Omnichannel Marketing and Brand Experience
During the COVID pandemic, many aspects of our lives were transformed, from the way that we shop to the way that we work. We had to learn how to do many things differently, including how we communicate with others.
In the healthcare industry, the COVID pandemic changed how we interact with our customers. We saw a rapid adoption of TeleHealth. Unable to access hospitals and clinics, sales reps had to find new ways of engaging with healthcare professionals, and healthcare companies increased their presence on social media platforms. We even had to learn how to make an impact at virtual conferences.
The WHO has now officially declared the COVID pandemic over and life is returning to normal. So, to what extent should our marketing approach go back to the way it was?
Historically, when conducting market research to inform channel optimisation, we tended to monitor those activities that our clients controlled directly, e.g. websites, conference presence or sales reps. For some brands, it was also important to expand these touchpoints to include other focused activities, such as patient access programs or clinical trials. Some forward-thinking companies even started to include channels that they could influence, but not control, such as social media platforms. Post-COVID, our customer engagement has had to adapt to support HCPs and patients in new, more relevant ways.
Furthermore, as an industry we have often been guilty of talking at our customers. We have tried to ‘deliver a message’ or communicate a ‘reason to believe a claim’, while other industries have engaged customers in dialogue. Moving forwards, we must find better ways to engage customers and deliver fantastic customer experiences which are more likely to create customer loyalty than any message.
For this reason, at Purdie Pascoe, we believe that Brand Experience is the third and final metric that we should track in brand equity research to drive brand growth. Brand Experience is a measure of a brand’s ability to deliver positive, memorable experiences through the channels that matter to customers. Alongside Brand Salience and Brand Availability, we track Brand Experience to understand which channels you should invest in, whether digital or traditional, to increase sales.
The result is a clear action plan for your marketing activities, helping you prioritise those channels that are most likely to deliver positive memorable experiences…and help you get the mix between digital and traditional channels right.