Who are your customers? How well do you know them? What is going on in their world? What is important to them? How about your research and development teams? How often do they have the opportunity to meet / observe / listen to your customers and potentially be inspired to create something new to meet their needs?
First, who are your customers?
In the world of pharmaceuticals it has been known for certain research staff to answer this question with, ‘The lab next door’… A very clear focus! Such short sightedness, however, will never provide the inspiration that looking further along the line towards the end consumer would.
Traditionally in commercial departments, customers were considered to be Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs), specialists and GPs. Over the past decade, though, payers, patients, nurses and carers have also come into focus, resulting in much more customer-centric development and brand planning.
How well do you know your customers?
Often companies will conduct market research with customers. Market research asks questions from your perspective, to which respondents do their best to provide answers.
But this might not be addressing what is really important to them; what is important in their world might not have anything to do with your market research questions. Insight strives to gain an appreciation of your customers’ world, viewed from their perspective. It is this understanding that may well provide the trigger for some inspirational insight.
At TIGCRU, we are passionate about helping you better understand your customers, innovate on that understanding and build that creativity into your brand planning – so you can truly meet your customers' needs.
Patient Events
We have a client who commissions us to run ‘Patient Events’ globally on a regular basis. The specific aim of these events is to motivate and inspire their R & D community by giving them an insight into patients’ lives.
Patients with different medical conditions are invited to our client’s R & D sites where they are hosted, chat-show-style, by R&D staff, and asked to tell their story to an audience of 40-50 scientists.
TIGCRU provide the technical expertise to design and manage the whole event, from ensuring compliance with the relevant codes of conduct (to ensure that every patient’s well-being is protected), to creating an environment where sensitive subjects can be shared and inspiration ignited.
We provide each site with an Event Planner, and work closely with our global recruitment partners to invite appropriate patients who are keen to participate, brief local hosts, and write interview guides.
These events have proved immensely rewarding for both patients and staff, alike. Patients value the opportunity to talk about their illness and potentially make a difference to others, while R & D staff are inspired to hear from their end-customers, first-hand.
We offer a range of services to help you better understand your customers' perspectives. For example, Immersion Packs, Insight Days, as well as full Insight Projects.
Get in touch via the contact form if you would like to learn more.