Navigating the content boom: the rise of modular content in pharma marketing (+ real examples)

Today, pharma marketers are having trouble pushing out content quickly.?

Data shows it takes an average of 3 weeks just to get content approved, and with content volume increasing by 37% from 2020 to 2021 alone, bottlenecks are inevitable, especially in the MLR review stages (which take, on average, two weeks).

Any mistake can restart the cycle and add another 3 weeks of delay.

But the content boom isn't just about volume – it's about deeper engagement, too. The Veeva Pulse Content Metrics Report states that 80% of virtual meetings with healthcare professionals now leverage pre-approved content, compared to just 30% of in-person interactions.?

This trend reflects two key things:

1. The need to scale approved content: pharma realizes the power of readily available, high-quality materials to fuel digital engagement as it produces 3.3 times more digital content than print.
2. Progress in streamlining content creation: pharma companies are adopting smarter tools to create, review, reuse, and distribute content more efficiently. These tools save time and provide valuable usage data to help you continuously improve your content lifecycle.

Source: Veeva Pulse Content Metrics Report 2022

One of those tools for streamlined content creation is the modular content strategy. This is revolutionizing how companies develop personalized materials for healthcare professionals.

Instead of building new content every time, you can leverage pre-approved, reusable building blocks called "modules." These modules can be easily combined and customized to create targeted content for different channels and regions.

They also accelerate asset development and simplify approvals for the MLR teams, benefiting marketing and regulatory teams.

The way modular content works in pharma. Source: Where does AI fit best in pharma marketing?

This approach offers several benefits:

• Faster content creation: Pre-approved modules significantly speed up the content development process (it will no longer take 3+ weeks).?
• Increased efficiency: You can create and pre-approve content in bulk, reducing the burden on your team.
• Reduced MLR bottlenecks: By reusing existing materials, you streamline the medical, legal, and regulatory review process.
• Personalized engagement: Modules can be tailored to specific HCP needs and preferences, leading to deeper digital engagement.

Modular content example. Source: anthillagency.com

Going beyond modular content creation

Content creation is just one piece of the puzzle. A closed-loop content approach should track how content is created and approved and how it's used.

The content creation, deployment, measuring, and optimization process. Source: alucio.io

By continuously monitoring content usage across different channels, you gain valuable insights into what resonates most with healthcare professionals (HCPs). This data allows you to:

• Identify high-performing content: See which materials are truly engaging HCPs and driving results.
• Optimize your strategy: Invest more resources in creating the types of content that resonate best.
• Make data-driven decisions: Move beyond guesswork and base your content strategy on real-world evidence.

Pharma companies that already use modular content

Eli Lilly's medical affairs team faced a mountain of content to create for upcoming product launches, but adding more staff wasn't an option. They needed a way to dramatically increase content output without burning through resources.

Cecil Lee, Content Strategy Senior Director of Content Intelligence at Eli Lilly, used the CORE (Create Once Reuse Everywhere) concept to reduce duplication of effort when creating content.?

Initially applied to medical information, it was quickly scaled to other medical affairs materials. Commercial activities were next followed by call centers that used the content when answering questions about the product.

That was the start of their venture into omnichannel HCP engagement. “To get full omnichannel implementation, you need modular content across the board. So, our commercial colleagues are doing that implementation now”, says Cecil.

GSK is on a similar path. Paul O’Grady, Global Oncology Scientific Communications and Strategy Head says: “In all this multichannel, omnichannel evolution, we have to realize there are more stakeholders now at the table. Modular content is about embracing new ways of thinking, embracing brevity where appropriate, and trying to work out how to get speed into the system.”

The next step in successfully using modular content is having it properly stored, tagged, and easily searchable. This is where digital asset management tools (DAM) come into play.

Novartis is working towards this goal, as Avishek Pal contributes to the efforts of using an intelligent platform to enhance the retrievability of materials. “People are not able to find what they’re looking for if we share materials by sending out emails with attachments,” warns Pal.

Implementing modular content on websites and portals

Using modular content entails using the right technologies that can help you adapt to this new approach.?

The last thing you need is another bottleneck. All that effort in creating content, modularizing it, tagging, and storing it amounts to nothing if getting it in front of HCPs and patients is a pain.

The good news is that you might already have a very capable CMS that allows modular content.

I will explore two of the ones we've worked with before at Digitalya when creating HCP and Patient Portals.

Modular components with Magnolia

Magnolia CMS has a modular architecture, which means that you can create a module that can perform a task, package content, or provide specialized functionality and use it across multiple pages, websites, or projects.

Like modular content, you create it once and reuse it where needed. The best part is that you can integrate it with your DAM tool (digital asset management) — and grab content from your existing library.

With these two tools, you can create pages that use approved content and follow regulations.

Publishing modular content with Adobe Experience Manager

Similarly, Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) has the Content Fragments feature, allowing you to design, create, curate, and publish page-independent content.

This way, you can prepare your modular content and have it ready for use in multiple locations/over multiple channels. You can go beyond the web pages and deliver the content fragments in native mobile apps, single-page applications, and more.?

Going a step further, you can create Experience Fragments, which include content and layout. To simplify it, it's like copy-pasting a section of a page and reusing it in other pages or contexts.

Now, back to you — what’s your technical challenge when implementing modular content?