Localisation marketing: pitching from the grass roots up

Many marketers began life as sales representatives, knowing everything about the local health provision on their ‘patch’. Now they have marketing or brand manager responsibilities at a national or European level that knowledge is long forgotten – but at what cost? In a European culture with an emphasis on ‘patient power’ and policies managed at local level, driving marketing campaigns from the local level up is the future. Going back to our roots and researching the difference between one patient population and another may be the key to maximising sales.

Many of us started our marketing careers after a successful stint in a field-based role. Success in the role relied heavily on creating and maintaining strong working relationships with local customers, decision makers and their influencers.

Often, and it remains the case, the foundation of these relationships is a demonstrable knowledge of the local healthcare environment and needs. It also relies on an almost inherent understanding of the interactions between local stakeholder networks as well as an appreciation of the goals and challenges faced by them daily. This ensures that the delivery of product information is tailored, relevant and designed to address a specific local need.

The structure of a field-based team takes account of the local healthcare environment, following the local division of the national structure in each European nation. More sophisticated models also take account of population density, geography and the relationship that exists between patients, primary, secondary and tertiary care.

As a career in marketing develops, a detailed understanding of a local health economy is lost and replaced with a focus on alignment with global operations; on environment shaping; on market creation; on market access; and on national sales growth – to name a few.

Despite efforts to stay in touch with the regional or local healthcare environment through market research studies or contact with field-based teams or through advisory boards, the fact is that many tactics and collateral have a distinctly `national’ feel about them.

A plethora of new health policies has been published across Europe driving health systems to meet key objectives; first, that patients are at the heart of everything; secondly, that quality targets and healthcare outcomes are met; and thirdly, that ownership and decision-making is in the hands of healthcare professionals and patients.
Throughout Europe the combination of an ageing population and a rise in chronic illnesses is putting huge strain on healthcare provision. The challenge for everyone involved is to redesign healthcare provision without destroying the foundations on which the various European health services were built.

Andrew Witty, CEO of GlaxoSmithKline, following the announcement of his company’s long-term strategic partnership with the McLaren Group, said he was looking outside our sector for inspiration and fresh perspectives on how strategic goals can be achieved in an ever more challenging and fast changing business environment.

In the UK Stephen Whitehead, CEO of the ABPI, has stressed that the next era will be based on partnerships and collaboration and on overcoming reputation challenges that discourage joint working, and are detrimental to the industry, the health service and patient health.

So, combining this vision with the bottom up, patient-focused approach for delivering healthcare, localisation marketing is a viable and relevant approach for 2012 and beyond – an approach that other industry sectors and national brands have already adopted to good effect.

What is localisation marketing?
Localisation marketing is, in many ways, the opposite of national marketing activity. It takes a granular approach to data, media use and knowledge, fine-tuning marketing communications to be sensitive to the local context. This could be, for instance, the geo-demographics around a particular surgery or sensitivity within a particular community to certain issues. By using localisation marketing, organisations are trying to add a layer of relevance beyond the national message.

With the arrival of digital print and communications, email marketing and templated website systems, the cost of localised marketing campaigns has dropped considerably, making it accessible to more brands and organisations.

Technology has also played a major role in helping brands to buy more tactically and far more locally when it comes to online, for instance. Similarly, email marketing allows them to target smaller segments and create highly tailored messages. Once marketers can localise the use of output tools and channels it gives them the incentive to drive further into the data.

The rise of localisation
Among consumers there is a lot of mistrust of big brands, government and the globalisation that many see around them, which means the pull towards local is stronger than ever.

Marketers can apply the concept of localisation across the spectrum, to engage with certain communities, to government departments with behavioural change agendas. If obesity is prevalent in certain communities, for example a community-focused approach rather than a traditional top-down campaign might be more successful in getting the message across.

The power of social media to create communities is well understood. However, social media is actually a tiny part of something much bigger – social marketing. It is social marketing that empowers communities, both real and virtual, to make a genuine difference.

Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, the educational and media services company, defines social marketing as ‘the use of marketing principles and techniques for the social good.’ It’s the idea that we’re all capable of making important things happen when we work together.

The public and not-for-profit sectors use social marketing to target communications directly to communities, working with them to ‘nudge’ towards behaviour change, rather than dictating through mass media.

This is an approach that has been proven to reduce wastage significantly. However, social marketing is just as relevant to pharmaceutical/ FMCG/retail brands.

When it comes to brands, social marketing helps demonstrate that they are more than faceless corporations. It enhances core brand values, builds trust and offers something extra to staff who enjoy working for a business that gives something back.

So what does social marketing mean in practice?

Localisation marketing in a nutshell
Like any marketing campaign, you need to conduct in-depth analysis of your market. This involves extensive desk research at the outset - such as analysis of media, geo-demographics, your territory, and the geographic location of your brand and your consumers. Some data can be bought, but ‘on the ground’ experience is key to a strategic plan.

The insights you gain will help you develop a campaign that is relevant to the individual location, based on competitor and drive-time analysis and the priorities of the people in the community.

Localisation marketing works because it is granular. There may be a fear of going to such a level of granularity because it takes time and time costs money. And at the outset, marketers are required to take a leap of faith. As with any campaign, the key is to start with a small pilot and then upscale using surrogate markers.

Localisation marketing will continue to grow naturally as changes in technology continue to reduce the cost, making it accessible to more brands, but it will require a shift of attitude.

As European Governments pursue their ‘Big Society’ agenda, brands will also make community engagement a fundamental element of their CSR strategy. And of course it works for budget-conscious marketers still searching for absolute accountability in everything they spend in this era of austerity.

The author
Alasdair Williams is Head of Grapevine, a specialist healthcare localisation consultancy, and can be contacted at awilliams@thisisgrapevine.uk.com