Many Life Science Marketeers come with a background in Chemistry, Biology, Biochemistry, Pharmaceuticals or in Medical Studies. They often start in Sales and get ‘promoted’ to a Marketing role. However, in their science studies, they did not obtain a Professional Marketing education.

Let me thus, clarify what Marketing IS and is NOT and share what Life Science Marketeers can learn from FMCG Marketeers:

• Professional Marketing is neither a service function to Sales nor is it just advertising or communication.

• It is a structured way of doing business that is based on Market Research to obtain a superior understanding of attitudes and behaviors of key stakeholders such as Physicians, Patients, Health Insurances, Regulatory Affairs Authorities, etc. To understand this pattern is mandatory because attitudes drive behavior.

• Importantly, within FMCG attitudes and behaviors regarding unmet needs or own and competitive products/services are identified BEFORE a product/service is launched. This verifies the business potential of changed attitudes and behaviors with a new product/service concept.

FMCG Marketing principles are crucial to Life Science Marketing because the development of products/services requires significantly higher investments and longer lead times in comparison to FMCG.  Thus, it is vital to identify and verify the business potential BEFORE the product/service development starts.

With a new product/service on hand, clear and convincing distribution & communication strategies need to be developed towards B2B and Direct2Patient target groups, followed by a comprehensive and efficient media plan, utilizing multiple communication channels.

Just approach me via ak@aklein-consult.com in case you need Marketing consultancy for your Life Science business…