Over the past decade -especially over the last five years, we have seen substantial advancements in the world of medicine. Through the advances in Human Genome Discoveries, physicians can practice true preventative medicine. New Combination Drug Therapies are extending the lives of cancer and HIV patients. Robots can perform surgery. These are just a few of many other lifesaving advancements brought to us by researchers inside both large and small Pharmaceutical, Biotech and Medical Device companies.
Technology plays an integral role in the research and development of drugs and medical devices; it is now beginning to play a significant role in the way Life Science companies sell and market their products. However, I am not so sure that the commercial side of Pharma is as firm grasping as their R&D counterparts when it comes to applying technology for their own benefit. So when you start thinking of Life Science companies as a whole, they truly do operate differently in their respective areas of business. R&D departments drive innovation. They are progressive. They are cutting edge.
One of the biggest advancements in sales and marketing enablement over the last 5 years is theapplication of Closed Loop Marketing. If you asked 5 people what CLM is, you will undoubtedly get 5 different answers. What I believe to be the right answer is pretty simple: Closed Loop Marketing delivers the right message to the right customer through the right channel. To truly close the loop means to actually dig in and analyze the rich data being collected from the face to face tablet details, the interaction that takes place on self-navigated customer web portals, the interaction that occurs through call centers, feedback from email campaigns and virtual detailing—the list goes on, and by the way the list of promotional channels is growing. So it is vitally important to effectively measure the effects of all promotion to provide the means to calculate your ROI so the business can begin to truly manage the “bottom line”. Closed Loop Marketing does this!
So why in 2013 have only a small group of early adopters crossed the proverbial chasm to Closed Loop Marketing? It’s been over 5 years, so much has changed. We have been hard at work to create a platform for those companies who typically adopt technology after they believe it has been established in their industry.
CLM is established, and should be considered a standard.
What do you need to hear or witness before you feel comfortable?
Take a few minutes and do the following: choose the content you and your fellow marketers would want to present to your customers, select your CRM or SFA system you want to target, and finally decide on which channel or medium you want the chosen marketing messages to be delivered (tablet, iPad, iTouch, Blackberry or the web.) It is now that simple!
This 3 dimension approach can have you and your company fully engaged in Closed Loop Marketing. Folks, it’s time to get off the fence. Closed loop Marketing is here to stay, and it’s only getting better.
Google+ Tara Anderson
