How can excellence in marketing operations equip biotech brands with a better understanding of customers and their needs? Could it also drive shareholder value? In this article we’ll take an indepth look at what life science marketers need to do to reach marketing operations excellence and scale their businesses.
Traditionally, life science companies perform large brand plans, once or twice a year, that are later provided to regions for customization. But with the constant changes in customer preference, and the rapid market shifts in today’s fast-paced and digitally connected world, this needs to change.
When looking to reach excellence in marketing operations, life science marketers should develop new capabilities, and think and work like scientists by focusing on experimenting, learning and improving. Within this mindset, marketing campaigns and programs should not be divided into failures or successes – they should be perceived as mediums for learning.
Supporting the evolution of how marketing teams operate requires a different mindset and agility, so change management activity may be needed to get this initiated. Once marketing operations excellence has been established, your team can keep moving quickly, without compromising compliance or quality in the complex global and regulated markets or biotechnology.
Here are the top 5 reasons why you need to implement marketing operations when scaling to optimize your organizations’ fullest potential:
1. Marketing Operations Excellence Helps C-suites Understand End-To-End Customer Experience
Take a holistic approach. This will help develop relevant customer experiences and understand how your audience interacts with your company at each stage of the buying process. No matter if it’s a LinkedIn post or ad, a customer service call, or a salesperson interaction. Your team should go beyond selling a product, and develop meaningful relationships with the customers.
To develop relevant customer experiences and understand how your audience interacts with your company at each stage of the buying process, you need to take a holistic approach. No matter if it’s a LinkedIn Ad, a customer service call or a salesperson interaction, your team should go beyond selling a product and develop meaningful relationships with the customers.
Here are a few key components for a holistic approach from a potential customer’s standpoint;
- Marketing – Awareness and loyalty with the company
- Sales – Learning how to use the product
- Service – Having questions about the product
- Operations – Receiving the product
2. Aligns Marketing Initiatives With Business Objectives
When companies are positioned for growth, they tend to invest in marketing technology while neglecting people and processes. This results in an underutilization of the technology and a low return on marketing investment.
The use of digital tools helps you optimize channels, target social media, and automate repeatable tasks so you can measure customer experience effectively and ensure it is aligned with business metrics.
But the reality is that it’s very difficult to keep a pulse on the data, really understand what it all means, and communicate it visually to busy C-suite Executives who are short on time.
Marketing Operations Excellence allows your team to identify and collect valuable customer experience metrics and data and link them to business measures.
This data allows you to better your business by determining what you need to change or refine to provide sustainable improvement. You may find that you can change the messaging, processes, and communication approach to enhance your customer’s journey.
3. Excellence In Marketing Operations Enable Marketers To Do More With Less
Every executive wants to understand the Return of Marketing Investment. From investing in technology to outsourcing campaigns and hiring new team members, everything must be monitored and controlled to maximize performance and budgets.
Establish Operational Governance
With established operational governance, teams can leverage digital tools to the maximum potential by focusing on the people and processes using them.
Content Production
Content production is a significant expense. Most of the time, organizations outsource to external vendors who can be expensive and have long cycle times.
Implementing modular compliant content development and activation systems reduce costs and shorten cycle times.
Governance Of Data
This will allow for channel optimization, increasing reach and re-targeting, and driving positive return on marketing investment.
4. Marketing Operations Excellence Merges Seamless Digital And Physical Customer Experiences
Our next ‘new normal’ is the shift to digital and physical customer interactions.
Understanding how both experiences work together is essential for development, and requires a cross-functional interaction that doesn’t usually come naturally. Ensuring excellence in marketing operations that facilitate those interactions and provide alignment is essential.
5. Excellence In Marketing Operations Supports New Skill Development Within Your Team
In order to perfect customer experience, you need to embed internal capabilities in the business. Marketing in the digital age is constantly changing and requires new skill sets and new digital tool integration and iterations
Excellence in Marketing Operations lets you ensure your team gets the support and mentoring needed to stay relevant and aligned with modern marketing methods.
Some relevant skills for today include data literacy, behavioral science, and design thinking
Data Literacy
In today’s digital world, we have access to a lot of data. But being able to mine that data, and communicate it in a clear and relevant way is not a skill the typical marketer has. Customer-centric teams need to build these capabilities themselves.
Behavioral Science
By learning behavioral science, you can understand behavioral barriers and the differences you see in your customer base. You can then use this information to refine/adjust your customer experience.
Design Thinking
Develop a holistic engagement model across all customers, stages of the journey, and channels to address the most compelling CX (Customer Experience) opportunities.
Marketing operations excellence connects marketing strategy and objectives to specific marketing programs, and allows you create business and customer experiences that build brand loyalty and equity.
If you need support with developing excellence in marketing operations, or anything related to life science and biotech marketing, simply reach out to us. We can help you develop a great life sciences strategy, product launch consulting, content marketing, and much more…
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