August 29- September 1, 2009

Amsterdam, Netherlands

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From reprogramming to regenerative medicine

September 2-3, 2009

Boston Park Plaza Hotel

Boston, MA

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OK, I’ll admit that I’m behind the curve on some tools that people are using to keep up with all of the information these days. Thankfully, because I talk often to people like Sally Church and William Gunn, I am persuaded to try ‘new’ (to me) tools, and one of these is Google Reader. Google Reader is a way to get updates from many website RSS (really simple syndication, see review here) feeds, which are simply a list of all of the new content on the page, be it blog posts or news updates. These days, I hear many people using RSS readers to collect a lot of information for filtering or analysis later.

I have been shocked to find that several general news and scientific publications do not have RSS feeds, although they update content regularly. This may be for several reasons–the website is built on an old platform that doesn’t support it, they may ’subscribe’ to the old models, that users must ‘pay to play,’ or they don’t consider their content to be amenable to an RSS feed.

Not only does having an RSS feed help with disseminating content to individual subscribers, but it opens up your website to all sorts of syndication. For the San Diego Biotechnology Network, I pull news from many sources, and filter, to come up with a specific news feed for the local industry. I direct anywhere from 50-300 people to the original sources every day. Sites with no RSS feed do not get covered.

For scientific news and research publication sites, this is a no-brainer–set up an RSS feed, get more traffic. Life science companies: think of the potential! Launch a new product, automatically send it to all of your subscribers without having to format a newsletter. Yes, you may already have a way for readers to sign up for email updates, but consider that due to ‘information overload’ and personal preferences, people may prefer the RSS option. Also, you’ll picked up by sites which aggregate this type of information.

How do you do it? Modern programs such as WordPress and likely the newer content management systems (CMS) will have an RSS feed by default, you just need to look for the feature. Feedburner can help too, and will also give you useful stats and a way to send email updates from your feed. I also suggest using the orange RSS symbol AND the text ‘RSS’ on your website so that people can easily find your feed. Ahem….if you’d like to subscribe to the Comprendia RSS feed, or email updates, please do!

Wade Roush wrote:

Cambridge, MA-based Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, which is developing a drug to treat irritable bowel syndrome, has collected $25 million in a new venture financing round, according to regulatory documents posted yesterday. The investors weren’t named in the documents, but Terry McGuire, a partner at Polaris Venture Partners in Waltham, MA, is listed as a board member. In May, Ironwood raised $40 million in upfront payments from Spanish development and commercialization partner Laboratorios Almirall. CEO Peter Hecht did not immediately respond to Xconomy’s request for comment on the funding round; according to Mass High Tech, Ironwood has now raised some $315 million in equity financing overall.

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We’re very pleased to announce a strategic partnership with WHITECOAT Strategies, a Washington, DC-based public relations firm specializing in the use of new media and online video for clients with innovative science, are announcing their recently formed strategic partnership. The alliance will bring integrated video, social media, and strategic PR to life science companies for the first time, allowing them to communicate important scientific concepts more effectively. Please see the full release for more information, and we’d love to hear what you think!

I’m realizing that almost every one of my post starts with ‘you may know that I’m a fan of’ and this is no exception. This post is about LinkedIn, which I absolutely love. I’ve built a great network and created groups, I keep in touch with colleagues and let them know what I’m up to. The result is that this ’soft sell’ keeps me on peoples’ minds, so that when they need my services, hopefully Comprendia comes to mind. I started to think about how my clients could benefit if they started encouraging their marketing, business development, or even R&D team members to ‘work’ LinkedIn as much as I do. Most of your customers are likely on LinkedIn, why not encourage your team to engage them there? Think about the potential for spreading the word and getting leads if everyone in your team participated. Here are some tips to guide and motivate your group.

1. Understand the ABC’s

There are many great resources to help you understand LinkedIn–see this overview, this video, and this blog that provides excellent LinkedIn advice. One of the most important things to understand, which we’ll cover in the last point, is that your team should always be cognizant of the etiquette on LinkedIn. A little common sense/golden rule goes a long way: don’t do things to others that you would find irritating. In general, the mantra is ‘it’s not all about you.’ Realize that LinkedIn, like other social media, is more about engaging people rather than broadcasting to them.

2. Build a Great Network

Everything starts with building a network. The more people you are connected to, the larger reach you’ll have. It may seem like you’re asking your team to do this with an ‘ulterior motive,’ but it’s very likely that the people they’ll be linking with will help them with their career growth in the future. Ask them to look for colleagues, ex-coworkers, friends, and to look in through their connections’ connections to find people they may not have thought of.

3. Join Groups

Joining groups has many benefits. Firstly, you’ll be able to contact anyone in the group directly. Also, you can post news to the group, and learn what is going on in the area. Here is a list of good groups to join in Biotech/Life Sciences.

Group	No. of Members
American Chemical Society	5,400
BIO International Convention	6,400
Biotech & Pharma Professionals Network	73,000
Life Science Opportunities in US	19,300
The Life Science Executive Exchange	8,400




4. Start a Group

This is an excellent way to build a community that ‘cares’ about your company and your industry. I’ve had success with the Biotech Marketing Group and the San Diego Biotechnology Network, and I am continually amazed with the quality of professionals that join the groups. It’s also an easy way to get into social media without having to make immediate changes to your website. Consider creating a group that is not expressly focused on your company. For example, if your team sells protein purification columns, create a protein purification group, and share news, events and tips pertinent to that area.

5. Interact

Encourage your team to look for ways to interact with others on LinkedIn. It could be looking through the questions and answers, commenting on group discussions, or connecting with colleagues or clients to see what they’re up to. For example, people often update their profile when changing positions, a time where they’re often looking for new providers–why not send a note to congratulate them? You’ll find that besides spreading the word, that your team will be more ‘in touch’ with what is going on in your industry.

6. Use Status Updates

A good way to keep your clients abreast of your companies’ news is to encourage your team to regularly update their status on LinkedIn. For example, they can post company news or blog posts, and even give updates on what they are doing. Of course, you need to make sure that your team is adhering to the company’s policies. Often, this is uncharted territory, but why not get the ball rolling so that the whole company can take part?

7. Find Leads

Recently I was talking to an account manager at a large life sciences company who told me that he ‘uses LinkedIn more than the company’s CRM.’ Wow. Google searches will likely give you ways to find leads on LinkedIn such as this one. The advanced search allows you to search by location, keywords, and specific groups that you’re a member of. Building a good network and joining groups increases your teams’ chances of finding good leads, as you won’t be able to find or contact people outside of your network and groups.

8. Be a Good Citizen

While you want your team to leverage LinkedIn, the absolute worst thing they can do is to give your company a bad name by not understanding protocol. Check out our post on social media etiquette for more information. In general, emphasize to your group that LinkedIn is a powerful tool which should be used but not abused to interact with your customers. Unwanted attention or posts are still unwanted, even if they come from LinkedIn, and damaging your reputation can be disastrous.




I stretched the truth a little bit when I said using LinkedIn is free–of course your employees will need to spend some time with it. I think that after they’ve spent a few hours learning about LinkedIn, and get the hang of it, that it should take no more than 30 minutes a day, depending on your goals. I suggest you have a few meetings, including some brainstorming time, and set some goals and structure for your team to leverage LinkedIn to improve your bottom line.

Want to get jump started? Contact us for a free consultation, and we can do an ‘audit’ of your company’s LinkedIn presence, make suggestions for improvement, and provide training. You can also sign up for email updates or check out our Biotechnology Marketing 101 blog often. Feel free to link with me on LinkedIn, as well, where you’ll find that I practice what I preach ;)

You are likely hearing people using ‘2.0′ as a suffix these days for anything that’s supposed to be new and improved. The term stems from the advent of web 2.0, representing more functionality and interactivity than the original ‘1.0 version’ of applications on the internet. The term is used to signify anything that is done using new web tools to improve users’ experiences or facilitate interactions between them. As we’ve seen with anything new, however, there is a lot of hype initially, and eventually the idea or technology realizes its potential. We should remember that there is still many reasons to use traditional methods to contact or meet people.

Here is a recent example. Around the same time I got an email and a phone call from two people who had almost identical requests from me regarding a partnership. I flagged the email, never got back to it, and meanwhile have met twice with the person who called me. I mentioned this to the person who called me and she said that she looked over my site, thought about it, and decided a phone call was the best way to achieve her goal. And she was right–we will likely work together since she decided to pick up the phone rather than email me.

So many people these days rely too much on 2.0 technologies to make things easy. Look people up, send an email, and wait. I am evaluating some software related to social media right now and have a few emails waiting in my inbox that I haven’t responded to. The benefit of a phone call? The account manager would have a greater chance of getting me to make a decision, and also get some feedback in the process.

I love the serendipity and community of web 2.0 and social media, but I continue to find a lot of value from ‘1.0 technologies’ such as actual events. Last week at a conference I reconnected with a woman who had attended an event I organized more than a year ago, and now we have another opportunity to work together. If I had figured this out, and sent her an email about it, do you think that would have been as effective as talking with her? Probably not.

2.0 technologies include blogs, social networks, and twitter, and they are amazing and I think they certainly deserve some hype. However, we must remember that they are merely tools which we must use in combination with others to achieve our goals. In the end, people are wading through a sea of emails–why not be ‘different’ and call them or attend an event? As most of us in biotech have a science background, we can always benefit from honing our networking and conversational skills. You should make sure your organization isn’t too caught up in 2.0 technologies, or even tools such as email, because they are new or convenient. Meeting your business development, marketing, or sales objectives means stepping back and using the proper tools, old or new.

September 21-23, 2009

Town and Country Hotel

San Diego, CA

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September 22-26, 2009

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

New York

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Voice of San Diego’s summary of Biocom’s Sept. 23rd ‘Social Media 2.0′ panel, featuring insight and quotes from Comprendia founder Mary Canady. Discusses the Biotechnology industry’s limited use of social media.

[[Click to read.]]