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Two ‘must haves’ for multichannel success

February 27, 2017 |  

What do great multichannel projects have in common? At a recent Anthill webinar, speakers highlighted two essentials for multichannel success.


Are you wondering exactly how to begin with multichannel communications? And what you absolutely must have in place to get the right result? At a recent Anthill webinar, speakers highlighted two essentials for pharma multichannel success.

1. Senior management backing

First, you absolutely must have senior stakeholder support before kicking off a multichannel project – so persevere if this takes some work.

Phil Matton, Vice President and Head of International Projects at AstraZeneca, noted that: “Generally, senior stakeholders have been fairly traditional – which is a challenge”.

Overcome this by highlighting the value that both the sales team and HCPs will get – and that a multichannel approach is the future, so everyone benefits from starting now.

The goal is to create the conditions in which you can succeed. With top management backing, the change management and internal communication that this requires is much easier.

When staff hear from the CEO that “this is the direction we’re taking”, they will get onboard.

2. Ongoing change communication

Management buy-in, and the initial stakeholder engagement this enables, is essential – but don’t rest on your laurels.

Multichannel opens up wonderful opportunities to be more customer responsive, but we shouldn’t underestimate the challenges of switching from push to pull communications.

Ongoing change management is critical to foster understanding, belief, and ownership of multichannel. It isn’t as simple as putting the systems in place; we have to change how we work, too. And that requires a rolling process of encouraging people to be open to new approaches and rethink how they are working.

For Sebastian Koelsch, Anthill’s Chief Solutions Officer, this is an essential investment: “I think that if your change communication is done in the right way, and you carry everyone with you, success will come with the good standards you’ve put in place”.

Get more multichannel insights

Sign up to download the full webinar recording. Hear from your peers in AstraZeneca, Novartis, and Daiichi Sankyo Europe on more multichannel success factors.

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This content was provided by Anthill Agency