Content Marketing

5 Types of Copywriting Your Science Org Needs to Master

Copywriting is the cornerstone of your content marketing strategy. Content marketing has a variety of intentions: completing sales, educating customers, or building brand awareness. Effective copywriting is the special ingredient that compels users to engage with your science brand. High-quality copy is necessary for increasing sales and outgrowing your competitors. Your audience (and all audiences) [...]

5 Rules for Creating Killer Case Studies

This is a condensed version of David Chapin's original whitepaper, "8 Fundamental Principles for Creating Compelling Case Studies". Case Studies are Crucial Marketing Tools Case studies are one of the most powerful marketing tools in your arsenal. They can compel users to engage with your brand in a way that other marketing initiatives cannot. However, [...]

6 Aspects of Compelling Life Science Marketing Communication

If you're reading this, you're probably aware of how highly-regulated the life science industry is. If you're having trouble standing out from your competitors, you're not alone. Facilitating effective marketing communication is hard, especially in the life sciences! Marketing is one corporate function whose main responsibility involves clear communication. Communication is multi-dimensional, but most marketing [...]

The Content Marketing Hack, Part II: Debunking Video Production Myths

Last month I discussed three trends that are affecting your clients, your prospects, and yes, the people inside your organization, including your subject matter experts. These trends are: • Time-starvation: there’s more to do for everyone, and less time to do it. • Choice-saturation: there are more alternatives; it’s harder to know which path is best. • Guidance-hunger: people need help making sense of all these choices. Your prospects are oversaturated with choice, they need guidance and yet, they’re time-starved. You can help these prospects by committing to creating thought leadership—deep insights that help your prospects with their challenges. As you help them, you’ll build a tribe of followers, they’ll respect you, trust you, pay attention to what you have to say, recommend you to others, and ultimately hire you.

The Content Marketing Hack – Part I

Content marketing has long been the way to create a relationship with prospects you’ve never met. But content marketing is hard for many life science organizations to create, and it can be even harder to sustain this effort. This month, I want to share a “content marketing hack”—a trick to make it easier to harness the knowledge of your subject matter experts (SMEs). It will still take some work, particularly as you get started, but if you’re disciplined, this hack will help you produce thought leadership on a regular basis.

The four steps to creating compelling life science case studies

Case studies can be tough to create because there’s a lot that can go wrong. In this final issue covering case studies, I break the larger challenge into four simpler steps. I’ll give you guidance on how many case studies you need, how to collect content for your case studies and—most important—how to separate the task of organizing your case study from writing the final language, so that you can structure it in the most compelling way possible

The 8 Fundamental Principles Behind the Creation of Compelling Case Studies

I’ve spent the last several issues dissecting the topic of case studies, looking at all the components that make them compelling. When I began the topic, I had no idea it would require such a deep dive. Now that we’re close to the finish line, it’s time to put all these pieces back together. I’ll walk you through the steps to creating a compelling case study—one that allows your prospects to see themselves in the story; one that allows your unique value to come shining through.

Storytelling, A-B-T, and Compelling Case Studies

Creating compelling case studies can be straightforward, if you follow the And-But-Therefore (A-B-T) template that I introduced in the last issue. Scientists are very familiar with using peer-reviewed papers to communicate, but these papers are written to prioritize accuracy over engagement, so peer-reviewed papers make a very poor template for use in our case studies. Because scientists are not used to writing for engagement, the A-B-T template is very useful when creating marketing messages or effective case studies. In this issue I examine the five key questions and the one crucial constraint that must be addressed when using the A-B-T template.

Telling a Life Science Marketing Story

In this issue I’ll explore the fascinating intersection of storytelling and life science marketing. Storytelling is one of the most durable forms of communication. Stories are the original form of memory, of history and of fact transmission. Now, when people with scientific training hear the word “storytelling,” they often think of campfires and ghost stories. But that’s an overly narrow view; storytelling actually has a lot to teach life science marketers about the most effective way to create communications that stick.

Life Science Case Study Structure: The Optimum Solution

The perfect life science case study structure is clear. In spite of this, many case studies don't include one or more of the seven components necessary for maximum effectiveness. In this issue I'll discuss these seven components and their proper order. I'll also reveal how the focus of your case study (the overlap of your Unique Value and your Approach) can be tuned throughout your case study to increase audience engagement. 

How to write an effective life science case study Part 2: Let go of the details

Your life science case study can work wonders: it can inspire or reassure prospects who are on the path to purchasing your products or services. But it must be well designed—the right length, the right amount of detail, the right contents and the right structure. Many organizations use their peer-reviewed journal articles as a substitute for their case studies. This is a bad decision with disastrous consequences, and I'll explore why in this issue. 

How to write an effective life science case study: Inspire and reassure your prospects with life science case studies

The life science case study is an often-overlooked tool in life science marketing. Life science case studies can be a powerful way to inspire or reassure your audiences, helping them at specific points in the buyer’s journey. I’ve looked at lots of case studies: CRO case studies, biotech case studies, pharma case studies, analytical lab case studies; the list goes on and on. And what I’ve learned is that too many life science sales and marketing teams waste the opportunity to maximize the impact of this simple but effective tool. In the first of a series of whitepapers, I peel apart the use of life science case studies and reveal the multiple benefits they offer. I’ll discuss the two different types of case studies and show how the focus of each is very different. In future issues, I’ll reveal how to build the most effective (non-boring) life science case studies.

Getting the most out of your sales and marketing technologies—so you can sell more in the life sciences – Part 2

Your CRM is the lifeblood of your life science business’ future. CRMs can be complex beasts to install and manage, but that’s not the most critical challenge. All the technology in the world won’t help if your sales team isn’t using your CRM correctly. In this, the second of a two-part series, we look at improving the adoption of your CRM. We’ll dive into ways to lead your business development team through a transition—from their current state, where data is missing or just isn’t being captured correctly, to a more perfect union of protocols and personnel.

Getting the most out of your sales and marketing technologies—so you can sell more in the life sciences – Part 1

Is your life science CRM system working optimally? Are you tracking your new business opportunities effectively? Do you have the necessary visibility into your sales pipeline? Is everyone on your life science sales team using your system in a consistent manner? If the answer to any of these questions is “no,” then you’ve got a protocol problem—or is it a personnel problem? Or maybe it’s a technology problem? Let’s face it: CRM systems are complex beasts, with lots of moving parts, including software, protocols and personnel. Many life science organizations fail to use them effectively. In this first part of a series, I examine how to assess where the challenges arise in the adoption of proper CRM processes inside life science organizations, and what you can do about them. In future issues we’ll dive deep and develop a plan for getting the most out of your CRM system. The goal of all this: to tune your tools, so you can be more effective in your marketing and new-business development efforts. 

Part 5: How to assess the performance of your Lead Nurturing efforts in the life sciences.

In this issue, I explore the evolution of lead nurturing activities in the life sciences. I’ll begin by examining an all-too-common scenario that highlights the need for lead nurturing. And then I’ll be discussing the big change that occurred in lead nurturing’s recent past; then I’ll look at what the future could (and should) hold for lead nurturing within your own life science organization. To make this discussion more tangible, I’ll provide access to a tool that will help you assess the performance of your lead nurturing activities. Given the results of this assessment, you’ll be better able to guide the evolution of your lead nurturing activities in the life sciences. 

Part 4: Developing Your Lead Nurturing Efforts in the Life Sciences

In recent issues I’ve explored lead nurturing in B2B life science marketing, including why we should nurture our life science prospects and the eight different activities involved in lead nurturing. In this issue I’ll highlight the skills and abilities a marketing team must possess to maximize their lead nurturing efforts, and describe the evolution in lead nurturing activities that a typical life science organization undergoes. There are five stages of this lead nurturing evolution—from basic and piecemeal to comprehensive and strategic. I’ll discuss the tools and technology that are involved in each stage. In a future issue, I’ll share an assessment you can use to determine where you are on this evolutionary path. With this knowledge in hand, you’ll be able to determine where you should focus to improve your lead nurturing efforts. 

Nurturing your prospects in life science marketing and sales—Part 1

There is a great deal of misunderstanding about lead nurturing in the life sciences. Apparently, some see nurturing as a chance to continue their strong-arm sales tactics. And some see nurturing as a waste of time. What is nurturing, and what’s the best way to go about it? In this issue, I begin to explore this fascinating topic by asking a very simple question—what exactly is nurturing?—and exploring opportunities for nurturing through each of the stages of the sales process.

Two trends that are reducing the power of the sales function in the life sciences, and what to do about them

There are two trends that are changing the importance of the sales role in the life sciences. I’ll outline these trends, which you’ll easily recognize, and then I’ll talk about what this means for life science organizations. TREND 1: Ubiquitous information is reducing the power of the sales department. It used to be that sellers [...]

Entering the Life Science Market – Part 2 of 2: Targeting Your Audiences

As I discussed last month, entering the life science market is not a trivial exercise. There are many factors that make this market unique and I’ll start by reviewing some of those. Then I’ll take a closer look at the audiences in the life sciences and some of the specific attributes they share. Understanding these audiences, and how to draw them closer to you, is a critical success factor for entering the life science market.

Entering the Life Science Market – Part 1: Eight Things You Should Know

Many companies try to enter the life science market, lured by the promise of rapid growth and significant opportunity. But entering the life science market can be difficult; many companies try and fail. In this first of two whitepapers on the subject, I’ll provide an overview of some of the factors that make this market unique and identify what you can do to increase your chances of success.

Untapped opportunities in Content Marketing for the life sciences: the “blue ocean.”

Content marketing is the great equalizer. Using content marketing, small life science firms can be as effective and engaging as much larger firms. Unfortunately, as content marketing gets more and more popular, being seen as unique becomes more and more difficult. But there still seems to be real opportunity in content marketing in the life sciences; there are areas of content that are not yet heavily populated by competitors. In this issue, I’ll identify what you need to do to be able to take advantage of this "blue ocean" (a place where the competition is not yet heavily focused [i]).

The Marketing Mechanism of Action and the Importance of Uniqueness

There is significant misunderstanding about how marketing works – that is, of the mechanism by which it affects people’s attitudes, beliefs and behaviors. In particular, many scientists believe that they are immune to marketing’s effects. But if scientists are immune to marketing’s effects, why do so many companies continue to spend significantly on marketing campaigns? The reason is simple: this supposed immunity is just a myth; marketing actually works. To understand how, let’s examine the marketing mechanism of action.

Creating Effective Inbound Marketing in the Life Sciences – Part 3: The Prerequisites for Inbound Marketing

Inbound marketing, when done well, should result in a deeper relationship between your organization and your prospects, developing into a steady stream of well-qualified leads. In this issue, we attempt to strip away the hype surrounding inbound marketing and specify the approach needed for an effective inbound marketing effort in the life sciences. We’ll see how the various components of inbound marketing reinforce each other, interacting to drive effective results.

Creating Effective Inbound Marketing in the Life Sciences – Part 2: The Exchange of Value

Marketing is getting more complex as buyers retreat into anonymity. To be effective, the Marketing function must shift from focusing on simple, outbound promotional activities to attracting prospects, and then converting them from visitors to leads to customers. Inbound marketing is more complex and is more synergistic than outbound marketing. For example, outbound marketing is designed to culminate in a single exchange of value, that is: products or services exchanged for money. Inbound marketing is designed to employ many small exchanges of value and this shift requires changing the way we think about marketing in the life sciences.

Content Marketing: Strategy First

A seismic shift in marketing is happening right now. The Internet gives each and every company access to a stage with microphones on it. This is a tremendous advantage to small companies, because content marketing “levels the playing field” for these organizations. But unless these companies act quickly and begin to create compelling, unique content, [...]

Developing Your Online Content Strategy for Life Science Marketing

Social media provides numerous opportunities for life science companies to interact, engage and educate their audiences. With multiple platforms available, many companies don’t know where to start this process. Thus, many life science companies either avoid social media or spread themselves too thin trying to cover all of their media bases. Unfortunately, neither of these strategies will lead to successful content marketing and social media campaigns in the life sciences. A successful online marketing or content campaign must start with a thorough understanding of the audiences you are trying to reach.

Marketing-based Lead Generation in the Biological Sciences (Part 4)

In this issue we continue our examination of the ladder of marketing-based lead generation for life science, med-device and biotech companies. We pose questions that will help you get the most out of your ladder by optimizing your portfolio of lead-generating activities. We discuss how you can improve your lead generation by “climbing” the ladder over time.

Marketing-based Lead Generation in the Biological Sciences (Part 3)

In this issue we examine in more depth the ladder of marketing-based lead generation for life science, med-device and biotech companies. We discuss the six uses for the ladder. We outline a process for creating your own ladder, and provide a link to a template you can customize for your own use. Next month we’ll finish our discussion on the ladder of lead generation by discussing some tactics you can use to improve your lead generating initiatives.

Marketing-based Lead Generation in the Biological Sciences (Part 2)

The ladder of lead generation is a useful tactical tool for understanding, assessing and managing lead-generation activities in life science, med-device and biotech companies. In this issue, we’ll take a closer look at the ladder of lead generation. We’ll review the foundation that is necessary for effective lead-generation initiatives and provide some specific suggestions for improving your lead-generating activities. Next month we’ll look at ways to use the ladder as a planning tool for creating your own lead generation initiatives.

Marketing-based Lead Generation in the Biological Sciences (Part 1)

When people responsible for sales and marketing in the biological sciences hear the words “lead generation,” an outbound call center is often the first thing that springs to mind. But outbound calling is just one way to generate leads. This article categorizes a wide variety of lead generation activities and puts these activities into context using “the ladder of lead generation.” By examining the different rungs on the ladder, we’ll compare the resulting quality of leads and the time to result, two important attributes to consider as you build your own lead generation initiatives. In the next issue, we’ll discuss how to craft an effective lead generating strategy.

Common Marketing Errors (Part 2)

Having worked in the life sciences for more than two decades, we have seen a number of marketing errors commonly made by life science companies. As a follow-up to last month’s article about strategic errors, this month we’ll discuss some widespread tactical errors and provide suggestions about how to both identify and address them.

Marketing Checklist: Touchpoints

Checklists are a great way to ensure that you cover all the basics. They are used daily by thousands of people in situations where the results really matter (like flying planes and surgical procedures). If you were going to create a checklist, what items are so important that they would appear on your life science [...]

The Content Marketing Life Cycle

Content marketing is an effective way to drive your life science brand’s positioning and engage your audiences and prospects. In this issue we’ll introduce the idea of a content life cycle, known as P7. Managing the P7 life cycle from Step 1, People all the way through Step 7, Promotion will allow you to harvest the greatest possible benefit from your content.

Creating Compelling Content

Content marketing can establish your life science brand’s positioning and engage your audiences, but attaining these benefits depends upon having compelling content. To create this content, you need the right focus, the right form, the proper filters and the optimum frequency. In this issue, I discuss these factors and provide some tips for creating compelling content.

Building an Effective Editorial List

Content marketing is the hot new trend in marketing, specifically life sciences marketing, and for good reason. Effective content marketing can help to position one in the space they strive to own, provide increased exposure, build brand awareness, establish and/or increase one’s reputation by generating thought leadership and help one achieve expert status in the [...]

Planning Your Life Science Company’s Content Marketing Initiative

Content marketing is an effective way to drive your life science brand’s positioning and engage your audiences and prospects. In past issues we covered the attitudes and behaviors that must accompany a content marketing initiative; we now focus on planning this initiative. Planning should be based upon an intimate understanding of the six factors for content marketing success. They are known by the acronym S-T-R-E-A-M: your Strategy, Topics, Resources, Environment, Audience and Measurement. We’ll start this issue with a real-world example of the results that content marketing can achieve.

The Benefits of Content Marketing Strategies to Life Science Companies

Content marketing is all the rage in some marketing circles. But many life science companies use surprisingly little content marketing. We’ll start this issue by continuing the comparison between content marketing and peer-review publishing begun in the last issue. A diagram will make the comparison clearer. We’ll look at how fundamental changes in the way people access information has driven an increase in choice, which in turn is driving the importance of content marketing. We’ll conclude with a list of changes in attitudes and behaviors that accompany a content marketing initiative. In our next issue, we’ll provide a series of “How to” suggestions for beginning a content marketing initiative.

What is Compelling?

At 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 [...]

Comparing Life Science Content Marketing and Peer Review

Content marketing is all the rage in some marketing circles. But many life science companies do not use content marketing – particularly on their web sites. This is surprising because the scientific community has been practicing a form of content marketing for years. In this issue, we’ll look at the similarities and the differences between content marketing and peer-review publishing. In the next issue, we’ll examine both the benefits of content marketing and the attitudes that must change for content marketing to be successful. And in the subsequent issue, we’ll look at how to create and execute an effective, focused, content marketing strategy for your life science business.

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