• Science
• Brand Identity
• marketing

The 4 essential laws for building strong ‘Life Sciences’ brands

The porcupine has a distinctive defence mechanism: its razor-sharp quills not only give it a more powerful presence, but also protects it from its nearest predators. Is your business not faced with similar challenges?

As life science professionals, you are continually having to find ways to defend your brand territory, having to fight for space within a fiercely competitive sector. To make things even more challenging, as we recover from the pandemic, it is increasingly important for your brand to have a more powerful voice in the market place to remain relevant in the context of the turbulence we have experienced.

To support your business with these challenges, our 4 laws of branding are an essential reminder for building brand strength and therefore increasing your market presence.

Law 1
Define your mission and never lose sight of it

What is your brand or business’s reason for being, today and tomorrow?

Think:  If your business could change just one thing in the world, what would that be, now and in the future?  It might be to be behind the next research breakthrough, or to transform as many lives as possible?

Once your mission is clear, make sure that you never lose grip of it; strong businesses rarely do.

Be more porcupine; be bold and be daring in defining your mission.

 

Law 2
Define your brand positioning in the marketplace

How is your brand perceived in the mind of your audience in relation to your competitors?

It is tempting to assume that to be heard in a crowded marketplace, you will simply have to shout louder. But instead of trying to cut through the din of a crowded room, what if you moved to a quiet one instead, in which an audience is hanging on your every word?

Positioning your brand is not about launching a new campaign, or changing your visual identity with the whims of the marketplace; it is about figuring out where you are now and where you want to be, and thinking, is this where my audience will listen?

Just as DNA guides protein expression and thereby controls much, if not all cell activity, so should your positioning guide your brand and all of your marketing activities.

Be more porcupine; they are masters at defending their own territory.

 

Law 3
Make sure your brand value proposition is unique and compelling

Great intentions are all well and good but, beyond the science, beyond the technology, what else can you offer to your audience?  What makes your product more life – changing than the others on the market? What makes it different?

Is it simply that you offer a bundle of benefits that your customers really care about that can engage them on an emotional level? Does your brand spark a true, gut feeling of optimism and hope that your competitors do not?

Finally, but just as importantly, our last law of branding; this is all about building brand personality. Personality makes your business human and, after all, there’s nothing more human than health.

Be more porcupine; puff up your quills for a winning formula.

 

Law 4
Dig deeper to discover personality traits that really distinguish your brand

Your brand personality is a collection of distinguishing traits that your business chooses to communicate to your audience.  This helps the audience build an image in their minds, which ultimately influences their purchase behaviour.

In the life science sector, we often describe ourselves as innovators.

But just calling your business innovative doesn’t mean you are an innovator… your business must behave like one and this must be communicated in all you say and do.

Also, has your business given any thought to what type of innovator you are? Are you respected for being ‘a pioneer’ forging breakthroughs within oncology?  or are you respected for being a ‘progressive’ company operating with advanced technical platforms?

Be more porcupine; define what makes you distinctive and easily recognisable.

 

If your marketing is effective at reaching your target audiences, the image in their minds will align with your business mission, your brand positioning and value proposition.

The marketplace – and world – are increasingly disruptive, but at a time when the vital role of life sciences is in minds more than ever, there is a window of opportunity to thrive.

The above are the first four Laws to making your brand truly stand out, but the work doesn’t stop here.

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