Healthcare marketers are accustomed to dealing with segmented target markets. A target market can be defined as a region, disease state, patient, physician, hospital, insurance provider, etc. … There are no shortage of audiences for healthcare marketers. In that sense, pharmaceutical companies are used to taking a broadly defined target market and slicing and dicing it a number of different ways. But are they prepared for the next wave of strategy required in today’s communications environment—microstrategy?

Typically, marketers evaluate their target market and then develop a strategy based on the demographics of that market. Makes sense right? It does, but developing a microstrategy requires a deeper level of analysis and planning to understand beyond the broadly defined target market. Microstrategy is making a concerted effort to understand what types of information individuals are seeking, how they prefer to receive it and from what sources.

The need for microstrategy comes on the heels of the emergence of social media. In most cases, even when a market is divided by segment, there is still a broadcast-style approach to communicating with that audience. Problem is: consumers no longer find that acceptable as a sole source of communication with a company. Consumers demand interaction. Consumers expect more from a brand and are more-than-willing to open their wallets for those that have developed that connection.

Not surprisingly, developing a microstrategy is both time consuming and difficult. Surely a marketer can’t develop a strategy for each individual in a target market. All the analytical tools and manpower in the world can’t keep up with the pace at which new information becomes available. So where does this leave marketers? On the one hand, consumers demand individual attention and on the other, companies are ill-equipped to provide that level of attention. Ultimately, a healthcare marketer needs to put together a microstrategy focused on understanding the consumption of information in each of their target markets and a plan of action to become an active participant in facilitating that consumption.

There is no denying that microstrategy is a significant undertaking that goes well beyond the current level of analysis needed to form a marketing plan. Many marketers are scared off by the thought of having to develop this level of understanding in order to execute a successful marketing plan. The response is to forego microstrategy planning entirely. Bad move. Think of microstrategy like influencer relations. By understanding a target market’s consumption of information and the key influencers in that process, a brand or company can become an integral cog in that process.

Daunting? Yes. Necessary? Absolutely. If companies fail to incorporate microstrategy into their planning process, people will gladly turn their attention to those that do.

Yesterday I wrote a post about the social media resource problem.  The idea is that many companies naively believe that it takes little to no resources to engage in social media.  In a similar vein, there is a misconception that social media is easy and is the work of junior staff.

This is likely the misconception that leads many to believe that when engaging an agency to help with social media efforts it should come cheap.  And before I go any further, I will acknowledge the obvious elephant in the room—I’m an agency guy that has a significant stake in the game.   Fair enough.  That said, as someone that works at an agency, I can also pull back the curtain a bit and provide a glimpse at how a social media program actually operates on the agency side.

So let me dispel this myth—when you hire an agency (maybe even mine, SHIFT Communications) the work is not farmed out to a team of junior staffers and college interns.  No, we don’t have a team of young guns just waiting for their next project.  Quite the contrary.  Unlike traditional PR where a lot of the heavy lifting such as database development, coverage tracking and reporting are done by the junior staff, social media is a bit more top heavy.  This means that you are not getting an allotment of billable hours on the cheap.  Instead, you are getting a mixture of the full team’s attention with a heavy dose of the higher-billed team members.

Why?  Because in order for social media to be a success, there is a level of strategy, analysis of information and real-time decision making that should not be left to the junior staff.  Putting the demands of social media on those that are still learning the ropes is not only risky, it’s unfair.  Junior staff members of course have a huge role to play in any social media engagement.  They can serve as the eyes and ears for monitoring purposes, help to identify new key influencers and spot possible trouble spots before they bubble to the surface.

When you hire an agency for your social media engagement, don’t expect to only get the time of entry-level employees.  Social media is no longer a tool marginalized on the outskirts of a marketing program.  Because of its strategic nature, the constant attention required and the high expectations of the customer—social media is very much in the hands of the senior team at an agency.  So yea, that VP you met at your pitch will be playing a significant role on the account—would you want it any other way?