E-Source

PERSONALIZING YOUR NONPERSONAL PROMOTION
By ROB LIKOFF

You’ve undoubtedly heard it before: “This year’s plan should place heavy emphasis on nonpersonal promotion.” Budget cuts, downsizing, and shrinking sales forces paint a gloomy view of the current environment. The pharmaceutical industry, which until recently had been so reliant on personal selling, is now faced with the challenge of an ever-changing
customer—one who relies on information from sales reps, in addition to those who download from a multitude of channels such as the Internet, handhelds, and television.

This audience is also newly accustomed to being targeted with marketing messages across new communication channels, like YouTube and Twitter, in addition to more traditional ones. Currently, promotional tactics and spending are under tremendous scrutiny, so the question remains: With all the current options, how do I know which nonpersonal strategies are most effective, and how do I integrate them into my personal sales efforts to yield the greatest return?

Integrated Marketing
It’s no secret that some of the most successful brands result from truly integrated marketing—not only by aligning consumer and professional campaigns, but also by allowing for a consistent and continuous flow of information across the marketing mix. With sales forces being downsized and increasing pressure to explore more nonpersonal strategies, the natural inclination is to weigh one against the other. However, true success is realized when these efforts work seamlessly together. Real integration is based on interconnectivity among promotional initiatives, and the proof lies in the success of nonpersonal tactics that are partnered with an aspect of personal selling, and vice versa.

Currently, we are able to learn more and more about our healthcare professional audiences through online activity, thereby allowing reps to have more productive, highly targeted sales calls that prove their value to the physician and establish them as trusted advisers representing your brand. This same principle applies to your CRM programs: e-based CRM programs not only keep your brand current in the new technology-based marketplace, but they also allow you to learn more about your patient population, as well as your physician targets. E-based programs also give you the opportunity to provide a continuous dialogue with your target audiences via both personal and nonpersonal channels. The key is to be able to create a two-way dialogue: not only providing information but also collecting information from your customer (think Amazon.com). When done correctly, this “closes the loop” and provides true CRM.

Meaningful Dialogue
No matter what the brand or what the category, all marketers are looking for new ways to integrate their promotional efforts. With communication channels evolving at breakneck speed, the pharmaceutical market is under increasing pressure to keep pace. As healthcare professionals grow more accustomed to new and current technologies, marketers are facing new obstacles that challenge their skill, and their budgets, more than ever before. Integration of your personal and nonpersonal strategies will maximize the return on your promotional spending and create a meaningful, continuous dialogue with your audience. The result: a trusted and enduring relationship with your brand.