Life science startups often face tight budgets and enormous pressure to see a return on investment (ROI) from their marketing efforts. This focus on metrics and quicker wins often leads early-stage companies to default to ‘safe’ marketing tactics alone, overlooking the powerful role of strategic communications and PR.
For many early stage companies, a simple website is essential and becomes a relatively quick tick in the box. But with limited funds to build out further marketing with SEO, paid search and content marketing, it becomes simply a static company brochure.
While marketing with more budget can deliver visibility through lead generation, website traffic, and brand awareness, it is strategic communications and public relations (PR) that build the credibility of a company. Even in the early stages, this needs to be leveraged to gain the attention and build the trust of investors and potential partners.
The key isn't choosing between PR and marketing. It’s cleverly integrating both parts to build awareness and trust and position themselves as authorities in their fields worthy of investment, partnership, and a magnet for great talent.
Marketing vs. PR: What’s the difference?
Marketing: The visibility engine
Marketing is focused on generating awareness, leads, and tangible business outcomes. Tactics like content marketing, digital advertising, and conferences are used to drive measurable results like website traffic, email subscribers, and sales opportunities. In the run up to launch and beyond, marketing becomes the go-to strategy for life sciences companies to help them showcase their innovations and capture the attention of key stakeholders. But marketing on its own can only take you so far when it comes to building trust and credibility.
Strategic communications & PR: The trust builder
Strategic communications is the methodical approach to planning and implementing all communications activities to achieve specific business goals. It encompasses everything from the corporate narrative and messaging to risk management, stakeholder engagement and crisis planning. Part art, part science, it means carefully crafting how the company presents itself to different audiences - from investors and partners to clinicians and patients - in a way that aligns with business objectives and company values.
Public Relations (PR) is one crucial component of strategic communications. It focuses specifically on building trust, thought leadership, and third-party validation. This includes securing unpaid media coverage, such as news stories, byline articles, quotes from the CEO or founder and interviews, speaking opportunities, endorsements from industry influencers, including academic institutes and leading clinicians (sometimes referred to as digital opinion leaders (DOLs)) or key opinion leaders (KOLs). I’ve recently heard it referred to as ‘the dark arts’. But this undermines its inherent value. In media relations, the level of expertise is often pegged to the depth and quality of relationships between the consultant and the journalists. Perhaps that’s why PR can sometimes seem more nebulous compared to traditional marketing.
Credibility is not optional—it's essential, especially where new treatments and technologies can have life-or-death implications. PR done well helps shape the perception of a company and its leaders as innovative, reliable, and trustworthy partners. This is critical in the early stages for supporting relationship-building with investors or strategic partners, and further down the track for building confidence among doctors, patients, carers, regulatory authorities and future talent.
Case study: Shifting power dynamics through strategic PR
When a cell and gene therapy (CGT) company approached us at the beginning of 2025, they were struggling to secure partnerships despite their innovative platform technology. Over two months, we executed a focused media relations campaign, positioning the CEO as a thought leader in key industry conversations around CGT manufacturing scalability and next-generation delivery systems. We’ve already secured coverage in seven top-tier publications, including Genetic Engineering News and BioPharm International, with a total readership of over 1.8 million people.
The impact was tangible: a potential partner who had previously declined collaboration opportunities took notice of their growing industry presence. Seeing the CEO consistently quoted alongside established biopharma leaders shifted the power dynamics.
This heightened visibility and credibility has led to a complete reversal in partnership discussions for the company. Potential partners are now approaching them as a direct result of the strategic PR that has built the profile and positive reputation of the CEO in the cell and gene space.
Why early-stage companies need both strategic communications and marketing early on
Many early-stage life science companies face a difficult choice when allocating their limited budgets - should they focus on marketing to generate leads and visibility, or invest in strategic comms & PR to build credibility? This "either/or" mindset often leads to missed opportunities.
Unlike big pharma where marketing and communications typically operate as separate departments, early-stage life science companies have a natural advantage: the ability to integrate these functions from the start. When marketing and communications are handled by the same small team (or even the same person), there's an opportunity to create powerful synergies that larger organisations often struggle to achieve.
While it might feel like a lean approach to start with only marketing and an 'easier win' from an ROI perspective, the most successful early-stage companies find ways to integrate both from the beginning, even with modest resources. This doesn't mean trying to do everything at once. Rather, it means taking a strategic approach that leverages the natural synergies between PR and marketing activities.
Consider a startup developing a novel therapeutic. Their immediate goal might be attracting investors for their Series A raise, which requires both visibility to potential investors (marketing) and third-party validation of the team and their science (PR). By approaching these as complementary rather than competing needs, even modest investments in both areas can reinforce each other for maximum impact.
When a company is featured in a respected industry publication or the CEO is invited to speak at a prestigious conference, that third-party validation makes their marketing claims far more credible. Conversely, marketing ensures that the credibility earned through PR actually reaches the right audiences through targeted content marketing, digital advertising, and event promotions.
Another biotech startup we’re working with used their CEO’s industry media thought leadership articles to not only raise their profile in the industry, but also to generate high-quality leads for their sales team. The articles had legitimacy because they were unpaid editorial pieces, secured by the PR team. The sales team included copies of the coverage in their customer presentations, which builds trust. The credibility established through PR gave their marketing efforts an extra boost, turning casual readers into interested prospects.
Ultimately, PR and marketing are two sides of the same coin. PR builds the credibility that makes marketing more effective, while marketing amplifies the visibility earned through PR. By investing in both and aligning these disciplines, life sciences companies can create a virtuous cycle that fuels growth.
Case study: Creating a powerful feedback loop between PR and LinkedIn
An example of this integrated approach comes from our work with Seekyo Therapeutics. While the company’s CEO, Oury Chetboun, had established a strong presence on LinkedIn through regular content sharing, we identified an opportunity to amplify his thought leadership through strategic PR and media placement.
Over three months, we’ve secured eight high-profile interviews in top-tier industry publications, where he’s shared insights and perspectives on burning news topics impacting the life sciences sector, including innovation funding in France and Trump withdrawing from the WHO and the likely fallout for healthcare systems and patients.
This media coverage created a powerful feedback loop that highlighted the multiplier effect of integrated PR and marketing. The media coverage provided third-party validation, while Oury's strategic use of LinkedIn marketing amplified that credibility to his target audience. By sharing these published articles and interview quotes through his LinkedIn content strategy, Oury transformed single PR wins into ongoing marketing assets that continue to build Seekyo's authority and credibility with potential investors and partners.
This is exactly the kind of synergy that makes integrated PR and marketing so effective: each element strengthens the other, creating an impact greater than the sum of its parts.
A practical implementation guide to PR and marketing
Integrating PR and marketing may sound daunting, but there are tangible steps life sciences companies can take to make it a reality—even with limited resources.
1. Start with the strategic foundation
The foundation of any successful integrated campaign begins with two critical elements that build upon each other:
Market positioning
First, clearly define your unique position in the market. This means conducting a thorough analysis to answer key questions:
- What specific problem does your innovation solve?
- Who are your target audiences?
- What makes your solution uniquely valuable compared to alternatives?
- Where do you fit in the competitive landscape?
This positioning work creates the strategic foundation that everything else is built on.
Strategic communications framework
Once you have established your positioning, develop the narrative and messaging framework that will bring it to life for different stakeholders. This includes:
- Your corporate narrative
- Key messages tailored for various audiences (investors, partners, clinicians, etc.)
- Supporting proof points and evidence
- Tone of voice and communication style
This communications framework ensures your positioning is translated into compelling stories and messages that resonate with each audience while maintaining consistency across all channels, whether it's a media interview, investor pitch, or event materials.
2. Create an integrated content strategy
Once you have your positioning and narrative pinned down, develop a content strategy that serves the goals of both PR and marketing. Plan out thought leadership articles, case studies, and other content assets that can be leveraged across multiple channels. These can be pitched to the media, shared on your company blog, promoted through email and social media, and even adapted into conference presentations or webinars.
3. Align your measurement framework
Tracking the success of your blended PR and marketing efforts requires a well-aligned measurement framework. Identify the key metrics that matter most, such as media mentions, website traffic, click-throughs and sales or investor pipeline contribution, which can include softer metrics like conversations initiated or number of meetings booked. Determine how to track the interplay between PR and marketing—for instance, how do your PR placements impact the performance of related marketing campaigns?
Set realistic timelines for results, as the compounding effects of integrated PR and marketing can take time to materialise. We recommend that if you’re looking to raise funding, you should start your PR and marketing activity at least six months in advance. With patience and a data-driven approach, you'll be able to demonstrate the measurable business impact of this blended strategy.
4. Make the most of limited resources
Here are key areas to prioritise when working with tight budgets:
Focus on thought leadership: Develop a robust thought leadership platform focused on your company's unique expertise and innovation. Use low-cost tactics like bylined articles in industry media, guest blog posts, and LinkedIn personal profiles to establish you and your team as industry authorities. These content assets can then be repurposed for both PR and marketing purposes. A useful tip for LinkedIn is to allocate 80% of your resources to your personal profiles and 20% to your company page. People connect with other people, not brands. This is especially important in the earlier stages when your goal is to secure meetings and build your network.
Leverage existing marketing content: Look for ways to adapt your existing marketing content—such as case studies, product demo videos, and industry insights—for PR use. Industry and trade media are actively looking for feature ideas and you can incorporate these as collateral for pitches to relevant media outlets, or to help position you for speaking engagements at industry events, or share them with investors.
Prioritise high-impact PR tactics: When it comes to PR, focus on the tactics that deliver the greatest value. Targeted media outreach to a focused list of journalists, strategic partnerships with industry associations, and speaking opportunities at leading conferences can all generate significant credibility without breaking the bank.
Conduct a PR/marketing gap analysis: Take the time to assess your current PR and marketing efforts, identifying key gaps and opportunities for integration. A simple self-assessment framework can help you pinpoint areas for improvement and craft a phased implementation plan. And remember, it all starts with your corporate narrative and messaging. Is that in place?
The flywheel effect of PR and marketing
For life sciences companies, particularly early stage businesses, visibility without credibility is a wasted opportunity. While marketing can generate awareness and leads, strategic communications and PR are essential for building trust and third-party validation.
Even modest investments in both areas can yield surprisingly big results for resource-constrained companies. By aligning PR and marketing, you’ll create a powerful flywheel effect where PR builds credibility that marketing can then amplify, while marketing data informs your PR strategy and content. This integrated approach helps companies cut through the noise, reach the right stakeholders, and position themselves as authorities worthy of investment, partnership, and success.
