How HCP Marketing Teams Can Strategically Communicate Across Their Organizations

Imagine, for a moment, that you’re a copywriter working in-house at a pharmaceutical company, supporting its HCP marketing initiatives. You write copy for a new physician-facing campaign, highlighting a new drug. Your manager likes it. But when your manager takes it to the medical, legal and regulatory (MLR) team, they take two weeks to review it and say it needs substantial revisions before it can be approved. So, you rewrite the copy, and your manager resubmits it to the MLR team. Two weeks later, the MLR team identifies additional concerns. The back-and-forth continues for two months. The campaign has been delayed, and stakeholders are frustrated. ​

In my time in the HCP marketing world, I’ve observed similar scenarios occur. For an HCP marketing campaign to get published, many departments within an organization have to collaborate—including marketing, product, MLR and finance. Every team speaks a different language, but they’re trying to solve the same business challenges. When there’s misaligned communication, it can lead to teams not understanding each other’s objectives, extensive back-and-forths and delays, among other issues. 

However, when leaders prioritize interdepartmental communication, they can streamline collaboration, ultimately leading to more successful HCP marketing campaigns.

Common Challenges With HCP Marketing Campaigns
In my experience working with healthcare organizations through my roles at agencies, there are a few common communication challenges with HCP marketing campaigns that aligned communication can improve. ​

First, there’s the challenge of every department dealing with different types of data and, in turn, KPIs. For instance, a marketing team may focus on campaign engagement metrics, whereas an MLR team may prioritize clinical evidence and medical accuracy. When teams are focused on different types of data and KPIs, it can naturally be difficult to agree on what success looks like and how a campaign should proceed. However, when the various parties communicate early about which types of data and which KPIs matter most to them, it can lead to greater understanding, making collaboration easier.​

Another common challenge I’ve seen is that MLR campaign review cycles can take several months, often because the MLR team isn't looped in early enough. A solution to this issue is marketing teams bringing MLR teams into the campaign planning and creative process earlier. That way, MLR teams can pinpoint potential issues with marketing campaigns sooner, cutting back the need for significant revisions later on. ​

This brings me to my next point—I’ve observed that when it comes to HCP marketing campaigns, teams tend to operate in siloes. Information doesn’t always move across teams consistently. One team might understand a goal one way while another might interpret it slightly differently. Starting to collaborate early, and maintaining collaboration throughout every phase of the campaign process, is how teams can move away from working in siloes and decrease the chances of misunderstandings. ​

Finally, another common challenge is the loss of institutional knowledge that can happen from staff turnover. A new person on, say, the marketing or MLR team might have a different understanding or viewpoint than their predecessor, making it more difficult to ensure a smooth handoff and maintain alignment across teams. To counter this, organizations can implement a process for handing down institutional knowledge after employees leave roles, such as creating transition documents and holding knowledge-transfer sessions between outgoing and incoming team members. ​

What’s At Stake If Leaders Don’t Prioritize Interdepartmental Communication For HCP Marketing Campaigns
There are a few things at stake without interdepartmental communication and collaboration for HCP marketing campaigns.

For one, teams risk getting stuck in long planning cycles. By the time a marketing campaign goes live, a new product may not feel quite as innovative. Moreover, competitors may have already launched similar products.

Organizations also risk higher costs. For instance, if a pharmaceutical company’s in-house marketing team is working with an agency on campaign copywriting, multiple rounds of revisions can increase billable hours.

Then there’s the risk of higher frustration and strained relationships across an organization. When teams don’t effectively communicate and collaborate, and send work back and forth as a result, it can lead to different departments viewing each other as blockers rather than partners. Over time, this can create a toxic company culture.

Why Prioritizing Interdepartmental Communication For HCP Marketing Campaigns Should Start At The Executive Level
It’s crucial for the prioritization of interdepartmental communication for HCP marketing campaigns to start at the executive level. Executives can set the tone and create the infrastructure and resource mechanisms, such as implementing a shared platform that enables easier collaboration and establishing regular interdepartmental meetings, to keep all efforts in sync.

It’s also important for all department leaders to participate in prioritizing interdepartmental communication for HCP marketing campaigns and not have the responsibility fall mainly on CMOs. Whether in the C-suite or not, other department leaders should take shared ownership of communication, alignment and collaboration to enable campaigns to be executed effectively.

Ultimately, factors such as technology and the right workflows are crucial for interdepartmental communication, as they serve as connective tissue. However, they are not the solutions themselves. The solution is for stakeholders within organizations, from the C-suite and beyond, to take the initiative to communicate and collaborate on HCP marketing campaigns.