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What I would have talked about at the 6th Annual eMarketing Europe Summit

Published by Damon Caiazza on April 6, 2011.

Last month I attended the 6th Annual eMarketing Europe Summit put on by eyeforpharma.  While there was a lot of great content, with some focused on sales force solutions and electronic detailing, none really tackled the reality of shrinking budgets and the centralization of global marketing solution development and delivery.

What I think should have been covered in more detail
From my perspective of working on several global brands, the focus should have been more on the centralized development of content and the local adaptation and execution.  For purposes of this post I’ll stick to electronic detailing as the distribution channel for such content, but you could write similar posts for many other distribution channels such as Web, Smartphone Applications, etc.

What I see as the benefits

While the benefits are endless, let’s explore five key areas I think are worth focusing on when talking about electronic detailing in the global arena:

  1. Reduced costs for local affiliate markets of all sizes – Content can be built once centrally and then localized to adapt to local regulations and language(s).  The goal here is to get 80% of the way there with the globally developed content so that the local affiliate can focus on the 20% that makes them different.
  2. Global brand message and creative consistency – Centrally developed and delivered content paves the way for global brand consistency.
  3. Centralized view of global content activities – A centralized view of content allows the global marketing team to flag local customizations that are well received and bake them into future global packages so that all affiliates can benefit from the work done by their counterparts.
  4. Efficient multi-channel delivery – Centralized development of content leads to consistent standards which can make multi-channel delivery cost effective.
  5. Centralized statistical reporting – A global view of the metrics provides a quantitative way to make program changes that will benefit all global affiliates. 

Key elements to implementing a global eDetailing program

The key elements to successfully putting a program in place are a global marketing team structure and a flexible content distribution platform that supports electronic detailing and other related activities.

Global Marketing Team

I’m not going to go into much depth about the global marketing team because I touch upon much of this in a prior blog post titled “The Role of a Pharmaceutical Global Marketing Team.”  It is important, and worth stating again, that global marketing teams must understand their role and embrace communication with their regional and local affiliate partners in order to develop and deliver the most usable solutions.

Content Distribution Platform

In order to support the development and deployment of an electronic detailing solution, global teams should look to secure a platform with the following capabilities:

  1. Open Content Standards – This is a necessity in order to ensure that global and local marketing teams can leverage the most appropriate vendors for content development.
  2. Server-based Management and Deployment – This provides a critical foundation for other necessities as well as global audit and content destruction management.
  3.  Centralized Reporting – Reporting at a global level provides powerful insights into content re-use within local markets as well as user behaviors.
  4. Localization Tools – Many smaller affiliate markets are not able to engage with agencies to localize content prior to distribution thus easy-to-use tools (often Web-based) allow local product managers and staff to localize the content themselves.
  5. Multi-channel Distribution Capabilities – Everyone talks about tablet/iPad distribution, but the most powerful platforms will provide easy migration paths (with minimal rework required) to use other distribution channels (mobile, Web, and others) leveraging the same content. 

A few things you can count on!

  • The shift will continue from local to global teams and implementations
  • Cost and time pressures will continue to exist in the industry
  • The global landscape will continue to change with technology front and center as one of the primary solutions

Technology can be a friend or foe depending on how you embrace it and more importantly how you are organized to benefit from it.  Keep up the good work eyeforpharma and we’ll see you next year!

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dcaiazza

The role of a pharmaceutical global marketing team

Published by Damon Caiazza on January 13, 2011.

The pharmaceutical industry has established a fairly consistent structure when building out global marketing operations. Generally this structure consists of three levels.

  1. Global Marketing Team
  2. Regional Marketing Teams
  3. Local Marketing Teams

Given the consistency in structure within the industry, one would think there is consistency in the roles and responsibilities of each level. The reality is that each company works differently based on budgets, corporate structure, regulatory/legal risk tolerance, and many other factors. In addition, the globalization trend of centralizing key strategic functions has added to the disparity in approaches.

Under ideal circumstances, what should the role of the global market team be?

There isn’t an easy answer to this question given there are as many layers to a global marketing team as there are to an onion. In order to make the discussion more palatable, I’ve chosen to look at things at three key phases: Pre-launch, Launch, and Post-launch.

Pre-launch: Define and Build the Market
The role of the global marketing team during this phase begins with market research focused on identifying the unmet needs in the market and developing a strategy for entry. Once an entry strategy has been developed, the global marketing team begins work on the development of market conditioning strategies and tactics that can be deployed by each region to be localized and executed at the local level. It is ideal if market conditioning efforts are executed locally 12- to 18-months prior to the branded launch depending on the specific challenges the brand will face.

Launch: Define and Build the Brand
The role of the global marketing team during this phase begins once again with market research focused on brand and message development. Once the brand and message platform have been established, the global marketing team develops a global marketing strategy and core branded marketing assets. These assets include things such as a global brand book, sales force detail aids and leave behinds, direct-to-physician platforms and communications, patient education and support materials, and items for use at congresses and events.

It is important that the global marketing team own the development of these core assets in order to ensure global brand consistency in the messages that are delivered by the regional and local teams. I can’t emphasize this point enough given the global landscape today and the likelihood that physicians will have brand interactions outside of their local market.

Post-launch: Manage the Product Lifecycle
Once the brand has been successfully launched, the role of the global marketing team shifts to a lifecycle management role in which the brand team develops long-term strategies aimed at maximizing the value of the brand. Four key things to consider with product lifecycle management are:

  • Build a global advisory panel early in the life of the drug to gain key insights into where future potential may exists
  • Be flexible and open minded as the world and pharmaceutical markets continue to evolve
  • Be organized and diligent with information management so that key data, decisions, and background information can easily be disseminated
  • Gain buy-in from a cross functional leadership team as lifecycle management will require contributions from everyone in the company as some point or another

Suffice it to say, product lifecycle management is a subject worthy of multiple posts in and of itself. If you are interested in more on product lifecycle management, I’d direct you to seek out some lectures and publications by Datamonitor’s Dr. Neal Hansen.

A few other things to consider:

Here are a few other things to consider with global marketing that apply no matter what phase of the journey your brand is currently in.

  • Brand and message consistency – as mentioned earlier, it is more critical than ever that the brand and messaging be consistent on the global stage. When possible, establishing your agency as the brand reviewer for all local implementations is a great way to ensure that local materials don’t unnecessarily stray from the global brand and message platforms.
  • Global team dynamics – it is important that the global brand team recognize and appreciate the challenges associated with leading global initiatives. Key challenges such as communication, cultural differences, and knowledge sharing should be addressed early on and continually reevaluated to ensure that these things don’t distract the team from the bigger task at hand.
  • New leadership/talent requirements – with the proliferation of global marketing teams at hand, the leadership requirements for this role have evolved to require a unique blend of operational competency, strategic thinking, and relationship management.
Categories: Healthcare marketing innovations
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dcaiazza

Customer Segmentation: It should be about what they are thinking, not who they are

Published by Damon Caiazza on September 30, 2010.

Recently, I’ve been rethinking my approach to segmentation and it’s time you did, too.

The Old School Model

The emergence of technology and the concept of personalization forced us to rethink how we interacted with customers in the late 90s.  This journey led to a variety of segmentation and personalization models being developed that  focused almost exclusively on demographics (age, gender, income, location, etc.), which served us well for the time.  In the pharmaceutical industry this translated to a few basic trends for physicians:

  1. Functional/Professional Grouping – Nurse, Doctor, Pharmacist, Physical Therapist, etc.
  2. Specialty Grouping – Cardiologist, Oncologist, Pediatrician, etc.
  3. Disease State Breakdown – Juvenile Diabetes, Adult Diabetes, etc.

The same held true for patients with:

  1. Disease State Breakdown – Juvenile Diabetes, Adult Diabetes, etc.
  2. Specialty Grouping – Patient, Caregiver, etc.
  3. Age – Young patient, elderly patient, etc.

The Challenge

While I’m the first to say there are some good qualities and appropriate uses in the demographic-based segmentation models mentioned above, I can’t help but wonder if there is a better (or at least different) way to approach segmentation.

Customer Mindset:  Is it Psychographic or Behavioral Segmentation?

I’ve recently started to explore an approach to segmentation that feels like a hybrid of Psychographic (attributes such as Attitudes, Interests, and Opinions) and Behavioral (attributes such as Benefit Sought and User Status).  This approach abandons the traditional segmentation approach in lieu for one that focuses on the customer mindset.  This strategy focuses less on who the person is and more on what they are trying to accomplish.  The basic construct that I use is:

Mindset -> Action -> Outcome

Here is how it might play out in your next Website project when setting up a segmentation model for what you may normally call your patient segment under the demographic-based model.

Change Isn’t Easy

You may find that taking such an approach complicates your messaging or the tactical implementation, however, I’d argue that not taking this approach (or one similar) put you at risk of never creating the proper connection with your customer.  After all, their needs have evolved – shouldn’t we as marketers do the same?

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dcaiazza

Global marketing communications: It’s not what you say, it’s how you listen!

Published by Damon Caiazza on July 20, 2010.

“Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.” - Winston Churchill

Over my professional career I’ve had to overcome my natural tendency to stand up and speak before I’ve finished listening, if I was even listening in the first place. Often times I’d have a response cooking in my head before someone finished making their point. The net result of this shameful behavior was poor interpersonal communications and potentially poor results.

In my experience working on global marketing communications within the pharmaceutical industry, I’ve observed similar situations that I feel are a result of the same behavior I’ve worked hard to correct.

Global marketing professionals don’t do enough listening!

Instead of listening, here is what I frequently observe them focusing their efforts on:

  1. Global campaigns and messaging
  2. Global advertising assets
  3. Market research in key global markets

While these efforts are all necessary and very important, I can’t help but think that each one of them would be that much more effective if there was a little more listening going on. I’d even go as far to say that some don’t listen because they are afraid of what they may hear. They are afraid that the things they and their teams have worked hard to develop are only marginally effective or rarely used.

There is room for improvement, so let’s get started

Good global communication starts with listening, but it definitely doesn’t end there. Here are my thoughts on how you can build upon some of the good practices you may already have.

  1. Embrace a culture of curiosity
    Curiosity is a powerful tool that can drive insightful questioning, learning, and communication. This seems like such a simple thing, but in reality very few marketers approach a conversation with a curious mindset, which starts by asking questions about key challenges, past experiences, etc.
  2. Meet face-to-face
    In an era where emails, text messages and instant messages rule, face-to-face communication has become a lost art. A little face time can still go a long way to improving communications and relationships.
    Get people talking globally
  3. Encourage conversation between global markets.
    You’d be surprised how little different markets actually speak to each other about the dynamics within their markets and how they are creatively addressing them.
  4. Leverage social media concepts
    There is a lot we can learn about communicating from the social media boom that has taken by storm our culture and our daily lives. The key communication takeaway is the fact that people want to be heard and are willing to share. Give your global partners as many opportunities as possible to share their feedback, rate your work, and get engaged.
  5. Leverage technology
    While I stand firm that there is value in meeting face-to-face, there is also the reality of increasing cost pressures, reduced corporate travel, and natural geographic barriers. This places a high value in online collaboration and communication tools that can quickly and globally be deployed to fill in the communication gaps when face-to-face meetings are not possible.

Do you already listen?

If you are reading this and thinking that I’m totally off base, please share with the audience your examples of how you currently listen. We are all ears!

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dcaiazza

The Mythical “Magic Marketing” Bullet

Published by Damon Caiazza on July 1, 2010.

I’m often asked, “If I can only do one thing, what would you recommend I do with my marketing dollars?”  It’s a question I’ve pondered often and one that has many variations including, “What should I do in the digital space?” and “What should I do with my sales force?” and so on.

Unfortunately the answer isn’t easy and it isn’t what people want to hear. 

We’ve evolved as information consumers

Personalization of not only information, but the way in which people consume information, is the new normal.  With this reality comes the fact that anyone responsible for marketing must embrace a variety of channels in order to:

  • Capture the largest possible audience
  • Reinforce key marketing messages across all potential touch points, no matter how insignificant they may seem
  • Live where your competition most likely lives to ensure that your brand is never outmaneuvered
  • Personalize the experience for maximum impact

The task at hand requires coordination and integration

I strongly believe that in order to effectively execute on a truly personalized and integrated marketing communications strategy, marketing teams must be integrated.  This is something that we’ve fully embraced at GSW Worldwide with the integration of our Digital and Media Strategy teams into the core account/creative team structure.  This integration creates a highly collaborative environment which ultimately delivers a tightly integrated approach to online, offline, and media.  This approach speaks directly to our evolution as information consumers and it produces results!

ASCO was a great example

Recently at ASCO, the largest oncology event in the world, I observed first-hand how some best-in-class integrated strategies across interactive, print, and personal selling work best.  One specific example involved a series of kiosks that allowed a user to personalize a poster and then have it printed on-demand in the booth.  This execution showcased personalization and integration of mediums at its finest.

What does it all mean?

  1. There is no “Magic Bullet” tactic – you must cast a wide net
  2. Personalized content and messaging isn’t enough – personalized consumption is equally important
  3. Specialization has taken a back seat to integration – seek out a partner that is integrated across all specialties
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dcaiazza

Metrics: Focus on improvement, not success

Published by Damon Caiazza on May 3, 2010.

Yes. You read the headline correctly. During my career, I’ve seen people get caught up in the world of measurement and success leading them to do some pretty crazy things.

The “bad metrics are better than no metrics” mentality

The pressure from management to produce metrics often scares employees into measuring and reporting on everything under the sun, even if it has nothing to do with the ultimate business or marketing objectives. I generally see two common behaviors that fall into this category of thinking.

  • Measure and report on enough stuff and something good will emerge
  • Throw enough data out there and no one will look at it because it is overwhelming

In either situation, the employee feels they are covered because they provided metrics to management.

No metrics are better than some metrics

This is a favorite of mine and it stems from a real life scenario that I personally experienced. One day while working on an interactive project with a client I asked a simple question, or at least one I thought was fairly simple.

“What do you think are the most important things to track?”

I of course had my own thoughts about this, but I wanted to see what this individual thought was important. The answer I received almost knocked me off my seat.

“Let’s not track anything. I wouldn’t want to show my boss some bad numbers and have him pull the plug prematurely.”

Needless to say, I was speechless – which doesn’t happen often. It was clear in this situation that this person felt tracking nothing was better than tracking potential failure. Far too often the fear of failure can cause your staff to do nothing, which ironically encumbers the path to success.

My approach to measurement and success

Now that I’ve walked through a few common scenarios that I’ve experienced around metrics, let me quickly share my approach to metrics.

  1. Don’t turn a blind eye to measurement – We operate in a world today where we can track just about anything we do, and we should. You never know where that key piece of information is going to come from.
  2. Don’t bite off more than you can chew – While I advocate measuring as much as possible, I don’t advocate doing something with that data all at once. Focus on things that can make you and your programs better. Metrics are as much about improving as they are about success.
  3. Don’t jump ship just because there is a crack in the hull – Don’t ever abandon a program that isn’t working without first understanding why it isn’t working. This is one of the reasons why you should track as much as possible.
  4. Don’t ever think you are “done” – Just as you shouldn’t jump ship too early, you also shouldn’t rest on what appears to be success. Constant innovation based on solid measurement and analysis of “improvement metrics” is the key to long-term success.

We live and work in a world where measurement and tracking is everywhere. Those of us who measure well, report well, and most importantly adjust well, will be the big winners.

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