Life Science Marketing Society

There was a time when marketing didn't really focus on competitors and strategy didn't focus much on customers.

Yet, as customers have gained access to more and more choice, marketing has been forced to focus more on how to differentiate its products from the competition and strategy has had to understand customer behaviour more to be able to beat the competition.

Terms like strategy, branding and strategic marketing are often used interchangeably. It's important to delve deeper and understand the differences between them, so as to have the proper framework for building and executing an effective marketing plan.

In this episode, we'll discuss what we've learned from Marina Hop, Founder of Viveo.

You'll discover:

- Why a brand is NOT your logo, your graphic design, or your corporate identity

- The importance of invoking emotion in branding (and why we struggle with this in life science)

- What you can learn from two life science companies who dared to be different

- How the strength of your brand affects lead to sale conversion ratios – or, why you should play the long game

In a commercial environment driven by this month's figures, it can be hard to think about next month, let alone commit to a multi-year plan.

Yet, if you want to experience content marketing success, that's exactly what you must do.

Content marketing is a winner-takes-all game. If you only put in a mediocre or sporadic effort, you won't simply get mediocre or sporadic results. You'll get NO results. Either commit 100% from the outset, or don't bother starting.

So where's the good news?

If you're willing to commit – to truly play the long game, and to see it through – you'll have remarkably little competition. The field is yours for the taking.

It’s time to either get serious or get out. Either way is better than muddling along.

If you want to get serious, we'll teach you where and how to start.

On this episode, we discuss:

- The Five Pillars of Successful Content Marketing

- The most common types of content life science companies produce, and why you absolutely shouldn't

- What you should be creating instead

- Why 99% of content projects fail

- How to achieve content marketing's exponential growth curve

Rule number one of marketing communications: have a strategy.

By having a central content hub for your company, you can build a continually appreciating asset and reap ever-increasing rewards from your communications program. All your external outreach can then link back to, feed and grow this hub.

Do you want to build something that stands the test of time, or continually fight and work and produce – just to stay in the same place?

And what are ZEISS, Leica and Andor doing that other life science companies aren't?

Johannes Amon, the architect behind ZEISS' famed marcoms success, put it this way:

"Bind existing customers, empower them to become ambassadors/evangelists/influencers for your company/technology/product, and leverage their networks to hunt down new customers."

In this episode of the Life Science Marketing Society Podcast, we discuss how to do it and where to start.

Time and time again, email is proven to be the most effective form of marketing. It's also the cheapest, and amongst the least difficult to execute.

So why aren't you paying more attention to email marketing?

We get it. It's not sexy like social. It's not stimulating like branding or graphic design. But you know what is exciting? Results. The best marketing ROI you'll ever see.

But you still have to use email in the right way. We'll point you in the right direction.

In this episode, we discuss:

- The 5 Email Success Factors

- Why using your email list as a direct sales tool is a losing strategy, and what to do instead

- The awesome power of marketing automation (when used by capable hands)

- How a lot of hard work upfront will make your life much easier in the long run

To those of us on the more creative side of marketing, AdWords can be a mysterious and intimidating beast. If you don't know what you're doing, it can also be a great way to quickly throw thousands of dollars down the drain.

Yet most life science companies have yet to embrace paid search, or appreciate the awesome power of a well-executed PPC strategy.

The playing field is sparsely populated. Yet the principles of winning with AdWords are actually quite simple. This means big opportunity for you.

What's more… AdWords is useful for MUCH more than just driving traffic to your website.

In this episode, you'll discover:

- The real purpose of AdWords

- The simple mistakes most marketers make and how you can avoid them

- How to get profitable or fail fast

- How AdWords might just be the most cost-effective market research tool on the planet (told you it's not just about driving traffic to your website!)

Is your marketing working?

The reality is, many life science marketers simply don't know. Or they don't find out the answer until they've already made large investments in time, money and resources. Maybe you've even put your neck on the line for a campaign you believe in, but your belief is founded on gut feel, not evidence.

It doesn't have to be this way.

Laura Browne describes Marketing Performance Management as "the combination of processes and technologies used by an organization to create the plans and objectives, put them into action, measure the results and feed the next cycle through insights gained and wisdom achieved". By putting this iterative cycle into practice, your marketing will get consistently more effective over time. And you'll find it so much easier to acquire resources from your boss.

In this episode, you'll discover:

- The 4 "P's" of marketing operations – and how to put them to work for you

- How to ensure you base your marketing goals on facts, not assumptions

- How to unlock your potential by allocating budgets to OUTCOMES rather than activities

The SEO game has changed. Are you staying ahead of the curve?

The path of least resistance is always the most attractive. And many businesses have made fortunes by gaming Google's algorithm.

But there's a problem…

Those same businesses get completely wiped out the moment the next big Google update comes along.

And it's harder than ever to fool Google. You shouldn't even try. What's important is to look beyond the algorithm of the day, and ask: what does Google really want?

Answer that question, and you can create an SEO strategy that delivers not just today, or the next six months – but for years and decades.

On this podcast, we'll discuss:

- What Google really wants

- Trust, Authority and Relevance: The holy trinity of SEO and how to get them

- The truth about link-building

- The importance of playing the long game

- The real dangers of "hacks" and "quick fixes"

Are your sales team always hassling you for higher quality leads? Are you under pressure to turn those leads into revenue? And do you wish you had better data all the while?

Enter the missing link between lead gen and sales: Marketing Automation.

In this episode, we discuss the presentation entitled "Marketing Automation Across the Life Sciences Customer Journey" by Christine Slocumb, CEO of Clarity Quest.

Get this right, and you'll take a massive burden of prospecting, nurturing, and chasing unqualified leads away from your sales team. What's more, you'll get the credit (and the budget to match).

Listen in and learn:

- The true purpose of marketing automation

- Why sending leads straight to sales is a huge mistake

- Why you need to play the long game

- The one thing you absolutely must do before you implement marketing automation in your business

Are new innovations selling points? What if your customers don't see the benefit in them?

Do flashy brochures help sell scientific products?

What makes you a trusted resource to your customer? And what makes you just an unwelcome interruption?

Should you be upfront with your pricing?

What is the customer experience really all about?

On all these questions and more, four scientists spilled the beans in a uniquely revealing customer panel chaired by the Life Science Marketing Society. And they didn't hold back – with either their glowing praise or their damning criticism.

In this episode, we review our findings from this customer panel, entitled "Brands We Like, And Why We Like Them". We conclude that life science marketing and sales teams need to be paying far more attention to what their customers actually want. And we give you a frank and forthright insight into their world.

Is your marketing working?

The reality is, many life science marketers simply don't know. Or they don't find out the answer until they've already made large investments in time, money and resources. Maybe you've even put your neck on the line for a campaign you believe in, but your belief is founded on gut feel, not evidence.

It doesn't have to be this way.

Laura Browne describes Marketing Performance Management as "the combination of processes and technologies used by an organization to create the plans and objectives, put them into action, measure the results and feed the next cycle through insights gained and wisdom achieved". By putting this iterative cycle into practice, your marketing will get consistently more effective over time. And you'll find it so much easier to acquire resources from your boss.

In this episode, you'll discover:

- The 4 "P's" of marketing operations – and how to put them to work for you

- How to ensure you base your marketing goals on facts, not assumptions

- How to unlock your potential by allocating budgets to OUTCOMES rather than activities