You can’t have it all in life. You certainly can’t have it all when it comes to your digital marketing. It all comes down to choices. If you want one thing, you might have to sacrifice another. Oftentimes, this is because these choices seem to be mutually exclusive. A perfect example of this is illustrated in the triangle above (often referred to as the “Project Triangle“). For any given project, you can have any of the two characteristics seen at the points of the triangle, but you can’t get all three. For example, if you want it good and you need it fast, then expect for it to cost more because you’ll need to pay for additional help. You can have something fast and it can be cheap, but don’t expect it to be good.

These Pick Two triangles have become a bit of a meme on the Internet popping up in multiple places often with pretty humorous choices (I find myself on reddit to kill time fairly often). So, I thought I’d use this concept to illustrate some of the challenges I see today in healthcare digital marketing. More importantly, I’d like to bring us all a dose of reality when it comes to our marketing efforts. You can’t have it all. Frequently, that’s what companies want and what clients demand. So, consider this post a little reminder of what’s possible in most cases. Sure…sometimes it’s possible to have all three, but I don’t see it very often. Maybe that’s because it’s impossible or because there isn’t enough innovative thinking being applied to the problem (hint: consider looking outside of pharma sometimes). You be the judge.

At the end of the post, there’s info and a link to a form where you can create your own Pick Two triangle for a chance to win the Pick Two Healthcare Digital Marketing Challenge. The best submission will win some awesome Dose of Digital swag (seriously). Be sure to participate. More details at the end of the post.

I’ll get us started.

[click images to enlarge]

Let’s start with one that’s near and dear to my heart…Facebook. It seems like that’s all anyone talked about in the month of August, as Facebook rolled out changes that prevented pharma companies from being able to block Likes and comments on their Wall posts. Here’s the Pick Two triangle…

So, you can pick any two, but you can’t have all three. If you want to block comments and for your page to be simple to manage, then don’t expect anyone to see your posts. Since you’re not putting in much effort (you wanted it simple), you’re probably not creating engaging content that people share. You could block comments and have your page seen by people, however, it’s not going to be simple to manage. In this case, you’ll have to manage a massive media budget to drive traffic to your page because no one is going to see them on Facebook (here’s why). And finally, you can have a page that’s simple to manage and is actually seen by people, but you can’t block comments. You’ll have to let people comment, which will increase the number of people who see your posts. You’ll have to manage a bit, but it’s not as daunting as you might think…really.

Next…

Another popular topic these days is creating iPad sales aids for sales representatives. Many companies are moving to the iPad in place of paper-based detail aids. However, creating useful iPad applications for this purpose isn’t as simple as it seems. The Pick Two triangle…

Again, you can’t have it all. Create something that is interesting to doctors and is actually used by your sales reps, it probably doesn’t recite your core brand messages word for word like many marketing teams demand (PS: that’s okay). You can make sure it communicates your brand messages and that doctors find it interesting (which is probably a stretch), but your reps probably won’t use it because they hate reciting your brand messages and it’s likely difficult for them to use in most calls, which might last seconds. Finally, you could create something that your reps actually use and communicates your messages, but doctors aren’t likely to appreciate it since it probably doesn’t communicate anything they don’t already know.

Number 3…

It’s the year of mobile…again. I’ve been hearing that for 4 years. More and more companies are jumping on mobile with (I’m afraid) predictable results. It’s hard to develop a quality mobile application (especially in healthcare), but I don’t think many companies (and agencies) appreciate this fact. So, you get this…

You have some tough choices here. Create an app that is useful and is all about your product, but don’t expect it to be very widely used. Create something that’s about your product and is widely used, but it’s likely not going to be very useful to people. For many people to use it, it’s probably a game or other application that only loosely connects to your brand, so it might not be that useful over time (and you’ll probably spend a fortune to promote it). Finally, you can create something that is widely used and useful, but it’s probably not about your brand. It’s likely an unbranded application that serves some other function than to communicate your core messages. Mobile apps…tough place to dip into. Good luck. Maybe just start with a basic mobile version of your website. You don’t have to spend a fortune on it and have it take 18 months to develop. There are a lot of good mobile marketing platforms that can get you up and running quickly and cost effectively. There are no more excuses for not having a mobile site.

Moving on…

This is one of my favorites and is related to the Facebook triangle above. It’s all about social media management. Watch this and nod in agreement.

Most companies think that managing all their social media efforts is simple. “It’s a Twitter account for crying out loud…how hard could it be to manage?” Good question. Well, you have a few options for your management approach. You can pick something that’s cheap and easy, but likely isn’t very effective in managing anything. You could pick something that’s cheap and effective, but probably isn’t easy. This means managing accounts “by hand” without fancy tools and five agencies supporting you. It takes a lot of effort and many people within the company oftentimes, but it can be highly effective. Or one last choice, you could do something that’s easy and effective, but certainly won’t be cheap. You’ll be paying for a bunch of third-party tools and probably for a lot of agency support, but it might be worth it.

Almost done…here’s another. It’s all about video. Almost every pharma and healthcare company has a YouTube channel at this point. The other thing these companies have in common is that they tend to make…how shall I say this…uninspired videos (took me 10 minutes to settle on that adjective). Making video content is hard. Here’s why…

Notice that “cheap” is a component in many of these triangles. That’s not an accident. Because it looks “easy”, doesn’t mean that it actually is most times. So, when it comes to making video content, you can create a video on the cheap that’s all about your product, but don’t expect anyone to watch it or share it with others. In this case, ask why you even bothered to make it. You could make something that’s cheap and shareable, but it’s probably not about your product. A great example is this video shot in the Mayo Clinic that now has 7.6 million views. It’s not an ad for the Mayo clinic, but it was cheap ($0 pretty much) and is highly shareable.

And your final option, you could make something that’s shareable and about your product, but it’s not going to be cheap. You’ll have to spend some real money on production and, more important, on advertising to drive traffic to your video, as most people aren’t going to naturally be interested in a video about a drug.

One more for digital marketing and it’s all about websites. Remember those? As your developing your next one, pick two…

Here are your choices: Create a site that is useful to patients and conveys all of your brand messages, but don’t expect it to be the go-to resource online for content related to the condition your drug treats. It’ll still be useful because someone has to publish all the relevant information about your product, but that’s about all your site will be. You could make a site that’s a top resource and is useful to patients, but it won’t convey all of your brand messages. A great example of this is PKU.com. It’s created by a pharma company, it’s very useful to patients and is the top place to go online for information about PKU. However, it isn’t a place for the company to promote their treatment for PKU. Lastly, you could create something that is a top resource and conveys all of your brand messages, but it probably isn’t going to useful to patients. It’ll be only about your drug and people expect way more these days including information about their condition and how to manage it beyond your product. It’s a tough balance to be sure.

Okay…that’s all I’ve got. Just remember, in most cases, you should accept the reality that you can’t do everything with your project. You can’t have it. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. Take the PKU.com example or the Mayo Clinic Piano video. Neither of those hit on each characteristic in their respective Pick Two triangles, but both brought real and tangible benefits to the company behind. My point is that your project could still be a success if you pick the right two things. And, of course, in some rare cases you can actually achieve all three. It happens, but not often. Thinking “outside the box” is not going to be enough. You need a completely different box, but those boxes are out there. You just need to know where to look.

Have an issue with one of my Pick Two triangles? Feel free to leave a comment below and we can debate it.

Now it’s your turn and time for a contest (with a prize!). Do you have an idea for a Pick Two triangle that’s even better than any of these? Great. Go to this form, create your own, and join the Pick Two Healthcare Marketing Challenge. That’s right, a challenge. The best Pick Two triangle created by one of you will win the grand prize of some awesome Dose of Digital swag. Yes, we’ve got swag. After we get enough entries, we’ll have a little vote around our office and pick the winner. Feel free to enter as many submissions as you’d like. If you want to see all the entries thus far, go to this page. Good luck!

Join Dose of Digital on Facebook for exclusive content and sneak previews.

Ready to hire the folks behind Dose of Digital? Contact us.