Bagel Talk
pharmafile | November 11, 2011 | Feature | Medical Communications |
Has anyone noticed that it’s getting tougher out there these days?
I am addicted to West Wing. I re-run the DVD sets pretty much continuously. One episode I watched yet again recently struck a chord. It has the Whitehouse staff avoiding using the word “recession” in any discussions, at any cost. They used “bagel” instead.
Our own economic storm has hit many business sectors already but in pharmaland I suspect the talk has also been more about bagels until very recently.
Not now. The effects of the economic downturn are biting hard and it is showing in the public sector and none more so than in the NHS – pretty much the paying customer for us all. PCTs are now looking down the backs of their sofas for spare coppers. Companies, who had PCT saving propositions of a few £000s pa, found it hard to get through the door a few years ago. They don’t now. (That is if they can find the right person in the new consortium or cluster to talk to.)
It all adds up to the next few years being a pretty tough hangover to get through. Some economists see downturns being healthy – a Darwinian survival of the fittest viewpoint of the world – driving out inefficiencies and cleansing the system ready for the next upturn. I am pretty sure it’s a philosophy I wouldn’t sign up for but there is no doubting that for businesses there’s an element of truth in it.
However, it is well established that brands that maintain or increase their marketing spend in a downturn come out stronger than their competitors who reduce spend. They retain that advantage through the upturn.
But it’s not just about how much you spend. It’s about how well you spend it.
Budgets are always strained even in the best of times. There is always more that could be done. Just as money is getting tighter, it seems the choice of what to spend it on is getting wider. Just as digital TV channels fragmented the consumer TV advertising landscape, many of the traditional kingpins of the pharma communication plan have become out-dated or superseded. This is not just in terms of communication channels but also in terms of whom you need to reach as the audience.
However, there are lots of new shiny toys to play with and one of those is bound to be the answer. Isn’t it? Just grab one, everyone else is.
Here’s the thing. Just because the stuff is there and new and looks so good, it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s actually the right thing to be doing. This is not the time for just keeping up with the digital Joneses. It has to be right for your brand and for your message in the market place.
Now might be the time for a little digital de-tox. The medium is not necessarily the message. Despite this surge of digital technology the core tenets of marketing communication remain the same – identifying customers and guiding them through an informed purchase process. Yet the ability to be heard above the crowd, to get noticed, is getter harder. Sure, a bigger shout or share of voice helps but in the tough world of tighter budgets, you need to make every pound in the marketing mix work.
It means having genuine insights and real ideas that justify themselves in the way they are executed and perform. Put your Edetail on an iPad and it has got to live up to the audience expectation of what an iPad delivers.
It means thinking very hard before you buy in the candy store or even walk through the door.
Ask yourself a few questions:
- Do you really know who you want to talk to?
- Why do you want to talk to them?
- How are you going to reach them?
- Do you really know what they currently think?
- What attitudes or beliefs do you need to change to make them do what you want them to do?
- What’s the insight?
- What is the single proposition your brand has that answers the insight?
- Are you speaking in the right tone of voice for them?
- Are you “on brand” with what you are saying and doing?
- Have you got an agency with the experience, know how and ideas to make it all really come to life in a relevant, engaging and compelling way?
At the heart of all really successful communications (however delivered) there is always a big idea based on sound insight and strategy, executed exceptionally well (yep this is the bit about the importance of creativity and the value of Awards – read the 2011 update to the IPA paper “The link between creativity and effectiveness – the growing imperative to embrace creativity).
The point of this is that in tough, highly competitive times, bagel talk is no good nor is just picking the shiniest gadget from the digital candy store. It is soundly based great ideas delivered with real “know-how” that will make the difference – genuinely making the marketing pound go further.
By Roger Bushell – Managing Partner, Rainmaker Advertising
For direct enquiries he can be contacted at: rogerbushell@rainmakerad.co.uk or call +44 (0)207 324 0150
For more information on Rainmaker click here
