Comprendia is dedicated to improving communication in life science and biotechnology, and towards that end we are big proponents of social media. Our Social Media for Life Science and Biotechnology Workshop 2: The 4 B’s of First Party Applications interactive webinar will take place July 28th from 8 a.m.-12 p.m. Pacific Time. During this four hour workshop, you’ll learn how to build web 2.0 applications including blogs, forums, wikis, and how to generate meaningful content for life scientists. For each strategy or application, you’ll learn the 4 B’s crucial to attracting scientists and achieving a good ROI: the Basics, Benefits, Best Practices, and Biotech Examples. Register here or contact us if you’re interested in a private or customized version of the workshop.

We also offer training for social media applications such as Twitter, WordPress, LinkedIn, and Facebook, check out our Social Media Training and Workshops page for more information. We can also customize the training for your business, contact us for more information.

I have blogged at the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) convention for three years now (see posts here), and I am always very grateful that they give me a pass in exchange for blogging. It’s a great experience for me all around–learning, meeting, and getting exposure for Comprendia and the San Diego Biotechnology Network. You may have heard that this year the media, including me, were shut out from the keynote sessions featuring Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Al Gore. I was incredibly disappointed as two of these are big heroes of mine (I’ll let you guess which ones). Two of my friends/colleagues gave feedback: Christiane Truelove and Mike Spear. I recently wrote an open letter to life science conferences with suggestions for improving them, and wanted to give an update and some examples specific to the BIO 2010 convention and how it could be improved.
Improve website information. It is very difficult to find information on the BIO 2010 website. For example, I was interested in finding all of the attendees from San Diego at the conference, and this was near impossible. Instead, I had to look up or go to individual breakout sessions to find them. There are super sessions, breakout sessions, business development presentations, and partnering, and with an estimated 13,000 in attendance, I’m sure I only met with a fraction of the San Diego companies in attendance. BIO sets up a great interface for partnering and searching, but this is an additional cost, and what happens to it after the conference? I suggest opening that up in an interface that is available year round to facilitate more interaction and to help the media give more intelligent coverage of the industry.
Choose keynote speakers who ‘get it.’ We don’t really know why the media were excluded from the keynotes, but some speculated that the speakers give ‘canned’ presentations at each event, and don’t want reporters making this information public. Others commented that the Bush/Clinton appearance was more of a ‘Mutt and Jeff’ show than a serious discussion about biotechnology (I heard Bush made up a new word which I’m sorry to have missed). Regardless of the reason, isn’t one of the major objectives of BIO to get the word out to the public that important people care about biotech, and have messages for the outside world? Having keynote speakers who do not allow media coverage would seem to only have the benefit of attracting BIO attendees. In the future, I suggest inviting speakers who are not only famous, but who can be the advocates we need.
Take good care of the exhibitors. There is no doubt that the choice of non-media friendly keynote speakers affected the coverage of the conference, and don’t forget that the exhibitors pay dearly to be at BIO. This event is their big chance to get news out, whether they’re a biotechnology company or cluster. Anecdotally, I heard that ‘the big media names were not at BIO this year,’ which is a bad sign. As part of the media, I got a flurry (maybe 50?) emails from exhibitors and followed up on very few of them. Also, of the projected 13,000 who attended BIO this year, how many spent a lot of time in the exhibit hall? I’m betting only a small fraction, as several exhibitors commented that the meeting was slow. By most accounts, BIO is becoming more about the partnering meetings than the exhibit hall, but will this be sustainable? Related to this is the comment about making the website more interactive and opening up the partnering interface to all. More access to information helps everyone.
Leverage the media. Related to this last point, if indeed the professional journalists are becoming less interested in BIO, help bloggers like myself to cover the event more fully. I suggest you employ a team of bloggers who start six months before the conference, planning in depth coverage of different aspects. Think about it, you’ve now got some control of media coverage, the opportunity is golden, and will give the BIO site search engine fodder for many months after the conference is over.
Ride the social media wave. It must be said that BIO appears to want to ‘turn on’ social media shortly before the convention so that it can be leveraged only when needed. For example, a flurry of meetup invitations were sent about a week before the convention–these groups need to be cultivated year round. The efforts they’ve undertaken are great, but they’re just scratching the surface. The image on the right of this post is the word cloud of the BIO2010 twitter stream. Check out the twitter hashtag search, we counted around 50 people tweeting about BIO 2010, or 0.4% of the estimated 13,000 attendees. Imagine the power of enlisting just 5%, or roughly 10 times that amount. The BIO coverage would be fantastic, allowing those who couldn’t attend, or even those like me who were busy the whole time and did not even see a small fraction of the conference. Think it will result in less people attending? That thinking is so outdated. I can guarantee you that even this minuscule coverage made more people think about the convention than before, when perhaps more official, ‘sterile’ coverage was the norm. BIO will continue to own all of the official recordings of the meetings, and if anything, they’ll sell more copies due to piqued interest (although I would argue that the entire conference should be ustreamed live).
Help us help you. Yes, the media was very frustrated with BIO 2010. I think it was partly personal, as we were treated like outsiders, but realize that all of our careers depend upon heavily the success of biotechnology. If BIO is not taking every opportunity to communicate biotechnology to the public during this convention, can we count on them to be an effective ambassador year round? We are very eager to help BIO with its objectives, because we care about the cause and also our livelihoods. I hope that this blog post is seen as a constructive effort to visualize how we can all work together to make biotechnology as an industry as successful as it can be to heal, fuel, and feed the world.
To share this post easily, cut and paste: Constructively Deconstructing the #BIO2010 Convention http://bit.ly/dBMjw7

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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Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) International Convention

May 3-6, 2010 McCormick Place Chicago, IL

[[Click here for more information.]]

On November 14th, Comprendia Founder Mary Canady will be presenting an overview of San Diego Biotechnology at a local symposium geared towards life science postdocs and hosted by UCSD, The Scripps Research Institute, and Burnham Institute. Dr. Canady’s career, first as a local researcher and now as a small business owner working with biotechnology companies, gives her a unique perspective on transitioning from science to business. Check out the website for more information and to register.

If you’ve been following along with the Biotechnology Marketing 101 blog series, you know that we provide guidance for life science and biotech companies to start and grow. We’re taking this from virtual to IRL (in real life ;) at our October 29th Bootstrapping Biotech event with the San Diego Biotechnology Network. We’ve lined up some excellent speakers who will cover everything from getting funded to strategic and tactical marketing and social media for your company or products. We’ve had a lot of interest so far, even outside of San Diego, and really think that a lot of great, synergistic connections will be made at the event. Even if you don’t work at a small company, we think you’ll be able to learn and meet those who can help you make the most out of your marketing budget. As always, we’re open to feedback as to what you’d like to see–leave a comment here or on the SDBN site.

By now you likely know that I am a big fan of Seth Godin. Seth started talking about the principles of ‘Permission Marketing‘ ten years ago, before the rest of us caught on, and he continues to lead and give us great food for thought. In his book Meatball Sundae, he describes the current marketplace as one where large organizations, or ‘gatekeepers,’ no longer control what we see and do. For example, the ‘big three’ US TV networks can no longer dictate what we watch every night–there are myriad choices on cable TV and the internet. To stand out, your product needs to be remarkable in order to be noticed and remembered in this marketplace.

To me, a good analogy is that great burger that you’re thinking about right now. You remember it because the restaurant took the necessary steps to make it taste better than the average burger, to make it remarkable (your mouth is watering right now, isn’t it?). Perhaps they even took a risk to make you remember it–there’s a local joint that serves a burger with peanut butter and bacon, and it is good and certainly memorable (from what I remember, I’m a vegetarian now ;).

Don’t get me wrong, restaurants and other companies have always tried to make great products that are differentiated. Now, however, it’s not as easy for the bigger companies to retain customers with the same old, same old, simply relying on distribution channels and branding to succeed. In addition, this means that smaller companies can now have a greater reach by using new tools and having remarkable products.

How is this relevant to biotech and the life sciences? I’ve seen a few larger life sciences companies rely on the fact that they have the resources and the distribution channels to reach customers. Why be remarkable? However, even 5 years ago, these companies started to see the effect of the smaller, internet-savvy companies, who could sell research tools directly to scientific customers, eating into their market share.

How have the big life science companies responded? As with other industries, mergers and acquisitions appear to be the current focus, and I have not heard much buzz about a particular product or technology lately (feel free to prove me wrong by leaving a comment below). However, in the biotech/life sciences news category, there is something remarkable: new entrant Xconomy, who consistently provide insightful news focused on the biotech/tech clusters.

To compete in this new marketplace, I would challenge you to consistently ask this single question throughout product development: Is It Remarkable? What qualities does the product have that will make customers remember it and even talk to their colleagues about it? Does it save them loads of time? Give them clearer results? Give them information they couldn’t access before? All are ways to be remarkable in the life sciences.

Of course, as with anything else that will yield great results, it takes more time and creativity, but you’ll find that a remarkable product pays you back many times over, as it becomes something that your company is known, sought out, and remembered for. I was recently at a talk in which the introduction of Topo cloning products, which were truly remarkable, was presented as a major milestone for Invitrogen/Life Technologies, even though this happened more than 10 years ago. For life science companies, being remarkable often requires acquiring unique technologies from small companies or universities, and with the slow economy, the time may be right to get some gems.

Need help determining whether your products are remarkable? With years of life science experience, we can help you determine that, and help you to acquire the new technologies you need to create and position your products in this new, more competitive landscape. Sign up for a free consultation, and start being remarkable!

A friend told me she saw a story on NPR about gaps in coverage of events in Afghanistan because so many news organizations are suffering and can’t afford as many reporters in the different regions. Hopefully, this is just a temporary situation, and changes in the media landscape will eventually mean more coverage, but it made me stop and think about news in the biotech and life science industry. With fewer resources, some news organizations have resorted to simply reprinting press releases rather than adding value by selecting truly newsworthy releases, and/or editorializing to put the information in a broader context. I have watched this firsthand as the San Diego Union Tribune’s biotechnology section has changed significantly over the last year, as changes in personnel have taken place.

The result? A sea of press releases, each told from the company’s perspective, touting their company or new product as the best thing since sliced bread. Who will listen or care? Fewer than you think, as we all are confronted with much too much information these days. Anyone can send a press release these days, and that means that everyone does. Comprendia monitors the web and social media activity for the major life science brands, and has found that these verbatim press releases make up a significant amount of the online ‘news’ from these companies.

What is the solution? If you’ve been reading the Biotechnology Marketing 101 Blog, you likely know what’s coming next, as it’s a common theme (some would say it’s our soapbox ;). Today’s environment requires that you build a community that will care about your news or product launch. A newsletter is a great first step, but let me ask you: how much of your newsletter is simply focused on your company and products? This limits your reach substantially. For example, let’s say you sell columns for protein purification, and your newsletter reflects this very narrow field. Your customers will see you in this small area, stifling your opportunities for growth. Think about the potential to grow by creating a general protein purification blog or newsletter, providing tips and resources that are not always directly related to your products (as we’ve discussed earlier). Besides widening your customer base, you’ll get feedback from customers not only about your core products, but also about upstream and downstream applications, allowing you to move into new product areas. Becoming the resource for a more broad area also helps you to be found by search engines, and your readers may even be so zealous that they pass the information on to colleagues.

The community you build will feel as though they are a part of the product development process, and will truly care about your product launches. While this type of marketing appears to take more time and effort, you’ll find that not only does today’s environment require such an approach, but that it is more beneficial for all involved. In effect, the crowd has spoken and, they want and need this type of interaction from you. Need help? We’d be more than happy to help you get started, sign up for a free consultation.

How do you ‘turn on’ social media to achieve your career and business goals? I see many wanting to do this because they see such a great potential to benefit from it. I see individuals and companies begin a social media program and from their actions, sometimes it appears as though they expect to be able to ‘turn it on’ like a light switch. Is this how social media works? Not really.

Social media campaigns rely on an establishment of a network or a group of people who are interested in hearing your message. If a company or individual does not have this network built, the results can be disappointing and even damaging. Take, for example, having a blog. If you don’t have relationships with people, who expect that you will updating your blog regularly, who will read it? You could buy an email list to promote it, but how is that different than spam? You’ll likely get a poor response, and you might irritate those who you ‘blast’ with the information. Etiquette is very important in building relationships.

So, how do you ‘turn on’ social media? There are few shortcuts, but let’s look at what you have to begin with. Many life sciences companies already have an e-newsletter. You can expand upon this content to create a blog, using a ‘social media charter’ and learning from other life science company blogs as we discussed in a previous post. If you are an individual, grow and utilize your existing network to point them to your blog or whatever media you’d like. Provide value, and continue to ‘pay it forward,’ and you’ll build a great network. It’s likely you’re already providing something customers or your personal network needs, it shouldn’t be hard to find other things that help them as well (e.g., lists of resources, reviews of conferences and literature). Social media works best when you use different tools together–you’ll reach different people and may find different results. For example, some people love RSS feeds, and some never bother with them–provide links to them, but also rely on other ways to get the word out.

Realize that you need to start ASAP to turn on social media, as building a base requires time. Don’t expect immediate results. Do expect, however, to obtain lots of metrics on your customers’ needs and that eventually you will have tools to use with an audience that wants to hear from you. You may know the feeling of buying an expensive Ad that did nothing for you, and never knowing why. After you’ve ‘turned on’ social media, these mistakes won’t be as costly, and you’ll even be able to test different strategies and tactics quickly. (Hint: this is a great way to sell social media to your management!)

How do you get started? We’ll continue to cover social media in our Biotechnology Marketing 101 Series, and you can always contact us for a free consultation.

When I started Comprendia little over a year ago, I actually had some doubt as to whether WordPress, a software popular for blogging, could be used to create my entire site. With the knowledge I had of web programming and WordPress, some through my personal usage, I quickly developed a branded, web 2.0 site. Now, it appears to me as if WordPress is taking over. If you look closely, you’ll see many websites are using it. Several nice examples of corporate WordPress sites exist here and here.

Why is WordPress so great? It has a highly customizable front end, with a user friendly back end as well. This translates into professional-looking websites which can be easily edited by non-professionals. This combination creates the potential to make businesses of all sizes more functional on-line and responsive to their customers, even if they choose not to use WordPress blogging feature. It is a stellar example of open source software, meaning that developers literally all over the world have written ‘plugins’ and ‘themes’ for it, making it infinitely customizable. Using it, I created the Comprendia site and the SDBN site quickly. Both are branded sites with many web 2.0 features, and I am able to quickly change content. Additionally, search engines LOVE blogs and WordPress can be configured to dramatically improve your ranking, which I’ve used to quickly reach the first page of results for terms that I think are important.

What does the ‘WordPress Wrevolution’ mean for life science/biotech companies? For small companies, it means you can set up a professional looking website with an integrated blog, and it can be branded and doesn’t have to look like open source software. Interesting scientific news and articles can easily be fed into your site, adding functionality and content. Your site can easily be integrated with and leverage other social media, creating a comprehensive strategy gain exposure and new customers. Mid-size life science companies Accelrys and Promega use WordPress for their blogs, even Johnson & Johnson’s JNJBTW blog uses it! Hopefully, this embracing of WordPress means we’ll see more blogs and interactivity from biotech, life science, and pharma companies in the future. Currently, as we’ve covered, the number of blogs from our industry is very small.

My niece Anne is doing a ‘virtual internship’ with me this summer, and some of this includes learning WordPress so she can update the Comprendia and SDBN sites. Typical of her generation, I asked her to do it, and although she knew little about it to begin with, she told me you ‘just have to figure it out’ and picked it up quickly. We can all learn a lot from her attitude, and realize this ‘just do it’ mentality is all we really need, regardless of whether we ‘grew up’ with Facebook.

How do you get started? Check out the links below to get your feet wet. While we encourage you to try it yourself, we can also help you to create a branded and unique website and blog, or integrate a blog with your existing website. We work with a team of designers and developers, and together with you we’ll create a site that will help you to grow quickly. Contact us for more information, check out our Biotechnology Marketing 101 blog series, and sign up for updates via our RSS feed.

WordPress Resources

Special thanks to Anne Warner, student at Indiana’s Taylor University, for composing this list. You can follow Anne on twitter at @anwarner. This is Anne’s ‘Summer of Social Media.’ ;)