Go slow to go fast: Setting a content transformation journey up for success
Pharma marketing is evolving and it’s evolving quickly. Old ideas about static, one-size-fits-all content generation are giving way to approaches like modular content, dynamic content, personalised content, and omnichannel marketing.
But how can organisations successfully ride the wave of this transformation, find the right content strategy for them, and avoid getting left behind?
In a recent pharmaphorum webinar sponsored by EVERSANA INTOUCH, editor-in-chief Jonah Comstock sat down with Melanie Walsh, Senior Director, IBD Franchise Customer Experience and Digital Innovation, at Takeda, to learn some tips for successful content transformation.
“When we think about where we're at as a society, and we think about the amount of data that's available to us at this point, and all the emerging technology,” Walsh said, "where does that intersect with content? And what does that mean for our content process? We have to think differently about how we're planning for content, how we're creating it, how we're reviewing it, how we're deploying it. There are huge opportunities there.”
Modular, dynamic, and personalised content: Aligning on terminology
Different organisations may define content transformation differently, so it’s important that a company’s content transformation model includes clearly articulated definitions.
Walsh gave her own definitions of some of the key terms as an example. By her definitions, modular content can be any content combination of existing assets, dynamic content is where the modular content is automatically pulled based on user variables or other data signals, and personalised content takes the idea one step further, using the technology of modular and dynamic content to create an “n of 1 customer experience” based on insights about customer segmentation and preference.
“However you want to define it – and it might be a little bit different than my definitions – but, whatever it is, get that definition in writing and get everyone to agree, so that you're all on the same page,” she said.
This then allows you to align on a clear understanding of goals – the what, why, and how of strategy.
“What are we doing? Perhaps thinking through creating content in a modular way,” she said. “But then you want to define, 'Why are we doing that?' And in some cases, the ‘why’ might be because you want to create more personalised experiences. Or the ‘why’ might be because you want more efficiency in repurpose and reuse of content. And then the how really becomes the nuts and bolts in terms of what you need to do and how you're going to do it.”
Being strategy-driven
Walsh laid out three parts to a content transformation strategy: a vision, a roadmap, and a blueprint.
“At the very top is your vision,” she said. “What is that North Star experience you want your customers to have? Or what is that North Star goal that you're trying to reach as an organisation? This vision should be the first slide at every kick-off call when you're moving this forward, to always ground on where you're going.”
The roadmap, on the other hand, is the pathway to get to that vision. It includes a more comprehensive view of the capabilities needed to achieve the vision and drive organisational maturity. And, to extend the metaphor, companies can use their brand plan as a “compass”, Walsh added.
“Ultimately, you want to be driving business. You want to make sure that you're having that as top of mind. So you don't want to just be creating for the sake of creating,” she said.
The roadmap is more granular and practical than the vision, but not as detail oriented as the blueprint, which lays out exactly what steps and infrastructure are needed and lays out order of activities to ensure ongoing iterative improvement over time. The blueprint helps define your “now, next, and later” priorities.
“[The blueprint] might require something like an RFP for a new DAM (data asset management) system, and that's going to take time,” Walsh said. “So, in the now, maybe it's a matter of thinking through your taxonomy and your tagging strategy.”
All those layers of planning can seem to slow down the content transformation process, but it’s worthwhile to align on all three before you begin.
“We're going slow to go fast,” Walsh said. “So, sometimes it feels like we're not going fast enough. But perhaps the speed that we're going is the speed we need to be going in order to keep moving us forward.”
Aligning stakeholders for success
The other benefit to having a clear vision articulated, and a clear consensus on definitions, is that both help to get all stakeholders on the team aligned.
“You need to think about all of your cross-functional partners,” Walsh said. “For example, how is your IT or digital team going to support you in terms of the capabilities that you might need from a technology perspective? Think about bringing in your insights and analytics team to talk through how you're going to handle reporting, how you're going to be gathering insights [...] and your medical, legal, and regulatory teams, because they're going to be critical in terms of having them understand the vision, having them understand what you're trying to do. [Also,] your marketing operations team, because there's going to be a lot of new operational needs as you stand up certain things, like asset management. What's the librarian services model? How is that going to serve across the organisation?”
It's important to involve everyone who will impact or be impacted by the new content model. Otherwise, you’re asking for trouble later in the process, Walsh also advised.
“What I've observed is that, sometimes, you might have a marketing team that says, 'We're going to go do this – we’re going to create modular content with our agency,' and off they go. But ultimately, down the road, there are going to be impasses where they're going to have to connect with these internal partners, and there's going to be barriers, and you might have to go back instead of going forward.”
The final stakeholders whose buy-in really matters are the leadership team. Even if you have all the internal stakeholders lined up, if you don’t have leadership on board you won’t have the funding, time, and resources needed to make content transformation work.
“When you have your top-down support and you have your bottom-up collaboration, I like to say that you meet in the middle and that's where the magic happens,” she said. “That's when you can actually get things done.”
Making content transformation work
It’s worth checking out the full webinar on demand for the whole conversation, which also includes thoughts on the role of AI in content transformation and how to use it effectively.
During the Q&A, an attendee asked where Takeda is in its own content transformation process.
“I can't claim that we've climbed the mountain, we've pitched a flag, and we're done,” Walsh said. “But I'm really excited to be part of this transformation. And I think that, by working together, there's a huge opportunity to continue our success.”
About EVERSANA INTOUCH
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