Dr. Bates’ Talkback: 5 ways to optimize your multi-channel mix
Dr. Andree K Bates explains why marketers need a holistic approach to maximize multi-channel synergy
As the world of marketing channels grow, it has inevitably become more complex to tease out the impacts from the different channels.
Sure, you could run a study group and a control group for an activity. But how do you know if other activities the study group is being exposed to are not biasing the results?
Pharmaceutical marketers implement multiple techniques to achieve different results.
Each channel used has its own set of rules, benchmarks, potential results, and often even its own manager (sometimes outsourced) to keep things working as planned.
Although, theoretically, each channel can work on its own, issues arise when individual marketing channels operate in silos and, from my experience, we see this happening a lot.
For example, the e-marketing team often works independently, although they occasionally meet and update the marketing team on what they are doing.
Lack of communication can create conflict, which can lead to lost opportunity.
Putting together reports from separate channels on their results isn't enough to maximize the opportunity of the cross-channel mix.
Rather, marketers need a holistic approach to maximize the synergy.
Where can you begin?
1. Diagnose the problem and perform competitive intelligence
To know what you're doing right in the mix, what is not performing in the mix, and what results you are getting for each channel against each other, perform 94.8 analytics.
This is the only accurate way I have seen to really compare and contrast what results you are getting.
As part of this kind of analytics, you can also get a good idea of what your competitors are doing and what is working and not working for them, which can provide even greater insight.
You may find some things you want to change yourself.
For instance, you may be operating in more channels than necessary to acquire the customers that your competitors are getting using fewer channels, less money and better focus.
2. Effectively manage costs
With multiple channels, acquisition costs can quickly add up, posing a major challenge to marketers, especially in the current pharmaceutical economy where every dollar counts.
Looking at results and spending across all channels is the best way to streamline efficiency and control costs while continuing to drive strong profits and results.
We sometimes see that advertising is creating market share growth, but at a massive cost, while for a fraction of that cost, PR is providing even more growth.
Look at the costs and the results to see how the mix can be modified.
3. Test, optimize and then test again
Incremental differences in testing can drastically affect the results of a campaign and can also be applied across multichannel marketing programs.
Using 94.8 analytics and the shares conversion index, in conjunction with the promotional sensitivities indicator, you can also war game these test changes for even greater accuracy of impact prior to results.
4. Integrate your teams
It is critical to make sure everyone involved is communicating.
Miscommunication can mean a huge missed opportunity.
For example, if the IT department changes URLs without communicating to the marketers, it could drive traffic to the wrong place, resulting in lost (and costly) traffic that can never be recovered as well as a poor user experience.
5. Stay on top of industry changes
The pharmaceutical and biotech and even medical devices sectors are in a state of change.
Ensure you know what the changes are and how to utilize these to your products’ benefit.
In addition, the landscape of the channels is changing. Where was Twitter five years ago?
The online landscape has changed some of the boundaries tied to traditional marketing. Know your market.
Remember that your results are tied to keeping your channels optimized and synergistic.
Dr. Andree K. Bates, a regular contributor to eyeforpharma, is CEO of Eularis, which applies analytics to determine the sales impact of marketing programs.
For more Dr. Bates’ Talkback, see How to get more value from existing products, Sales force effectiveness in the Japanese market, Building brands and boosting sales with Twitter, How to mount an effective defense against generics, and How corporate social responsibility boosts business.
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