Digitizing pharmaceutical sales with omnichannel marketing

Success in pharmaceutical sales has always depended heavily on the personality of the sales staff. But will it stay that way? The fact is: digitalization is not stopping at this industry either. This is why many companies are facing the challenge of integrating various online sales channels into their pharma marketing. The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated this process - after all, face-to-face meetings between pharmaceutical sales representatives and doctors were not possible at times. But anyone who believes that the wheel can be turned back to pre-corona workflows is mistaken. The time is ripe for omnichannel marketing. In this article, our interim manager explains how to digitize pharmaceutical sales using cross-channel marketing.

Why is there no way around online marketing in the pharmaceutical industry?

The pharmaceutical industry was affected by the coronavirus pandemic like no other. Not only did vaccines have to be brought to market as quickly as possible. Established sales channels were also closed from one day to the next. Pharmaceutical sales representatives were no longer able to visit their customers - either in hospital or in the practice. That's why the digitalization of sales communication had to be driven forward quickly. Because during the pandemic, digital measures became the only way to maintain customer and contact relationships. But what does this mean for the sales force as the most important channel in pharmaceutical sales? Can face-to-face appointments and the associated high costs still be justified now that digital processes have become established? In the area of conflict between stationary pharmaceutical sales and efficient digital pharmaceutical marketing, pharmaceutical companies are faced with the challenge of making the commercial organization as a whole fit for the future and shaping the customer experience (CX) in the best possible way.

Why is integrated cross-channel marketing a must-have?

The solution is obvious: omnichannel marketing. This involves addressing both existing and potential customers in all ("omni") analog and digital ("channel") channels with consistent sales messages. For traditional pharmaceutical companies, this goes hand in hand with a change in established processes and ways of thinking. Those who only operate within department-specific silos should dissolve these in favor of integrated workflows. It is not only pharma marketing and pharma sales that need to work seamlessly together; other commercial functions such as Medical Affairs, Commercial Excellence and others are also called upon to participate in the digitalization of pharma marketing and pharma sales. For this to succeed, employees must be willing to develop further and learn how to work with sometimes complex systems. Last but not least, this requires the unrestricted support of top management. After all, it is responsible for implementing, promoting and financing the transformation.

Why do systems need to be linked and data consolidated for omnichannel marketing?

In addition to this cultural change, pharmaceutical companies also need to reposition themselves on the systems side. For omnichannel marketing to work, you need different applications that are ideally seamlessly integrated. These include, in particular, systems for:

• Customer Relationship Management: All customer information from all channels can be fully recorded and effectively stored in the CRM system.
• Content Management: A CMS enables the creation and management of content and campaigns for various channels, such as websites, social media, approved emails and apps. As a CMS supports internal approval processes, the compliance of the content is guaranteed. Close collaboration between Marketing and Medical Affairs makes a lot of sense here.
• Marketing automation: A marketing automation platform automates processes such as the design of the customer journey, the sending of approved emails and marketing communication. This allows uniform campaigns to be implemented in a coordinated manner at the desired touchpoints.
• Analytics: An analytics tool allows the effectiveness of campaigns to be measured and analyzed across all channels. Based on the evaluation results, future campaigns can be optimized based on data. In this way, the customer experience continues to improve.

All these systems not only require countless data, they also constantly generate information that is relevant for pharmaceutical marketing and sales. Companies are therefore well advised to consolidate customer and prospect data across systems and make it available for distribution at the desired touchpoint. The easiest way to do this is with middleware. As an intermediary platform, it connects the systems with each other and ensures smooth data flows and uniform databases.

Why can't cross-channel marketing succeed without guidance?

Because of the large number of systems and specialist departments that work together in omnichannel marketing, a department and a tool are needed to lead the way. Structurally, this makes sense for Commercial Excellence, which orchestrates the interaction of the systems as a specialist department. On the system side, it has proven itself to rely on the CRM solution. Whenever pharmaceutical companies use tools, this goes hand in hand with a standardization or automation of processes. Process automation provides a significant increase in reliability,

💡 good to know 💡
Not every company needs all tools, especially with regard to compliance guidelines, such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The chosen solution must be tailored to individual needs - also with regard to the scope and depth of system integration.

Checklist: Step by step to omnichannel marketing

Initiating the necessary technological and corporate cultural changes is merely the foundation for omnichannel marketing. A step-by-step approach is required for practical implementation:

1st step: define the buyer persona

First, pharmaceutical manufacturers should define their buyer persona: a fictitious person who represents a typical buyer. Knowing what challenges and needs the persona has - for example, whether they respond to patient-focused content or cost issues and whether they are open to innovative therapeutic approaches - makes it much easier to design and implement tailor-made measures.

Step 2: Determine relevant touchpoints

Depending on which information and communication channels the persona prefers, the most promising analog and digital touchpoints should be selected and integrated along the pre-modeled customer journey. Common touchpoints include traditional customer visits, telephone calls Email marketing (approved emails), webinars, online meetings, websites and social media. If a pharmaceutical company places an ad in a print medium, for example, the ad should have a QR code that takes interested parties to a landing page - where they can register for a suitable webinar or contact the sales department.

3rd step: Provide suitable content

It is important that the content is not only adapted to the channel, but also to the phase of the customer journey in which the recipient finds themselves. Those who prefer online meetings do not want to receive pharmaceutical representatives in person. And doctors who already prescribe a product do not need sales-promoting information material. It is important to deliver the right messages to the right target group at the right time via the right channel. For example, information about an innovative tumor therapy is very informative for oncologists participating in clinical trials, while pediatricians who are currently expanding are more interested in the price of a new chickenpox vaccine.

4. Step: Monitor success

Of course, pharmaceutical manufacturers who invest in omnichannel marketing want to know whether a campaign is having the desired success. To this end, it is necessary to define key performance indicators (KPIs), such as the following:

• Customer satisfaction: To find out whether and how satisfied customers are with the information provided, short standardized (online) questionnaires are suitable, which participants fill out directly after webinars or other interactions, for example. It is important that pharmaceutical sales (field sales) is involved and uses surveys as a customer loyalty tool. Follow-up calls at the end of a marketing campaign have also proven successful.
• Conversion rate: It is advisable to measure the conversion rate for online activities. A conversion can consist of clicking on a link in a mailing or contacting sales after a webinar. The conversion rate shows what percentage of mailing recipients or webinar participants perform the desired action.
• Open rate: E-mail marketing companies use the open rate to measure the percentage ratio between the number of e-mails sent and the number of recipients who open them.
• Click rate: The click-through rate provides information about the number of clicks on an element in relation to the impressions achieved - for example, to measure the effectiveness of an online ad.
• Return on investment: The ROI shows whether a project was profitable. It is advisable to set up cross-channel marketing projects regionally and compare the sales growth of the core products with that in matched comparison areas without omnichannel marketing. If the data allows, companies should analyze the sales development of customers who have gone through the entire customer journey with all interactions.

For reasons of simplicity and usefulness, it is advisable to focus on a few KPIs and to record and evaluate them consistently. A clear and intuitive KPI dashboard is very helpful here.

5th step: Adjust measures

Depending on how satisfactory the result of the campaign monitoring is, either individual measures or entire campaigns should be adjusted. Those who focus on the defined KPIs will continue to improve the quality and effectiveness of omnichannel marketing.

6th step: using artificial intelligence

Innovative pharmaceutical companies in particular can make use of the possibilities of artificial intelligence (AI). Based on CRM data, certain patterns can be recognized with the help of AI, such as the channel-specific preferences of a certain customer group. A self-learning system (machine learning, ML for short) can predict which content is most likely to be relevant in a target group segment. The following applies: The more time passes and the more data is available, the better the results This allows the right content to be automatically played out at the right time in the right channel. It is also possible, for example, to receive recommendations for action based on real data, so-called next best actions. This means that measures and campaigns can be tailored more and more precisely and implemented even more effectively.

Why good preparation is half the battle in cross-channel marketing

As tempting as it may sound to pursue omnichannel marketing, the associated challenges are too great for some pharmaceutical companies. Such companies often lack the technological and professional foundation, which is why they are well advised to provide the necessary budget and invest in both the required technologies and the training of their staff. This is because employees must be able to use the tools and analysis systems as a matter of course. After all, they are required to create new content on an ongoing basis, which content and marketing managers then play out at relevant touchpoints in a customer-specific manner. This approach not only places new demands on staff in areas such as marketing, commercial excellence and medical affairs, but also on sales representatives in pharmaceutical sales: In favor of integrated communication, all channels must be orchestrated on a customer-specific basis. This has little to do with traditional pharmaceutical sales, which is based on personal relationships. That's why it's not just sales professionals who need new skills - culminating in fundamentally changed job profiles.

💡 Expert tip 💡
Ideally, digital pharma marketing starts with a pilot project and achieves convincing quick wins that ensure the support of management and other specialist departments. A top-down-driven transformation of the commercial area has little chance of long-term success.

What are the advantages of omnichannel marketing?

There is no doubt that cross-channel marketing offers large and small pharmaceutical companies alike the opportunity to increase the success of their pharmaceutical sales. Omnichannel marketing makes it possible

• to get in touch with doctors via their preferred channel and thus increase the effectiveness and efficiency of communication.
• to offer personalized content tailored to the phase of the customer journey in which doctors find themselves. This reduces communication wastage.
• Get to know your own customers better. This enables pharmaceutical companies to communicate in an increasingly targeted manner. The more data they use, the more effectively they can address their target group.
• Manage product portfolios more efficiently thanks to the targeted, customer-specific communication of information.
• Provide doctors with a consistent brand and service experience that meets their individual information needs at all contact points. In this way, pharmaceutical companies improve their brand image and strengthen customer loyalty.
  

Omnichannel marketing - but the right way!

Even in omnichannel marketing, sales representatives in pharmaceutical sales remain the face to the customer - only their face is more diverse than before. The success of omnichannel marketing stands and falls with the relevance of the medical content, the acceptance of the formats offered and the competence of the sales force to exploit the cross-channel potential of the new sales approach. Of course, structural and technological changes must be made in equal measure, which have a particular impact on marketing, sales, commercial excellence and medical affairs. In the turbulent day-to-day business, initiating all these changes can be a hurdle in terms of time, expertise and personnel. External interim managers who specialize in the digitalization of marketing and sales processes are an important success factor here. They not only support the system-side implementation and integration. With professional change management, they also prevent any reservations on the part of the workforce and ensure that everyone pulls in the same direction. If experienced experts also coach employees and are always ready to listen to them, nothing stands in the way of a successful start to omnichannel marketing.

This article first appeared in the industry special "Pharma and medical technology". The full publication is available for download. Download the brochure free of charge now and find out more about value chain management, circular economy, post-merger integration, data-driven work and automation in medical technology!