if you took all the posts on Facebook and all the tweets on Twitter, they would only add up to 0.2% of all email traffic 

It’s easy to get excited about the shiny new tool in the toolbox (Pinterest, anyone?) and forget about the tried and true digital marketing tactics that do the job—and do the job well. We need to remind ourselves how powerful and valuable email communications can be in building relationships, especially in the world of pharma marketing.

One of my favorite studies on pharmaceutical emails was released by Epsilon back in 2009. I wish they would conduct this study again because the information is so telling. Some highlights from this study include:

• Of those who receive permission-based email from pharmaceutical firms, 86% say that email is a great way to learn about new products coming on the market.
• Nearly half of respondents say the email they receive from pharmaceutical companies helps them stay on medication.
• The majority of respondents who receive email from pharmaceutical companies have a more favorable opinion of, and are more loyal to those companies.

For rare disorder patients, emails and ongoing information about coping with their disease are even more essential

Read More

respondents wanted a clear understanding of how they'll benefit from giving up data 

How much private information are you willing to share online? It probably depends upon who is asking, what you are getting in return and how much value it has to you. McCann Truth Central performed a quantitative study on privacy including 6,525 global consumers in July 2011 across 6 markets – UK, USA, Hong Kong, Japan, India, and Chile.

The researchers discovered a new understanding of the word privacy. “…‘privacy’ is a complex, multi-dimensional issue that encompasses everything from personal, real-world snooping to sharing data online. Further, when it comes to data sharing one must unpack the issue even further as consumers categorize data into different categories, e.g. shopping, location, personal, medical, and financial, and have varying degrees of concern with sharing each type.”

While the study found anxiety about the potential threats to reputation and finances, consumers were accepting of the use of personal data (including the text of emails) to serve up targeted ads online. And there was good news for pharma: pharma ranks among the industries that  survey respondents trust most to safeguard their data – behind only banks and credit card and medical companies.

Read More

it’s about developing and nurturing long-lasting relationships through trust 

You may be familiar with Customer Relationship Management (CRM), a common strategy to support the business-customer relationship. However, many businesses make the mistake of implementing CRM programs by throwing money into the backend software and technology without a plan, and then sitting back and expecting results. Although the technology behind data collection is important, companies often neglect the most critical component: the development of a strategic plan that focuses on building an ongoing relationship with the customer.

Rare disorders marketing, which is characterized by small, unique customer groups, requires much more than managing communications – it’s about developing and nurturing long-lasting relationships through trust. This calls for a redefinition of CRM as Continuous Relationship Marketing: a new and unique communication strategy that is critical to success in the rare disorders space, where each customer is unique and valuable.

Recently, Katie Mihelich and I met with PharmaVOICE and we discussed this new definition and specifically how it can be used to build relationships with (and market to) the rare disorder community. Listen to our podcast, Redefining CRM, and you’ll walk away with some best practices and insights. For more detail, download our whitepaper, 3 Critical Elements of CRM in Rare Disorder Marketing, too.

Let us know what you think!

(Image courtesy of Sherrie Thai on Flickr.)

Continuous Relationship Marketing allows you to build effective communication programs by using the data you gather.  Once you build your customer list, and you know them through their responses and behaviors, you can target your messaging.

Recently, I was interviewed for Right On Interactive’s podcast series, The Marketing Spotlight. We discussed how Siren navigates the highly regulated world of pharmaceutical marketing and how using Continuous RM can reap rewards.

Specifically, we talked about the results of a microtargeted campaign we did for one of our clients.  They had a product enhancement for their therapy which would  directly benefit a small segment of their user base.  Because we could identify some of this group within our list (based on information we had gathered over the course of our relationship) we were able to design a message that would speak directly to them.  We also sent a general announcement to the rest of the list.  The results were fantastic.

Listen to the podcast for the details.

This blog post was contributed by Danielle Jamil, Manager of CRM Programs, Siren Interactive.

blackhawks

Delivering relevant content in a timely manner reaps big emarketing rewards. 

Last week I wrote about the importance of paying attention to the details in your email communications and to always test. And test again. Today, I want to talk about how knowing your audience and delivering relevant and timely content to their inbox can result in big loyalty gains.

The day after my aforementioned email incident, I received an email of a different color. While it wasn’t explicitly personalized, it spoke to me so directly I couldn’t help but respond. For those of you who don’t know, our beloved Chicago Blackhawks brought home the Stanley Cup after a 49 year hiatus. As a life-long Chicagoan with many memories of going to games in Chicago Stadium and the United Center, my blood was pumping Blackhawks Red along with the rest of the city.
Read More

devil

Pay attention to how you are talking, and connecting, with your customers. 

Working on customer relationship management (CRM) initiatives has me digging into the details on our customers (patients and healthcare professionals) on a daily basis. I get to ask myself questions like: How are they grouping? What behaviors indicate future results? What do we REALLY know about them? How can we best deliver what they are looking for?

And then, I get socked with a simple reality check: don’t forget the basics.  Pay attention to how you are talking, and connecting, with your customers.

In this age of personalized, one-to-one communications, I expect that all the emails that make it through my SPAM filter will be addressed to me. If not, they at least provide content that I would like to read. Imagine my horror when I received an email last week with the following intro text.
Dear {{First Name:default=Fellow Marketer},

OUCH. My heart broke for my ‘Fellow Marketer.’ I know how easily a simple typo in setup can create these errors, but I also know that is why you really need to pay attention to the basics. Funny, I haven’t read the rest of that email. I couldn’t get past that simple error.
Read More

Of the 3 billion medication prescriptions issued annually in the U.S., 12% are never picked up by the patient 

Of the 3 billion medication prescriptions issued annually in the U.S., 12% are never picked up by the patient and 40% are not taken correctly. This statistic is from a recent report, “Technologies for Optimizing Medication Use in Older Adults,” produced by the non-profit Center for Technology and Aging.

Another startling statistic: Medication non-adherence is responsible for up to 33%-69% of medication-related hospital admissions and 23% of all nursing home admissions. It’s clear that adherence programs are not only an opportunity for pharma marketers to sell more drugs, but to make a difference in the health of many patients and reduce healthcare costs.

This data is a powerful incentive for pharmaceutical companies to use technology to make an impact on the problem of medication adherence.
Read More

Our basic definition of CRM, simply put, is managing customer interactions at every opportunity by offering value and engagement. 

Tanika Craig, Account Manager at Siren Interactive, contributes this post:

There is no greater joy in marketing than reaping the benefits of your hard work.  And that benefit is customer loyalty.  How can creating a customer relationship marketing (CRM) plan reap customer loyalty to your organization?

First, you are probably wondering what Customer Relationship Marketing really means.  After all, every organization has been defining it differently these days!  That’s essentially why I decided to communicate on this very topic.  Not only are there so many definitions, there are many different steps to achieve it.  It’s like watching HGTV in search of a color to paint a room.  Not only are there way too many colors to choose from, but there are tons of painting techniques.  How would one decide?  So to help alleviate some confusion, here’s a simple definition and some simple steps I think we can all understand and agree on.
Read More

the best uses of every technology tend to survive quite a long time. 

Every time a new communication technology comes on the scene, people start to predict the demise of the previous technology.

Now that Social Media is becoming a prominent way for people to communicate, is emarketing (owning a list of names to market to directly) still relevant? Jeremiah Owyang from Forrester Research explains why he plans to call for registration pages to go away on his web strategist blog:  Social CRM: When Registration Pages Go Extinct.  He predicts:

“A technology will emerge that will allow users to pass only as much of their social networking profile information as they want over to a CRM system, how much? It’s up to the user. A new social contract will appear that will encourage users to give as much information as they want, and in return the brand will reciprocate. The more information the user gives, the more the brand will give back in return, I call this a “Social web contract”. Since the data will come from the profile information within a social network, there won’t be a need to have a collection web form, instead information will be passed through connective tissues.”

Read More

Personalization of enewsletters has been a popular technique for years among online marketers. But does this tactic change when the marketer is affiliated with pharma or the healthcare industry? How personal can healthcare eMarketers be without sacrificing the email recipient’s privacy?

It makes sense that any way you can make your enewsletter more relevant, useful, or personal to the recipient increases the odds that they will open and click through. MediaPost says “Personalization is one of the greatest ways to leverage the email channel, which is unique in its ability to address individual recipients.”

The most important considerations when determining the level of personalization are:

1. What information is most relevant to my readers?
2. How can I best be of service to them?
3. What else do I know about my audience?

Personalization Positives

Use of a first name hints that you’ve dealt with the sender in the past and if they have self-selected their areas of interest, the content is likely to be very useful. (A secondary benefit would be stripping out all of the information that isn’t then relevant)

For most online marketing situations use of a first name is considered positive. ExactTarget has quantified the benefits of email personalization for their clients.

Read More