Early-stage biotech is a secretive world defined by science, reputation and the sometimes eye-watering sums of venture capital money those two attributes can attract. But at some point in their development, biotechs need to step out of the shadows and engage in a typically unfamiliar activity: marketing.
Daniel Lofaso, CEO at the biotech marketing agency Digital Elevator, is one of the people who help young biotechs emerge from stealth and start to present themselves to the wider world for the first time. The motivation for exiting stealth will differ from company to company, depending on whether they need to attract investors, partners or staff, and will dictate the priorities for the initial campaign.
“The big takeaway for the emerging biotechs is to really consider the buyer persona. Who are we looking for at this stage in time, and what messaging do we need to get in front of them? It might be multiple buyer personas. It might be investors and employees and the media at the same time,” Lofaso said in an interview with Fierce Pharma Marketing.
Lofaso cites recent work with a well-funded oncology biotech as an example of how the objectives shape the marketing strategy. The biotech’s sole goal for the marketing campaign was to help land a partner. That led Lofaso to recommend setting up a website that discussed the science, pipeline and leadership team. From there, the client chose to focus on conferences and existing relationships, rather than press.
The narrow approach is indicative of how many early-stage biotechs only need a fraction of the range of marketing services that are available. Lofaso founded Digital Elevator in the belief traditional options are of poor value for companies at that early stage in their marketing.
“A lot of the big, really well known specialized biotech marketing, pharma marketing companies, they're really quite expensive, almost overly so. For emerging companies, the price point to get into marketing is pretty excessive,” Lofaso said. “Just because they have $40 million in the bank doesn't mean they should be getting ripped off, which is what I've seen from some other players in the marketing space.”