Experiential Differentiation in Pharma

“How Much Do You Know About Yourself If You’ve Never Been in a Fight?

???I Don’t Want to Die Without Any Scars.” -??????Fight Club, 1999

Healthcare brands, be they medications, digital therapeutics, devices, or services, are in a fight.

The hair on fire question is with whom - with what?

In case you missed the point of Fight Club or the film all together, it was a tale of finding fulfillment, control and purpose from within. It was a narrative on exiting your comfort zone while cautioning the worship of false idols.

To Throw a Punch or Take One

Brands who wish to control their destiny need to think about the impact of their percussions, particularly on customers. People are the driving force of your business impact. The punching and kicking of brand differentiation can feel like a fight where dust flies as you are losing and gaining ground (customers) and receiving and giving blows to others in pursuit of your business.?

Brand bravado gets you so far. Eventually you must understand this is a sweet science. What got you here . . . well it may not get you there.

“How Much Do You Know About Yourself?”

If you have not wrestled the demon that competing with others with similar indications and offerings is snail race, maybe stop reading here and go do that.

Your adversary is everything and everyone between what a customer wants and needs and the ability and way they get it. That is likely a long list of things some of which are gut shots that they feel. If you are worried about being louder and more present than ‘competitors’ more than knowing your customers (systems, prescribers and patients) – you're likely feeling it in the ever-present addictions like campaigns. Imagine organizing your attention around expectations met and missed across the journey.

Imagine the power of relentless resolution at the speed of need. How might that change how prescribers think about your therapy? How might it change their LTD Likelihood To Discuss) with qualified patients?

This is where you can be not only clinically differentiates (or simply positioned), but where you can become Experientially Differentiated.

Experiential Differentiation

Becoming Experientially Differentiate requires an Operating System that is Channel Agnostic, Departmentally Democratized and Relentless on Resolution. It is not about chasing scores. Those are punches thrown not punches landed.

We hear omni channel tossed around daily, but if you dissect the dialogue, it is most often about our “look at me” competitive differentiation message than about authentic customer care.

The folks at Forrester shared that 78% of businesses believe improving Customer Experience is a high/critical business priority in the next 12 months. My guess is if you have gotten this far with me, you are in that majority. You see the immense business need and opportunity.

You'll want to put your gloves up for this one.

In this 2022 study from PwC on Managing Business Risks, less than half are investing in CX skillsets, mindsets, and resources. What then is being “digitally transformed”? If you are not investing in understanding and optimizing the customer's lived journey (not your brand desired one), what do you expect to change?

I Have Scars

I’ve earned them in the fight against bad experiences in healthcare for patients, professionals and the companies who seek to serve them. I have been on the ropes trying to help brands see the path to and value of Experiential Differentiation. And, I’ve recovered from being flat on my back while the ref counted backward from ten as I helped leading brands understand you’re not Rocky.

You’re Mickey Goldmill with incredible insights into the realities and essential and meaningful changes needed. You’re Adrian. Of course, you want to win, but you also want to grow and build with compassion. You’re Sly himself ?- willing to take a risk and change the game.

Yeah, I changed fight movies (-:.

Experiential Differentiation is not a notion. It is a winning business strategy. You will have to go toe to toe with some prevailing notions of how leaders show up. Experiential Differentiation also holds the potential to enhance clinical outcomes ?- to let your brand show up in the optimal ways for the professional and patients fighting the real fight with disease. EaaM – what I call Experience as a Medicine - is a proven approach to creating an unfair advantages for customers and brands.

If you would like to learn more about the path to and business impact of becoming experientially differentiated – let’s do that. Please message me.

PS – you may have noticed the different background, but please know that I’m the same beard, same brain – with a new base station. - Rich