Avoiding the Pitfalls of Digital Content

Those of us of a certain age will remember this famous scene from Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark. Dr. Jones finally finds the Golden Idol after searching tirelessly for it. He grabs the Golden Idol off its pedestal in the temple and quickly replaces it with a bag of sand to thwart the intricate system of booby traps rigged to eliminate anyone brave (or stupid) enough to remove it from its perch. Dr. Jones breathes a momentary sigh of relief – his plan has worked! He holds the Golden Idol and will live to tell about it. Not so fast—¦his actions have unleashed a series of events, most notably being “chased” out of the temple by a rolling boulder. Indy sprints to stay ahead of the boulder as it picks up speed and gets closer to overtaking him, eventually tumbling out of the temple onto the jungle floor ready to face his next dilemma.

Do you feel a bit like Indiana Jones in this iconic scene as you develop, review, approve, and manage promotional content in the life sciences industry? Hopefully you are not dodging booby traps and outrunning boulders but I can imagine you are constantly trying to find the “Golden Idol” to help you connect with your customers and maintain pace with a dynamic regulatory environment to keep your organization out of harm’s way.

Digital Content as the Golden Idol

We’ve all heard the famous phrase “Content is King.” Content drives customer interactions or experiences. But not all content is created equal. The rise of digital content and the richness it adds to customer interactions and experiences may lead us to say “Digital Content is King.”

According to Accenture’s “The State of Content for Life Sciences” survey, seventy-eight percent of marketers in pharma and biotech and 95% of marketers in medical technology say their organization is producing a moderate to enormous amount of digital content and assets. Ninety three percent of pharma and biotech respondents and 100% of the respondents from med tech say the volume of digital content and assets is higher today than it was two years ago and only see it increasing in the coming years. Digital content allows you to deliver marketing campaigns in a richer, more interactive way, hopefully creating a stronger connection with your brand or your organization.

Have you thought of the potential booby traps before you snatch that golden idol?

Uncovering Your Booby Traps

An operational health check can help you assess potential gaps in your organization that are necessary to support an increase in marketing with digital content.

• Strategy: Alignment between marketing and commercial operations is critical to ensure the necessary capabilities and/or resources are in place to support the success of your dynamic marketing plans.
• Technology: Consider the technology you have in place to support your organization’s content and marketing plan. Does your technology assist with compliance? Can you share and reuse assets globally?
• Process Efficiency: Do you have the appropriate processes in place to support the dynamic content and digital media that is more predominant in your organization today?
• Asset Management: What processes and solutions do you have to manage your assets? Can you access assets internally? Can assets be shared across regions?
• Claims Management: Is your team trained on claims language and the correct way to use claims language?
• Content Withdrawal: Do you have the appropriate controls for content that has expired or is out of compliance? Is there a process for assessing where that content lives and can you quickly withdrawal content?
• Reporting and Governance: Perhaps the single most important discussion is around governance and where this ownership lies in your organization. Determine who owns the process in your organization and clearly define roles and responsibilities.

Use this checklist as a guide to evaluate the health of your operations and identify areas for improvement as it relates to your digital content management and compliance processes.

Outrunning the Boulder

Marketers in your organization have probably already begun to tap into the powers of digital content as they look to make deeper connections with your customers. Much like removing the golden idol from its pedestal, the growing use of digital content unleashes a series of events on life sciences organizations.

Accenture touched on this phenomenon in their survey findings as well. Ninety seven percent of pharma and biotech and 92% of medical technology organizations spend more time managing the operational details of content management than actually using the content for marketing. Eighty two percent of pharma and biotech respondents and 85% of the respondents from med tech say they spend more time managing the operational details than two years ago and only see it increasing in the coming years. An organization that spends more time managing the operational details of content management clearly can’t reap all the rewards of great digital content.

What operational pitfalls may be lurking around the corner?

• People – Do you have the right talent in your organization to effectively develop, review/approve, and manage this new form of content?
• Technology – Is your technology mature/modern enough to support the review, approval, and management of this new form of content?
• Process – Have your processes evolved to accomodate for new, more innovative forms of content?

Answering these questions (and some others) may keep you out in front of the boulders gaining speed in your organizations.

To get more tips for managing digital content, check out key metrics for understanding your digital supply chain.