Forma CEO David Chapin expands on the subtleties of diagnosing employee engagement issues with some guidance on tuning the treatment of internal misalignment, including a deep dive into the application of archetypes and their attributes.
Are you facing issues with employee engagement, alignment and retention? We’ve got some thoughts on the matter and a few ways to explore further. If you only have a few minutes, watch the video. Or you can read the following summary for an overview of this important topic. If you want to dive deeper, please read the entire whitepaper.
What does your audience need? What makes your service offerings unique in a crowded life science sector? How are you communicating your story? These are a few of the crucial questions that can help differentiate your brand and elevate you above your competitors. The answers won't be easy to come by, but without serious thought and research, your brand may become generic and commoditized.
Are your employees engaged with your brand? Forma CEO David Chapin asserts that it's time for marketers to lead the charge when it comes to employee engagement. By leveraging the power of your life science brand, you can guide your employees to becoming engaged evangelists.
Forma conducted a survey comprised of questions regarding business behavior and the 2020 Covid-19 outbreak. Respondents were asked a variety of questions about how their organizations are reacting to the current environment.
One of the surprising benefits of using archetypes is that when properly applied, they can dramatically improve employee alignment and team performance. How? In this issue, I unpack the specific nature of archetypal patterns and dig into research which reveals that these patterns are not identical from one person to the next.
Why am I (an expert in the field of life science marketing) writing about employee turnover? Because the two are intimately connected. I’ll lay out the case here and in upcoming issues.
Tone of voice (and the archetypes that can help define and guide it) is a powerful tool for differentiating an organization and a set of offerings. Given its power, it’s surprisingly underutilized by life science organizations. Keep in mind, however, that like all tools it can be powerful when used correctly—and cause significant problems when used without care. Since the team at Forma has been deeply involved in using tone of voice and archetypes as part of our marketing toolkit for several years now, I’d like to offer a few cautions.
Tone of voice is a powerful tool for differentiating your life science offerings. In the previous issue, I discussed the need for consistency. Since every employee has the potential to be a brand ambassador, ensuring consistency means aligning all employees around a single tone of voice.
Tone of voice is a powerful tool for differentiating your life science offerings. In the previous issue, I discussed how tone of voice can be guided by archetypes. I also reviewed some experiments demonstrating the self-reinforcing nature of archetypal patterns. This self-reinforcement plays a crucial role both in enabling archetypes to guide tone of voice and allowing a particular tone of voice to be understood as a component of an archetype’s pattern. In this issue I build on those topics by looking at other patterns, biases and heuristics that support the need for consistency when using tone of voice in your life science marketing efforts.
Tone of voice is a powerful tool for differentiating your life science offerings. In the previous issues in this series, I examined the benefits of harnessing tone of voice and offered a new system for defining tone of voice: archetypes. In this issue, I discuss some experiments which demonstrate the self-reinforcing nature of archetypal patterns. This has many positive implications for marketers who wish to harness tone of voice as an effective tool for differentiation: enabling clear communication, driving consistency, and even improving team alignment.
Tone of voice is a powerful tool for differentiating your life science offerings. In the previous issue, I presented a new system for defining tone of voice: archetypes. In this third issue on tone of voice in life science marketing, I discuss the different components of tone of voice, and reveal the results of experiments done to test the link between archetypal patterns and vocabulary.
Tone of voice is a powerful tool for differentiating your life science offerings. Unfortunately, it is often ignored. In the second in a series on tone of voice in marketing, I introduce a new way of developing a tone of voice, one that can be easily shared across your entire life science marketing team—and beyond.
In marketing communications, tone of voice is not your content or message, but it is crucial nonetheless. While tone of voice is a powerful tool to differentiate your offerings, it is often ignored. In this first in a series on tone of voice in marketing, I tease apart some of the interesting aspects of tone of voice, reveal a multi-dimensional scale that can be used to classify different tones of voice, and outline one possible system for defining your specific tone of voice.
Summary: There’s a lot of confusion out there between archetypes and personas. Both hinge on common patterns, but we shouldn’t confuse the two. I’ll explore this topic and shed some light on the different uses of the words Personas and Archetypes. I hold out hope that we can agree on common definitions and avoid some of the confusion that comes from the words’ overuse, misuse and abuse
In this first of three issues I examine how to help your employees align their behaviors with your life science organization’s mission by using archetypes. Alignment is a topic that will be receiving lots of attention in the next several years, and archetypes provide an excellent vehicle for creating this alignment. I begin with a bold declaration about the worth of your mission statement.
Archetypes have four main roles within the context of an organization’s life science sales and marketing activities. Several of these roles (alignment and communication) apply inside an organization and several (communication, resonance and differentiation) apply externally. In this issue, I’ll examine each role in turn and show how these roles support sales and marketing success in life science and biotech organizations.
Archetypes are one effective way to manage the meaning of your brand-story in the minds of your audiences. Doing so effectively leads to greater differentiation and pricing power. Studies have shown that careful selection and maintenance of archetypes is related to higher profit. What are archetypes? In this and subsequent issues, we’ll introduce the basics of this fascinating topic.
The root problem of poor sales performance is often poor differentiation and poor positioning. We examine a typical growth pattern of service organizations in the life sciences and see how better sales traction begins with a clearly defined marketing strategy.
Culture eats strategy for breakfast – Part 2 Recent research we conducted with life science companies shows that leaders in the life sciences believe they establish corporate culture, but they do little to document this culture in a way that lasts once they leave the room. In this issue, I reveal several other surprising insights [...]
Culture eats strategy for breakfast - Part 1 If it's true that culture eats strategy for breakfast, and if we think about what that really means, then we'll conclude that life science leaders should spend as much time planning and documenting culture as they do financial performance. Recent research we conducted with life science companies [...]
Positioning is one of the foundations of effective marketing. Unfortunately, positioning is also one of the most confusing terms in marketing. (Except maybe “branding,” but that’s a topic for another issue.) And, as it turns out, when it comes to creating an effective marketing strategy for your life science organization, positioning is one of the [...]
Positioning is one of the foundations of effective marketing. Unfortunately, positioning is also one of the most confusing terms in marketing. (Except maybe “branding,” but that’s a topic for another issue.) And, as it turns out, when it comes to creating an effective marketing strategy for your life science organization, positioning is one of the easiest things to get wrong.
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.
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.
Your customers don’t really care about your scientific instruments, even though they spend lots of money on them. That’s a bold statement, but I’ll show you why it’s true. So, what do they really care about, and how can you turn that into profit? The ideas I’m discussing in this issue apply very broadly; they certainly have application to other life science products and services beyond instruments, but they show up most clearly in the sale of scientific instruments, so that’s where I’ll start.
Your life science organization needs a single narrative, one that’s understood by every employee. Without this “center of gravity” your employees will wander, making up and spreading whatever story they choose. The results of this are disastrous, as we’ll see in this issue. But you don’t have to let this happen to you; there is a clear alternative, and the data show just how effective this can be.
Life science marketing is a lot like cycling. Great Britain has dominated professional cycling over the last decade. The British team has won the Tour de France—cycling’s most prestigious event—5 out of the last 6 years. This record is amazing. To find its equal, you have to go back many years, to the time when [...]
As we begin 2018, there’s one marketing resolution I wish you’d make. Make this marketing resolution, then actually implement it, and you’ll change the trajectory of your marketing efforts—you’ll gain clarity and make a positive difference on all your marketing activities throughout the year. This marketing resolution has three parts. But to understand it, you [...]
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
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.
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.
Some stories are sticky. They remain in our minds for years, sometimes decades. How can we create life science marketing messages that stick? The answer is to embed the message into a story with the right structure. In this issue, I’ll decode the secret to the structure that makes stories sticky.
How can we create stories that stick? This is a crucial question for life science marketers. To understand how to create stories that stick we need to start with this question: What purposes do stories serve? The answers to this question will give us clues we can use to create a system for creating sticky stories.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
This whitepaper is a transcript of a webinar our CEO, David Chapin, recently conducted for Salesforce and Pardot. Our next webinar will be April 2017. Please visit our website www.formalifesciencemarketing.com/webinars for more details. Good morning everyone. Welcome to today's webinar: The secrets to effective nurturing in the life sciences. Thank you all for joining. My [...]
In this final article on lead nurturing, I look at the seven fundamental principles that will lay the foundation for lead nurturing in the life sciences. I'll examine the fierce competition that your content will be facing, and talk about the attitudes you must foster among your content team if your lead nurturing is going to be successful
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.
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.
Life science sales cycles can be long. For this and many other reasons (which I’ll summarize below), it is important that we nurture our prospects. While some life science organizations understand lead nurturing well, many don't understand the subtleties involved in creating a highly effective life science lead nurturing "ecosystem." In fact, there are eight distinct activities involved in life science lead nurturing. In this issue I'll describe each activity, and show how they all work together. It turns out that both lead nurturing and lead generation share many of the same activities, so I'll spend some time discussing both. If you're interested in understanding how lead nurturing works or how to improve your own lead nurturing activities, read this issue.
There is a great deal of misunderstanding about nurturing prospects in the life sciences. In the last issue I outlined the framework within which our life science prospects need nurturing: the buying cycle with its four main stages. In this issue, I answer the question: Why should we nurture?, and lay out the many good reasons to nurture our life science sales prospects. I’ll also explain how the tactics (touchpoints) we choose will make a huge difference. Some touchpoints are eminently forgettable, so I’ll explore the “half-lives” of different touchpoints and offer guidance about which ones to use for buyers at different stages of the buying cycle.
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.
If your boss directed you to double your profit, what specific steps would you take? In this issue, I look at some interesting case studies that indicate how you could achieve this desirable goal.
In this issue, the third and last of the series, I outline a specific training methodology that uses your chosen, customized archetype to align your employees’ thoughts, beliefs and actions. The effort to create alignment should never end; this training is a great place to start. You’ll need to adapt the methodology outlined here to your own situation, of course, but this framework provides a solid foundation for aligning your life science employees, whether they work in marketing, sales or any other function.
In this issue, the second of a three-part series, I discuss aligning your employees’ work-related thoughts, beliefs and actions with several core aspects of your organization, such as your mission and your brand-voice. I discuss the failure of “brand police” to accomplish this crucial alignment. Given this failure, I propose a better way: deputizing all your employees to monitor and create proper brand expressions. Archetypes are an ideal way to deputize your employees, but you have to train your employees properly if you want to align their thoughts, beliefs and actions. This issue sets the stage for the training regimen that I’ll detail specifically in the next issue.
In this first of three issues I examine how to help your employees align their behaviors with your life science organization’s mission by using archetypes. Alignment is a topic that will be receiving lots of attention in the next several years, and archetypes provide an excellent vehicle for creating this alignment. I begin with a bold declaration about the worth of your mission statement.
Summary: In this issue I examine ten specific situations where archetypes can help the sales process. If your organization has chosen an archetype wisely and trained employees on the proper use of archetypes, the results can drive increased engagement with audiences and lead to increased sales. I’ll begin with a brief review.
Archetypes have four main roles within the context of an organization’s life science sales and marketing activities. Several of these roles (alignment and communication) apply inside an organization and several (communication, resonance and differentiation) apply externally. In this issue, I’ll examine each role in turn and show how these roles support sales and marketing success in life science and biotech organizations.
In this issue, I consider the use of archetypes in driving engagement and sales. Archetypes can align with your organization’s services and products, they can align with your culture, they can align with your communications, or they can align with any combination of the three. Is any one alignment more powerful than the others in creating engagement and sales? We’ll begin our exploration by drawing an analogy between the behaviors of characters in stories and the behaviors of organizations in the life sciences.
In this issue, I reopen the topic of archetypes as an aid to drive engagement, differentiation and sales in life science marketing. If you already have a position, can archetypes help? What if your position is ineffective, can archetypes help? Let’s explore this interesting topic.
In this issue, I complete my examination of the process of rebranding. I’ll outline the last 5 steps in the rebranding process, and discuss the importance of introducing your new position and brand-story to your internal and external life science marketing audiences.
In this issue, I examine the process of rebranding. I’ll outline the first 5 steps in the rebranding process for a life science organization, product or service. Once you’ve decided to rebrand, you should begin by developing a clear-eyed understanding of your environment, your audiences and your competitors. Then you must select a position and an archetype.
Explore this infographic to find out if it's time to rebrand your life science organization.
In this issue, I provide some guidance on the makeup of your life science rebranding task force. Having worked with many such teams over the past two-and-a-half decades, I’ve learned that some attributes are essential, and some should be strenuously avoided. I’ll begin this issue by outlining how to guide the rebranding discussion and I’ll close it by discussing the issue of timing: how do you know when to rebrand? In the next issue, I’ll provide a decision tree to help you make the decision: Is it time to rebrand my life science organization, product or service?
In this issue, I examine the diverse set of factors that typically trigger the discussion about whether a life science organization should rebrand. I’ll also discuss the positive and negative consequences of rebranding. In the next issue, I’ll cover the attributes, roles and responsibilities that should be part of any rebranding task force.
Isn’t it ironic that marketing, the one business function that is (supposedly) responsible for clear communication, is also the one with widespread confusion about the meaning of one of its central terms: brand? There are actually at least four meanings, all very different. So I’m going to begin the discussion about rebranding by clarifying some terminology. And then I’ll point out the eight foundational assets you must have for an effective “brand” in life science marketing. In future issues, I’ll cover the reasons to think about rebranding, discuss the team you need to undertake this effort, provide a decision tree that will allow you to determine whether it’s time to rebrand, and give you a roadmap to follow as you rebrand your life science organization, product or service.
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.
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.
Choosing a name for a life science company, product or service can be difficult. Any choice will generate a strong, almost instantaneous response, carry great emotional weight and (ideally) last a long time. How do you choose a name while avoiding the emotional rollercoaster that such choices often bring? I outline an eight-step process. But first, let’s talk about the importance of choosing the proper name.
Archetypes are a powerful way to manage the meaning of your brand-story. Using archetypes effectively allows you to create high-performance life science marketing—leading to greater differentiation and pricing power. In past issues, I’ve outlined how to determine the archetypes of your competitors and how to choose an archetype for your own organization. Now, in this final issue covering archetypes, it’s time to put your archetype to use. Let's get practical.
The effective use of archetypes can provide differentiation in life science marketing. But choosing an archetype can seem like a daunting task. How do you choose an archetype for your own organization? I outline a proven ten-step process.
Archetypes are one effective way for life science companies to create greater differentiation and pricing power through effective marketing. In this issue, I’ll explore an example of bringing archetypes to life throughout your marketing communications, and I’ll discuss how you can determine the archetypes of your competition.
Summary: Archetypes are a powerful tool to guide the development of your marketing communications. In this issue, we’ll start by examining one of the sources of the strength of archetypes: pattern matching. We’ll look at the twelve families of archetypes and at the many different archetypes within these families. And we’ll discuss why you shouldn’t select the Scientist or the Innovator as your archetype.
Archetypes are one effective way to manage the meaning of your brand-story in the minds of your audiences. Doing so effectively leads to greater differentiation and pricing power. Studies have shown that careful selection and maintenance of archetypes is related to higher profit. What are archetypes? In this and subsequent issues, we’ll introduce the basics of this fascinating topic.
Most life science marketing is ineffective. Surprisingly, horribly, disastrously ineffective. But it doesn't have to be this way. There are 10 commitments we can make that will transform our marketing efforts into high-performance life science marketing. Make these 10 commitments and join the movement to wipe low-performance marketing off the face of the earth.
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]).
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.
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.
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.
Inbound marketing, when done well, should result in a steady stream of well-qualified life science leads. In this issue, we begin our look at inbound marketing in the life sciences by considering the issue from the viewpoint of a prospect. What makes them consider you, rather than one of your competitors?
Marketing automation is a hot new tool in life science marketing. But what does it take to harvest the most benefit from marketing automation? In this issue, we look at the life science marketing practices attitudes, skills and resources necessary to implement a successful marketing automation program.
We continue our discussion of life science marketing alignment and misalignment by discussing the most common, and potentially most damaging, types of life science marketing misalignment. We provide a guide to diagnosis these conditions and some thoughts about treating these common misalignments.
Life science marketing misalignment will impede your effectiveness and lower your ROI. So diagnosis of marketing alignment is a crucial first step in determining whether misalignment is present, and if so, which type. In this issue, we continue our look at alignment in life science marketing by examining the first two types of misalignment. We provide some diagnostic questions to help you determine which type of misalignment (if any) is present, and we point the way towards effective treatment.
A common problem in life science marketing is misalignment. Misalignment can severely impede your life science marketing efforts, resulting in a variety of symptoms. This issue examines this all too common problem. We begin with a simple assessment to help you determine if your marketing is correctly aligned. We’ll review the Marketing Mechanism of Action as a framework for understanding the four different types of misalignment.
We continue to explore the all-important role your brand/story plays in your sales success by examining its many components (the verbal, the visual, the tactile, etc.) and its two layers (the rational and the emotional). We’ll discuss the creation of your brand/story and we’ll close with a discussion of the newest component of your brand/story: your content.
The concept of brands and branding can be confusing. But getting this right is crucial to your sales success. In this issue, we’ll outline how your brand/story affects your audiences and their purchasing behavior. We’ll give you some simple tests to judge whether your own brand/story is helping or hurting your chances of making the sale.
The root problem of poor sales performance is often poor differentiation and poor positioning. We examine a typical growth pattern of service organizations in the life sciences and see how better sales traction begins with a clearly defined marketing strategy.
Focusing your expectations of marketing and tracking the proper marketing metrics lays the groundwork for improving your ROI performance over time. Part three of a three-part series.
In this second of a series, we continue our look at return on investment (ROI) for marketing in the life sciences. We’ll outline the five systemic challenges to determining marketing ROI in the life sciences. In our next issue, we’ll outline the conditions and the steps required to determine marketing ROI.
In this first of a series, we look at the return on investment (ROI) for marketing in the life sciences. Can ROI be measured in a meaningful way? If so, what preconditions are required for such a measurement to be valid? We’ll begin our exploration of these complex issues by looking at why marketing is unique among all the major business functions. We’ll explain and examine the ROI Pathway and explore why an overall ROI ratio is not as useful as a series of individual ROI measurements for different components of the marketing mix. We’ll conclude this issue with an examination of two of the five systemic challenges to determining marketing ROI in the life sciences.
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.
In the last of a series on this topic, we expand the applications of the model depicting different relationships among families of brands. We look at several sectors in the life sciences and notice the similarities among the approaches used. We also discuss the use of the model as a tool for planning the changes in relationships among families of brands in the midst of life science marketing challenges, such as mergers, acquisitions, divestitures and product and service launches.
We continue our discussion of the marketing challenges faced during mergers and acquisitions in the life sciences. In this issue, we return to the model we recently introduced, one that provides a way to ask and answer the key question that must be addressed during mergers, acquisitions and even product or service launches: How should the relationships among different brands in a common family be portrayed to the audience? We discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the four possible answers and provide guidance for choosing one answer over the other.
Mergers and acquisitions are a fact of life in the life sciences. As the drug development ecosystem – which was previously vertically integrated – fragments and as the industry consolidates, mergers will become even more common. Mergers and acquisitions raise some of the most interesting challenges in life science marketing. In this issue, we open our series on this fascinating topic by identifying the key question that the life science marketers involved in any merger or acquisition must answer. We also provide a framework to understand the four possible answers to the key question.
In this issue, we continue our examination of social media in the life sciences. Improving exposure via social media can attract your target audiences and promote your marketing agenda. This month, we cover the techniques necessary for writing effectively for social media channels.
In this issue, we examine the hot topic of social media in the life sciences. While some sectors of the life sciences are slower to adopt social media as a tool for engagement than others, all sectors have opportunities to improve their social media marketing.
In this issue we continue our examination of the basics of SEO (search engine optimization) for life science and marketing companies. This issue will cover some of the important off-page factors in search engine optimization for life science and biotech marketing.
In this issue we’ll take a look at the basics of SEO (search engine optimization) for life science and marketing companies. This issue will cover some of the important on-page factors; we’ll cover off-page factors in a future issue.
In this issue we give you access to a tool you can use to assess your own marketing-based lead-generation efforts. Take 10 minutes to answer some short and simple yes-no questions about your brand and you’ll receive valuable feedback on your lead-generating efforts. We’ll also look at common patterns in the responses.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Getting feedback on your marketing initiatives is vital to improving their effectiveness. Without feedback it is difficult to know what’s working, and what isn’t. There are many types of feedback, and many ways to obtain it. This month we look at the process of asking for qualitative opinions about your marketing initiatives. It seems simple, but there are many pitfalls that can be easily avoided with a little advance planning.
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.
Having worked in the life sciences for quite a while, we have seen a number of common marketing errors made by life science companies. This month we will address some common strategic errors – next month we’ll cover tactical errors.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The Transtheoretical Model of Change describes the buying process via six stages through which buyers progress. There are nine methods for facilitating the transition from one stage of buying behavior to the next. In the previous issue we described four of these methods. This issue, we’ll describe the remaining five methods and provide examples from the life science sector. We’ll complete our examination by providing a diagram relating the stages of buying behavior to each of the nine methods for instigating change from one stage to the other.
Last month we examined a “blueprint for buying behavior” and detailed the six stages of change through which buyers progress. This issue describes some of the methods that assist individuals in making the transition from one stage to the next. The methods are explained, and illuminated through life science examples. Part 1 of 2.
The goal of science is often a complete description of particular phenomena. This trend to “completeness” is one explanation why scientists so often want to “say it all” when developing life sciences sector marketing. But “saying it all” can actually impede prospects’ willingness to buy. To shed some light on this issue we explore a validated model of how people change their behavior as they progress through the buying cycle. The model provides pointers on successful marketing tactics that can be used at each stage of the life science buying cycle and provides specific advice on when “saying it all” is appropriate.
Many scientists think they are ‘immune’ to marketing. Even so, companies in the life sciences sectors often resort to standard clichés when it comes to making marketing claims. In many sectors of the life science space companies shout and scream on their web sites and in their brochures – making lots of noise. Unfortunately these efforts are completely ineffective at helping prospects choose their organization. What’s going on?
The previous issue covered the general topic of marketing at life science trade shows. This issue extends that line of thinking to examine how you can maximize your effectiveness at the show, building on the differences between it and a normal selling environment.
Trade shows are a unique opportunity to connect with others in your industry. Yet all too often, companies waste these opportunities. This article (the first of two), covers trade show trends, and how to prepare for a trade show. The next in the series will cover the design of your booth itself and your behavior at the show.
Positioning is your brand’s DNA. It is private language that acts as a decision-making filter for your public communications. Given the fundamental importance of positioning, how do you go about creating an accurate and useful statement for your life science brand? This article will address the key attributes of such a statement and provide a template for creating your brand’s own positioning statement.
For life science companies, positioning is the DNA of marketing. Just as DNA guides protein expression and thereby controls much, if not all, cell activity, so positioning should guide marketing activities. But how is this positioning expressed? How does your brand convey its characteristics to your many audiences? This article explores the different touchpoints that consumers and others use to learn your brand’s positioning, brand promise, personality and values. Clear understanding of these touchpoints will allow you to create more effective marketing.
For life science companies, positioning is the DNA of marketing. Just as DNA guides protein expression and thereby controls much, if not all cell activity, so positioning should guide marketing activities. Just as DNA is tucked inside the nucleus, and therefore ‘invisible’ to the rest of the cell, the definition of a company’s positioning is internal and private. For this reason, positioning is widely misunderstood. This article explores the four components of positioning and provides a framework for understanding positioning’s role in marketing.
For life science and biotech companies selling products or services to the drug development chain, the market is in tremendous flux. The patent cliff, the contraction of ‘Big Pharma’ and increased regulatory scrutiny are causing huge seismic shifts – a.k.a., earthquakes. How do you compete effectively in this type of marketplace? This article looks at similar shifts in another industry to point the way to an effective competitive strategy for life science and biotech service companies.
Scientists often believe that they are immune to the efforts of marketers. They are not alone; many of us believe that we make decisions from a purely rational perspective and can therefore filter marketing messages out of our decision-making process. Scientists are particularly prone to subscribe to this belief, as their discipline and world-view places a premium on rational thought. Recent research proves that no one is immune; marketing can affect our behavior, even if the messages are only received subliminally. This article examines this research, and looks at its implication for the marketing of life science companies.
Scientific disciplines are often concerned with a complete description of an issue, while marketing is typically concerned with communication. When scientists engage in marketing, their training can lead them to over-communicate, which can be detrimental to their marketing goals. This article explores this phenomenon, identifies the ‘big mistake’ that most companies make, and provides guidance to avoid that mistake in marketing efforts.
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