A Pharma Marketer’s Guide to Working From Home
A pharma marketer’s guide to working from home during the COVID-19 outbreak (12 tips).
The world has become a different place in a very short period and this change has resulted in many of us now working from home for a prolonged period.
Allowing staff to work from home itself is not a new practice for many organisations, however, it’s not something many of us are used to on a long-term basis which means we often face new challenges.
How to keep your teams communicating and close together, how to stay in touch with your clients and industry, how to manage workloads and also keep sane after weeks of remote working?
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Please see the Orientation Marketing team’s 12 tips to help you work from home more effectively, and also, more happily.
1. KEEP A ROUTINE (GET UP, GET DRESSED, TAKE BREAKS, WORK WITHIN YOUR USUAL HOURS)
This may not sound important, but believe me, it makes all the difference when working from home. Keeping a routine during the week and mimicking your usual working routine in the office makes things a lot easier. Getting up the normal time, having a shower, getting dressed (this means not staying in your pj’s all day!), having breakfast, lunch and dinner at usual times, and also working your usual hours helps to give structure to your day and keep you focused.
2. LOOK AFTER YOURSELF (GOOD FOOD, EXERCISE, ENOUGH SLEEP)
If you are isolated from others for a long period of time, looking after yourself is the utmost priority. Mental health is something that we all need to think about in extreme situations, and you can help yourself stay in a positive frame of mind by ensuring you eat good food, exercise and get enough sleep. There are also many other activities you could do, such as mindfulness exercises and yoga. Everyone is, of course, different, and what works for one person may not be the right activity for someone else. Explore your options and try out new home-based activities for your physical and mental wellbeing. The Headspace app is a great resource to begin.
3. KEEP UP TO DATE WITH NEWS IN YOUR INDUSTRY
Even though things are different, the world has not stopped and neither has your industry. Keep up to date with the latest news. Check LinkedIn posts, Twitter and in general keep up to date with what’s happening within your pharma sector (and within the wider life science industry) via your usual media and networks. This might be a time to make more of an effort to keep in touch with the wider world with pre-set calendar reminders.
4. FOLLOW KEY COMPANIES AND CONTACTS ON SOCIAL MEDIA AND READ INDUSTRY PUBLICATIONS
Saving time commuting etc. means that you can potentially have a bit more time to educate yourself on what other companies are doing – follow them on social media Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. This is also a great time to keep up to date with your industry publications digitally. There are plenty of pharma marketing publications to keep an eye on. Sign up for alerts and mailing lists to all your favourite publications to keep up to date!
5. KEEP IN TOUCH WITH YOUR CLIENTS EFFECTIVELY (EMAIL, SOCIAL MEDIA, PHONE)
Not having the opportunity to see clients at trade shows and events means that you have to find other ways to link up with your clients and customers to keep in touch when at home. Everyone is in the same boat and now more than ever a personal email, phone call or a comment on social media can make all the difference. Make it part of your routine to do this and set yourself some targets, such as X number of calls per day.
6. KEEP YOUR WEBSITE UP TO DATE
This is a good time to spend updating your website as the front or your business and ensure there is relevant and up-to-date content for your customers to access. You can add surveys and make things more interactive to encourage this interaction with your website and content. It’s also a good idea to consider reviewing your technology stack. This may be the right time to think about investing in your marketing automation technology and about solutions such as SharpSpring for lead generation and lead nurturing.
Please reach out to us if you would like to learn more and schedule a demo.
7. ORGANISE A WEBINAR – THERE IS A CAPTIVE AUDIENCE, KEEN TO LEARN AND MAKE NEW CONTACTS
Many of the publishers that offer webinar services have told us that they are getting more people to sign up for webinars than ever before. As many industry events have been cancelled or postponed webinars are a great way to reach your target audience and there is now a large captive audience out there, working from home and keen to make contacts and learn. Again, please do reach out to us for options as we keep an updated list of digital products and solutions media vendors offer instead of event-based advertising.
8. CREATE CONTENT
This is a great time to create relevant content and put it up on social media, your website, in your key publications digitally and in print. Digital content as such, due to more of us working from home and having additional time on our hands, is being consumed now more than ever. Any content that you create now will have more impact than it ever did. There are some great digital content campaigns available, to suit your needs that you can get created with minimal input. For ideas, see our new e-book: 25 pharma marketing tactics and techniques.
Please let us know what you would like to achieve, and we can put a plan together specifically for your organisation.
9. CREATE E-BLASTS
Similar to webinars, this is a great time to send out e-blasts to your target audience and your mailing lists. People have more time in their hands and less distraction, and there is a good chance your email will be read and digested by more people than in normal circumstances. E-blasts are great ways to get more eyes on your content, and therefore, creating content and e-blasts work s hand in hand and are must-do tactics within B2B pharma.
10. ATTEND A DIGITAL CONFERENCE (SUCH AS RDD 2020 DIGITAL)
Even though many pharma events have been either cancelled or postponed (see full list) there are still some going ahead. One of the perhaps most intuitive ones is RDD Digital 2020 that is going ahead as a purely digital event. They have had a large number of delegates sign up for this digital event and we can’t wait to hear first-hand from the organizers and delegates after the event that starts 26th April 2020.
11. THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX – THIS IS THE TIME TO BE CREATIVE!
Now or never is a good time to try something new. Try a new approach – perhaps a video, a podcast? Or how about a virtual press conference? The world is an ever-changing place and by adapting to new circumstances and embracing change you can achieve great things. Again, the Orientation Marketing team has created a comprehensive content options database which we would be happy to email to you. Please get in touch with me directly for this list.
12. STAY POSITIVE…
…and try to have some fun! Things can be tough at times when we are at home by ourselves and away from our colleagues, however, with the right attitude you can stay positive and believe that good things can come out of a challenging situation. Try to find things to be thankful about and remember that keeping positive is usually a choice. It’s also important to get your mind off things sometimes, and do something fun, maybe with your colleagues. Why not join our Orientation Marketing team for a weekly virtual pub quiz that takes place every Thursday at 8.15 pm (GMT) – we would love to compete against your team on the quiz! Check out this event here.
TAKE CARE AND STAY SAFE EVERYONE!
We hope you and your family and friends are safe and experiencing good health during this difficult time. Coronavirus (COVID-19) is affecting us all in so many different ways. Isolating and distancing ourselves from others by staying indoors to stop the spread will be vital in fighting this virus.
During this lockdown period, we find ourselves adapting to new ways of working and forming new habits, such as those above. More free time also gives us the opportunity for some more learning and reflection, adopting new pharma tactics and creating new content. Let’s keep positive and make the most of this new working from home arrangement.
