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Post-pandemic digital marketing falling flat? Experts point to these four numbers

2023-02-15 · Originally published on media-wind.com.tw

AI-translated from the Chinese original · editorially reviewed

Post-pandemic digital marketing falling flat? Experts point to these four numbers

Reprinted with permission: Pharmascan

Veeva report: perspectives on digital marketing from 12 senior executives at top-20 pharmaceutical companies

In the past, pharma reps mainly handed out printed materials for customers to review, and marketers rarely had to think about which channels suited each customer. But when the pandemic hit, everything changed: teams had to rethink how to deliver content that is appropriately sized and memorable, through the channels customers actually prefer.

The pandemic era changed not only how people live, but how many industries work. The people-centric pharmaceutical industry has had to face the impact of the pandemic carefully. For more than a decade, pharma companies have faced continuous cost-cutting pressure, forced to standardize and consistently integrate different marketing channels for external customer communication — and the pandemic only accelerated marketers' shift to creating digital content.

According to Veeva data, pharma companies produced more than 22.5 million marketing documents in 2021, nearly double the 2019 volume. That mountain of marketing content consumes enormous time and resources, prompting many senior executives to rethink: how can our own product content stand out among so much marketing? Veeva's Content Innovation Council brought together 12 executives from the world's top 20 pharma companies to share the challenges and opportunities ahead for digital marketing content:

50% of members said 5+
content technologies need integrating

50% of members said KPIs are needed
to measure performance and satisfaction

60% of members said the barrier to producing
marketing content comes from headquarters

75% of digital marketing content will go through
an automated MLR process

Simplify content technologies and platforms: 50% of members said more than 5 content technologies need integrating

When the pandemic hit, many companies invested substantial resources in technology and integration to drive digital transformation, only to find later that the original plans and investments fell short. 50% of council members said that during the pandemic they had more than five content-production technologies and platforms to integrate, resulting in slow, inefficient output.

Demonstrate value by combining data with process: 50% of members said KPIs are needed to measure performance and satisfaction

50% of Veeva's Content Innovation Council members said the real key is how to measure the performance of the content they send and set reasonable KPIs (Key performance indicators), including how quickly a message gets noticed in the market, customer satisfaction, and how often content is reused.

Members also noted that because companies may rely on multiple external vendors to produce content, and different vendors may use different technology platforms, marketers face enormous challenges when interpreting data or trying to extract new strategic insights — making real-time data integration far harder.

Modular content will bridge channels and geographies: 60% of members said the barrier to producing marketing content comes from headquarters

In the past, pharma reps mainly handed out printed materials for customers to review, and marketers rarely had to think about which channels suited each customer. But when the pandemic hit, everything changed: teams had to rethink how to deliver content that is appropriately sized and memorable, through the channels customers actually prefer.

To deliver customized content, teams also need to shift their thinking and skills, learning how to build templates and analyze data. Since marketers are expected to produce content quickly and at scale, and budgets are limited, using templates to produce content is one efficient way to give customers a simple experience — even though not all content should be marketed in a modular way.

60% of council members said that when using marketing materials produced by headquarters, one of the biggest obstacles is content quality, compounded by the efficiency gap between headquarters and local affiliates in content production. Templates are therefore critical to producing customized content faster and at scale; if marketers can drop not-yet-approved content into templates first, they can accelerate the production of more locally relevant content.

Improve content-production efficiency through medical, legal and regulatory automation: 75% of digital marketing content will go through an automated MLR process

When most pharma companies produce marketing materials, they must comply with internal policies and scientific evidence. Marketing content typically has to be approved by the Medical, Legal, and Regulatory departments (the MLR departments) before frontline colleagues can use it.

"To speed up the MLR review process, we use staged review — pre-approved templates and content let us see which parts of a piece are already approved and which parts require fresh MLR review. With this adjustment, marketing materials that used to take 38 days from submission to final approval now take just 7 days," said Anuj Maheshwari, Pfizer's Vice President of Customer & Patient Engagement Enablement.

Council members expect that by 2025, 75% of digital marketing content will be completed through an automated MLR process. A digital-first mindset means MLR teams need standardized models for reviewing marketing content, and members believe regulatory teams will be glad to make changes that help content excel and deliver better material to customers.

The content of this article has been licensed by Pharmascan to PatientForce™ (Media-WIND Communications Co., Ltd. / Tax ID: 27903403); its intellectual property rights are jointly owned by PatientForce™ and Pharmascan in accordance with the law. If you believe this article raises any infringement concerns, please contact the relevant department of our company by email and we will respond as soon as possible.

References

Topics#DigitalHealthAI
Post-pandemic digital marketing falling flat? Experts point to these four numbers | Media-WIND Health Holdings