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Build a multichannel marketing strategy for an omnichannel experience. Ep 3.

Multichannel marketing

Posted by Hexagone team |

September 4, 2020

Build a multichannel marketing strategy for an omnichannel experience. Ep 3.

How to execute a multichannel marketing strategy?

Welcome back to our multichannel marketing strategy (MCM) series after the summer break!


The customer experience map is now defined, it is time to implement it thanks to effective project management that will successfully guide the project team to coordinate the multichannel strategy for the best omnichannel experience you could deliver to healthcare professionals (HCPs).

For one, there is no killer strategy to implement the customer experience map of an MCM strategy, only structure matters. Multichannel integration calls for a project organization structure  — one that adjusts individuals, business functions, processes and technology to meet the objectives of the MCM strategy and achieve full communication channels coordination.

The MCM strategy establishes several guidelines for its implementation. It begins when all the business functions are connected and understand the what and why in order to coordinate the how and make it happen.

An effective project management relies on organisational alignment. Aligning structure with strategy in order to ensure continuity and meet the defined objectives.

MCM is a continuous work and CONTINUITY is the pain in the neck of any MCM strategy. It’s hard to follow on the MCM strategy journey because of all the tasks to manage in a continuous delivery method.

You need an ORCHESTRA LEADER a.k.a. the project leader.


THE PROJECT LEADER

The project leader is responsible for the completion of the whole customer experience map in a timely manner while monitoring allocated budget and resources. It is very important to have only one go-to person regarding any project related questions.

We usually see several project teams working in silos split by channel of communication which is one of the factors why the MCM strategy usually fail to deliver its objective. A project leader sees the customer experience map as a whole.

Initiation stage of the project:

1. Formalize the project’s objectives;
2. Anticipate risks and potential issues;
3. Ensure all stakeholders are properly trained on MCM;
4. Provide MCM taskforces with reporting and update project timelines.

Execution stage of the project :

1. Monitor budget consumption;
2. Notify MCM taskforces when issues occur;
3. Monitor KPIs and formalize corrective plan of actions.

The project leader is a key person, but everybody should be on board.

It should be known that a MULTICHANNEL EXCELLENCE TEAM has to be defined with assigned members dedicated to the project within a specified perimeter (tasks, timing, actions etc.) from every department: content, training, IT and KPIs taskforces. A special team helpful of the execution of the MCM strategy for an integrated and collaborative project management to avoid operating in silos.

You name it!


… such a promising team, right?!

The first tip of all time: TRAINING!


Train all the stakeholders involved in the multichannel marketing strategy. We talk a lot about HCPs MCM engagement, but not much about the organization’s stakeholders MCM engagement.

An Organization must explain the benefits of the multichannel strategy to the stakeholders:

For HCPs;
For Patients;
For the Brand;
For the Organization – Business operations, Marketing teams, Medical & Regulatory teams AND THE SALESFORCE.

Identify  your project sponsors and invite them with all the stakeholders to participate to a MCM WORKSHOP. This is a very educative, interactive and fun session to understand and address needs, objections, expectations and get complete buy-in. The workshop allows to experience the MCM strategy and the customer experience map.

KEY MCM PROJECT MANAGEMENT STEPS

The purpose of this article is not to write down standard project management principles you surely already know about, but try to provide highlights and tips on things we usually miss during the management of MCM projects.

There are basically 2 blocks to handle in MCM projects:

1. CHANNEL COMMUNICATION DESIGN
2. CHANNEL COMMUNICATION MANAGEMENT

Channel communication design (including content creation):

What are the specific deliverables that are expected to be produced for each channel of communication? Identifying each of the deliverables is key to know what is already available and what is not.

Perform an audit of every department involved to list what already exist in terms of technology, content etc. Because of the  way of operating in silos not everyone is aware of what has been previously done or produced. And this is important to avoid allocating and wasting resources and budget in something already there.

Channel communication management:

Execution: scheduling and launching the different communication channels and associated content following the defined timeframe.

KPIs: defining and developing metrics for tracking and ranking each communication channel (a topic we will develop in another article of the series).

Use our communication channel design mind map to help you visualize all the necessary pieces to think of for the communication channel design and management.


At each stage of the project, 2 key principles are important for managing MCM projects:

1. Reporting:

Since MCM Projects involve cross functional teamwork with multiple initiatives to handle, it is essential to provide simple and regular reports to keep teams involved in the MCM journey and monitor tasks completion. Pack too much data into it and people won’t read it or pay attention to important information. Using a color code can be useful, for example a red/yellow/green status to give a quick look on what is and isn’t urgent to address or work on.

Simple means:

Basic timeline showing where are we at.
Highlight only tasks to be completed to meet the deadlines and important points/milestones.

Always use the customer experience map as THE PROJECT MAP.

For the rest and unless there is an “emergency”, it is better to gather the MCM excellence team in a scheduled short time meeting to discuss any issues or pending questions. It is far more effective when questions and topics to discuss are clearly defined.

2. Validation meetings:

These are meetings scheduled in a regular frequency led by a validation committee where members of the MCM excellence team and other relevant people validate every stage of the project in order to be aligned and keep moving forward without getting lost in the process. What are the topics that must be validated?

Customer experience map updates;
Quick round of table at the beginning of each cycle or period of time of the customer experience map to understand the imperatives for compliance or any good practices based on internal guidelines and integrate them beforehand (e.g. for digital sales aids: what will be the screen design rules, what is permitted to put as a pop up? etc.);
MLR reviews: schedule validation meetings (e.g. once a month) with medical and regulatory affairs to validate content for every channel to be delivered in the next following month. Especially since MCM requires multiple internal rounds of content review, we advise setting up regular content validation meetings. Therefore, reviewers have time to schedule their reviews for each piece of content ahead and be ready to attend the validation meeting;
Any other necessary means.


Validation meetings should be scheduled according to the customer experience map timeline. To summarize, below is our MCM project workflow timeline.

In our next article of this series we will discuss the role of the sale representative within the MCM strategy.

Stay tuned!

If you’d like to learn more about  multichannel marketing project management in Pharma, feel free to reach out to us at contact[at]hexagone.life.

TO BE CONTINUED...

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