The Need for Multi-Channel Marketing
Before we begin talking about pharmaceutical marketing, let’s think about how we make buying decisions today. Let’s assume you’ve decided to buy a new car - pick anyone that comes to mind and assume that’s one of the options you’re eyeing. You probably first saw it in an online ad, or in a newspaper, or on TV when it was launched. The first thing you’d probably do is look it up on Google and, based on the results that show up, go through the brand’s website, automobile forums, videos by independent reviewers and publications. Perhaps you’ll even find the brand’s Facebook and Instagram page. You may also lookout for a car comparison review on TV - especially if you have a smart TV that allows you to pick and choose episodes - and see how it fares against competitors, then go back online and review those competitors, their websites and reviews, etc.
While the buying cycle for a car is relatively long compared to, say, OTC products, it definitely isn’t unique.
You probably now get where we’re going with this.
Multi-channel marketing is intrinsic to any marketing strategy today, because consumers are the ones that drive interactions, and they will never make decisions based only upon one ad or one website. It’s never a linear journey, and rarely a short one.
What does multichannel marketing for pharma entail?
It basically involves reaching out to doctors and healthcare practitioners in a number of ways, across different platforms and mediums. These could include your e-detailing platform, website, video channel, social media and even your customer emails. It’s the same if you’re marketing to end consumers, however, for both audiences, this will not work simply by being present everywhere. It requires a conscious effort to have cohesiveness in messaging, visuals and brand experiences across every touchpoint.
To help you understand why you really can’t do without it today, here are 5 benefits of multichannel marketing for pharmaceutical companies:
- Gets doctors and consumers to take notice:
Neither doctors nor consumers have time to spare - neither of them wants to listen to promotional content or pitches about your products. What they will do, however, is look up information when they need it, and stop and spare time for information that looks interesting to them at that moment. Multichannel marketing puts your brand in front of them in ways and at moments where they will be ready to listen. Think video on social websites, whitepapers on e-detailing platforms, and brand information on your landing page - each platform/medium has a purpose in its role. - Increases brand recall:
The whole idea behind multichannel marketing is to create multiple touchpoints with your audience - a combination of small and large brand activations that subtly yet persistently position your brand in front of doctors and consumers. Using the right mix of paid media, owned media and earned media, the sheer reach and frequency of reach increase your brand recall exponentially among your target audience. - Increases brand engagement and conversions:
Using digital mediums allows you to pinpoint your exact audience, identify the different segments of that audience, and target them separately. For example, rather than having one audience of cardiologists, digital allows you to target cardiologists in a particular city or neighborhood. With consumers, you don’t need to simply target by age or gender - you can again target by location, or family status, or income. Once you’ve identified these segments you want to target, it’s important to create different messaging for each segment (right from your digital ads to your brand experience), so you can establish a deeper bond with that audience on every channel you use. This will increase the multichannel engagement for your pharma brand and you’ll thus see significant improvement in engagement and conversion metrics both online and offline. - Greater returns on marketing investment:
With the kind of detailed segmentation and targeting mentioned in the earlier point, comes a great amount of data. You’ll know exactly who is engaging with your brand where and at what time, and who is converting more easily. This allows you to shift your focus to the right audiences at the right time, saving you significant time and money. - Invaluable customer / consumer data:
One of the biggest benefits of multichannel pharma marketing is the invaluable data you collect on your audiences, whether doctors or consumers. With the right segmentation and analytics, you now know where your customers and/or consumers are interested in interacting with your brand, what their buying cycle or buying triggers are, or even what their pain points are, and can use it to guide the strategy for your next campaigns and even your product development.
What You Need to Know Before You
Prepare Your Multichannel Strategy
What are your audience segments?
Which platforms do they frequent?
What are your content generation capabilities? (Consistency is key!)
What will your budget be?
Do you have the analytical tools & capabilities to measure progress?
What to watch out for when implementing
multichannel marketing for pharma:
Cohesiveness across platforms and mediums:
Staying true to your brand!
Don’t get comfortable:
The way people interact with you online will constantly change, and you can’t predict behaviour without constantly analysing interactions.
Balance is key to effective content:
Strike a balance between informational content and interesting content to keep engagement up.
Experiment, then scale: Have your media plan in place, but don’t get started on it with your entire budget - begin with a small portion to run experiments and see what’s working, then scale what’s working.
Stay current:
Work hard to keep creating content that your audience is currently interested in - the strategy will only work while you put something fresh in front of users
Don’t forget to plan your strategy well and execute it thoroughly - setting a frequency, identifying target parameters, consistent analysis for each platform and each target segment is essential to success. You don’t want to look at short-term success metrics, but long-term growth!
If you have any questions about multichannel marketing for pharma or would like to implement it for your brand, feel free to reach out to us below!
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Comments (41)
I found it interesting when you talked about multichannel marketing and its process. Recently, one of my friends mentioned he's thinking about investing in a business opportunity and is working on its marketing plan.
Leave a ReplyThanks so much for yet another eye-opening article. I never knew there was so much to multichannel marketing. It's definitely a marketing avenue that should be taken seriously.
Leave a ReplyI think having a dedicated multichannel marketing team can help too. A dedicated team ensures that every aspect of the digital marketing push is implemented exhaustively.
Leave a ReplyCohesiveness across platforms and mediums is of utmost importance. It helps ensure consistency and brand recognition.
Leave a ReplyAs with any strategy, proper planning and goal setting is imperative. It's the best way to realize a successful multichannel marketing campaign.
Leave a ReplyYour use of graphical representations is quite impressive. It's easy on the eye and provides for an enjoyable read. Thanks for sharing :)
Leave a ReplyGreater returns on marketing investment is precisely what every company strives to achieve. From this write up, it is clear that multichannel marketing guarantees this!
Leave a ReplyUsing multichannel marketing Increases brand engagement and conversions. This in turn leads to more sales which is beneficial to the pharmaceutical company.
Leave a Reply"Using the right mix of paid media, owned media and earned media, the sheer reach and frequency of reach increase your brand recall exponentially among your target audience." That explains exactly how effective multichannel marketing is. Every pharmaceutical company needs to adopt it!
Leave a ReplyI like your multichannel marketing strategies. I especially like the idea of using doctors and health professionals to get your brand noticeable on multiple platforms.
Leave a ReplyMultichannel marketing puts your brand onto more platforms. That makes it more likely to be found from an online search.
Leave a ReplyI like the analogy you draw with the person looking to buy a car. It makes things clear as to exactly how multichannel marketing works.
Leave a ReplyInterersting, As everyone these days are shifted to digital, Does pharma need some help starting out with multi-channel marketing strategy? and how can we sustain digitally and measure?
Leave a ReplyA great benefit of multichannel pharma marketing is the precious data one gathers from your audience. You can be aware of where your customer's choices and likes.
Leave a ReplyI have really gained a lot from this post. With the benefits been analysed in this post, my venturing in multichannel marketing is good to go. Thanks for this good post.
Leave a ReplyI am not really into studies as these but I do agree with the need of these. Target audience is the name of the game. The more eyes the better. It is pretty much a standard practice.
Leave a ReplyThis site has a lot of good contents. Everything were explained well.
Leave a ReplyI haven't heard of multichannel marketing before. I have learned great information.
Leave a ReplyI love your infographics. It is very easy to understand every content.
Leave a ReplyIf we take in multichannel marketing of pharmaceutical companies it will disseminate information for doctors or hospitals that may acquire the product. It is one way to give results to the public that the products quality is safe.
Leave a ReplyIn internet marketing this is referred to as A FUNNEL or the shotgun approach. This is easier now since platforms are popping up like mushrooms. The more devices the better because that is equal to reach.
Leave a ReplyAlways plan a good strategy and execute it properly. One needs to do regular analysis for each platform.
Leave a ReplyInteresting blog. Can you share any case study for a pharma company to see how the multi-channel marketing strategy works and what results to expect?
Leave a ReplyThanks for bring the benefits to us all. I think with this benefits that can be achieved through multichannel marketing of pharmaceutical companies, we all can see the gains to get via the pains.
Leave a ReplyI can see how in this case the multichannel marketing make possible the interaction of doctors, health providers and consumers in order to find out what's the best product to buy.
Leave a Replythere is the aspect of data. Data tells a lot of things. Data when well analysed, it can tell much secrets.
Leave a ReplyMultichannel marketing truly gets one in the go business wisely. I've learnt somethng.
Leave a ReplyWhich marketing strategy would you suggest for pharma companies with long run and minimun cost?
Leave a ReplyIt is not just people who are trying to adjust in these times, companies are also doing its best to continually sell their products. Being able to sell in different market will help the company gain more profit.
Leave a ReplyWell explained, I would like to hear that, is there any specific platform that will help to grow business-like social or paid media or all digital platforms?
Leave a ReplyThank you for explaining each component very well. It is easier for us to understand it even more.
Leave a ReplyMulti marketing avenues is a great deal for Pharma sellers. They can have benefits from various ways
Leave a ReplyThis is brought about by technology. As more platforms arise advertisers must adapt. It has always been the name of the game. The more eyes that see it the better. A very good strategy if you ask me.
Leave a ReplyGood Read!
Leave a ReplyOne needs to plan his or her strategy well. There should be a specific target in mind.
Leave a ReplyVery informative. Thank you for taking time in writing this article.
Leave a ReplyThis is certainly a win win situation for all parties involved. Consumers will be made aware of the brand from different channels, and pharma companies will benefit more from sales generated by these ads because it reaches a broader audience in the most in depth way.
Leave a ReplyThank you for sharing the benefits of multichannel marketing for pharma companies. I would also like to know that how does multichannel marketing benefits pharma’s customers?
Leave a ReplyThanks! I tried reading a couple of other articles on similar topics but they were very difficult to understand for a less digital savvy person like me. This conveys the information in a simple and easy to understand manner.
Leave a ReplyUnderstanding the various marketing restrictions for Pharma companies, this approach seems interesting. Thanks for this informative blog.
Leave a ReplyMultichannel marketing plays a vital role in today's world. This article very well explains how to implement it in the Pharmaceutical industry.
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