Strategic communications planning
pharmafile | October 15, 2003 | Feature | Medical Communications |Â Â communications, planning, strategic, targetingÂ
Once your product has hit the market, can strategic communications still play a part? It can if you combine it effectively.
Martin Ellis, a Director at healthcare communications company Medicom Group, defines strategic communications as "planned, synergistic and targeted initiatives delivering pre-determined message points to identified audiences." Indeed, in a marketplace saturated with information, it is clear that those promoting the pharmaceutical and biotech industries must excel at the many skills required to raise awareness of one brand above another – particularly after the initial launch buzz has subsided.
Shairose Ebrahim runs strategic communications consultancy Zaebra Consulting, which has 15 years experience in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries. She believes that strategic communications is more cost-effective than traditional campaigns, such as blanket mailings, and can yield far greater results. She adds: "Strategic communications can be particularly useful in creating a 'need' for a brand within the market, during a brand crisis and to gain endorsement." She also believes the process can be effective in a post-launch situation, to encourage third parties to back a brand, to continue to raise awareness and to overcome situations such as bad press.
Pamela Cornish, Head of Communications at Abbott Laboratories Ltd (UK), agrees, outlining the main concerns of post-launch PR as momentum maintenance and that previous marketing work is capitalised upon fully. She adds that a launch shouldnt consume the entire PR budget available, but instead saving as much as possible for post-launch activity will "give campaigns longevity."
Clearly, then, strategic communications plays an essential role in effective post-launch marketing.
Audience appreciation
The key to strategic communications planning is in the targeting. Mike Bohling, Planning Director at GEM Associates, which lays claim to around 40% of the UK healthcare professional media buying market, believes it is "vital" to know the audience. He explains that pharmaceutical companies research their customers thoroughly, with qualitative, usage and attitude studies commonplace.
He also believes that understanding the audience is significant in advertising terms, with the majority of ads checked against key groups before running to wider audiences. Deciding on – and sticking to a small number of key messages and understanding the 'nature of healthcare provision by locality or region' are also top priorities, he argues.
Pamela Cornish believes understanding your audience is "critical". She says, "It helps give us the direction as to where we should be putting resources and prioritising communications." For her, key messages "form the basis of your brand essence", and need to be adapted according to the audience, be it consumer, professional or, indeed, differing levels within the industry.
Within the pharmaceutical industry, promotional activities can include everything from traditional media advertising to medical education. Mike Bohling believes that the marketplace is "incredibly cluttered", and that to achieve 'share of mind' a campaign must break through what he calls the "disinterest barrier". He explains: "The really good campaigns draw in the reader/viewer, involve and relate to them, and force them to think. The great ones do it well for less money/investment."
Smart ads
Ben Davies, Managing Director at media planning company PAN Media, often feels that advertising is the 'last box to be ticked' when finalising a strategic communications plan. Instead, he would like to see some of the emphasis taken off sales-led promotional activities. He is quick to point out that not using advertising marketing would be "almost inconceivable" within other sectors.
But even advertising can be made to work smarter – and has a role that is, perhaps, often forgotten in post-launch schedules. Ben is keen that his clients realise advertising has a multitude of functions. Alongside the initial effect of creating awareness of and providing a profile for the product among a new audience, he argues: "One of the main, and often forgotten, uses of advertising is to support existing customers and reinforce their views and support of the brand," clearly a cornerstone in strategic post-launch activity. He goes on to call press advertising in particular "one of the most cost-effective broadcast media to achieve this."
Soft sell
The practice of using pharmaceutical representatives receives heavy investment among the industry, but opinion differs on its effectiveness. Shairose Ebrahim firmly believes that reps are one of the best methods of getting your brand message across to the right audience and stay 'top of mind' with a physician. However, she stresses that to be valuable reps should focus less on the hard sell and more on clinical knowledge and customer rapport. The trend for evidence-based practice among GPs also has significance for a salesforce, explains Shairose, necessitating published articles for back-up.
Conversely, Ben Davies feels that rep coverage is one of the main weaknesses in a lot of campaigns. He points out that a large proportion of GPs will not see reps at all, and an over-reliance on such a salesforce can easily alienate and miss over half of the potential customers. Instead, he feels that future success for the industry lies with using more sophisticated forms of non-personal promotion "together with an increased emphasis on PR and educational support."
External factors
But strategic communications cannot operate in a vacuum. For Mike Bohling, a key influencing factor is what the competition are up to, how much are they spending and who they are targeting. Shairose Ebrahim also agrees that in post-launch marketing keeping one step ahead of competitors is crucial. But timing can also be important. Mike Bohling points to fixed aspects, such as a launch dates and meetings, and to external pressures on timing, such as national service frameworks, guidelines or NICE decisions.
He also believes competitor activity should influence promotional schedules, and that seasonal variations in the ad market are significant. For a braver advertiser he suggests the best time to steal share of voice from competitors is one of the traditional 'down' times, such as Christmas and summer.
Balancing act
It seems, then, the secret to successful strategic communications can be summed up in one word balance. On the topic of advertising, for example, Shairose Ebrahim said: "If a post-launch ad campaign can be combined with a publications schedule and associated PR activities then it will be far more effective." The campaigns that use a clever mix of PR, publications planning and advertising are always successful. She points to Aventis campaign for its ACE inhibitor Tritace, where tremendous awareness – including a Daily Mail front page headline – occurred in the middle of the product lifecycle.
Pamela Cornish is quick to point out that the successful launch of any drug is not guaranteed by excellent published data, but that it is also dependent on a strategic, integrated marketing programme. When asked about strategic communication techniques Mike Bohling points out that a vast array of communications channels are available – but that it is "more a question of balancing the use of these channels." Ben Davies agrees, explaining "the key to getting the message across lies in the use of a balanced marketing effort."
Balance is also the watchword when deciding upon below and above-the-line activity, and discerning the individual and combined effects of each, according to Mike Bohling. Martin Ellis further explains that "integration is about creating leverage and additional opportunity by ensuring that, for example, a disease education programme creates additional medical representative calling opportunities; a media relations programme utilises key opinion leaders drawn from the clinical trial programme; and the advertising theme is replicated in patient material."
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