Campaign learnings: Strategic marketing for life sciences and biotech

How can marketers make the most of their campaigns in life sciences and biotech?

Take inspiration from our campaigns with brilliant clients doing innovative work in cancer therapy, cellular technology and medical devices and discover the value of simplifying complex concepts, building a strong identity and establishing your brand as a thought leader in your field.

1. Explain the complex by making it simple

Life sciences and biotech companies deal in highly specialised technology and deep science. This is part of what makes them so exciting and innovative. But it can also be tricky to find the right balance between explaining what you do and not alienating less technically-savvy audiences in the process.

Whether your marketing strategy focuses on B2B or B2C, we advise condensing some of the complex concepts into digestible content in accessible formats. Video is a fantastic medium for this.

Think video explainers, animated shorts which break down the science behind your brand, and behind-the-scenes glimpses of the company through brief interviews with your team or a closer look at your lab.

We used this approach when working with our client Vivan Therapeutics on an animated short video introducing their technology.

Vivan Therapeutics provides pioneering personalised cancer therapeutics using cutting-edge tech developed at Mount Sinai Hospital. It was essential that the brand’s two core audiences – physicians and patients – could find out more about the work, the science behind it, and the potential benefits as both a doctor treating patients and a patient needing advanced cancer care.

The company uses fruit flies to sequence each patient’s unique tumour network, helping to find FDA-approved drug combinations, including non-cancer drugs, that improve treatment recommendations.

Animation was a helpful tool for explaining this complicated process while keeping all relevant audiences engaged with the topic. Providing multiple translations of the content also boosted accessibility, ensuring Vivan Therapeutics reached new international markets.

2. Create visually striking content to stand out

Need to capture your audience’s attention? Make your content more distinctive.

This approach is as effective for new companies bringing products to market, as it is for more established brands who need a refresh of their current approach. A skilled graphic designer can help breathe new life into your branding, creating graphic elements that ensure you stand out from the crowd.

Pinpointing your visual style into a set of brand guidelines will guarantee the content you produce is always fully ‘on brand’, and over time, help build greater impact.

Just as breaking down complex ideas into digestible pieces can be highly effective, developing a strong, clear visual identity is essential!

We harness the power of visuals when working with our client CellRev, who’ve created a unique continuous bioprocess for culturing cells, usable across multiple industries such as cultured meat and biopharma.

From striking social media posts to an upcoming trends report on the current state of cell manufacturing, every piece of content we create for the client is instantly recognisable. This focus on brand identity helps to establish CellRev in the minds of potential clients and partners.

3. Use LinkedIn ad campaigns to target your hard-to-reach audience

Digital ad campaigns are a tried and tested part of the digital marketing toolkit, but different platforms work particularly well for various sectors.

Life sciences and biotech are very well-served by LinkedIn campaigns, as they allow you to access a professional audience and target on a granular level by reaching out to specific job titles and companies.

This gives you much more control over who sees your campaign and provides ample return on investment - despite the high cost of LinkedIn advertising when compared to many other platforms.

We’ve run various LinkedIn campaigns for clients in biotech and life sciences, each time to great success, as you’ll see in our case study for Oval Medical Technologies in which we ran a highly targeted, 3-phase video campaign on LinkedIn which reached key decision-makers who were otherwise hard to reach.

For the best results, be clear on your targeting and the intended outcomes of the campaign. Focus on providing a clear CTA (call to action) and think about the kind of content and copy that will appeal to your audience.

The ability to see what is and isn’t working (and adjust where necessary) provides exactly the kind of data that marketing teams in evidence-based fields are looking for from their campaigns.

4. Showcase your thought leadership

Thought leaders are influential figures in any given field; their opinions are valued and often sought out by others working in the sector. Establishing yourself as a thought leader is a wonderful way for life sciences and biotech companies to generate more buzz.

This is a long-haul approach as it takes time to become a leader in your field. Marketing efforts can include both the company as a whole and/or highlighting key figures (such as senior management). Your bespoke approach to thought leadership might feature any combination of these tactics:

• think-pieces, social posts or newsletters highlighting key issues and opinions

• whitepapers and trend reports that emphasise your expertise in the field

• webinars and talks covering questions asked within your industry.

As a company that frequently works with life sciences and biotech companies, we’ve created and hosted specialist webinars for these sectors via One Nucleus.

Our digital events allow us to reach a wider audience and ensure organisations that would benefit from our services know more about them. Webinars provide a free or low-cost, bitesize taster of more extensive support.

For life sciences and biotech companies, they’re also a way to tell people about new technology you’ve developed and boost your profile.

Does your marketing strategy need a helping hand?

Get in touch with Sookio or check out more of our work in life sciences and biotech.