Forge Top-Tier Biopharma Digital Strategy & Experience

Industries Profiled:
Diagnostic; Biopharmaceutical; Pharmaceutical; Manufacturing; Biotech; Consumer Products; Medical Device; Clinical Research; Health Care; Consulting; Laboratories


Companies Profiled:
Alere; Alnylam Pharmaceuticals; AstraZeneca; Bayer; Boehringer Ingelheim; CMIC; Daiichi Sankyo; EMD Serono; Medtronic; Merck; MSD; Novartis; Precision For Value; Roche; Salix Pharmaceutical; Sanofi; Takeda Pharmaceuticals; The Himalaya Drug Company; UCB Pharma

Study Snapshot

Best Practices, LLC engaged 21 digital, multichannel marketing and other commercial leaders from 19 leading healthcare companies through a benchmarking survey. Close to two-thirds of the participants serve at director level or above.

Key topics covered in this report include:

• Digital Marketing Service Structure
• Digital Marketing Staffing & Investment
• Digital Operations
• Digitizing New Product Planning, Launch & High-growth Products
• Performance Measurement
• Mobile Engagement & Digital Health
• Innovative Channels, Programs & Activities

• Digital Marketing Staffing & Investment: By 2018, the average percentage of total marketing dollars spent on digital programs will rise to 23%, up significantly from the current average of 18%.
• Digital Operations: Companies are using digital tools and tactics to reduce overall marketing and education costs. Effective tactics include the use of virtual meetings and cloud-based networks.
• Digital Marketing Service Structures: Among the top-ranked objectives of digital teams throughout the industry are: “increased customer access,” “increased customer satisfaction,” and “revenue growth.”
• Performance Measurement: Email marketing, websites, and digital content & collateral building show the highest ROI among surveyed digital activities.
• Innovative Channels, Programs & Activities: A majority of digital marketing teams are using social media strictly for social listening and data collection – rather than direct customer interactions.

I.	Executive Summary	pp. 3-10
	Research Overview	p. 3
	Key Strategic Recommendations & Study Findings	pp. 7-10
II.	Digital Marketing Service Structure	pp. 11-13
III.	Digital Marketing Staffing & Investment	pp. 14-31
IV.	Digital Operations	pp. 32-40
V.	Digitizing NPP, Launch & High-growth Products	pp. 41-44
VI.	Performance Measurement	pp. 45-53
VII.	Mobile Engagement & Digital Health	pp. 54-58
VIII.	Innovative Channels, Programs & Activities	pp. 59-66
IX.	Participants' Demographics	pp. 67-70
X.	About Best Practices, LLC	p. 71

• Structure of digital marketing function within participating organizations
• Top three objectives important to the future of digital marketing function

• Benchmark partners’ approximate total investment into digital marketing – total benchmark class, large companies vs. small companies and global teams vs. U.S. only teams
• Percentage of total marketing budget devoted specifically to digital marketing activities and programs marketing – total benchmark class, large companies, small companies, global teams and U.S. only teams
• Percentage of total digital marketing budget allocated to key activity areas – total benchmark class, large companies vs. small companies and global teams vs. U.S. only teams
• Total FTE staffing investment in terms of internal company employees for all of digital marketing: current headcount and planned headcount for next year – total benchmark class, large companies vs. small companies and global teams vs. U.S. only teams
• Total FTE staffing investment in terms of external contractors and consultants for all of digital marketing: current headcount and planned headcount for next year – total benchmark class, large companies vs. small companies and global teams vs. U.S. only teams

• Effective approaches for boosting sales force effectiveness – total benchmark class and large companies vs. small companies
• Groups with primary responsibility for listed core digital activities
• Average number of vendors and agencies used by digital marketing groups across all of the supported brands
• Innovative vendor management practices
• Digital tools and tactics used to reduce cost

• Impact of digital support on listed clinical and medical focused pre-launch product development programs – total benchmark class
• Impact of digital support on listed pre-launch commercial programs for new products – total benchmark class and large companies vs. small companies

• Standardization of digital KPIs
• Effective metrics for measuring digital performance of key channels – total benchmark class and large companies vs. small companies
• Optimal reporting intervals for assessing the performance and conveying the ROI for listed digital marketing programs
• ROI levels measured by benchmark partners for listed digital activities – total benchmark class and large companies vs. small companies
• Valuable information streams and sources that can be used by digital marketing teams to distill insights and improve customer engagement – total benchmark class and large companies vs. small companies

• Effective mobile apps and tools to educate customers and enhance decision making
• Effective mobile apps and tools to support digital health and medicine
• Integrating digital health opportunities into digital operations – total benchmark class and large companies vs. small companies

• ROI for innovative digital activities – total benchmark class and large companies vs. small companies
• Innovative use of social media by digital marketing groups over the past year
• Valuable tactics to support the expanded use of electronic health records (EHRs) by physicians
• Steps taken to grow digital engagement with Integrated Delivery Networks (IDNs)
• Effective digital marketing strategies to raise share of voice
• Top challenges for the digital marketing function