In an industry surrounded with fascinating developments on a regular basis, biotech corporate communications require a multifaceted approach that begins from a strong internal culture that is flexible and thorough. Companies like LifeSci Advisors can help a lot!
Team First
The communications team has to engage everyone involved, including legal and business partners whom it will be necessary to coordinate with. Before going into how to communicate to the public effectively, a few points about the internal process should be considered:
-Legal must be closely tied to the process to prevent any backlash from present or future communiques
-Communication efforts should be planned months or years into the future. This is especially important if there are…
-Investor/business partners the company is making joint announcements with. This can help create a streamlined approval process
-Have a separate committee that is dedicated to approving news releases, as this process can require a slightly different skill set. In general, keep the team small and avoid endless changes to the content.
Speak to be Understood
Although biotech news can be complicated with pesky scientific details, find a way to tell about the advantages without hyperbole or scientific language you need a degree to understand.
Also keep in mind that the target audience spans a broad, international area with differences between states and regions. Because of this, good biotech corporate communications should take advantage of the deep interconnectedness of today’s society to reach people on multiple platforms.
How to Use Today’s Media
Reaching official news channels today requires good relationships within these sources or having an agency on call that is connected to them. These channels have an endless number of requests to feature news items, and knowing the right people is one way to help get to the front of the line.
When crafting press releases or other items for news consumption, here are some tips to make them easier to digest, and therefore, easier to share:
-Keep the content simple enough for a high schooler
-Create visual analogies that relate to the company story
-Add multimedia to engage our tendency to prefer visual content
Public Preferences
No matter how sophisticated the audience, humans remember information better when it has a visual context. Add charts, data tables and images that help important highlights of the story stay with viewers.
Video and engaging infographics are another essential element to bring into these efforts. Video done right can be shared across multiple social platforms, and included in press releases.
Story is Key
The ultimate effort of all biotech corporate communications should contribute to building brand loyalty. Although the company may be putting a new product on the market, it is as much about who is marketing the product as it is about what the new shiny thing can do.
All communication channels should tell a cohesive company story that people will recognize over time from their logos, video characters or advertising personalities. Finally, the number of ways in which the public can engage with technology and view a biotech company’s message is growing. To remain relevant and connected to their audience, a smart business needs to know which channels to show up on, and continually measure the results from all media channels.