Thinking Before Doing: Why Strategy Still Matters in Market Access

What you’ll learn:

Introduction

In the current pharmaceutical marketing and advertising landscape, speed and number of tactics often masquerade as progress. Brands race to build promotional tools, prepare field teams, and activate omnichannel campaigns. Timelines shrink, expectations expand, and strategic planning is frequently reduced to a checklist step between evidence generation and execution. But in this environment of compressed launch windows and escalating complexity, the organizations that succeed are those that pause, assess, and ask the right questions before they act. This is especially true in market access, where the foundation for brand success (i.e., enabling demand) is rooted. At Klick Market Access, strategy is not a stage in the process. It is the process. It is what transforms information into insight, tactics into outcomes, and fragmented workstreams into a cohesive market presence.

From Cost of Entry to Competitive Edge

Strategy still matters. In fact, it matters more than ever. Healthcare ecosystems have evolved. Payers are more sophisticated. Providers are navigating benefit complexity and therapeutic abundance. Patients are fragmented by access channels, affordability barriers, and fulfillment gaps. In this context, a great strategy is not optional, it is the cost of entry. Strategy enables brands to organize around a clear value narrative, align internal and external stakeholders, and activate with confidence.

Our belief in strategy is not abstract. It is operational. It is reflected in how we approach the earliest phases of planning. Before building a value proposition or executing a tactical plan, we invest in understanding the full market context. We do not simply summarize disease burden or restate clinical trial results. We interrogate payer behavior, policy trends, competitive dynamics, benefit mix implications, and fulfillment realities. We synthesize this information to isolate the most material drivers and risks. What we produce is not a list of facts. It is a decision-making foundation.

A Holistic Analysis Across Payers, Channels, and Archetypes

Our work is especially critical in categories where differentiation is nuanced or where competition is intensifying. This approach does not rely on high-level SWOT frameworks or generic stakeholder maps. Instead, we engage in a structured, multi-dimensional situation analysis that distills a sea of data into focused themes. Each finding is connected to an implication. Each implication is used to shape strategic imperatives. This perspective gives our clients more than awareness, it gives them clarity.

Clarity is not just about what to say, it is about knowing where to focus. Not all opportunities are equal across payer types, fulfillment channels, and customer archetypes. We help clients segment intelligently by influence, timing, policy posture, and real-world execution feasibility. In doing so, we empower field teams to spend less time reacting and more time prioritizing.

Strategic thinking also ensures that access planning includes more than coverage milestones. We understand that access does not end at the Pharmacy & Therapeutics decision, it extends through the entire value chain. A product may be covered but not affordable. It may be on formulary but blocked by benefit design, site-of-care limitations, or specialty pharmacy network restrictions. Access success depends on anticipating these variables, aligning stakeholders across the fulfillment experience, and embedding operational solutions within the strategy itself.

Our work with clients repeatedly demonstrates that the earlier we address these issues, the more effectively we can design resilient, scalable, and actionable plans. Whether navigating a crowded immunology category, launching a first-in-class asset in a rare disease, or redefining value in a biosimilar-dominated market, the principle holds: clarity before activity.

Collaboration to Anticipate Shifts Before They Happen

It is also worth noting that a great strategy is not built in isolation. We work across client teams to align brand, medical, HEOR, account strategy, and marketing. Our strategists serve as integrators, translating insights across functions and ensuring that the final plan reflects shared priorities. This exceeds a collaboration exercise to become a risk mitigation strategy. Misalignment is expensive. Fragmented messaging, redundant tools, and disjointed execution are not just inefficient but visible to customers. A clear, unified strategy prevents this and strengthens brand credibility in the marketplace.

There is also a future-facing element to great strategy. We do not design for the quarter. We design for the future market. That foresight includes anticipating payer reactions to legislative changes, understanding the economics of benefit redesign, and staying ahead of policy shifts that influence access decisions. We help clients think across time horizons, prepare for likely and unlikely scenarios, and use strategy not only as a planning tool but as a source of market leverage.

Strategy as the Differentiator Between Launch and Longevity

When we say that strategy still matters, we are not defending a philosophy. We are defending performance. We have seen what happens when brands move too quickly, skip foundational thinking, and mistake activity for impact. The results are predictable: diluted messages, redundant materials, misaligned stakeholders, and failed business objectives/performance. The brands that win are those that step back early, ask the hard questions, and make deliberate decisions based on evidence and insight.

At Klick, thinking before doing is not a slogan. It is a standard. It is how we work, how we lead, and how we deliver impact that lasts beyond the first approval or the first contract. Strategy still matters because it is the only way to ensure that what we build does more than launch, it endures.

Klick Health is the world’s largest independent commercialization partner for life sciences and a leading full-service pharma marketing partner, serving as agency of record for leading pharma, biotech, and healthcare brands. Klick’s specialized offerings are rooted in deep medical and scientific understanding, including market insights, award-winning creative, and proprietary AI and data models to craft impactful brand narratives and seamless customer journeys. Backed by nearly 250 medical experts and advanced healthcare analytics, Klick delivers integrated marketing strategy and communications, from new product launch strategy to MLR review with real-world evidence, helping brands thrive in today’s complex healthcare landscape. Learn more at Klick.com.