How McDonald's Increased Milkshake Sales Using the "Jobs to be Done" Theory

McDonald's once tried to increase the sales of its "milkshakes" and did their job as paper does say, conducted interviews with customers asking them what would encourage them to buy more. Do they increase chocolate, make a product with less sugar, make it more light, make it more heavy, make it healthy? The important thing is that all the information they collected did not succeed in increasing sales.

They asked Harvard Business School to help them, and this is where a new marketing theory emerged. Harvard was at the time developing a theory called Jobs to be Done, this theory was looking for the product to perform a specific function for the customer, and this job could be completely different from your vision of developing the product. And if you can understand this job, it will make a difference with you in every need.

The important thing is that Harvard did a first study on buying times, and they discovered that a large sample of milkshake sales are in the very early morning. And they asked the customers, "Why do you buy milkshakes right now?" The customers said that the work journey is long and boring, and they need something to entertain them on the road and satisfy them until they break their fast, and it is easy for them to catch it while they are driving.

The second question was, if you don't buy a milkshake, what can you buy? The answers ranged from sandwiches (but difficult and the one was driving) or donuts (and it could ruin the world and deliver the work with chocolate spots), for example, or Snickers chocolate (but you get rid of quickly) or coffee for example.

McDonald's understood how they can increase sales. How can make it so big that it takes the whole line with you, how can make the order and pay faster so that you don't get stuck, and how can increase a few pieces of fruit in it so that they change the daily driving routine while you chew them.

In fact, sales have increased a lot, and may also understand why a cup of coffee on the road is so big because its goal is to entertain you on the road, not just a delicious cup. This was the "Jobs to be Done" theory of its owner Clayton Christensen, one of the most famous economists throughout history, and the author of the theory of Disruption Technology, which qualified him for the title of the most influential economist in the world.

Pharma SEO Spending Plan: Key Strategies for Budgeting

A consistent vertical pattern in SEO spending shows that advertisers understand the job SEO plays in aiding forthcoming clients track down their contributions. In 2020 alone, US organizations contributed an estimated $79.3 billion to expand their natural footprint.

How Much Should You Spend on SEO?

However, regardless of whether you know how crucial SEO is to your advertising, determining how much to spend is another inquiry. While there's no single formula to set an SEO budget, here are some strategies you can use to find a number that is appropriate for your business.

1. Separating Your Marketing Budget

Late data suggests that B2C organizations spend an average of 5% to 12% of their revenue on marketing, and B2B sets aside around 8% to 9%. Out of that total spend, as reported by Forrester Research, businesses dedicate an average of 50% of their marketing budget to online strategies like SEO, direct email, social media, and data analysis.

2. Test SEO Budget Breakdown

According to the 2021 CMO Survey, nearly 74% of organizations invest in SEO. Each business has specific needs, and the amount you should budget depends on your business model and niche. However, it can still be helpful to look at some models to guide your decision.

5 Key Strategies to Determine SEO Spending

You have options when budgeting for SEO, ranging from rough estimates based on total revenue to more precise calculations based on marketing metrics:

1. Allocate a Percentage of Your Overall Marketing Budget

How it works: Set aside a portion of your digital marketing budget based on how much you rely on website traffic to generate sales. For example, an e-commerce business would likely spend more on SEO than its physical counterpart.

Remember, assigning a fixed percentage of your marketing budget doesn't account for your specific SEO needs. If you're basing your SEO budget on what you can afford, you might not be spending enough to see significant results.

2. Match Your Competition

Businesses with competitors aggressively targeting industry keywords need to invest more in SEO to maintain their share of organic traffic. Compare your current search engine rankings with your competitors and evaluate the opportunity cost of losing customers to them.

3. Consider Your Marketing Objectives

Think about your SEO goals within the broader context of your marketing objectives before allocating a specific dollar amount to your SEO budget.

4. Calculate Your Budget Using Customer Lifetime Value (CLTV)

The benefits of organic traffic extend beyond a one-time purchase. This strategy determines the value of a web page based on CLTV—the amount you can expect to earn from a customer long-term.

5. Measure SEO Effectiveness Against Paid Search Spend

Many companies are comfortable allocating budgets for PPC and tend to spend more on paid ads than SEO. However, SEO typically generates twice as much traffic, with organic search accounting for an average of 53% of site traffic.

Why You Should Increase Your SEO Budget

As you begin calculating how much to spend on SEO, you may arrive at higher figures than you initially expected. Be aware that budget partners may not fully understand the benefits of investing in SEO.

Low-budget SEO won't deliver significant results. Backlinko found that clients who invested more than a minimal amount were 53.3% more likely to be "extremely satisfied" compared to those who spent less.

SEO is highly effective compared to other channels, offering various stats that you can share with stakeholders to highlight its high ROI potential.

CTV Advertising: An Undiscovered Opportunity for Pharma Advertisers

Consistently, pharma organizations burn through billions of dollars in the U.S. on TV publicizing. However, the business' media arranging and purchasing are still grounded in conventional linear TV, despite the fact that TV utilization has become progressively divided across platforms and devices.

Today, advertisements served on web-connected devices, also known as CTV advertising, present an undiscovered opportunity for pharma advertisers. To exploit these, pharma must reevaluate its media strategy and gain a deeper understanding of the role CTV can play in connecting with audiences across devices and formats.

To uncover key insights driving these communications, MM+M collaborated with Pulse-Point on a study entitled "CTV Advertising: An Undiscovered Opportunity for Pharma Advertisers." The study results presented here will help those in pharma marketing and brand management understand emerging CTV trends across the industry and how they can leverage these trends to reach customers in a more targeted manner.

Philosophy

The review was conducted in September 2021 and sent to a list of experts from healthcare and related industries. About half were from agencies (52%) and half identified as being from "non-agencies" (48%). Among the non-agency respondents, 72% were involved in pharma (including Biotech, Device/Diagnostics, and CPG), and 22% said they were associated with Hospital/Health System/Medical Care agencies. Most respondents were either at the VP/SVP/EVP level (37%) or directors (25%), with fewer being administrators (17%) and C-level leaders (16%).

Findings

The numbers are comparable for TV and CTV advertising: Half the survey respondents reported that their brand is currently using TV advertising (50%). Around one-tenth are not currently running TV advertisements for their brand but did so within the last two years (11%). Similarly, half of the respondents are doing CTV advertising, while more than one-tenth (12%) previously used CTV advertising but are not currently doing so.

It's important to note that twice as many agency respondents currently run CTV advertisements compared to non-agency respondents (63% versus 36%). Among those who currently run TV advertising, around four out of five are also using CTV advertising (79%).

When asked how they differentiate their TV and CTV advertising budgets, respondents reported allocating comparable budgets for both, with an average of 49.8% for their TV budget versus 50.2% for the CTV budget.

The study also examined how the respondents purchased CTV advertising. The results show that nearly half of those currently using CTV utilize a digital media agency (48%), while almost a quarter use a TV media agency (23%). Smaller percentages reported using a cross-channel buying platform (15%) or a CTV buying platform (12%).

In terms of timing for purchasing CTV advertising, nearly all reported doing it "consistently" (88%). Other options included "once a year, during upfront," and "once a year during newfront."

The survey investigated how respondents define their audiences for CTV advertising. The majority of those currently purchasing CTV advertising reported using geo-segment targeting (54%). Almost one in five use contingent populations (17%), and one in ten use prior condition content usage (10%). Only 4% reported that they coordinated their CTV purchase with their linear TV purchase.

When asked about the targeted audiences in CTV purchases, nearly six out of ten respondents (58%) reported targeting both healthcare professionals (HCP) and direct-to-consumer (DTC). However, more than one-third are focusing on DTC only (37%), with just 6% targeting HCP only.

No single digital resource stands out in usage by current CTV clients. The survey results show that 33% generally use 30-second ads (preferred by 24% of agency respondents compared to 52% of non-agency respondents). A video resource specifically created for the CTV purchase is used by 31% overall (44% of agency respondents versus 26% of non-agency respondents), and 27% use a 60-second TV ad. Only 8% reported using 90-second TV advertisements.

The top perceived advantage by CTV users for using continuous versus linear TV was "better targeting data" at 60%, followed by an increase in reach (17%), real-time measurement, buying flexibility, and 1:1 measurement, all at 6%, with cross-channel coordination at just 4%.

The final survey questions aimed to reveal the perceived effectiveness of CTV advertising. Most respondents report that they utilize post-exposure impact (measured through offline studies) to determine the effectiveness of their CTV purchase (42%).

Other measures were used less frequently: video completion rate (19%), NRx lift (17%), and audience quality (13%).

Finally, respondents were asked to describe how their CTV advertising performed compared to their TV purchase. Seven out of ten respondents who currently use CTV ads feel that their CTV purchase outperforms their TV purchase (70%), with only 2% of non-agency respondents feeling their CTV purchase performs "worse" than TV, while 6% chose "significantly worse." Notably, no agency respondents reported that their CTV purchases performed worse than TV.

Respondents provided comments regarding their perceptions of CTV performance versus TV, including:

• "Better metrics with CTV, more data is available for ROI analysis."
• "Better and more efficient in terms of cost, but also not as effective in terms of broad reach."
• "Each serves a different purpose. TV for broad branding and awareness; CTV for more specific messaging/action."
• "We get better data with CTV, allowing us to truly see the impact of ad spend."

Brief answers included:

• "Better reach,"
• "Higher response,"
• "Better coverage ratio over broader audiences,"
• "More targeted reach,"
• "More data,"
• "Greater engagement,"
• "More measurable for Rx lift."

One of the few negative remarks received was, "The link zones and broadcast signals are not specific enough geographically for our local advertisers." Another stated, "Better audiences but worse pricing."

Several respondents felt they lacked sufficient experience with CTV to provide input, but one remarked, "Still early in our CTV journey, but we love the reporting transparency, real-time measurements, and more creative options with this platform." Another stated, "We get better data with CTV, allowing us to truly see the impact of ad spend."

As advertising rebounded in 2021, CTV emerged as the fastest-growing video advertising platform across all verticals. Given this trend, it's expected that 2022 will mark the first annual cycle where CTV ads capture a significant market share of life science advertising away from traditional TV, partly due to the decline of linear TV.

Pharmaceutical Marketing in the Hybrid Era

The COVID-19 pandemic forced pharmaceutical companies to radically transform their marketing approaches. Concepts like "contactless engagement" and digital-first strategies became essential as traditional in-person methods were disrupted.

The healthcare sector faced unique challenges - clinical trials paused, hospital access limited, and conferences canceled. This accelerated digital adoption across pharma, with tools like Veeva CRM, Zoom meetings, and targeted digital advertising becoming standard.

Key Focus Areas for the Hybrid World

• Customer Experience: Design seamless digital/in-person journeys
• Data Analytics: Leverage insights to personalize engagement
• Content Strategy: Create platform-optimized medical content
• Channel Integration: Coordinate touchpoints across platforms
• Technology Stack: Implement connected MarTech solutions

Modern HCP Engagement Strategies

Traditional one-size-fits-all approaches no longer work. Successful pharma marketers now use data to build detailed HCP profiles - understanding prescription patterns, channel preferences, and engagement behaviors to deliver personalized experiences.

The Digital Transformation

From EHR integration to social media engagement, pharma now operates across multiple digital touchpoints. Leading companies are adopting real-time personalization techniques similar to consumer tech giants, moving beyond basic e-detailing.

Content Evolution

The era of 32-page PDFs is over. Successful pharma content is now bite-sized, visual, and platform-optimized - adopting "create once, publish everywhere" strategies across owned, earned and paid channels.

Emerging Channels

While established platforms like Medscape remain important, forward-thinking companies are exploring newer channels like TikTok and influencer partnerships to reach next-generation HCPs and patients.

Technology Integration

Breaking down silos between CRM (Veeva/Salesforce), marketing automation (Marketo), and content systems is critical for delivering seamless omni-channel experiences in today's hybrid marketplace.

Sales navigator

How to Use LinkedIn Sales Navigator to Generate Leads

LinkedIn Sales Navigator is an essential tool for B2B sales professionals looking to target the right prospects and generate quality leads. TetraScience, a leading company in life sciences, uses Sales Navigator to grow its outreach by identifying key personas and creating an account-based marketing (ABM) strategy. Below, we explore how TetraScience leveraged this powerful tool for success.

How TetraScience Used LinkedIn Sales Navigator for Lead Generation

TetraScience needed a way to target the right personas within the life sciences sector, aiming to reach executives with decision-making power. LinkedIn Sales Navigator enabled the company to identify and connect with potential buyers, refining their outreach through advanced search filters.

Implementation Strategy

Using Sales Navigator’s account search functionality, TetraScience identified financial buyers in life sciences. The advanced search tools allowed them to narrow down their target audience based on company size, industry, and geographic location, significantly improving lead quality.

Results of Using Sales Navigator

Since adopting Sales Navigator, TetraScience has experienced a 5.3x increase in deal size, with 74% of its CRM deals influenced by the platform. The ability to connect with key decision-makers and understand their organizational hierarchy has been instrumental in their growth.

Benefits of Using LinkedIn Sales Navigator

• Precision Targeting: Advanced search filters help identify relevant prospects based on industry and company size.
• Lead List Management: Organize leads effectively with Lead Lists and stay on top of your sales pipeline.
• ABM Integration: Easily identify and approach decision-makers, improving the success rate of account-based marketing strategies.
• Real-Time Data: Ensure your lead information is always up-to-date with real-time data on prospects and their organizations.

Conclusion

LinkedIn Sales Navigator has proven to be a vital tool for companies like TetraScience. By refining their prospecting approach and targeting the right individuals, they have enhanced their sales processes and achieved significant growth. Whether you're just starting with Sales Navigator or looking to optimize your strategy, its features can help you stay ahead in today’s competitive business environment.

How to Launch a Brand During Lockdown

Most skincare brands treat sensitive skin as an issue caused by skin deficiencies. Dr Jart+, however, believes that sensitivity is triggered by external environmental aggressors, not inherent skin issues. Their Cicapair line helps restore the skin's natural barrier, empowering it to protect itself.

During the pandemic, Dr Jart+ rethought their traditional beauty product launch by engaging consumers through augmented reality (AR) experiences. They collaborated with Rek0de, a digital artist known for blending physical and digital environments, to create a 360° film of Piccadilly Circus, one of the most skin-unfriendly places in the UK, and transformed it into a soothing scene using Cicapair's key ingredient, Tiger Grass.

Consumers could access this experience at home using AR portals, which they could launch via a QR code from any mobile device browser. Initially, these codes were given to influencers and the press, then made available on retail sites and in stores.

Within the first two days of the launch, over 2,000 people accessed the Cicapair AR portal, with more than 20,000 unique visits during the following two weeks. To further enhance the consumer experience, web-based AR encounters were created for the three hero products in the Cicapair range, which could be accessed by scanning QR codes near the products in-store, ensuring safety during the pandemic.

The Results

Throughout the entire launch period, the AR portal attracted over 30,000 unique visitors to the Cicapair world. The 360° film achieved 9 times the view rate of YouTube’s beauty benchmark, with double the engagement across social channels, and record-breaking engagement on Instagram (10.47% vs. the 5.2% benchmark).

Influencer content garnered 47.6 million impressions (2 million organic, 8.2 million on Instagram, and 37.2 million on TikTok). A brand recall study revealed an 85.5% uplift, double the benchmark, with the film and portal being praised as 'Best in Class' by Google.

The business impact was significant, with Dr Jart+ becoming the #1 skincare brand in UK Earned Media Value (Feb 2021) within the Estée Lauder Companies. Retail sales reached twice the target for the period from January to March 2021, and their hero product, the Cicapair Color Correcting Treatment 15ml, became the #12 top-selling SKU at Boots.

Dr Jart+ became the first Estée Lauder beauty brand to launch a product through a purely digital experience, elevating it to cult status during a time when traditional brand experiences were nearly impossible.

Pharma's Evolution in Social Media Marketing

From dull to fab, pharma online media promotions and campaigns are improving as well as catching up with the rest of the advertising scene.

That's according to a panel of digital experts at Digital Pharma East this week. While pharma was once reluctant to engage in consumer-driven channels, brands today have embraced sophisticated social strategies along with test-and-learn models across platforms, including newer, trendier channels like TikTok and Clubhouse.

"Pharma adoption of social has grown like crazy," Ryan Burchinow, VP for social at CMI Media Group, said. He added that the growth isn't just because pharma marketers are trying new promotions everywhere, but because they're developing full-channel campaigns with awareness, lead generation, and measurement built in.

This includes emerging social media platforms that may seem too edgy, such as TikTok, which is no longer just for teens. In fact, 19% of TikTok's 110 million monthly users are now over 35, a significant jump from under 10% in 2019, according to Burchinow.

Of course, great pharma social media work isn't just about well-executed media plans. It's also about keeping content fresh and delivering it in "snackable" bites, according to Joyce Ercolino Archinow, head of digital excellence at Harmony Biosciences.

But how does a company create all the content needed to fill social media? By using the content multiplier, says Milena Mitova, digital brand activation lead at Merck and Co. Starting with just 40 marketing assets, such as a webinar or newsletter, she can create "close to 2,600 snackable pieces" of content for use in emails, social posts, or paid ads.

Whether it's cutting-edge new platforms like TikTok, or repurposed traditional media like YouTube and Facebook, the key is strategy. Setting goals, detailed planning, managing expectations, and measuring results are critical to pharma's social media success.

"It's not always about doing something new," Archinow said. "It's about improving what you're already doing. And you can't just throw things out there on these channels and expect them to run by themselves. There's a lot you can do, but you have to constantly think about how to integrate everything."

Omnichannel Pharmaceutical Marketing: Strategies and Challenges

Pharmaceutical companies are increasingly shifting from traditional multichannel advertising to an omnichannel marketing approach. However, the industry faces significant challenges in overcoming siloed operations and embracing a fully integrated marketing strategy. Despite these hurdles, innovative organizations are exploring new ways to gain competitive advantages.

Omnichannel marketing is gaining traction in the pharmaceutical sector, promising to coordinate and enhance marketing efforts across multiple channels and stakeholders simultaneously. This approach provides a clearer view of promotional ROI and helps reduce marketing waste.

Transitioning to an omnichannel model may seem daunting, but pharmaceutical organizations willing to make the shift stand to gain remarkable benefits for their brands and their customers, including patients, healthcare professionals, and payers.

Why is the Shift to Omnichannel Marketing Challenging?

Several factors contribute to the difficulties pharmaceutical companies face in adopting a full omnichannel approach. The traditional multichannel marketing framework is deeply ingrained in the mindset of many organizations and brand marketers, leading to inertia. This longstanding model has seen moderate success over the years, and many teams cling to the mantra, "We've always done it this way."

The existing multichannel marketing structure reflects the fragmented nature of today's organizations. Consequently, brand health and KPIs are often tied to this outdated model, which rewards performance based on legacy metrics. Integrating various components into a cohesive strategy requires effort and patience, which many teams may lack due to time and resource constraints.

What Breaks are Emerging in the Multichannel Model?

Despite the entrenched nature of the multichannel approach, cracks are beginning to show. In a multichannel setup, channel impact or return on investment is assessed on a channel-by-channel basis, often assuming that a single channel is solely responsible for attracting new customers.

As marketers recognize the disconnect between these KPIs and actual business outcomes, they are left questioning how to bridge the gap.

How Can Pharma Move Towards the Omnichannel Approach?

Adopting an omnichannel marketing strategy necessitates a fundamental shift in how marketers simultaneously coordinate and execute their promotional strategies across media channels while addressing the needs of diverse stakeholders, including consumers, healthcare professionals, and payers.

Pharmaceutical organizations generally agree that the omnichannel model represents the future. They acknowledge that integrating channels and audiences is the best way to understand overall impact and optimize their efforts. However, discussions often stall at the implementation stage, as it requires buy-in from influential stakeholders across all brands.

Successful Strategies for Transitioning to Omnichannel Marketing

Here are several ways that leading pharmaceutical companies have effectively begun transitioning to the omnichannel model:

• Leadership: Successful transitions often depend on sponsorship from an individual or group in a position of power. Organizations need the right leader with a clear vision and empowered partners to drive change.
• Resources: Change agents alone are insufficient. Those leading the charge also need adequate resources, time, and budget to effect meaningful change.
• Pilots: If the transition must be gradual before securing organizational buy-in, it may be beneficial to collaborate with IQVIA on a pilot brand. However, the pilot approach can be challenging, as selecting the right brand is crucial. Investing in multiple channels and audiences is essential, as the proof of concept must demonstrate effectiveness rather than remain siloed.

Is Omnichannel Marketing the Future?

The omnichannel marketing approach is the future for pharmaceutical brands and organizations. While achieving broad adoption will be challenging, as it requires dismantling organizational silos and changing mindsets, the potential rewards are compelling. Organizations will benefit internally while delivering improved outcomes for all their clients. Click here to learn how to start making smarter marketing decisions.

Healthcare Business Marketing: Essential Tips & Strategies

Marketing a healthcare business is tough! The Healthcare Industry is a unique field because while you deal with the very sensitive nature of your patients' treatment, which often makes them vulnerable or confused, you also work in a highly scientific and cutting-edge industry where treatments, tools, and systems are constantly evolving. Today, healthcare providers rarely keep up with the latest health marketing strategies and sales processes or respond quickly to technological advances.

The healthcare marketing landscape has shifted dramatically over the past decade with the rise of technology tools, social media, and digital devices. A recent article for Socialnomics quotes a Senior Marketing Specialist at Conifer Health Solutions on the state of B2B Marketing in the Healthcare industry: "Healthcare is notoriously behind other industries when responding to technological advances and expectations, so it remains important that marketers push the industry with smart trend adoption."

Here are some important statistics to consider as you begin planning your marketing strategy:

• As of now, there are more than 326 million people in the U.S., each one with their own personality and a potential patient.
• 52% of smartphone users gather health-related data from a smartphone.
• 91% of adults have their smartphone within arm's reach 24/7.
• According to recent Facebook data, the number one most asked-for recommendation is a doctor or healthcare provider.
• There are 8.2 billion health-related video views on YouTube.

Like many B2B industries, long sales cycles mean change comes slowly to marketing strategy. To make it a little easier for you, here are three healthcare marketing secrets and how they can revitalize your business:

1. Research and Define Your Ideal Audience

When you try to reach a particular customer or lead, your success depends on how deeply you can guide them. Focusing on a certain segment of the market will help you generate and attract potential customers more effectively. Not only will it polish your marketing, but it will also ensure that the customer relationships you build have a better success rate.

2. Create Valuable Content

How do healthcare marketers develop and promote relevant content? First, they must understand customer needs through insights gathered from primary research, distributed sources, and behavioral analysis. Next, they need to produce content that meets these needs, such as video, blogs, articles, and that supports brand objectives. Finally, they need to promote the content where customers are interacting and sharing.

3. Tips to Grow Your Healthcare Company with Content Marketing

• Know what your audience wants to learn.
• Position your company as a healthcare industry leader.
• Capitalize on current events.

Creating and sharing successful healthcare marketing content revolves around your audience — who you are speaking to and what you are trying to say. To maximize your impact, define your target group and tailor your content to their preferences and needs.