4 Components of a Successful Biotech Content Marketing Strategy

The biotechnology industry is in a constant state of change. Technological advancements, medical discoveries, and the continuing evolution of disease all contribute to the need for continual innovation. This has perhaps never been truer than right now, with the coronavirus pandemic driving all kinds of changes and pushing many biotech companies to quickly adapt and, in many cases, take the lead in the fight against the pandemic.

In the middle of all this transformation, the core messaging of individual biotech organizations can easily get lost. What you’ve been putting out into the world might not be reaching the right people or, perhaps worse, it might not be aligned with your company’s core mission.

Content marketing can help fix this problem. Done right, it can be a proactive way to get the right message out to your ideal audience. However, accomplishing this requires more than just pumping out a few general articles or videos. You have to craft the right content marketing strategy that will work for your biotech products. Read on to learn how you can get started.

Delivering high-quality content on a regular basis can help biotech companies do three important things: Build trust with their audiences, promote their current research and products, and build awareness around their missions. To create effective content that resonates with the right audience, however, some key steps need to be taken. Here are four components of a successful biotech content marketing strategy that can help you deliver high-quality, engaging content:

1. Personalize your brand.

When it comes to an area like biotech, it can be easy to fall into the trap of thinking that a personal approach is an unprofessional one. The content that results from this assumption is usually sterile and cold, failing to attract readers and engage them.

Far from unprofessional, making your content more personal is the perfect way to connect with your audience and build trust. Don’t shy away from showcasing the people behind the products. When visitors navigate to your “About” page, for example, are they met with corporate speak and industry jargon, or are they met with engaging information about the people and purpose behind your company?

Look at Harbour BioMed’s website for an example of personalization done right. The “About” page offers more than just a summary of the company’s work. It informs visitors about the organization’s history and offers biographical information about its management team, advisory board, and investors. The page also tells visitors about Harbour BioMed’s mission and its intended strategy to fulfill it. This refreshing level of transparency builds up consumer confidence in the company and trust in the people behind it.

2. Start with a clear goal in mind.

Not every biotech company’s objectives will be the same. Your content marketing goals will vary depending on what’s happening in the industry and the health and biotech products you’re working on. Your content, then, should be focused on those specific goals.

For example, let’s say your biotech company is evolving to support access to reliable COVID-19 vaccines. Your primary goals would likely be to build trust and showcase the efficacy of your products. If that’s the case, you should focus on things like explanatory blog posts and videos, infographics that break down the efficacy of the vaccine, and case studies illustrating your product’s effectiveness.

If you’re not sure what your primary goal is, then stop. Take a step back before you dive into content creation. Brainstorm with your team, taking the following questions into consideration:

• What are you currently working on?
• How’s it going, and are you anticipating that changing any time soon?
• Are there certain segments of your audience you’re having trouble reaching?
• Is there a lot of search volume around certain questions related to your space?
• Are there misconceptions around your products or processes that you need to address?

Once you have some answers, you can more easily define what you’re trying to accomplish through content. From there, you can start creating.

3. Speak to your specific audience.

Knowing your audience is as crucial as knowing your goals. If you start creating content designed for the general population, what you’ll end up with is a lot of time and money spent on people who will most likely never see your content, let alone become customers, investors, etc. Content marketing is most effective when it’s geared toward serving a specific audience in a meaningful way.

For example, if you’re trying to raise funding, creating content about general healthcare matters won’t get you very far. Instead, you would want to focus on topics investors would be interested in, such as industry trends and the ways your company stays on the cutting edge of those trends.

You could also try to secure press mentions to gain third-party credibility and visibility in the media, which would position your biotech company as an industry leader that investors should keep an eye on. But this type of biotech marketing strategy only comes to fruition after you figure out who you’re trying to reach and why.

4. Showcase proven results.

One benefit of working in biotech is that you most likely have plenty of stories about how your products have directly benefited users. Collect those stories and turn them into case studies. Content creation is the perfect opportunity to show the world how your health and biotech products benefit patients, medical professionals, and the world at large.

The type of case studies you want to highlight will depend on the goals you’ve set and who your target audience is. Cue Health, for instance, showcases how its products are being used to protect employees from COVID-19. Vedanta Biosciences, meanwhile, focuses on sharing clinical trial results. Whatever your objective, chances are you have success stories that can bolster it. Use them.

Content can be a profound weapon in your biotech marketing arsenal — but only if you know how to use it. By setting goals and speaking to a specific audience, you can engage your audience members and build their confidence in your products. You already know the value of what you have to offer, so make sure your audience does, too.