Marketing mix : more than just number crunching!

Last quarter we were contacted by a company who was in the process of setting the budget for introducing a novel treatment, for a chronic condition, onto the market . The exercise was made even more challenging due to both the client’s lack of expertise in the therapy area and their lack of competitive knowledge. This start-up company had limited available resources and had no boundaries related to existing service or engagement platforms, the combination of which meant we could truly search for the most optimal mix.

We interviewed 300 physicians in 2 G5 countries via an online survey, which allowed us to:

• Assess the relevance of the different communication channels  in the areas of marketing, medical and sales, including both the traditional approaches (such as the rep and advertisements) and the less commonly used approaches (such as eDetailing, eCME,  eNewsletter etc.).
• Understand the impact each channel has on their target audience within the therapy area of concern, including the channels that are not under the control of the pharma industry (such as congresses, treatment guidelines etc.).
• Assess other stakeholders’ impact on their target audience’s prescription behavior e.g. patients, KOLs, peers, etc.
• Understand the level of competition within each communication channel

Based on this research we were able to map out the characteristics of the different communication channels.

The second step comprised a one-day workshop to set the channel characteristics in line with the brand strategy, company vision and financial restrictions. This allowed us to simulate different scenarios that reach a similar share of voice at a certain cost, represented in Call and Rep equivalents!
 
The workshop resulted in a business decision that defined the:

• Channels to deploy for each target group
• Amount of investment required to  reach the right level of  call and rep equivalents
• Tactical guidelines to foster positive  peer-to-peer influence
• Third party stakeholders to engage with (disease awareness campaign)
   

One of the key elements we learned on our side was the power of having a workshop with all business stakeholders, bringing all the elements together. Mixing financials, market research findings and business expertise in a very interesting and insightful debate that generates true value by agreeing ‘as a team’ the right path forward.
 

As such marketing mix is much more than just number crunching; it is about taking a holistic market research approach and combining it with the expertise within your organization to come up with the right commercial, medical and educational mix.
 

 Written by Bernard Depaepe