Introduction
Why are so many pharmaceutical executives comfortable blending into the crowd? Maybe it is a childhood tendency that they have not yet outgrown. As children, it is much easier to blend into the crowd than it is to be a leader. This might explain the lack of innovation in the industry today. Fewer new products are in the pipeline, stocks are lagging behind other industries, and marketing efforts are going unnoticed — all due to a lack of innovation. In the pharmaceutical industry, one cannot afford to blend in. Change is necessary; more of the same won’t work.

It’s time to change it up; time to stick out; time to bring marketing to a new level. The careless spending of marketing dollars is one of the biggest factors as to why companies fail in their attempts at delivering a message. Just sticking your name on a bulleted list of services and products simply won’t cut it. You have to go further; you must really understand your customers. You need to know what excites them, what motivates them, what moves them to make the purchase. This isn’t done through speculation and snap decisions. Research is the only way to explore customers’ feelings and motivating factors. Once you complete the research and identify your customers’ Unique Buying Advantages, you’re ready to develop the right message to the right demographic. The following are five cornerstones that will get your company to a higher level.

Cornerstone 1:
Determining Your Organization’s Unique Selling Advantages
Pull together 6 to 10 people in your organization (not just management) for an intense soul-searching session. You’ll need a good cross-section of positions in this endeavor; you need to get beyond management and in the trenches of the organization. List all the relevant facts about your organization, products, and/or services and then distill this list to a shorter one of possible selling advantages. Continue distilling down to a specific list (4 to 8) of the most unique facts about your organization. This half-day session will surprise you.

Cornerstone 2:
Research to the Core & Solidify Your Customers’ Unique Buying Advantages
Plan out your channel of distribution on a dry-erase board and then transfer it to paper. This should include everything from revenue-stream channels and competitor issues to opportunities and industry details. How will you talk to each audience segment? Create the right questions to produce an inquiry for each segmented group. After careful analysis of the data, your customers’ preferences will be clear. This process will produce Unique Buying Advantages, which will craft your messaging and marketing direction.

Cornerstone 3:
Crafting Your Big Idea to Speak to Prospects
Every brand and every marketing program needs a big idea. Your customers’ Unique Buying Advantages will guide you in crafting a message that will stop your audience in its tracks. You will be tempted to put in the usual bulleted list of stuff you do; fight this urge. This message speaks to the Buying Advantages, not the Selling Advantages. Discipline yourself to ignore the clutter and avoid meaningless messaging.

Cornerstone 4:
Holding Everyone Accountable Through Intra-gration
Involve all touch-points of your business by understanding, espousing, and living your brand. It’s a good idea to survey your internal customers and get a sense of their interpretation of the brand. This information will aide you in bridging the internal and external communications. Additionally, have each employee establish a goal that will assist the organization in achieving their broader goals. Each employee is responsible for carrying out the message and protecting the brand every day. There is no bigger task than servicing customers.

Cornerstone 5:
Marketing Integration is Essential in 2008
This is where you will want to pull your brightest and most unusual thinkers together in a strategy session that will propel the big idea and the organization to another level. The key to getting your message out there in the most compelling and cost-effective way is directly tied to integrating your marketing. Choosing the right communications methods, timing, and venues to deploy precise, evocative marketing will get you there.

Summary
Once these five cornerstones create the foundation for your marketing execution, a lasting, effective, and truly valuable brand of stature will emerge. A brand is not a product or service specifically, but the attitude and perception that back it up. Attitude and perception are things that you can impact. Many organizations fall short, however. They spend a great deal of money on advertising and have beautiful graphics that look impressive. If you go back in history, you’ll find some of the most significant brands were made from advertising and great creative only. Over the duration of time, they fell short and eventually paid the price for this limited thinking. Those that executed every detail, exercised meticulous marketing, and insisted that their employees perform at a higher level have become great brands.

The term “integrated marketing” became a buzz-word in the 90s. However, it’s a great deal more than just a fancy term for multiple marketing methods. Your future customers will need to see your message in as many mediums as your budget will afford. This will remind them of your capabilities and creativity when their need arises. They may not have a need right at that moment, but when the time comes, they will remember your message, provided you keep that message out in the marketplace. Too many companies are coerced into running an ad because they like the rep or the price is extra low at the moment. They take out an ad and then complain that they’re not getting a return. I’ve seen companies run an ad in a publication for several months and then pull it out because they didn’t receive any calls. The typical complaint is that the magazine didn’t work in the first place, as no customers referred specifically to that one print ad.

Marketing is a commitment, one that needs to be taken seriously. It’s not a part-time gig, and it’s not something you can turn on and off as you see fit. Marketing is a discipline that can and will determine your progress and profitability. If you stay committed in both good and lean times, you’re sure to get a return on investment that will pay dividends.