Product launch made to work

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By Angelo Campano, senior consultant, Marketing Analytics & Consulting, Ogilvy Healthworld, part of Ogilvy CommonHealth Worldwide

Introducing a new product into the highly diluted pharmaceutical market is no easy feat. Our industry spares no time for coming up short of flawless, where the barriers to entry are a notorious brick wall for the inexperienced and unprepared. The road to success is windy and narrow, but once achieved, the view is unmatched.

In today’s marketplace, suppliers are red-flagged for doing things the way they have in the past, and the competitive edge gained is in the ability to differentiate completely in some cases, and only partially in others. Our “Big Pharma” marketplace seems unrecognizable compared to a few short years ago: technological advancements, big data, changing sales models, channel fragmentation, mobile marketing, social media…the list goes on. This constant sea of change is enough to overwhelm even the smartest marketers and strategists. Some marketers have followed the whims of change, prioritizing the latest marketing fads over a sound strategy. However, the reprioritization of communication efforts can lead to risky results. Pharmaceutical marketers will be best served by keeping their focus on the following fundamental marketing objective: How can we differentiate ourselves?

For a baseline, any transaction within the pharmaceutical space is a complex sale. The traditional model of selling a product, handling the logistics, and looking forward to a reorder does not cut it. As suppliers, we must adapt to the notion that we are no longer offering or launching a product, but rather have entered the era of solution-based selling. We must come to terms with the reality that being geared toward a client or industry is no longer acceptable, and complete customization comes at little or no extra revenue.

Make no mistake, selling a product is still physical, but an in-depth understanding of the customer base is now essential to the sale of a creation. The utilization of that knowledge empowers us to align our goals to match the customers’ needs. The result of a properly executed alignment is the transformation of the supplier into the partner. By outgrowing the paradigm of being the wholesaler, and embracing a newfound cooperative mantra, trust becomes the foundation of our rapport. But trust isn’t just a way in, and a share of the market isn’t the only measure of our success. We have to continually push the limits of our capabilities to stimulate fresh ideas, and remain at the forefront of innovation to our clients. The growth driven from market advancement is what will allow us to maintain our business and simultaneously cultivate new opportunities. With trust, our new partners will expect us to act on our promises and will be more critical of our deliverables. We are no longer reacting to a signed Statement of Work (SOW) or Request for Proposal (RFP), we are building a proactive and cooperative plan of action.

As marketers, we need to measure the success of any launch through noticeable impact and, ultimately, changing behavior. With the data at hand, we can now design and adjust strategies, all the while focusing on the fundamental goal: sales. Campaign metrics and sound objectives allow us, as marketers, to start thinking like our targets and asking questions that drive stronger campaigns. However, we cannot simply provide an output (or just “data”); we must also act as consultants and brand ambassadors.

Acting and thinking like a consultant will cultivate stronger relationships and overall “win-win” situations for us and our partners. We tend to think of someone such as an analyst as someone who merely shows the client the campaign metrics. We should now all think of ourselves as marketing consultants who happen to be well-versed in analytics. It might sound like a subtle distinction, but this will make an immense and positive difference in how we approach a product launch.

The main benefit of the consultant approach is that it prevents one from adopting the mindset of an order-taker. Order-taking is what happens when you stop thinking about why you are doing a job or how you can add value to it, and start viewing it as just another task to check off a list. We all fall into this trap at times, especially when we are busy. We need to take every opportunity to avoid that mindset, because an order-taking attitude will prevent us from fostering positive and mutually beneficial relationships.

There are a number of key differences between order-takers and consultants; chief among them is that order-takers are ultimately viewed as commodities while consultants are seen as valuable assets. Nothing is more dangerous in the current economy than being viewed as a commodity, because this means that whoever is paying you will always be looking to replace you with a less expensive option. In the current age of automation and off-shoring of labor, there will always be a less expensive option. The key to becoming a valuable asset is to forge such strong relationships that everyone will see you as a necessary partner (through the consultancy). We can always do a better job and it never hurts to revisit something we have been doing right. The stigma of Big Pharma having deep pockets and quick trigger fingers is far from the truth. Pricing is critical and partners will expect us to eat a slice of the risk pie when entering into an agreement (you are a partner now, why wouldn’t you?).

As consultants, we optimize the product for the consumer experience through the ability to launch a solution directed toward a specific client and their void. So while the market, customers, and roles have changed and will continue to change, we as marketers (and of course consultants) must keep our focus on our core, timeless tenets of good marketing during a product launch. By applying some of these best practices, you should be well on your way to maintaining a sound strategy amongst the ever-changing marketing landscape. The consultancy-partnership style is undoubtedly the wave of the future and the relationships formed via this approach will be more personal, more customized, and ultimately, more lucrative.

Differentiation begins with common interest, and results in great success.