What the Pharmaceutical Industry can Gain from Digital B2B Strategies?

The fast-growing e-commerce became our natural environment in the last couple of years, no matter what age group we belong to, be it Gen X, Millennials, or Generation Z, our buying experience with a sales representative or assistant might be soon completely overlooked, while the new means of marketing and selling are taking their rightful place. As one generation influences another, one can only forecast how tech-savvy digital buyers are going to look and behave in the future. 

Enterprises must be flexible and adaptable to the ever-changing needs of their customers. But the starting point that should be thoroughly examined first is always the target audience. Now it comes as no surprise to see online buyers constantly shopping or requesting services using online channels (just look at younger consumers who are almost “glued” to their smartphones). With mobile technologies rapidly evolving, making purchases, engaging with brands via social networks, or searching for information using mobile devices became part of our regular day-to-day smartphone usage.

Of course, we are not necessarily talking about actual online buying. The thing is that online presence helps companies to build stronger brand awareness via the right channel mix and boost customers’ loyalty – that is an essential part of the customer lifecycle today. Companies have to adopt an omnichannel approach, merging their marketing tools, data, technologies, and people to ensure the best-in-class experience.

What is B2B pharma?

2B is all about building strong relationships between businesses and making sure that they keep evolving and improving. In B2B pharma, one company sells certain products or services to another company instead of offering them directly to end customers. The primary focus of B2B pharma is collaborations and partnerships between pharmaceutical companies, which often result in such activities as drug development, knowledge exchange, medical research, clinical trials, and many others. Thanks to B2B in pharma, hospitals, pharmacies, clinics, and healthcare providers (HCPs) can obtain the necessary equipment, medicine, software, and even furniture to provide patients with the necessary care.

The most common place to find other organizations to conduct business with is a B2B pharma marketplace, where various suppliers, distributors, PCD pharma companies, and other organizations in the pharma sector can connect with each other. This is where every business, from B2B pharma startups to big pharma franchise companies, has a chance to showcase their offerings and share more information about their business, attracting new partners and finding more buyers. And, on the other hand, a B2B pharma marketplace is a perfect opportunity for many companies to compare prices, learn more about the current market, and find a supplier that is the best fit for their budget and goals.

What B2B Pharma Companies Can Learn from Worldwide Digital Practices?

In the customer-oriented age, the online shopping experience should be embraced and developed to the full extent — no matter where the client is. As statistics reveal,

today’s B2B buyer runs nearly 12 online searches before purchasing a specific brand; while 55% of B2B marketing budgets are allocated toward digital promotion that helps provide a more personalized buying experience.

Only one-third of the companies surveyed are now executing ot optimizing their omnichannel strategy, whereas  3% of businesses have no actual plans to implement an omnichannel strategy at all.  

When it comes to B2B pharmaceutical marketing, nothing is different. Patients, as well as physicians, are indeed craving a first-class personalized experience from pharmaceutical brands, as long as these experiences concern their health and well-being. Omnichannel might provide the required impact here.

It has been shown that happier clients lead to better business results:

23% of retailers say they expect to reach more consumers with their online B2B marketing activities, and 25% are driven to boost client fulfillment.

But a truly comprehensive omnichannel strategy is not about creating a website with a huge amount of content flowing from many web sections. Patients and healthcare professionals don’t expect to be bombarded with information or long lists of medical prescriptions over the myriad of channels – but instead, they want to be diagnosed, treated, and supported by each digital (or non-digital) touchpoint, and become more health-aware and data-savvy. Only tailored digital experiences and B2B pharma marketing activities can link the company’s visions and goals to the specific needs and behaviors of every client, optimizing overall outcomes in each customer segment.

What is Going on in the B2B Pharmaceutical Marketing?

An omnichannel strategy is unfolding around content, people, and tech – meaning that companies transform their staff, technology, workflows, and even their culture to support the customer when and where necessary.

Let’s look at a few primary dimensions more in detail:

People behind the brand 

• How well are your teams connected? 
• Are they well informed about their responsibilities, roles, and tasks?
• Are they conscious enough about their strengths and weaknesses?

In fact, for successful team performance, everyone should be in the right place.

48% of B2B-only retailers stated they met this criterion.

Processes

Are your business processes and workflows clearly established?

41% of companies said “yes“.

Technology

Does your company hold the right technology and tools to execute an omnichannel strategy?

41% of businesses agreed to have met the criterion.

Culture

Is your company’s organization prepared for omnichannel commerce?

40% of respondents declared they met this criterion.

Even though the future might not seem very clear at the moment, pharma B2B digital marketing is guaranteed to continue evolving, and more and more companies will start the process of its development and implementation. B2B pharma will not be confined to a simple use of digital tools and new technologies; we will likely see a strategic shift that would cover the whole spectrum of pharma B2B digital marketing activities, from ensuring a robust online presence to creating data-driven marketing campaigns. The B2B marketing pharmaceutical industry might not be something that we hear a lot about, but this is guaranteed to change in the near future.

Potential Hurdles on the Way to Omnichannel Excellence in B2B industry

As new technologies emerge at a fast pace, B2B pharma companies might be struggling with two main challenges while trying to keep up with their digital users. These are realizing time-to-value and a lack of budget. Among other reasons, retailers also mentioned a lack of unified experience across channels and barriers toward embracing e-commerce tools. Some companies‘ employees struggle to work with self-service digital websites for enhanced brand promotion, or, vice versa, many teams, who are involved in e-commerce only, might encounter hurdles when incorporating offline tools into their strategy.

Ultimately, companies should build a cohesive presence of both online and offline touchpoints and keep the right balance, constantly managing how one channel interacts with another. Or, as it was mentioned in the research, to balance the benefits provided by digital automation with a more consultative customer-centric selling approach.

Customer data is now being shared through a myriad of channels, including mobile, websites, social media, etc. When it comes to Pharma and Life Sciences, which is strictly regulated, clients’ data should be securely stored and unified. Data silos should be eliminated in order to succeed in the increasingly competitive market and attain customer loyalty through personalized messaging. For pharma, it means integrating CRM data and Marketing Automation System.

The Use of Digital Technologies in Fostering Customer Experience

More than two-thirds of retailers in this study adopted SaaS solutions for their eCommerce strategy. Among the key benefits are easy implementation, elimination of extra work of IT departments, a shorter learning process, and better cost-effectiveness. B2B marketers require a stable technological backbone to rely on while creating an omnichannel ecosystem and bridging their digital and traditional sales and marketing channels into a centralized approach.

The adoption of technology is revolutionizing every industry with no exceptions. For example, a wide array of digital tools and platforms allow life sciences and pharmaceutical companies to make real-time decisions; HCPs – to provide quality care to their patients; sales representatives – to stay on the curve with the latest innovations in healthcare and Life Sciences, and much more.

According to the study, retailers are most likely to manage three core technologies to run their online selling — a customer relationship management (CRM) platform, an eCommerce platform, and an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system.

How can Pharma Employ B2B eCommerce as the Primary Driver for Future Success?

The businesses are getting ready for an omnichannel selling future, with 83% saying they expect to increase the volume of eCommerce sales over the next three years.

The shift to eCommerce adoption is only going to be accelerated and deepened in the years to come. Statistics show that B2B companies that run online selling showed increased revenue, a more effective pricing model, and product catalog optimization. Moreover, it is assumed that e-commerce strategies will help to open new markets much faster and at a lower cost by employing online channels – that indeed opens new perspectives for building an omnichannel selling future.

Pharma has also been influenced by rapid digital marketing maturity and the revolution in embracing virtual channels. For example, VR and AR presentations for HCPs with educational purposes to create more interactive and engaging experiences; or ordering prescribed medicines by patients using a single application (such as the RefillPro app where users can “access” the selected pharmacy just in a few clicks), and many more.

Let’s sum up  

Focus on the entire customer journey, not on separate phases.

To ensure a better omnichannel experience, marketers and sales teams must understand that digital-oriented customers might change their behaviors and preferences more often if compared to more “offline-preferred” clients. They need to thoroughly design their journeys, including previous, current, and post-sale phases.

Manage your teams accordingly to gain maximum from omnichannel selling.

Organizational management should work on getting over barriers and focus on strengthening relationships between digital and traditional sales teams.

Find a powerful partnership to ease omnichannel adoption.

For example, a suitable technological partner comes with the most advanced tools and resources available for content creation, task automation, and analytics that help develop a seamless plan of your operational strategy according to your business needs.

Grow an adaptive culture.

When gearing up for new e-commerce opportunities, the approach to building an organizational culture should be adjustable and structured. Companies need to focus on constant measurement of their business impact and follow change management procedures, which help adjust employees to any sort of change or new competencies.

Viseven specialists will help you to break silos, provide the missing links and systems, and establish workflows, from architecture to mindset. If you are interested in further opportunities on how to organically manufacture your omnichannel capacities, contact our experts. We will help you to thrive in the new era of omnichannel marketing.

 

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