Personalisation vs. Adaptation in International Pharma

For years this mantra been drummed into us “…personalisation is the key, if you want everlasting engagement you MUST personalise”, and yes to certain extent we do, our audiences are not a homogenous bunch of group thinkers, however they are also likely to be from similar backgrounds, with similar education & training and therefore have a high degree in similarity in what they need, so I pose this question to those working in international (ex-US) pharma;  “Should we strive to personalise all communications or create an ecosystem that is enabled to adapt to the individual and provide the most appropriate content rather than the most individualised?”

So how have we got ourselves into this situation?

Thankfully marketing and communication strategies have evolved significantly since the mass market approaches of the huge consumer brands of the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s that drove that homogenous group think, where we must all dress the same, drive the same car, go on the same holidays and eat the same junk food, because if you didn’t, well, you were just wrong.  With the advent of smart technology, and social media came the rise of the multi-channel and laterally omnichannel warriors where there was now the channels and technology that allowed the targeting of different groups in different ways, with different messages.  Then layer on all the trillions of data points being collected through all the digital channels and now companies knew exactly what to say to which individual at what time with the right channel to at least nudge them in the right direction, if not push them.

In the Pharmaceutical industry we are constantly looking over the fence at our more ‘trendy and fun’ FMCG colleagues, assuming the grass is greener on the other side and trying to replicate what they do in our highly technical and regulated environment, with limited pockets of success.  We are often so desperate to replicate the new ideas and concepts that we perceive as the pinnacle of marketing ourselves we lose sight of what are here to do.

That is to enable our audiences to make the best and most informed decisions for their patients to improve and save lives.  Absolutely we need to look at what other industries do, understand the why and the how and then seek to apply the learning and intent into our industry, we often can not simply drag and drop a technique. We have enough great minds and innovative thinkers to adapt other approaches and even create our own for others to copy.

Why can’t we just drag and drop from other industries?

As with most things, there are multiple inter-dependent reasons for this, and depending on the company you work for, the audience you are engaging, and the content you are communicating they will impact you in varying degrees:

• Budgets & capacity – The pharma industry is not short of investment by any stretch of the imagination but we do not have the level of budgets and scale of marketing teams that the consumer industries do – we simply can not create enough content quickly enough to feed the system to enable individualised marketing.
• Data – We do not have the data to the level or granularity the consumer industries do, our data is aggregated, anonymised and usually 2-3 months out of date before we get it – we simply can not tell the impact of a campaign or message on an individual, we have to rely on historical data for the group.
• Testing – It is almost impossible to completely isolate a channel or campaign, let alone individual messages from all the other elements of the marketing mix and environmental factors to determine which is working and how best to optimise.
• Content – Anything we create must be verified and referenced, we therefore have a finite pool of data from which to derive content – there are only so many ways you can say the same thing.
• Compliance & Time – Anything we publish has to be reviewed, checked and signed off – again we simply do not have the capacity to react fast, or if we do it comes with significant risk.

But all is not lost, what can we do?

We do what we in the Pharmaceutical industry do best, we use our creative & innovative minds and find the solution that works for us.

Let us take the basic essence of a personalised approach and create an ecosystem that is personalised to a degree but utilises an omnichannel ecosystem and the latest technology (yes, I’m about to say it!!!) and enable AI to deploy pre-defined and approved content based on a individuals preferences and behaviour patterns.

The basic principles required for the above approach to be successful are:

• AI enabled CRM solution – Fundamentally you must have a system that enables an individual to navigate your content, where you can signpost and push new content to them. This does not have to a company owned system, there are many excellent 3^rd party sites that perform this function and arguably will be more cost effective than trying to build one for scratch.  These platforms will also already have a pool of users you can tap into.  This system must also be AI enabled to then quickly adjust and course correct the user journey based on the individuals behaviours and consumption habits.
• Segmentation – You need to understand your audience and be able to split them into different groups ideally according to their attitudes & behaviours to the therapy area and treatments available, this will allow you to then determine the required belief shifts and differentiated user journeys required to drive that.
• Content repository – Build a pre-approved ecosystem of content that enables users to the system to be directed along their content journey, which may adjust and shift as the system understands what is successful and how users are reacting to the content.
• Content Plan – Have a clear plan of new and updated content for a rolling 12 month period, you must continuously update and refresh your content and remove old or out-dated pieces to ensure your audiences keep returning.
• Traffic Driving Plan – Ensure you are constantly engaging new users by having a clear plan to signpost, showcase and direct them to your platform, this includes a paid media plan as well as other events and word of mouth.
• Data – Define what data points are most valid and which will act as surrogates for impact and success and ensure the system is capturing these data and you are regularly reviewing to adjust and optimise your approach.
• Patience – You have to give it time, true impact measures such as sales or belief shifts take time to happen let alone measure and get the data so use the surrogate metrics as reassurance you are going in the right direction.

In summary…

Our industry contains some of the most creative and innovative minds in the global marketing arena, we create some of the most insightful and impactful campaigns that have to deal with some of the most difficult and challenging topics ever.

We should be proud of who we are and what we do.

We should be creating techniques and approaches other industries are jealous of and seek to replicate.  Lets take the best of what there is out there and make it work for us.

So let’s get personal, but in our way.