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Strategic benchmarking focuses on providing valuable insights to current and prospective clients. For businesses that serve pharmaceutical companies, the primary goal (and benefit) of this benchmarking approach is access. By gathering specific information from a narrowly defined audience, extracting the most salient data points, and sharing the results with participants, you can increase your visibility among your target audience without invasive advertising.

In addition to access, strategic benchmarking yields other benefits such as identifying customer trends, determining potential opportunities, and positioning you as an industry authority. We explore each of these benefits below.

1. Gain Access

As traditional marketing tactics become less successful in the age of social media, companies need fresh ways to attract prospective clients. Inbound methods that focus on educating and providing value to prospective clients are often more effective than outbound methods that rely on “push” tactics to get customers.

Strategic benchmarking works as an inbound marketing technique because you gain access to prospective clients by (1) involving them in the process of collecting data and (2) giving them a platform for sharing their perspective. When prospective clients have a stake in the outcome, they are more likely to participate.

By facilitating a strategic benchmarking project, you create several touchpoints between you and prospective clients. The first is when you reach out to ask for their participation. A second touchpoint occurs when you interview them to collect data for the benchmark. The third, and most in-depth, is when you present the insights from the benchmarking project and collect feedback. 

Successful strategic benchmarking efforts can become yearly projects that garner industry respect and serve as a go-to source for information. Your company may even develop the standard for the type of information you cultivate.

Take, for instance, HubSpot’s yearly State of Inbound report. The information contained within this report shapes the content marketing strategies of many agencies and offers valuable insights to anyone interested in developing or improving upon their inbound marketing approach. State of Inbound also positions HubSpot as the industry expert on inbound marketing, increases the visibility of their software products, and gives them the insider information needed to develop winning solutions and stay ahead of the curve.

The type of access strategic benchmarking provides is more cost-effective than traditional marketing. Instead of paying for expensive advertising campaigns that may or may not reach the intended audience, strategic benchmarking provides tangible results. Because you know who is participating, you will know if your target audience has been reached.

Benchmarking projects are also faster than ad campaigns. You can finish a strategic benchmarking project in the same time it takes to run an ad through a typical cycle (or sooner). Since you generate more touchpoints through strategic benchmarking than through traditional advertising, you’re also more likely to see results quicker.

2. Identify Customer Trends

Another benefit of strategic benchmarking is the information it reveals about customer trends. By asking the right questions, you can confirm what’s important to prospective clients and where they are focusing their energy.

This forward-facing look into the market can be invaluable not just for reaching prospective clients but also for planning your own company’s business development strategies. By knowing where the industry is headed, you can make decisions that are more informed.

Strategic benchmarking offers an unusually-unattainable level of information to your prospective clients and their needs. Because prospective clients will benefit from the insights in the benchmarking project report, they are more willing to provide an honest, “insider look” at their own company.

Driving a benchmarking project allows you to focus on gathering information valuable to you. Rather than relying on general data, costly market research tactics, or limited information provided by other studies, conducting your own benchmarking project allows you to gather specific information from specific companies. This is especially true in the pharmaceutical industry where the limited number of major companies reduces the number of observations in traditional research methods.

3. Determine Common Challenges

When you present the results of the benchmarking project, prospective clients will get a glimpse into areas where their company excels and areas that need improvement. Having a conversation about the challenges these companies are facing becomes an opportunity to present your solution.

The information gathered from the benchmarking project can also inform your product development either for specific clients or for a larger segment of the market. If multiple companies experience the same challenges, you may have identified a significant gap in the market and can plan accordingly.

The right information lets you anticipate market needs, develop appropriate solutions, and gain a significant competitive advantage. And, since you have already engaged your target audience, you’ll have the inside track for sharing your solution with them.

4. Establish Authority

A strategic benchmarking project can establish you as an expert across the industry within your niche. As the driver of the project, you become a natural source of information on topics you discuss. During the collection phase of the benchmarking project, the questions you ask will illustrate your experience and understanding of the market.

When sharing insights and solutions at the project’s conclusion, you have a unique opportunity to articulate (1) your thoughts on the industry and its trends, (2) what the needs of prospective clients are, and (3) how your company can meet those needs.

You can also use the results of the project to build content that attracts a wider audience. By publishing a report on the benchmarking project, you can share your insights and create the foundation for a repeatable process.

Value of Outside Help

While it’s possible to do the legwork of benchmarking on your own, an outside partner will have the resources already in place needed to design an interview guide, identify participants, conduct interviews, synthesize data, analyze results, and present insights to the involved parties.

Through our own deep experience developing benchmarking projects for companies, Pharma Acumen has created a process for taking your company through each benchmarking step, resulting in both tangible insights you can use to fuel your own product development and increased visibility among prospective and current clients.

Learn more about how we can help you design and conduct an effective benchmarking project by contacting Brian.