I’ve been having some interesting conversations about reaching individuals and groups of people lately. It seems as though psychographics and timing has more of an impact these days as there are so many ways to communicate. With the holidays fast approaching, and the flurry of activity that will likely take place in January, I thought it would be good to start a discussion on the best ways to reach people. Here are some communication tips based on our experiences.

Reaching Individuals. We’ve likely all gotten anecdotal advice from people on reaching a person they know well: “Try emailing him, he’s always online and rarely checks his voicemail.” Of course, if you don’t know the person or anyone who knows them, you might want to try a few different forms of communication and try to make a judgment on how persistent you should be. You can always ask a person shortly after you connect what they prefer, and don’t be afraid to go out of your comfort zone and embrace other ways to connect.

Communicating to Groups. In some ways this is more difficult than before, in some ways it’s easier. Before, if you could get an article published in a major newspaper or magazine, you were good as gold. Today, however, with so many choices, this is still a coup but not necessarily the way to reach your target audience. Today, a more integrated campaign encompassing several different types of media will likely be needed. Also, as we’ve discussed, the best way to reach the thought leaders in your industry is to create a community for them. Once you have this group created, communicating is a breeze, but getting to that point takes time and lots of cultivation, and I suggest you get started soon!

Choosing the Right Timing. This is important to consider for anyone you’re trying to reach. Rebecca, our Business Development Manager, has mentioned that Friday afternoon is a great time to call someone you don’t know as people seem to be more open to talking. For ‘mass’ electronic communication, the rule of thumb is to schedule emails to arrive Tuesday or Wednesday morning, as people have sorted through weekend messages and have time to read new ones. Conversely, media and bloggers are very busy during the early parts of the week, so to reach them you should avoid these times as evidenced by this post describing how to reach Mashable, one of the hottest blogs for social media.

You should also realize that in this ‘brave new world’ of communicating, you need to choose your methods and messages carefully to ensure your communications stand out from the rest. What are the best ways you’ve found to reach people? Please leave a comment below!

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Throughout my career I’ve had the need to either generate or find images to communicate science, and I actually enjoy it quite a bit. I thought it might be useful to others to provide a summary of resources. Finding and creating expressive images often inspires my blog writing, and it may help you as well. Besides helping you to illustrate your point, images get your posts recognized more easily on Facebook and other third party applications, and some blog themes work best if each post has an image.

Image Sources. Surprisingly, there are several good sources for very affordable (as little as $1), high quality images, see the table below for a listing. The easiest images to use are those which are royalty free which means you just pay one price for the image and can use it indefinitely in accordance with the guidelines provided on the site. Another option is to download images from sites such as Flickr which offer users a Creative Commons (CC) license. This license allows you to use the image for free as long as you credit the account that it came from–here is a nice example using and crediting Flickr images under the CC license. Use the advanced search on Flickr to limit your results to images with CC, and don’t use images that are marked ‘© All Rights Reserved’ as it’s illegal and bad karma.

Modifying Images. You may notice that some of the images I use for blog posts are specific to the subject, and this is done by adding text or other modifications. I’ve been using a free program called Gimp for about 10 years, and even though we have licenses and use Adobe products, I still rely on Gimp daily. It is similar to Adobe Photoshop, allowing you to create and manipulate different layers individually, a very powerful way to make custom images. It does have a steep learning curve, but it’s free and in my opinion the time spent learning it is worth it, especially if you’re on a budget. There are myriad tutorials online, just do a Google search. You should also learn about the different file types to understand how to work with them. Note: you need to save image files in the native format for the program to be able to keep the layers and change later–for Gimp this is the .xcf file.

What types of images should you use? That’s up to you, but it’s a good idea to stay consistent to reinforce the brand of your blog. On the Comprendia blog, we use simple images which have a level of abstractness–a single item or person. If possible, try to be consistent in where you place the images in posts to reinforce branding as well. We’ve summarized the list of resources below, and feel free to give us more ideas and we’ll add them.

Thanks to Holly Barnes of Eton Biosciences for sending me some of the resources for this post.

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You may have talked with or met Rebecca Watson-Beattie by now, she’s done a great job reaching out to our clients and partners. With a background in business development, sales, marketing, and science, Rebecca is a perfect addition to our team. She understands the challenges biotechnology and life sciences companies face and shares our passion to help them launch and grow. Rebecca is very organized, focused, and pleasant, and we chose her because we think she’ll really help those who work with us to thrive. Check out Rebecca’s Bio for more information, and feel free to reach out to her.

You know I am one of social media’s biggest cheerleaders, especially for life science and biotech as I see enormous potential. However, when planning a social media (SM) campaign, there are some important things to remember about what it isn’t. This list is meant to help you plan and to sell SM to your organization by understanding ways that it differs from what we might expect.

1. Instant. Social media campaigns take time. If done correctly, the end result can be worth much more than what you’d get out of a traditional marketing campaign, but it’s not like flipping on a switch. Keep this in mind during planning, and and define clear objectives for the growth of your campaign, for example number of twitter followers or increase in web traffic. Of course, your ultimate objectives are likely to increase revenue, but these are good indicators that you’re on the right track.
2. A No Brainer. You don’t have to look far to see social media campaigns that have not gained traction or have reflected badly on the company that implemented them. There are myriad consultancies who will claim that ‘it will be as easy as setting up some accounts,’ but the truth is that there is a lot of planning that needs to go into a campaign. Like traditional marketing, and in order to integrate with your existing strategy and tactics, you must understand the customer, your product’s positioning, the competition, and the tools to succeed.
3. Your Mouthpiece. It is tempting to see a large LinkedIn group or a forum as a place where you can talk about yourself or your products…for free! However, if you are only using these venues for this purpose, it will soon become evident and the group members and moderator will tire (and may banish) you. What’s better? Create your own group and cultivate a community that cares about what you care about. Follow the 90/10 rule: spend 90% of the time helping, 10% promoting yourself–if people appreciate and respect you, they’ll listen to what you say. The absolute worst thing you can do in social media is to be labeled as a spammer or as only caring about yourself.
4. A Free Lunch. Along the same vein as the usage of ‘free’ advertising such as LinkedIn groups, there are some that think that Social Media is their way to market their product for free. Now, I do think there are lots of ways that you can save money using social media, but…you may remember someone telling you that there’s no such thing as a free lunch, and SM is no exception. Your costs will likely shift from print advertising to online, and from paying fees for broadcast-type Ads (banners, etc.) to strategies, tools, and perhaps consulting for building your campaign theme and implementing it correctly.
5. A Panacea. Social media does not defy the rules of marketing or common sense. If you have a product that your customers do not need, no amount of SM will help you. What’s great about it, though, is that you’ll receive more feedback than you have ever had before, and you’ll be able to turn this information into products that your customers need.

Sound complicated? The best way to understand it is to get your feet wet and start participating. If you’d like a free consultation, we can help you better understand how to succeed in the social media landscape that your life science or biotechnology company operates in.

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Once again inspired by Sally Church, I decided to look at the Comprendia Tweet Cloud. What is that, you ask? It is similar to a tag cloud, a visual representation of words used to ‘tag’ or describe a set of entries. For example, if you save bookmarks application Delicious, you tag each with a set of words (you could use ’social media, biotech, twitter’ for this link), and a tag cloud is representative of all of your bookmarks.

A Tweet Cloud looks at all of a user’s updates on Twitter and depicts the words used most frequently, the largest being shown in the largest font. Since a picture is worth a thousand words (pun intended) look at the image to the right (your eyes are probably already there, aren’t they?).

You can see what topics dominate my tweets, giving you a snapshot of my theme or ‘voice’ on Twitter. Why is this important? If you’re using social media for business, you need to have a clear objective and ensure that your tactics align. It’s OK to add some ‘personality’ to your accounts, and talk about other things from time to time, as this helps to engage your community (and is much more fun ;). You should use these types of analysis tools on your accounts from time to time to make sure you’re saying what you need to say.

Staying true to your objectives and brand are one part of what we call a Social Media Charter™ (SMC), a plan which can integrate nicely with your current marketing plans. Like a marketing plan, an SMC uses information gained from your customers, products, and competition to outline strategies and tactics to meet your objectives. A living document, the SMC provides guidance to all who participate in your social media activities, which is needed so that your tactics can be aligned and readjusted as necessary.

Learn more on our Social Media Capabilities page and check out our blog to learn more–you can see from our Tweet Cloud that we talk about these topics quite a bit.

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It’s December and 2010 is within reach! We thought we’d provide some resources for life scientists and marketers. We’ve listed conferences on our calendar, be sure to bookmark it. Are we missing your favorite conference? Let us know and we’ll add it. Also, we’ve listed some uber life science event calendars, including the Cell Press calendar where you can let them know you’re attending and connect with others who’ll be there! Great idea. Below that, we’ve got listings for media kits for life science marketers. Again, let us know if we’re missing any information, and have fun planning for 2010!

Life Science Conferences

Here is our list of life science media kits. Marketers use them to plan their tactical schedules. Unfortunately, many are 2009 versions, and don’t list prices, but we’ve included contacts for you to get the most up to date information.

Life Science Media Kits & Contacts

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After reading a thoughtful post from Sally Church about personally reaching out to business partners during the holidays, I thought it might be a good time to give some pointers on the subject. While sending holiday cards or gifts is an excellent way to stay on the ‘radar’ of clients, potential clients, and partners, you should also carefully consider the message and the way it is delivered. Here are some tips for small companies or departments based on our experiences:

1. Compose your list. First determine how many cards and/or gifts you will send. Look through your accounting software, LinkedIn connections, your CRM, ask your team to look through their contacts, and also think about the message you’d like to send. If you want to send a ‘thank you for your business’ card, choose only clients/customers, or segment your customers, partners and potential leads into different lists. Also, you may want to send cards to everyone, and gifts only to a select few–might as well tag them all accordingly at this time.
2. Choose your cards. There are myriad companies who will customize cards for you, but you really should order them soon and be cognizant that cards that arrive past Dec. 15th (roughly) are in danger of being forgotten. You can also consider sending e-cards, a more expeditious option which sends an ‘earth friendly’ message about your company. In my opinion, it is best to steer clear of religion–even Christmas trees can be offensive to some people. This is certainly up to you, just a recommendation, and sending ‘Peace on Earth’ or New Year cards is always a good option. Cards that match your branding or using your company font will help to subtly reinforce your company identity, but don’t overdo it as they may appear too much like marketing materials. A photo of your team is easy to include and adds a personal touch. You can also hire someone to design cards for you, but this takes a bit more planning–mark your calendar for October of next year if you want to plan for this.
3. Customize your cards. In my opinion, it is acceptable to send cards with a printed message and it looks professional. You should use this opportunity to send genuine well wishes, not to promote a product or talk business. All businesses are made up of people, this is a good time to take a step back and remember that, and be thankful for the opportunity to work together. For more personalization, pass the cards around your office for signatures from your team members. This also helps the team to think about the greater ‘environment’ that your company operates in.
4. Choose gifts. You may want to send gifts to some clients or partners. Surpisingly, this may take less planning than cards, as they come straight from the company and the cards are not normally hand signed. Harry and David is a favorite of mine, or you may want to choose a local source which will be more representative of your company. Your clients and partners may even start look forward to receiving your gifts year after year if they are unique enough.
5. Deliver. If using mail, this is a no brainer, just remember the Dec. 15th ‘rule.’ Also, if you have local clients/partners, hand delivery of gifts can be a nice touch, and a way to connect with people face to face before the holiday break.

In summary, holiday cards should be considered a ‘no business allowed’ way to engage your clients and partners and truly thank them. They are a reflection of your company, and if done well they can be considered one of your yearly ‘assets.’

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If you’ve been paying attention, you may have noticed that I’ve gotten quite a lot of ‘mileage’ out of social media and blogging. I’ve gotten loads of complimentary passes to conferences, pieces published in notable blogs, and even an H1N1 vaccination last week (long story, and thanks to the Mission Valley Medical Clinic).

I was talking to my sister about how bartering is ‘back in vogue’ now that companies have fewer financial resources, and she pointed out this is how some commerce was done in the early days in America–pay your doctor with a dozen eggs. This is a great way to do business in the new ‘outsourced’ economy, but you should remember that maintaining a good reputation is more important than ever, and that bartering should be done carefully so as not to abuse your relationships.

How do you leverage your skills to garner resources from others? For me, the blogging angle has worked well, mostly because I have some credibility and a large network, I like to write, and there is a real need for good content. In short, the key is to find someone that values and needs your skills and knows you, knows of you, or knows how to find out about you. Social media to the rescue…a strong online presence and network certainly helps! Also, nothing gives you a ‘channel’ and platform for your efforts more than starting a blog, check out our post on WordPress for more information.

The new ‘barter economy‘ is part of a larger trend in which companies collaborate more, covered well in the book What Would Google Do. Google, in building their business, realized that companies that collaborate get more done with less. You might even decide that giving away some of your services for free might benefit you in the long run, a theory that the book Free describes (and you can get Free for free here). The idea is that by providing your services free, and getting your work ‘out there,’ you’ll benefit so much from the exposure (and perhaps karma/future business from the receiving company) that it will be worth the initial expense.

Although bartering is a great way to get the things you need on a tight budget, you should remember that you must be willing to deliver the goods, service, or karma and make sure that your bartering partner is happy with the results. Always keep in contact with, and even reach out to, those you want to partner with. Not delivering on bartered goods or services can be just as bad as failing to provide paid for items, even if there is no contractual obligation. Having a reputation of ‘never giving, always receiving’ can be a black mark that you will not soon be able to erase, especially in today’s uber connected business world.

Take home message? Be creative and realize you may be able to get things you need from others by proposing that you barter. Take advantage of the new ways to connect and communicate and realize that they mean that your reputation is more important than ever.

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While preparing a ‘Social Media 101′ presentation, I started to think about an analogy for growing a network to planting a seed, and it fit really well. A well cultivated social media network can be like a crop of plants that ‘do the work’ for the farmer. Remember, however, that the success relies on the farmer’s knowledge and hard work. If properly cultivated, however, social media networks can be a very powerful way to engage your customers and worth more than any type of broadcast advertising you can pay for. Personally growing social networks has taught us some things that may help you, so here are our guidelines for success.

1. Know your seed. We all know that plants grow in certain conditions, and this is the first consideration to be made. Choice of the soil, sunlight, and season are all important and based on the type of seed you’re planting. For social networks, you must consider what types people you’d like to help you grow your network. What do they like, need, and how can you reach them? Knowing your ’seed’ means doing market research, which may include interviews/polls and some legwork to understand how your potential participants are currently interacting online. Also, make sure that you’re not growing the same crop as your neighbor–a ‘me too’ network is not likely to have as much success.
2. Plan your crop. Based on the seed, you must come up with an overall plan to grow it. For social networks, this means finding a theme which will resonate with the people you are trying to engage. For example, with the San Diego Biotechnology Network (SDBN), our theme is increasing communication among local scientists. Our members care about the cause, and they get something out of participating (e.g. networking), so they are happy to be a part. You should consider that whatever your personal/business passion or goals are, the theme of your network must be something that will resonate with others. For example, if you sell protein purification products, chances are you’ll have a hard time using them as a theme to motivate (few products have a following like the iPhone). However, you may be able to choose something broader, such as ‘advancing protein purification methods,’ as a theme. Also, make sure that your theme aligns with your objectives–a farmer grows a crop that will help him feed his family, you need to do the same. Otherwise, you’ll find that you don’t have time to maintain it. A good network benefits everyone, and if you make your identity and objectives clear, you have a good chance of succeeding.
3. Find the right plot and soil. Also based on your research of the ’seed’ you must pick a venue for growing your network based on their interests and habits. Are your participants young? Facebook is probably a good bet. Professionals? Use LinkedIn. Also consider that seeds may not germinate if the conditions are unfavorable or they don’t have the energy to break out of their shell. In a similar way, creating a network which requires too much effort to join (e.g., requiring a login) may not work well. Also consider that you must have a significant number of participants before a network is useful (the so-called network effect), so using a venue that already exists has its benefits. We started the SDBN on LinkedIn, but realized that Facebook may be accessible to some of our members, so we also have a page there. Thus, we ‘transplanted’ part of our network there (I could make these analogies all day ;).
4. Fertilize. Like plants, your network participants must be given what they need to grow. Based on your research, this can be content, discussions, or anything else that will engage them and help them to connect with each other. A great book on this is Seth Godin’s Tribes which talks about several groups which have been brought together towards a common interest, or even company/product line (Apple), and how these groups were ‘fed.’ As with the theme of the network, you may need to think outside of your companies’ products in order to engender loyalty. We have a 90/10 rule that we abide by, which follows. If you provide your participants with useful resources not related to your products 90% of the time, they’ll gladly put up with a ‘plug’ for your products 10% of the time (similar to the way we include a call to action at the bottom of many of our blog posts here, but most of the post is designed to help you). Also, your products help your customers, and they will want to hear about them and give feedback to help you improve them as well. We’re all interested in getting better tools, so if you frame your ‘plugs’ correctly, you should be fine.
5. Cultivate. Farmers need to make sure their crops are thriving, and make changes if they are not. In a similar way, you must monitor your network and its growth so that it thrives. If it is not growing, ask members what you can provide to motivate them to participate. Got someone spamming the group? Weed them out. You don’t have to look far to see social networks that have been abandoned because they have not been cultivated and have not grown. If done properly, however, your seedlings will mature and spread their seeds (are you tired of this metaphor yet?).

Want to get started? Contact us for a free consultation, we’ll use our experience and existing life science networks to help you come up with a winning plan, er….crop.

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You are likely in the throes of determining your 2010 marketing plans and budgets. How should you budget for social media? We’ve been asked this a few times and thought we’d give you some guidelines (of course we have ulterior motives because we want you to have a budget for Comprendia’s services, but as long as we’re clear on that ;). Here are some guidelines for budgeting for social media in your life science marketing plans. Social media takes time to cultivate, and there is every indication that customers now expect to be engaged with these tools, so why not get started now? Here are the items we think you should consider adding, increasing, or adjusting in your 2010 budget:

1. Web 2.0 Upgrades. We’ve written about life science companies and social media, and many of you are just getting started in this area. One of the first steps is to move towards a more dynamic, engaging website. What does this mean? Think about websites like Amazon.com and Facebook, which give users a customized experience when they visit your site. Invitrogen now has user ratings for products, similar to Amazon. Don’t think that you have to jump in with both feet, however, and build something too fancy. You can start with simpler things like polls, resources, or news feeds which will help your customers feel engaged. Adding a blog or forum is likely more easy than you think, ask us or your web team about the budget for these types of upgrades.
2. Training. From strategies, to etiquette, to tactics, this should be a significant consideration for your budget. A social media strategy needs the participation of people inside of your company to succeed. For this to happen, everyone needs to be clear on the messaging and guidelines. There are infamous stories of missteps companies have made that have been devastating for them. Training on etiquette and procedure will prevent your campaign from going viral in a bad way. Make sure that you hire trainers who know your life science customers, as there are myriad social media ‘experts’ available who will likely provide general training which is already available in many forms on the internet.
3. Content. A good social media strategy requires producing more content than you may be used to. For example, newsletters that adhere to the tenets of social media aren’t simply lists of new products, but are more rich resources which help customers with their broader needs. More time will need to be budgeted to create this content. By being creative, and assigning someone who will be the social media champion for your organization, you can likely find content that you can repurpose, which may save some time.
4. Redistribution of Existing Budgets. Have you noticed that banner Ads and email blasts just don’t have the impact they used to? You may want to consider turning some print and online advertising into social media campaigns. This budget shift may mean shifting paid-for services such as Ads into additions to headcount to create strategies and content. Of course, outsourcing is a good way to get started.
5. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) & Other Search-based Advertising. A big part of moving away from ‘broadcast’ advertising is to help people to find you, or pull them in, rather than ‘pushing’ your information to large groups of people who don’t necessarily want it. You’ll need to make changes to your website content to help search engines find you as well as invest (more) in paid search advertising like Google Adwords. As with most other areas of social media, you’ll obtain useful information from these tools, as you’ll be able to see what people are searching for and adjust your product offering accordingly.
6. Outside Consultants. OK, you knew this was coming. While social media will likely ultimately rely upon your existing staff, you’ll need help developing a Social Media Charter™, with training, and with content. Social media likely requires a change in mindset for your organization. Comprendia is the only company that is integrated with the life scientist social media community, and we will use our knowledge and vast network to help you to hit the ground running. If you feel as though you’re a ‘lone voice’ in your organization, trying to get traction for social media, we can help as well, as we have talking points that will help you communicate the importance to your upper management.

How much should you budget for these items? We can help you with a free consultation and also give a short presentation which will help you to ’sell’ social media to your organization, if needed. We have great examples specific to life science and biotechnology that will make social media tangible to your staff and also inspire them to be creative and participate. We also have the resources to successfully implement your plans in 2010, helping you to increasingly engage your customers and provide the resources and products they need.

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