Modular content

The traditional healthcare content supply chain needs to be faster, more affordable and more flexible. An inefficient process limits what marketers can do and doesn’t meet healthcare professional (HCP) expectations.

The rapid growth of digital marketing in pharma has overstretched traditional supply chains. More channels require more content. More content, in turn, means additional sales and marketing team supervision, extra MLR approvals, rising production costs, and localisation bottlenecks as affiliates face ever more materials to adapt.  

The pharma supply chain is being further pressured by changing customer expectations. HCPs increasingly favour digital engagements and want these digital interactions to be personalised. In response, marketers are trying to implement omnichannel communications that provide personalised customer journeys. As each ‘journey’ sequences multiple channels and content formats, implementing omnichannel further strains the supply chain because more content is required.  

Modular content fixes these problems by making marketing tactics far easier to create and approve — reducing costs, speeding content production, and enabling new working methods.

Modular content functions like building blocks. You can think of it as occupying a 'middle position' between individual content components (e.g. texts and graphics) and completed assets, such as a Veeva Approved Email. Each module includes everything needed to tell a complete mini-story, e.g. product claims, references, copy, graphics, logos, and the business rules determining its correct use. Consequently, modules work independently and in combination — without causing citation problems or other issues. Importantly, modules are also designed to work across channels —  meaning that you can use the same module in an eDetailing presentation, website and email.

As a result, you can build content faster and more cheaply. The ability to combine modules means that tactics can be assembled at speed. And the interoperability of modules means you can reuse them across channels — applying the same module to a website, approved email, or self-service detailing solution. Modular content also speeds up approvals. Instead of repeatedly checking the same content in different channels, MLR review modules once. Then, when assembled into tactics, most of the review work has been done — enabling 'light' approvals and much faster time-to-market.

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Modular content brings efficiency that saves time and reduces costs. You can think of that as losing weight. But it also builds marketing muscle. The efficiencies of modular content enable you to do more — creating exceptional digital experiences that delight and inform HCPs.

Implement omnichannel: Companies can implement more targeted omnichannel communications because content is easier and faster to produce. In practical terms, the efficiencies of modular content enable you to build experiences for five different profiles where only one or two might currently be feasible.  

Expand reach: Production efficiencies mean you don’t have to over-segment audiences. HCPs that were previously uneconomical to engage can now be reached because modular content enables you to repurpose sales force materials into digital communications.   

Channel experimentation: The interoperability of modular content means that you can apply the same content elements to a website or an email. As a result, channels you previously might have wanted to create but couldn’t because of complexity reasons are now possible.

Faster market response: Companies often know their best and worst-performing content but cannot respond because of a cumbersome production process. But with modular content, you can swap content in seconds. That means top content can be easily repurposed into new tactics, and poorly performing modules quickly removed and updated

The latest innovation pioneered by Anthill is to combine modular content with AI. That takes all the benefits of modular content and makes them even more accessible — creating natural and intuitive workflows. Instead of searching through content libraries, users can give the AI tasks in natural language: “I want to create an email including at least two patient profiles. Add a section about our upcoming congress.”

The AI then identifies the content modules available, in e.g. Veeva Vault, confirms them with the user, and automatically applies them to a template — producing a result that the user can see immediately. And the AI can then recreate that content in seconds, responding to requirements such as “change the template” or “add another patient profile”.  

In this way, AI-enabled modular content assembly significantly reduces content production time and enables rapid go-to-market campaigns. It also opens entirely new opportunities, such as generating content that leverages your market segmentation and marketing performance data. You can instruct the AI to develop versions that match specific patient profiles. Or ask the AI to make comparisons of different assets and rank them according to the likelihood that they will resonate with specified audiences.  

These opportunities are only possible because of modular content’s unique nature. Because it is pre-approved, easily combined, and works across channels, you can confidently apply AI technologies. In other words, you can be sure that tactics are compliant because the AI is inventing nothing. It is simply assembling pre-approved content. And that enables you to implement AI in a safe and ethical way.

Expand your reach and enable omnichannel marketing with content that is cheaper and faster to produce. Anthill can partner with you throughout the modular content process — providing the project management expertise, technical smarts and creative knowhow that ensure a smooth process.

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Pharma companies are now implementing a modular content approach, knowing that this increases their flexibility, reach, and ability to meet HCP needs. With quality of customer experience driving HCP access, these companies are not only reducing costs but also operating with considerable competitive advantage.