Closed-Loop Marketing in Pharma
The importance of a closed-loop marketing approach.
We tend to think that the principles that apply in closed-loop marketing are perhaps not applicable in pharmaceutical, medical technology and the life science industry.
The procurement method and decision-making processes are long, complex, and involve many parties and levels of authorisation in the pharma industry than they are in other sectors, such as FMCG (to provide a polar opposite). But the principles applied in closed-loop marketing, however, can still be applied to the pharma marketer.
This post takes a look at what closed-loop marketing is, why it’s important and how to apply it within your pharmaceutical marketing. So, hit subscribe with your email address below to sign up for more pharma marketing posts, and read on.
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WHAT IS CLOSED-LOOP MARKETING?
Closed-loop marketing is a form of marketing that relies on data and insights. Simply put, “closing the loop” means that sales teams report to marketing about what happened to the leads they receive, which helps marketers understand their best and worst lead sources.
Closed-loop marketing will show you how your customers found your organisation. It tracks their journey from the first time they visited your website to their final customer conversion, which then forms the basis for the next customer’s journey. It’s the practice of compiling large quantities of data into easy-to-consume reports that profile your organisation’s customers. This process can be fully automated through automation software or can be tracked with a well-maintained CRM.
The diagram below by Revenue Architects is a great example of how various commercial processes (in this case omnichannel marketing, automation and business intelligence) align into a linear process that repeats itself as the organisation accumulates more data to inform future sales and marketing campaigns. The process is three-fold: (1) launch of a campaign, (2) experience of the previous campaign and (3) optimisation of a new campaign launch based on the experience from the previous campaign.
Closed-loop marketing process map.
Many marketers would say that they do this already, but if you step back and examine if you get the most out of the sales/marketing collaboration, you might find out there are many stones left unturned.
Do you both use the same CRM for pipelines and prospects? Do you hold regular joint meetings with both sales and marketing? If not, in the new age of Zoom/Teams, it’s a simple one to arrange because it is likely that you are not as aligned as you might think.
WHY CLOSED-LOOP MARKETING?
As B2B pharma marketers, it’s our jobs to put the right people in front of the right people selling the product. If this happens, your job here is done.
So, we’ll work on the assumption that you have the right people, and your organisation has recruited the best, most passionate and vibrant salespeople in the business. We just need to get them selling the right product, in front of the right people. And this is why closed-loop marketing is so important.
Understanding from your salespeople what worked and what didn’t. Taking the time to understand why that last prospect didn’t convert. Closing the loop between sales and marketing through proper examine of metrics (good and bad) will sharpen up the efficacy of your marketing and help put better leads in front of the salespeople.
Sure, closed-loop marketing may seem like another meeting and process to add to an already busy schedule. But the benefits are well-documented and touted by some of the sharpest brands out there. Adobe reports that brands that employ closed-loop marketing and reporting can see the following benefits:
• Increased conversion rates.
• Lower marketing costs.
• Improved customer experience.
• Better lead management practices.
• Improved ROI analysis.
When you understand the campaigns, channels, and workflows that convert, you can focus your efforts on emulating these in your marketing.
CLOSED-LOOP MARKETING IN PHARMA
The B2B pharma audience - whether HCPs or R&D staff in the labs - is becoming more connected, using more varied technology to complete tasks that require gathering and consuming information. Should pharma organisations run their inbound marketing campaigns using automation and data software, they can better understand those tasks, as well as the content that a specific B2B pharma audience needs. Over the past few years, pharma organisations have realised this and have started to adopt closed-loop marketing dramatically.
This is because this sort of data-focused approach allows for omnichannel. Drug Discovery Online report that nearly 50% of physicians prefer to get information remotely, through eDetailing. On one hand, that does not minimise the importance of medical representatives, as there is still 50% who prefer traditional face-to-face communication. On the other hand, if so many doctors want information about medical products online, why not give them such an opportunity? Here is why marketing automation has become hugely popular throughout every sector that practices marketing, and not just pharma. In the last year alone we have seen significant interest in our automation/inbound marketing services that also suggests this.
BearingPoint illustrates how closed-loop marketing works in pharma below. The process captures the HCP’s feedback, preferences and attitude while updating the information in real-time during the marketing process. This personalises the submitted messages depending on the collected feedback and takes into consideration the reaction of each HCP to key information through multiple channels and adjusts the messages and the marketing strategy accordingly.
CLM process and its' impacts on interdisciplinary teams.
Only tailor-made content as such is likely to create a positive reaction from HCPs and other professionals that operate within the B2B supply chain. That’s why today more than ever data plays an important role in marketing and marketing process, and why such as closed-loop marketing, exists. Also today more than ever sales reps have to focus on the needs of that highly meticulous scientific audience, and if the sales team can gather as much information from a closed system then it is likely that their job is made easier.
Neeraj Singhal, VP, product innovation at Cegedim reports in PharmaVOICE: “CLM [closed-loop marketing] needs content that is designed thoughtfully, taking into consideration the mindset, concerns, and potential questions of the audience. The content needs to pre-empt questions and drive discussion via slick navigation built into the content. Last but not least, a powerful viewer is needed — one that can serve content and enable switching between and across content pages seamlessly and with sub-second response time.”
The entry point of your closed-loop system within pharma is likely to be your website. Review your pharma technology stack in this instance. As leads progress through your sales and marketing stages, the cookie will enable you to attribute them back to the channel source and can track future engagement. Such intelligence, as HubSpot state, will illustrate a path that can, down the road, help you optimise for faster visitor-to-lead or even visitor-to-customer conversions.
Once the conversion happens, and the lead is now a customer, it’s time to understand out how these visits transformed into sales. Which one of your marketing channels contributed the most customers? Are there ways you can optimise the process for other sources? Closed-loop marketing enables you to identify the activities that bring in the most (and least) revenue. To do so, you need to look at all of the leads your sales team has closed and attribute them back to their original marketing campaign.
START CLOSING THE MARKETING/SALES LOOP
(1) Review your omnichannel marketing approach and various marketing touchpoints and channels, (2) Determine if your marketing automation system is adequate for both marketing and sales departments, (3) Review the processes of the sales teams concerning your campaigns, (4) Understand the processes that are needed - such as monthly sales and marketing meetings - to engage data to build insights and define opportunities, and finally (5) Realise if your data management system is adequate to effectively deal with each of the preceding elements. Working within each of the five stages will strengthen your ability to deal with pharma audiences and realise the benefits of a closed-loop marketing approach.
Sit close to the sales team. If sales and marketing don’t have regular meetings together, make this happen. Work with them on the sales that fell through; the leads that you gave them that didn’t convert. These are as important as the ones that did convert. If sales and marketing sit together regularly this information will be critical in sharpening future campaigns.
Also, ensure you have a functional CRM that both sales and marketing can access. I’m always surprised at organisations that say they don’t use a CRM. It’s an expense for sure, but basic-level CRMs (like Capsule) are excellent. Sales and marketing teams using a CRM with a pipeline feature will really give you clarity over the metrics and what is working and what isn’t.
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