2. Selling life science product is not that different from selling a cereal Understand the customers’ buying behavior Brand power: advertisement, exposure, words-of-the-mouth Random tried-and-true: found it by chance, for instance via Google, it worked so sticked with it Cheap price Cheap price should NOT be our strength, it is a weakness. Competing on price is a race to the bottom. Customers have NO loyalty to cheap products and will go to the next cheaper one in a heartbeat. Brand, Brand, Brand!
3. Branding takes efforts, but we can do it Company/brand/product position statement Send a strong, as well as consistent, message Marketing creatively So what shall we do, Really?
4. Operational Plan Company/brand/product position statement A clear position statement that answers how we are differentiated from our competitors and why customers should choose us. Do Not Say “Cheap Price”! Simply put, find an angle. Suggestions: we have largest collection of biosamples The position statement is notfor customers to see, but all of us in the company should think long and hard.
5. From the position statement, Send a strong, as well as consistent, message A single, memorable phrase that reflects the position statement, will be in all marketing materials and customer communications. It should be concise and linguistically friendly. Then Repeat, Repeat, Repeat! Suggestions: BioChain, Partner for integrated biosample solutions
6. Marketing creatively - Journal advertisements - Professional meetings & vendor shows - E-marketing - Direct-to-consumer/Customer education - Social networking - Promotional campaigns The first two are proven effective and we will continue doing them. Note: online ads on journal sites Bennette inspired me when once she said, “there are so many easy, and even free, things we haven’t tried yet.” The rest four are things of this sort and I will focus on them.
7. E-marketing New and improved company website!!! Google adwords Keep sending newsletters to existing customers Send newsletters to targeted, potential customers. For instance, frozen tissue product newsletter sent to university department of pathology faculties (many pathology faculties have publications based on tissue studies) Feature products on related websites: protocol-online (12 products listed, will list more, free), IHCWorld (1200+ product will be listed, ~$800 a year), Immunoportal (will contact). Find more websites to feature our products.
8. Direct-to-consumer/Customer education Go to bay area academia and host tech workshops, for instance “Bioassay kits from BioChain”, “Sample preparation technology of BioChain”. This is a higher level of marketing and brand building. Bennette and I have talked to UCSF already and they welcome such event. May cost $200-$500. An alternative is to host online webinars. This allows us to reach customers we can not physically go see.GoToWebinar.com gives a 30-day free trial, unlimited webinars, up to 100 attendees. We need to shoot videos for webinars. Theses videos could later feature on our own website.
9. Social Networking Feature a blog on our new website, hosted by our scientists (Victor maybe), theme “Having fun with science”. Input new product launch, experiment updates, etc. This serves as a direct, less formal, modern connection with customers. Similarly, set up a BioChainfacebook page Sponsor bay area academia with student activities, like seminars, summer bbq, etc. Create an image of community involvement.
10. Promotional campaigns Include a promotional flyer for related products in every shipment. “Exchange for Green” campaign: Ask consumer to send us their empty PCR reagent tubes for recycle, and in exchange we will send a sample of our PCR reagents to them. The purpose of this campaign: 1, create a green brand image of our company; 2, discretely discover what consumers are using; 3, get them to try our reagents. Think creatively! What other enticing campaigns can we do?
11. Track performance All marketing activities should have a defined time frame and performance track. Be flexible and adjust when necessary.
