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Posted by Hexagone team |
October 20, 2021
The Pharma industry is known as one of the few industries which took the digital leap at a slower pace and as for today have not quite yet embraced the full digital vision. Though many digital initiatives have been implemented, there are areas which require impactful digital initiatives. We will talk about a part that we are familiar with: digital marketing. Several reports from consultancy firms or Pharma partners have already listed the challenges to overcome in that area, years later we could say that it is moving slow.
Why, you may ask?
We go through trainings, attend webinars discussing about digital marketing orchestration, how to drive digital strategy etc. but all the content and outcomes we get are not enough to kick things off.
The mindset must integrate a new way of operating that demonstrates autonomy, agility, innovation and speed. We do have all the capabilities and technologies, yet we are still limited by our mindset. Remember the time when it was a struggle to move from paper to digital for sales representatives. It is the same now for Pharma marketers not embracing the full digital marketing capabilities to go faster and be more efficient. In order to do that, they must be seeking technological opportunities to bring more value to their marketing activities.
Adopting new capabilities as a strategic move to get the most operational value is crucial. It is not about becoming the next digital guru in your space but recognizing the digital opportunity when you see one rather than wait for it. Being aware of digital solutions and the capabilities they offer for your daily operations. Being able to engage in new and innovative ways based on this emerging awareness. A willingness to acknowledge that the way things are done is obsolete and to look for most up-to-date ways to do things more efficiently.
The big part of the digital marketing space is the content value chain. Digital content is the key to HCPs’ engagement in the contemporary interactive environment.
The increasing number of digital channels, and the increasing demand for rich, up-to-date and relevant content, is pushing Pharma marketers to invest more effort and resources in digital content development. And we know how painful it is to keep up with the long timelines and tasks involved. Most of the time asking themselves why it takes so long to develop a digital sales aid?
However, having a digital mindset would make us ask instead: how I can develop my digital marketing campaigns faster? Cost-effectively?
Technology brings new approaches to doing some of the normal activities with shorter timelines, fewer resources, less pain and at lower costs.
Starting with content creation and production for instance, Pharma marketers need to be able to create multi-channel digital marketing campaigns that reach and resonate with multiple audiences, i.e., several HCP personas. It is difficult to embrace new digital channels, without being able to create as much content as we want and as fast as we can.
So, to take full advantage of digital engagement, to achieve higher levels of personalization and tailored interaction, it all relies on content production.
Without content, Pharma will miss engagement opportunities with their customers.
The digital mindset helps marketing teams to look at how to optimize the way they develop, deliver and promote digital content to engage their customers. The new normal is Tech-driven. Sales and marketing teams in the pharmaceutical industry cannot maintain their leadership in the market without it.
Looking at the way things are mostly done: creative agencies and digital content factories have to operate at full capacity to keep up with the rapidly changing market. Enabling rapid responses to HCP’s needs, ensuring consistent customer experiences across all business units, products, and channels in a very competitive environment is challenging. Advocating the digital mindset will certainly drive the revision of this system.
Few Pharma companies revised their content creation processes, implementing effective content creation capabilities. What we hear the most is that Pharma managers are hesitant because they worry about starting from scratch. It is completely understandable after they have invested their time and resources to establish their existing workflows.
However, others took the digital leap further and they are doing great but most of all they are doing better. Several Pharma companies have already launched game-changing capabilities to transform their core business especially in the content field. They’ve focused on addressing their needs to find the right technology solution.
In the pharmaceutical industry, there is a certain tendency to have a cautious approach to new capabilities. As the enabler of digital transformation, it is key that Pharma teams do not stick to this pattern. They need to be aware of what their competition is doing and to keep ahead of the game.
The new capabilities address the content development challenges that pharmaceutical companies face across their affiliates, such as unified and consistent messaging and visual identity strengthening.
They give the ability to produce more engaging content at scale while offering a higher return on content marketing investments. It considers content related costs, content creation processes, content time-to-market, content volumes and content quality.
Of course, marketing teams in Pharma can count on the IT & digital team who is leading and implementing the company digital ecosystems such as CRM, DAM, Multichannel platforms etc. However, Pharma marketers can collaborate further in the definition of their organizations’ content value chain. After all, they are the content owners. Driving such initiatives adds value to their companies' digitalization plans.
You have outlined your content strategy, now it's time to tackle the content creation and production.
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Read more on Multichannel marketing for Life Sciences.
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