Like all marketing roles, across a variety of industries, pharmaceutical marketing is a very difficult area to break into.

It's more common for people with pharmaceutical industry experience to gain positions in pharmaceutical marketing jobs than for people from outside of the industry to come in, but there are still plenty of people with non-pharmaceutical backgrounds and strong marketing experience who find a job in this industry.

The criteria for being taken on in the more junior role of a Marketing Assistant is often more flexible than that for a Marketing Manager. However the salary for a junior marketing role like this will be substantially lower than the salary an experienced Pharmaceutical Sales Representative will be earning. Therefore any Reps looking to make the move from sales to marketing will need to understand that in a lot of cases they will have to take a pay cut. For those working outside of the pharmaceutical industry, there is every chance of entering a pharmaceutical marketing job if they have a science background (for example, are a science graduate) and a marketing qualification, for example from the CIM.

Pharmaceutical Sales Representatives looking for a move into marketing will have a better chance of entering at a higher level, on a salary more similar to their own, if they have product management experience, or have taken a secondment to the marketing department or have a qualification from the CIM.

Pharmaceutical marketing jobs are varied and interesting. The marketing department will work on promotional materials for the company's entire portfolio of products (if it is a relatively small company) or on the product portfolio for a particular therapy area, for example Oncology. For this reason, if you're a Rep looking to make the move into marketing, another thing that could increase your chances is if you have particular expertise in the therapy area.

The marketing department will develop materials for product launches and organise conferences and exhibitions. They will also need to look after advertising, websites, the company intranet, newsletters, direct mailers, market research, analysis and intelligenc,; and forecasts for the product life cycle. Importantly, it's the marketing department that will work with other managers to develop the selling materials that the Pharmaceutical Sales Representatives use, and this is why it's such an advantage to have several years experience in the pharmaceutical industry, some of it as a Rep.

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