The problem with startup marketing
Welcome everyone!
I wanted to start this week’s newsletter by briefly addressing SVB-gate. It’s been a somewhat unnerving week in the startup world with the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) in the US. Fortunately, the UK arm of SVB was acquired by HSBC in a timely manner, saving many UK biotech companies. However, the long-term impact of SVB’s collapse and acquisition on startup funding remains to be seen.
With this in mind, there’s never been a better time to ensure your startup isn’t wasting money on marketing that doesn’t generate high ROI.
If you are a life science or biotech startup you will likely know first-hand how challenging it can be to navigate the world of marketing. Startups tend to have a unique set of constraints and a very specialised target audience. That combined with the reality that startups might only have one or no marketers onboard, it's easy to feel overwhelmed by the sheer amount of work that goes into building a strong and effective marketing strategy.
As a startup, you will face numerous challenges when it comes to marketing. These challenges include navigating regulatory guidelines and hurdles to effectively communicate sometimes very complex science to potential customers. There is really no shortage of obstacles to overcome but if you can find through then the rewards for your company can be huge.
That's why in today's newsletter I want to talk about some of the biggest pain points that biotech and life science startups face when it comes to marketing. So, whether you're just getting started or you're already well-established and making waves in your field, these are the most common issues that make or break success.
You don’t understand your target audience
A wise old wizard once said, "Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light."
Well, happiness is a lot like successful marketing and marketing in a startup can feel like you're navigating through the darkness without a torch. The question is, how do you find the light? Simply put, you understand your customers.
You might read this and think that you already understand your potential customers. After all, analysing your target audience was something you had to do in order to apply for funding. I think you may be surprised to learn how many companies, maybe even yours, do not leverage that same crucial information for their marketing strategy. What they often end up with is marketing that appears as though they don't understand their target customer and that's the biggest issue of all. If you fail to relate to your target customer you have very little chance of generating interest and interest ultimately = revenue.
Let's jump into some examples. If your target audience is primarily composed of scientists in academia or industry, investing in content marketing such as whitepapers, blog posts, and webinars could be an effective strategy. Scientists are usually searching for information on the latest scientific advancements and solutions to research challenges, and they are more likely to engage with content that provides value and insights.
On the other hand, if your target audience is primarily composed of procurement departments in the industry, investing in trade shows and conferences may be a better strategy. These decision-makers are often looking to connect with potential vendors and see the latest products firsthand.
Without a deep understanding of these factors, it's impossible to create effective marketing materials that will resonate with your audience. Here are three ways to overcome this pain point:
Conduct in-depth customer research - use interviews and surveys to gain insights.
Segment your market - find high-level common traits within parts of your market. Common segments include profession, salary and level of education.
Create personas - dig deep into your segmented markets with an understanding of their wants, needs and motivations.
Once you have a clear understanding of who your ideal customer is and what they care about, you can start to identify the marketing channels that they are most likely to engage with and use that information to guide your marketing strategy.
Messaging is messy and overly complicated
This is ultimately about trust. In the life science and biotech sector, trust is everything. Customers need to feel confident that your product or service is safe, effective, and reliable. This can be especially challenging for startups with no established track record. To build trust, focus on transparency and consistency in your messaging. Be upfront about your product or service’s limitations and potential risks, and make sure that your marketing materials are aligned with your scientific data.
When dealing with complex scientific concepts, it can be challenging to translate that information into a compelling marketing message that speaks to your audience's needs - especially if those customers aren’t scientists. To address this pain point, focus on the following:
Create clear, concise messaging that highlights the benefits of your product or service. If you can’t explain it to a five-year-old, it isn’t clear enough.
Speak directly to your customer's pain points - this is where your personas come into their own.
Use analogies or real-world examples to help make your product's value proposition more tangible and relatable.
You have very limited resources
When it comes to startups one of the most significant limiting factors is a lack of resources and that's not necessarily in terms of finances but is often in terms of staffing. Many startups will have a skeleton team, especially in the early stages, and while the majority will have scientists on board, scientists are not always natural marketers (I'm sure that will cause much discussion). Scientists can be fantastic storytellers, but that doesn't always translate into competent marketers.
Limited resources often mean that startups don't have the time to figure out where to spend their money. From my experience, I've seen many startups spend money on a whim on anything that they think will get fast results. Goals and objectives are changed from one week to the next because there's no robust marketing strategy in place; the reality is thousands and thousands are wasted on the wrong kind of marketing channels, ultimately making it difficult to stand out from the competition. It can be challenging to know which marketing channels to invest in but don't be tempted to throw money at every marketing opportunity that comes your way. This is not an effective approach and it will drain your resources.
There is hope!
If you've read this and it sounds familiar don't beat yourself up. Remember that you are not alone in these challenges. Reach out to other entrepreneurs or specialists in that field and seek the guidance of a marketing expert who specialises in the biotech and life science space - ideally this means a marketer who is also a scientist. That way with a little bit of diligent work and the right resources you can quickly overcome these pain points and build a truly successful marketing strategy that will drive growth for your startup.
Thanks for sticking with me! I hope you've enjoyed the content and found it helpful. I aim to support you on your journey to success, and I’m always on the lookout for ways to improve. So, what do you think? I'd love to hear your thoughts! Just hit the comments section or find me on LinkedIn and let me know what you like, what you don't, and what you'd like to see more of. I appreciate your support and feedback, and can't wait to hear from you!
In the next few weeks, I’ll be digging deeper into marketing tactics for startups and showcasing some startups that are doing marketing well.