Article
5 Pillars: A Framework for Omnichannel Marketing Success
Source: freepikGone are the days when launching a successful brand was simply about getting prescriptions written. Today, it demands crafting a seamless journey for everyone involved — from the moment of diagnosis right through to patient adherence. Unfortunately, the current landscape is often a disjointed mix of redundant tasks, incompatible systems, and inefficiencies. These issues can frustrate healthcare providers and staff, potentially deterring them from recommending your product and impacting your launch negatively. This disconnect largely stems from a misunderstanding of omnichannel strategy, which isn't merely about data sharing or channel integration. Instead, it calls for a fundamental shift in how we tackle business challenges, requiring innovative planning and execution to thrive in today's interconnected environment.
Omnichannel Strategy: A Mindset Shift
Effective omnichannel planning should ensure a seamless user experience across channels and tactics, similar to how one account works across Amazon’s services. For example, simplifying the user experience through unified access across all applications and tools can render your brand indispensable to healthcare providers, thereby increasing loyalty and usage.
However, this requires a perception change on what omnichannel truly represents. It transcends the use of specific tools or the latest trends, embodying a fundamental organizational mindset shift.
An effective customer-centric, omnichannel approach rests on five pillars: a strong Martech foundation, owned channel prioritization, an efficient partner ecosystem, principled data collection, and built-in flexibility to adapt for global scale. (Exhibit 1)
Exhibit 1: Five Pillars for an effective customer-centric omnichannel success
| Key Takeaways | |
| Strong Martech Foundation | Leverage your Martech for compliant communications, dynamic campaign management, and sophisticated marketing automation that supports each customer interaction. |
| Owned Channel Prioritization | Prioritize your channels not by what's available, but by what's impactful. Start with those that have a track record of success; then, methodically integrate emerging channels. |
| Efficient Partner Ecosystems | Cultivate a Marketing Ops and Tech partner to integrate channel-specific agencies, creating a Unified CX and producing scalable content across various platforms. |
| Principled Data Collection | Prioritize actionable data over vanity metrics. Use a Customer Data Platform (CDP) to strike a balance between necessary and achievable data, centered on relevance for decision-making. Create a 360-view of your customer to enable faster and smarter decisions. |
| Local to Global Adaptability | Create enterprise applications designed for replicability and adaptability across different regional markets, navigating through varied regulatory landscapes and digital infrastructures. |
Here are the five pillars that constitute an effective customer-centric omnichannel approach:
Pillar #1: Strong Martech Foundation
A successful launch requires strong, nimble, and easily adaptable technology systems that evolve as you grow. Your goals will include creating a strong brand identity, reaching the right audiences at the right time, and maximizing early market share capture.
Your Martech stack should consider:
- Cost: This includes the total cost of ownership, comprising initial setup, licensing, ongoing maintenance, and scalability.
- Prioritization: Identify and focus on Martech tools critical for achieving business goals.
- Integration and APIs: Martech platforms should have robust APIs and connectors for easy integration with existing systems, minimizing the need for custom work.
- Data Security and Consent: Guaranteed compliance with data security laws and regulations, implementing robust security measures and managing user consent effectively.
- Identity Management: Your Martech stack should include a strong identity management system and initiatives for identifying customers across channels to build a unified profile.
Pillar #2: Owned Channel Prioritization
Choosing the right channels for your brand's launch involves careful selection and coordination, much like conducting a symphony. Start by perfecting key elements—including your web presence, HQ email, CRM RTE, and ICVA—before incorporating more specialized tools like conferences, webinars, and audience-specific solutions.
The goal isn't to deploy every channel but to ensure they all work in concert, creating a single experience that engages your audience and reflects your brand's narrative.
In marketing to healthcare professionals (HCPs), it's easy to get caught up in the latest trends like chatbots, virtual reality apps, voice technology, and Generative AI. However, in building your omnichannel ecosystem, it's critical to focus first on effectively coordinating your primary channels. Before expanding into new techniques, ensure that you've demonstrated success and fully optimized your existing ones. Only then should you consider branching out, ensuring readiness for new integrations.
Pillar #3: Efficient Partner Ecosystems
- Brand and Messaging: In pharmaceutical marketing, creative agencies are key to crafting a brand's foundational message. However, the real test comes in adjusting that message for many channels without diluting its key points. Partnering with specialists who customize content for each platform can cut costs and keep your messaging clear and consistent.
- Tech and Marketing: Choose a partner with strong technology and marketing expertise tailored to your company's scale. Both new and seasoned companies in the industry are recognizing the importance of expanding their partner networks to include omnichannel operations experts. This strategy guarantees flexibility, creativity, and efficiency.
- Scaling: A good partner will consider how you plan to scale for a global launch in the future. Choosing the right partner from the start allows newcomers to lay a solid foundation. This foundation provides the flexibility to scale up operations, with a focus on operational and cost optimization.
Pillar #4: Principled Data Collection
For newcomers in the market, the battle isn't against the established giants of the pharmaceutical world. Instead, it revolves around navigating the overwhelming flood of data from so many channels. More specifically, the real task lies in distinguishing the data that drives decisions from mere vanity metrics.
That's where a CDP comes in handy. It helps you collect and focus on the kind of data that matters most for making decisions.
Our data methodology is built on core principles that help us focus on the fundamentals:
- Balance: Aim to find a perfect balance between necessity and achievability, ensuring that CDP implementations are both practical and feasible.
- Purpose: We believe in incorporating data into the CDP with a clear purpose. Each piece of data should enrich our understanding of customers, help build detailed profiles, and provide valuable insights for action.
- Applicability: Prioritize the relevance of data over quantity, choosing sources that offer the most value for customer engagement. The thinking is: “Not just vast, but valuable.”
Pillar #5: Local to Global Adaptability
If you build your strategy correctly, you can become more efficient as you scale up. But adapting a global strategy to local markets presents unique challenges, particularly in variations in regulatory environments and digital infrastructure. What is successful in one market may encounter regulatory restrictions in another.
For instance, the U.S. market's liberal approach to personal data use in advertising contrasts with Europe's stringent data protection regulations. These local differences extend to platform availability, channel popularity, and user behavior, affecting everything from strategy decisions to how you collect data.
Therefore, navigating this shift from region to global is a delicate balance. While each market demands a localized focus, the ultimate goal is to replicate success globally. Here are some benefits to retaining a larger perspective:
- Brand Consistency: A unified global strategy keeps your brand and message consistent across diverse markets, enhancing brand recognition and trust on a worldwide scale.
- Efficiency and Cost Savings: Crafting a singular omnichannel plan for global deployment is more resource-efficient and cost-effective than piecing together country-specific solutions.
- Wider Reach: Thinking globally allows pharmaceutical companies to amplify their audience reach and operational scalability. Using worldwide platforms and channels broadens the scope of campaigns, impacting more markets.
- Standardization and Compliance: Embracing global standards simplifies compliance with varied regulatory landscapes, ensuring marketing efforts are both standardized and compliant, minimizing risks and expediting approval processes.
Global Success, One Engagement at a Time
To recap, true omnichannel success lies in creating a frictionless experience that connects patients, providers, and pharmaceutical services seamlessly, from the doctor's office to digital platforms.
Our five pillars are tools to help you craft the experiences doctors, patients, and pharmacists need. When used properly, they can create a critical moat in today's competitive landscape, where exceptional user experiences translate directly into greater brand loyalty and higher product usage.
However, neglecting these strategies risks fragmenting the healthcare journey, leading to frustrations that deter providers and patients from your brand.
On the other hand, by partnering with Asentech, companies gain access to omnichannel expertise that not only addresses these challenges but also positions brands for sustained success and growth.
Ready to elevate your brand with a cutting-edge omnichannel strategy? Connect with Asentech today, and discover how we can guide you toward omnichannel excellence for a successful launch.