly where a digital pharmaceutical marketing agency needs to prove its value.

The Tier 2 and 3 Opportunity Is Massive

Here’s where WhatsApp truly shines. Most pharma campaigns hit walls outside metros. Websites don’t load. Email gets ignored. Reps can’t visit often. But WhatsApp works. It works in Nagpur, in Guwahati, in Trichy. It works in English, Hindi, Tamil, and Bengali.

Doctors in these cities are no less sophisticated. They’re just less served. What they want is useful information, in formats they can open, and in a language they can trust. WhatsApp delivers that better than any other channel, provided it’s done right.

And this is where most traditional campaigns fall flat. They’re built for the agency’s slide deck, not the doctor’s workflow. Real WhatsApp marketing means regional language support, low-data file formats, async workflows, and real-time feedback loops.

From Doctor Touchpoints to Patient Education

This isn’t just about HCPs. WhatsApp can play a big role in patient programs too. Think treatment adherence reminders. Appointment scheduling. Support group invites. Branded disease education in vernacular languages. Even insurance or affordability messages.

The magic is in the balance: high personalization, low effort. And the impact is significant, especially in therapies like diabetes, respiratory, mental health, or women’s wellness, where long-term engagement matters more than a one-time push.

A digital pharmaceutical marketing agency that knows how to connect the dots between patient lifecycle, therapy goals, and regulatory guardrails can build WhatsApp journeys that deliver actual health outcomes, not just engagement rates.

No Excuse for Not Measuring ROI

One of the excuses pharma teams give for avoiding WhatsApp is “we can’t measure it.” That’s no longer true. With the right tools and connectors, you can see opens, clicks, conversation flow, drop-offs, and conversions. You can tie it back to CRM records, doctor specialties, rep visits, and even prescription data (where available).

WhatsApp marketing isn’t the black box it used to be. The problem is not the data; rather, it’s the lack of integration. Agencies that treat it like a messaging channel, instead of an analytics-rich journey engine, miss the point. You don’t need flashy dashboards. You need actionable insights. And you need them connected to actual brand performance.

If your current agency can’t show you what WhatsApp is actually doing for your business, they’re not doing it right.

No More “Let’s Try It” Mindset

This channel doesn’t need more pilots. It needs ownership. CMOs who still treat WhatsApp like an experiment are already behind. This isn’t new tech. It’s daily behavior. It’s not a tool for the future. It’s how India already communicates. And the brands that understand that are already miles ahead.

The question isn’t whether to use WhatsApp marketing in pharma. The question is: how fast can you move from scattered messages to structured, personalized, compliance-ready engagement?

The opportunity isn’t just large. It’s right now. And it’s being wasted.

The Agency You Need Won’t Just “Send Messages”

A typical agency will offer you creatives. Maybe a bulk-messaging tool. But a real digital pharmaceutical marketing agency will go deeper. It will help you define doctor segments. Create multi-stage journeys. Set rules for personalization. Handle opt-ins and consent. Build real integrations with your CRM, MLR, and analytics tools. And deliver real results, not just reach.

This isn’t about messaging. It’s about modern pharma marketing infrastructure. WhatsApp just happens to be the most powerful (and ignored) part of it.

In 2025, pharma CMOs in India are staring down a familiar problem with a growing sense of impatience. They’re pouring money into campaigns, building brand assets, running awareness programs, but somehow, the ROI isn't matching the effort. The buzzwords are louder, the reports thicker, but prescriptions aren’t rising, doctors aren’t engaging, and patients aren’t sticking. Behind all this is a hard truth: the traditional pharma marketing agency model is broken.

The phrase “pharma marketing agency” still gets thrown around in every search, pitch, and vendor shortlisting. But what CMOs are really looking for is a partner who understands compliance, tech, execution, and the reality of operating in India’s fragmented healthcare system. And that’s where the gap is widening fast.

CMOs Don’t Need Campaigns. They Need Outcomes.

Pharma CMOs are under pressure. Whether you’re running chronic therapy portfolios or launching new brands into crowded therapy areas, the expectations are high. The CEO wants sales uplift. The sales team wants tools. The medical team wants compliance. And the marketing team? They just want things to work.

But traditional agencies are still stuck in the wrong decade. They pitch TV spots, branding films, and social posts, all these tactics that may have worked in 2015, but feel tone-deaf today. What pharma needs now are tech-led solutions that drive real engagement with healthcare professionals (HCPs) and patients. Solutions that are measurable, compliant, and scalable across India’s Tier 1 to Tier 3 cities. And frankly, most agencies aren’t equipped to deliver that.

Compliance Is Not a Box to Tick

In Indian pharma, compliance isn’t an afterthought; it’s a landmine. With UCPMP 2024 in full effect, CMOs are being held accountable for every WhatsApp message, every visual aid, and every doctor interaction. Yet agencies continue to treat compliance like a checklist item at the end of the creative process. That’s not just lazy, but also risky.

The right pharma marketing agency must think like your legal team. Every content flow, digital journey, and brand communication has to be built for audit readiness. This means MLR workflows, consent tracking, message control, and proper integration with approved CRMs. If your agency can’t speak that language fluently, you’re one mistake away from regulatory blowback.

Doctors Aren’t Listening. And It’s Not Their Fault.

One of the biggest gaps traditional agencies fail to close is doctor engagement. They keep producing one-size-fits-all campaigns that look good in boardrooms but get ignored in real clinics. Doctors today are overwhelmed. They’re short on time, bombarded with generic content, and wary of marketing that feels like noise.

So the real job isn’t just to ‘increase awareness’. It’s to engineer intelligent, personalized engagement journeys that respect the doctor’s time and context. This means combining field rep interactions with asynchronous digital touchpoints, including emails, mobile apps, WhatsApp, and in-clinic screens, all synced to the doctor’s specialty, behavior, and geography. It’s not flashy work. But it’s what works.

The Silo Problem: Where Execution Dies

You’ve probably felt this: your brand manager is chasing metrics, your field team is chasing prescriptions, and your digital agency is chasing likes. Meanwhile, your CRM shows no clear picture, and your campaigns feel stitched together with duct tape.

This isn’t a people problem. It’s a system problem. Traditional pharma marketing agencies aren’t built to integrate with your tech stack. They can’t connect your Salesforce or Veeva with WhatsApp automation, or layer in analytics that actually track Rx uplift. And they definitely can’t close the loop between your sales reps and your digital campaigns. So you end up with pretty dashboards and poor execution.

A modern pharma marketing agency should feel more like an integration partner. Someone who makes your teams work together, not harder. Someone who builds systems where data moves, messages sync, and results show up in actual scripts written, not just impressions served.

Patient Engagement Isn’t Just a Buzzword

Another area where traditional agencies fall short is patient-centric marketing. In chronic therapies especially, adherence and awareness are make-or-break. But most agencies still treat patient programs like post-launch garnish. A helpline here. A leaflet there.

Indian pharma needs to think bigger. Patients in Tier 2/3 cities don’t want PDFs. They want vernacular content, mobile-first tools, and low-bandwidth support systems that actually help them manage conditions. WhatsApp bots, progressive web apps, treatment reminders; these aren’t extras. These are the essentials. And agencies that don’t build for that reality are missing the market entirely.

Reporting Isn’t Just for Reviews. It’s for Strategy

Here’s another thing CMOs are tired of: vanity metrics. Traditional agencies love sending weekly PPTs full of engagement rates, impressions, and clicks, none of which help you make a better decision. You ask what’s working, and they say “everything.” But your sales say otherwise.

A pharma marketing agency worth its retainer will treat analytics as part of the solution, not a wrap-up slide. They’ll tie digital activity to real outcomes: brand recall, doctor engagement, patient retention, and prescription lift. They’ll connect CRM data, digital journeys, field force inputs, and campaign performance into one narrative you can act on. Without that, you’re just flying blind with pretty charts.

Why This Isn’t About Creativity vs. Technology

Let’s be clear. Creativity still matters. Storytelling, visuals, and emotional resonance: all of that builds brand memory. But pharma marketing in 2025 isn’t just about campaigns. It’s about systems. It's about building engagement infrastructure that runs 24/7, works at scale, and respects compliance. That’s not something your average agency is built to deliver.

The smartest pharma CMOs in India already know this. They’re not asking for “a new campaign.” They’re asking how to make their existing systems actually deliver results. They’re asking for accountability, not ideas. For integration, not just inspiration.

They’re done with fluff. They need execution.

The Future Belongs to the Builders

The shift is clear. The pharma marketing agency of the future won’t look like an agency at all. It will look like a product + services company. A tech-enabled team that speaks your therapy area fluently, understands your compliance constraints, and builds platforms; not just posts. They’ll sit closer to your CRM than your creative director. And they’ll be measured not by awards, but by results.

If your current partners can’t show you exactly how your next campaign will move the prescription needle, it’s time to ask: why are they still on the team?

Pharma in India is evolving. Your marketing partners should too.

Most pharma companies in India are still chasing campaigns. Monthly plans, burst tactics, launch calendars: then rinse and repeat. But let’s be honest. Campaigns aren’t enough anymore. Not in 2025. Not when doctors are tuning out, platforms are fragmented, and compliance is watching every step.

If you’re still treating marketing like a series of events, you’re going to lose to the ones who’ve built a system.

That’s what this is about: how to think like a pharma marketing agency that builds ecosystems, not just outputs. Because that’s where outcomes happen.

The Campaign Trap

It’s easy to get stuck in the campaign loop. Budgets are allocated, deadlines are set, KPIs are declared. Everyone scrambles. A new product. A patient day. A congress update. Digital teams push creatives. Field force gets decks. WhatsApp goes out. Numbers are collected. Report sent. Move on.

But here’s what CMOs across pharma are quietly admitting now: campaign-led marketing is reactive, scattered, and hard to scale. Especially in India, where doctor fatigue is real and brand recall is fragile. One campaign won’t shift market share. Not when your competitor launches a new touchpoint every week.

If you're working with a pharma digital marketing agency that still talks in bursts, you’re falling behind.

Ecosystem Thinking Starts with the Right Question

Instead of asking, What campaign are we running next?, ask:

How are all our doctor touchpoints talking to each other?

That single shift changes the game. You stop measuring success by open rates and start thinking in terms of relationships. HCP journeys. Content memory. Platform coordination. Local context. Consent logs. CRM alignment. Field feedback.

That’s not campaign management. That’s ecosystem architecture.

And that’s exactly where a real pharma marketing agency should start, and not with a creative deck, but with a map.

What an Ecosystem Looks Like (In Practice)

Let’s get practical. What does a pharma marketing ecosystem look like?

It looks like a doctor who got your webinar invite because they clicked a rep-triggered WhatsApp. Who then sees follow-up content personalized to their specialty. Who gets nudged with reminders only during their clinic hours? Who finds a branded microsite with a short explainer and an approved detailer? Who’s then scored, segmented, and re-engaged through the CRM, not because someone decided to, but because the system already knew it was time.

That’s an ecosystem. And building that takes more than good design. It takes strategy, tech, compliance, data, and execution, all tied together.

A pharma digital marketing agency that gets this doesn’t just pitch "campaigns." They engineer continuity.

The Tech Isn’t the Ecosystem. But It Powers It.

You don’t need 12 tools. You need 3 that talk to each other. The problem is, most pharma teams in India have tech. They just don’t have integration. A CRM that’s not connected to marketing. A WhatsApp tool without analytics. Reps using apps that don’t sync with content approvals. MLR workflows in email, creative briefs in PowerPoint.

The result? Confusion. Waste. Risk.

The right pharma marketing agency doesn’t throw software at the problem. They ask where the data sits. Where the decisions stall. Where the gaps are. Then they build tech around that. Not because it’s flashy. Because it works.

Campaigns Run. Ecosystems Compound.

Here’s the big unlock: ecosystems create compounding value.

Every doctor interaction adds to a profile. Every content piece sharpens next-best actions. Every rep visit syncs with digital nudges. Over time, your marketing doesn't just do more; it gets smarter.

You stop spending to guess. You start spending to scale.

This is how some of India’s leading pharma brands are already operating. Slowly moving away from one-off campaigns and toward orchestrated journeys. Because they’ve seen the gap. And they’re done losing ground to global players with smarter systems.

A pharma digital marketing agency that understands this won’t sell you a flashy activation. They’ll quietly reorganize your stack so every campaign builds the next one.

Compliance Can’t Be an Afterthought

None of this works if it's not compliant.

UCPMP is active. Doctors are skeptical. Your MLR team is already stretched. One bad send can trigger a legal audit, or worse, a prescriber blackout.

In an ecosystem, compliance isn't a checklist. It's coded into the flow.

Approval workflows. Consent capture. Message gating. HCP-only targeting. Schedule H filters. Auto-logged touchpoints. These aren’t nice-to-haves. They’re what separates an ecosystem from a risk engine.

If your pharma marketing agency isn't building with these in mind, you're already exposed.

Ecosystems Earn Trust. Campaigns Rent Attention.

Let’s step back. What’s the real goal here?

You’re not just trying to get a doctor’s click. You’re trying to earn their trust, so when they make a prescription decision, your brand is on the table.

That doesn’t happen because of a one-off campaign.

It happens because every touchpoint felt relevant. Every message was timed right. Every channel was connected. Every piece of content respected their time and role.

That kind of consistency builds memory. Memory builds trust. Trust drives prescriptions.

And that’s what a pharma digital marketing agency should help you achieve; not just leads, but loyalty.

So, What Now?

If you're serious about scale, compliance, and results, stop asking for campaigns. Start asking:

1. How are our doctor journeys designed?
2. What tech powers them, and what’s missing?
3. Where does compliance live in this system?
4. Who’s making sure our data improves over time?

And then look around the room. If your current pharma marketing agency can’t answer those without sliding into buzzwords, you already know it’s time to move on.

Because in this market, execution wins. And ecosystems don’t build themselves.