The life sciences industry isn’t particularly recognized for its digital marketing prowess.
For over a decade, I’ve witnessed many companies fall behind in their digital transformation, often due to elements that could have been avoided if addressed early on.
Of course, the life sciences industry isn’t like any other, and the strong regulatory framework that exists in this space makes it more stringent for companies to experiment with their online marketing.
But this reason alone can’t explain why the state of digital marketing in life sciences is so far behind other industries, so in this article, I’ve listed six reasons that I believe can help to understand this struggle.
Let’s look at them together.
1. LifeSci companies have a strong face-to-face business culture
The life sciences industry has long relied on face-to-face meetings to drive business. You just need to look at the giant “pharma-partnering” conventions like BIO (which have a big economic impact on cities hosting them) to understand the industry’s preference for in-person interactions.
The COVID-19 pandemic temporarily shifted these meetings online, but physical conventions quickly bounced back, even reaching record activity levels in 2023.
This deep reliance on in-person events makes it challenging for companies to see the value in investing in digital marketing.
When companies have been successful with face-to-face interactions for so long, it’s hard to shift their mindset to believe that digital marketing can bring comparable value. This resistance to change is a significant barrier to adopting new, potentially more efficient digital marketing strategies.
2. Marketing and BD teams operate in silos
Another observation I made from working with dozens of marketers over the years is that business development and marketing teams are often siloed and don’t always communicate within companies.
This seems absurd because marketing is often tasked with generating leads, while BD teams are responsible for converting them, but trust me, it’s not uncommon to find leads generated by marketing languishing in spreadsheets, never pursued by BD teams.
This inefficiency can be incredibly frustrating for the marketing team and detrimental to business growth. Life sciences companies need to foster a culture of collaboration where marketing and BD work together seamlessly, sharing a unified sales funnel that integrates both digital and face-to-face efforts.
3. Marketing is seen as a visibility tool instead of a growth engine
We don't give marketers enough room to succeed in life sciences. In many companies, marketing is often relegated to supporting roles like managing social media accounts or creating event brochures, rather than being seen as a driver of business growth.
Again, this may have to do with the fact that this responsibility is often given to business development, but the potential for marketing-driven growth is so huge that I'm still surprised that so few companies put their marketing team in charge.
Your marketing people should be in charge of growing the business; they should be aiming to create a clear sales funnel that they feed with regular leads and then nurture until a new customer enters your pipeline. If you're not doing that, you don't understand what marketing is all about.
4. LifeSci companies are afraid of sharing their knowledge publicly
There are still too many LifeSci companies that are stuck behind old-school mentalities when it comes to sharing their expertise. They refuse to share their expertise publicly for fear that competitors will steal their know-how or that potential customers will no longer need their services.
These companies will struggle to survive, because while they barricade themselves behind their opaque wall, still relying on their like-minded old customers, others aren't waiting to show the world how good they are through their educational materials.
Today, online visibility is crucial for growth. While traditional companies focus on sending BD representatives to every possible conference — I still don’t understand how some BDs manage to have a life outside of work — they can't match the reach that can be achieved online.
To get noticed, share your expertise. Write regular articles, publish white papers, and organize webinars. These are the tools that will set you apart and drive your growth.
5. The leadership is not actively involved in marketing
In many life sciences companies, CEOs focus too much on lab work or existing customers, assuming that the marketing team will handle all aspects of visibility. But they're missing a key point: they, the company leaders, are the most influential public figures, and that's something marketers can leverage.
Leaders should actively share their expertise and insights to become thought leaders in their field. Take the example of Steve Harvey, CEO of Camena Biosciences (who I interviewed here). Steve has consistently shared his journey as a biotech entrepreneur publicly, to the point where most of the company's new revenue is generated through his LinkedIn profile. That’s a model to follow.
Marketing teams can support this mission, but leaders must understand that driving the business online is their responsibility. It’s a collaborative effort, where the leader’s visibility complements the marketing team's strategies.
6. LifeSci marketers are not given the right tools to succeed
Many life sciences marketers are hampered by outdated and inefficient tools. For example, a website built on Drupal a decade ago may require expensive agency fees just to make simple edits (future website tip: if an agency still recommends Drupal, run!). This kind of setup isn’t flexible enough for today’s marketers, who need to constantly experiment and tweak the copy on their pages.
And when companies do allocate a decent budget to the marketing team, it’s too often misallocated.
Leadership might think that going digital means simply refreshing the website design. They task their marketers with commissioning a new website from an expensive development agency. Six to twelve months and €50k later, they have a shiny new site that makes little impact because design wasn’t the core issue.
Instead, companies should focus on functionality. A successful website should enable marketers to easily post content, tweak their page, and experiment with new landing pages without having to pay someone to do it.
Ultimately, their website should become an automated sales funnel, doing the conversion job on its own.
7. LifeSci companies’ copywriting is terrible
Most life science websites look the same. Companies boast about “breakthrough technologies”, “world-class services” and “100 years of cumulated experience” (gosh, I hate this phrase).
But there is no clear value proposition!
If you are a giant company with thousands of employees, a broad approach might work, but for a mid-size business, specificity is key. To stand out, you need to highlight your specific expertise clearly and concisely.
You can't claim to be the best at everything, so tell your prospects clearly and in as few words as possible what you do best.
If your message is too generic, there's no compelling reason for customers to choose you over competitors but if you’re recognized as the go-to expert in, say, regulatory affairs in cell therapy or investor relations in rare diseases, people will start to associate your brand with these specialized skills.
In short, sharpen your copywriting to convey a distinct and compelling value proposition and move beyond the buzzwords. This will help you attract and retain clients who are looking for your specific expertise.
It’s not all bleak
Despite the critical tone of this article, don’t think I'm pessimistic or discouraged about digital marketing in the life sciences. In fact, I’m very enthusiastic because there is still so much potential and so many companies that could benefit from a bit of help in this space.
Having been involved in marketing within this field for over a decade, I've witnessed significant progress. Ten years ago, many marketers were unfamiliar with even the basic concepts of online marketing. Today, it’s rare to encounter such gaps in knowledge, and marketers are much more aware of the possibilities.
So, it’s not all bleak.
The industry simply evolves more slowly than others when it comes to marketing. But this pace is not insurmountable. Most of us in life sciences are scientists by training, and learning is part of our DNA. Let’s continue learning and experimenting together to drive the industry forward.
