The March issue of PME tackles the complexities of choosing the right digital marketing KPIs.
Assessing marketing effectiveness in the digital world has fast become one of the biggest challenges facing the pharmaceutical industry. Distilling the vast amount of data available to marketeers often results in a dizzying array of KPIs, leaving many with information overload.
Dennis O’Brien, Lucid CEO, believes that the traditional method, in which digital strategy feeds into digital KPIs, needs reversing. “It’s the wrong way round. Digital KPIs should instead be driven by – and feed into – the marketing strategy.” Digital tools provide an amazing opportunity to reach, connect and understand customers in a way that was not previously possible. This enables one to ‘close the loop’, understand what isn’t working, and then ask, how can we fix it?
Nigel Horn, Managing Director of digital and creative design company Bluedog, a Lucid Group company, also believes that the key is to start and end with the marketing objectives: it’s a circular journey. “The closed-loop approach allows us to measure not only whether we’re touching our target customers, but also, crucially, whether we’re influencing them in the ways we need to change behaviour.” comments Nigel. Bluedog capture this principle perfectly in The Dog TestTM, whereby tactics and metrics are evaluated to see if they meet marketing and brand objectives.