Despite the promise of omnichannel marketing, many pharma leaders are failing to see results. Here, PharmaForceIQ’s Saraiyah Hatter unpacks the challenges of omnichannel and shares how an optichannel strategy leverages live data to drive optimal channel selection, optimise campaigns and maximise budgets.

Around half of leading pharmaceutical organisations now consider themselves “advanced” when it comes to omnichannel maturity.¹ However, despite increasing adoption, almost 4 in 5 pharma leaders say omnichannel strategies have had little to no impact on customer engagement.² At the same time, almost 7 in 10 pharma marketers rate the medical marketing industry’s progress in adopting AI as “behind where it needs to be”.³

In a changing life sciences landscape, we need to understand why omnichannel approaches are underperforming and how we can harness artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced technology to overcome barriers to campaign success. Optichannel marketing overcomes gaps and delivers transparent, data-driven impact. It allows companies to maximise campaign relevance, efficiency and spend by making the optimal channel selection for each customer based on real-world data and AI applications. It also offers the opportunity to adjust and optimise throughout campaigns based on dynamic customer behaviour data and deliver on business outcomes like Rx lift.

Challenges with Omnichannel Approaches

In an era of increasing budget pressures, pharmaceutical companies can no longer afford to spend on broad, costly campaigns which fail to reach their intended audiences. If they do, many HCPs report feeling bombarded due to uncoordinated deployment and orchestration from companies leveraging static, always-on media. Up to 2 in 3 new product launches in the US are missing projected revenue targets.⁴

The shifts from blockbuster drugs to specialty medicines and from field-driven to digitally-driven engagement have also seen a deepened focus on personalisation. Almost half of pharma leaders say they need to learn how to better use data to offer more personalised experiences.²

Limited budgets, siloed systems and a lack of clear vision are all seen as barriers to omnichannel campaign success. A historic lack of transparency in media buying also makes it hard to track spend – and understand what is delivering results, namely prescription lift. Even when insights are unlocked, lagging indicators often result in optimisation only happening a few times a year. This means spend can be left inefficient or wasted for months at a time.

So, how can we overcome these issues and harness data to create more personalised experiences which lead to better business outcomes?

The Role of Optichannel Marketing in Pharma

Much like omnichannel strategies, optichannel marketing emphasises the need to create coordinated customer experience across different channels. However, it harnesses new technology and data to go much further. Optichannel approaches ensure omnichannel best practices are implemented to sync field and digital in real-time and deliver tailored content. They then layer on real-world data-driven precision by instantly incorporating audience and engagement data. This drives optimal channel selection, personalises and optimises campaigns, creates agility, and maximises budget.

As budgets continue to tighten, optichannel marketing enables investment in the set of channels that make the most sense for an audience rather than aiming for broad cross-channel coverage. These decisions are data-driven based on both channel performance and granular customer behaviour and preference insights.