Building a Human-Centered Omnichannel Strategy for Pharma Brands

Imagine this: Samantha is a busy oncologist who is very passionate about patient outcomes. She follows clinical trials and actively publishes her own research findings on HER2+ therapies. John, a sales rep promoting a drug for metastatic breast cancer treatment has been trying to get a meeting with Samantha. John understands that he will have to gain Samantha's trust before he is able to get a meeting with her and shares a concise, personalized email highlighting a key efficacy data from a recent clinical trial. No generic sales pitch, just valuable efficacy data points?delivered directly to Samantha's inbox. John follows up with Samantha inviting her to an exclusive virtual session featuring a KOL with extensive trial experience. The sessions provides a platform for Samantha to ask questions and gain insights. This is the power of a truly human-centered omnichannel strategy, focusing on the needs of a physician and building trust.?

The pharmaceutical industry is undergoing a digital revolution.?Gone are the days when a pharmaceutical representative’s primary responsibility was to walk into a physician’s office, introduce their drug portfolio, and update the CRM. Today, the rep’s role has evolved into that of an?orchestrator. They must not only possess intimate knowledge about their target HCPs but also understand how to engage with them effectively. This requires identifying the most suitable interaction channels - whether face-to-face (F2F), email, social media, or speaker bureaus, aiming to continuously deliver value.

While many pharma organizations have amplified their multichannel marketing efforts or taken steps toward omnichannel strategies,?the results often fall short of expectations. Common challenges include low participation in events and webinars or minimal improvements in email click-through rates.?

Why is this happening? When analyzing industry benchmarks and conducting diagnostics of underperforming omnichannel strategies, recurring themes emerge:

• Messages lack personalization?and aren’t tailored to individual HCP personas.
• HCPs don’t want to hear brand-centric messaging; they seek content that addresses their real needs.
• Limited focus on real-world evidence?diminishes the value of the content.

The underlying issue??HCPs are humans. And human connections, not just digital tactics, are the foundation of meaningful engagement.

Introducing OmniPro: A Human-Centered Omnichannel Framework by ProcDNA

At ProcDNA, we tackle these challenges through our?OmniPro framework, which puts human connections at the core while leveraging technology to enhance these connections.

OmniPro is built on four guiding principles:

1. Trust?is the cornerstone of successful HCP engagement.
2. Effective communication means delivering?consistent, reliable, and tailored messaging?that resonates with HCPs.
3. Focus on?value-driven content?rather than promotional noise.
4. Digital tools should?enhance, not replace, the human element?in relationships.

Here’s a step-by-step breakdown of how OmniPro has successfully helped pharma companies transform their omnichannel strategies:

1. Building the Foundation: Unifying Data to Create HCP360?

The starting point is data integration. Combine internal data sources (sales, market research, NPP, treatment patterns, and rep notes) with external data (clinical trials, research articles, open payments, social media, and more) to form an?HCP360 view.

This comprehensive view enables pharma teams to better understand HCP preferences and needs. Using advanced segmentation, you can create detailed HCP personas such as the "Early Adopter of Innovations" or the "Evidence-Seeking Traditionalist."

Example:?A busy oncologist might prefer concise, evidence-backed emails over lengthy sales pitches, whereas a general practitioner might value practical, actionable insights shared during an F2F conversation.

2. Mapping Brand Messages to Personas?

Once you’ve identified HCP needs and preferences, map them against your brand’s strategic objectives. This step ensures that?not all brand messages are delivered to all personas;?a common pitfall in many omnichannel initiatives centred around channel affinities.

Example:?For a new diabetes therapy, a persona focused on managing treatment costs would receive messaging on affordability programs, while a research-oriented persona might receive detailed clinical trial data.

At this stage, start creating?modular content.?These are small, reusable pieces of content tagged and stored for easy access (forming the base of a content factory). This scalable content factory allows you to adapt and personalize messaging quickly across channels.

3. Collaborating with Field Teams to Co-Create Content?

Your field teams are the closest to HCPs. Yet, they often report that existing content feels irrelevant or out of touch with HCP needs. This is a missed opportunity. Engage your field teams early in the process to capture their insights and co-create content. This approach not only makes the materials more relevant but also ensures that reps feel confident sharing them.

Example:?During a recent collaboration, a field team noted that HCPs were struggling with specific regulatory paperwork. The marketing team then developed a simple, step-by-step guide that reps shared during F2F meetings, leading to improved engagement.

4. Building Omnichannel Message Workflows?

Once you have relevant, persona-driven messages, the next step is creating?omnichannel workflows. These workflows deliver consistent messaging across multiple channels on a single theme until you’re confident that the HCP has interacted and understood the message.

Integrate feedback mechanisms into these workflows to gauge message relevance. For example, use email click-through rates or feedback from F2F interactions to continuously refine your messaging.

Example:?A cardiologist who opens emails about a therapy’s side effects might then receive a webinar invite to explore the topic in greater detail. If they don’t engage, the workflow might pivot to providing video testimonials from peers discussing similar concerns.

5. Continuously Adapting to Changing Preferences

HCP needs and preferences evolve over time. Regularly review your engagement data to identify shifting trends and adjust your content accordingly.

Example:?If an HCP persona that once preferred efficacy information, begins engaging more with cost and affordability information, shift your focus to delivering value through content related to patient support programs.

By centering your omnichannel strategy around human connections, you can achieve deeper HCP engagement, greater trust, and improved brand perception. More importantly, this approach ensures that your reps are not just communicating, they’re adding?value.

At ProcDNA, we’ve seen these principles drive tangible results for pharma companies, from increased event participation to higher email engagement rates and improved sales outcomes.

As you think about your own omnichannel strategy, ask yourself:

• Are your messages truly tailored to your audience?
• Are you leveraging both digital tools and human insights effectively?
• Are you delivering consistent, value-driven content across channels?

Building a human-centered omnichannel strategy isn’t easy, but it’s essential for success in today’s complex healthcare landscape.

Let’s start putting the “human” back into HCP engagement.

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