Forma Life Science Marketing Blog
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The Need for Content in the Life Sciences
July 29, 2010 at 9:26 AM by David ChapinIn the life sciences, many firms’ offerings are often very close to their competitors’ – almost identical in fact. This is due to many things; perhaps most important is the regulatory scrutiny that drives similarity in processes.
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Tags: Messaging Competitors Marketing Content Positioning Social Audience
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Distinguishing Social Media from Content Marketing
July 22, 2010 at 3:36 PM by David Chapin“Social media” sure is a popular term, isn’t it? It is not hard to find seminars, blog posts, newsletters and all sorts of experts to teach us how to harness social media. People are all atwitter (pun intended) about getting on the social media bandwagon. Social media is the marketing flavor of the month, maybe even the flavor of the year.
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Tags: Social media Evolution Marketing Prediction Content Future Audience
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Interruption Marketing is Dying
July 20, 2010 at 3:34 PM by David ChapinInterruption marketing is dying. The history of the aptly named “commercial break”) which breaks into your attention stream), is a prime example of escalating sophistication. Despite the growing sophistication of marketers, the rules have changed, the power struggle between buyers and sellers has changed and the buyers are now winning the battle.
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Tags: Content Audience Bioscience Customers Compelling Advertising Marketing Future
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Why it is Important to Have a Strong Point of View!
July 8, 2010 at 9:06 AM by David ChapinIn sales, if you are going to hear "No," you want to hear it early in the process, so you can move on from uninterested prospects to qualify someone else – someone who might be a better fit.
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Tags: Content Sales Audience Marketing
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Why Market Research is Like a Clinical Trial
June 23, 2010 at 2:19 PM by David ChapinTwo factors are important if you want to get clear answers out of a clinical trial. The first is proper enrollment – getting the right numbers of the right patients to participate. The second is asking the right questions in the right way – that is, determining what effects to look for, and how to measure those effects.
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Tags: Audience Testing Positioning Research
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Why is it so hard to diagnose your own marketing ills?
June 21, 2010 at 8:58 AM by David ChapinTo judge from all the poorly positioned marketing in the life sciences, it must be very hard to diagnose your own marketing ills. Otherwise firms would fix what is so obviously wrong.
It is hard to diagnose yourself. It can be dangerous too. In fact, they won’t let doctors do it, because the stakes can be so high – life and death. The impacts of marketing are serious too: success or failure of the business.
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Tags: Diagnostics Positioning Audience
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Thought Leadership
June 3, 2010 at 10:35 AM by David ChapinWhat makes a thought leader a thought leader? There are many answers to this question, but in the end, it boils down to just a few things:
Thought leaders are trusted if they 1) know more than you do (this knowledge is frequently the result of intense or deliberate study), 2) they can explain what they know in ways that are relevant and compelling, 3) they are recognized by respected authorities or by the audience as a thought leader and 4) they are visible and influential in their field (through speaking, publishing, etc).
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Tags: Audience Content Positioning Explanation
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Referrals in the Life Science Sector
May 24, 2010 at 9:37 AM by David ChapinWhen we ask clients how they get new business, some life science firms respond: “We get most of our customers from word of mouth and referrals.”
The implication is: “We are getting high quality clients and saving money on sales costs; isn’t that great?”
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Tags: Positioning Audience
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Authentic Complexity
May 20, 2010 at 10:24 AM by David ChapinAuthentic complexity (for example, a subject with lots of moving parts, lots of interactions, and lots of variables) can’t be made arbitrarily simple. Authentic complexity can’t be made arbitrarily simple – but it can be made digestible.
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Tags: Compelling Clarity Audience
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Who Can You Trust in Life Science Marketing?
April 15, 2010 at 2:31 PM by David ChapinWho can you trust? Apparently not your friends, at least not your online friends.
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Tags: Audience Social media Positioning Branding
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A Telescope is Better than a Magnifying Glass when Diagnosing Marketing Ills
March 25, 2010 at 5:25 PM by David ChapinFor life science companies, diagnosing marketing ills can be problematic. This has many potential causes – maybe the company is run by scientists, who might believe that technological superiority is enough (it isn’t). Maybe the organization just doesn’t have much experience in diagnosis. Maybe the situation has changed recently, and what used to work is no longer effective.
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Tags: Competitors Marketing Clarity Audience
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What is Compelling?
March 10, 2010 at 10:27 AM by David ChapinAt Forma, we work with companies in the life sciences to Make the Complex Compelling. In this sector, there is lots of subject matter that is complex. The borders of knowledge have been pushed back quite far, so the questions being addressed are often very complex. And the audience is often technically sophisticated. They have lots of detailed questions that can require complex answers.
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Tags: Compelling Clarity Audience
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When Tighter Regulatory Scrutiny Leads to Better Lifescience Marketing, Something is Seriously Wrong
February 11, 2010 at 9:34 AM by David ChapinWhen the FDA monitors marketing claims VERY closely (for example, when marketing a pill, potion or med device) the result can be some very effective marketing (e.g, Advair, Viagra, etc.). On the other hand, there are cases in which the FDA is concerned not with marketing claims but only with the work product (e.g., labs, CROs and service providers that have to submit data to their sponsors and the FDA).
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Tags: Audience CRO Commodity Positioning DTC
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What are the Goals of Marketing?
February 1, 2010 at 11:44 AM by David ChapinWhat are the goals of marketing? Ask any marketer this question, and you’ll get dozens of answers: build brand awareness, increase referrals, drive web site traffic, motivate response, creating customer loyalty, etc.
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Tags: Audience Customers Loyalty Positioning Clarity
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Why You Shop vs Why You Buy
December 15, 2009 at 4:27 PM by David ChapinThink for a moment about your best supplier – the one your bioscience company wouldn’t leave, even for a cheaper price, because your loyalty is so strong.
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Tags: Audience Customers Loyalty Buying Research
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When Should You Ignore Your Competitors?
December 9, 2009 at 9:25 AM by David ChapinIn discussions with a bioscience client the other day, we noted that many firms in the life science service sector are concerned about a very narrow aspect of their competitors’ marketing: the feature list.
“If ‘those guys’ have a list on their web site, we better have a list too.”
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Tags: Audience Customers Positioning Research
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