Clinical Development Services Company – Market Strategy & Branding
Background
Following a management buy-out, this niche clinical CRO needed a commercial strategy to place it on the map. The company was a former UK academic spin-off with proprietary imaging technology and clinical services that enabled the development of oral extended release and inhaled pharmaceutical compounds. With the departure of its highly regarded academic founders who had been responsible for driving sales, the company now needed a new marketing and sales strategy that would enable it to grow and develop its business in a highly competitive global market.
The company needed a more scalable, commercial approach to gaining new contracts. It needed clear, concise and consistent messaging about its offerings that were reflected throughout the company’s communications and selling materials including its website. Until this time, most of the publicly available information on the company had come from scientific papers and reviews written by the founders.
Market Potential?
The company had grown its business by being a niche “problem solver” for formulations issues in clinical development. The issue was: could this positioning support the company’s future business growth?
We evaluated the potential market size for the company’s existing services and found that although there was healthy growth potential for its specialist oral and inhaled drug development support services, there seemed an even greater market for “enriched Phase I services”, including rapid manufacture of early-stage formulations coupled with clinical evaluation. We based the company’s marketing strategy on these findings.
What we did next…
1. Repositioned the Company’s Services
The company changed its positioning from a niche formulation trouble-shooter to one that was more aligned to supporting mainstream early clinical development. This way it could engage with any pharmaceutical client rather than just those with problems. It could easily differentiate itself from the competition because it had formulation manufacturing and clinical testing on the same site, enabling its clients to significantly reduce costs and save months of clinical development time. It also had the capability to understand and overcome formulation problems when they arose.
2. Created a Fresh Image and New Website
We built a clean, easy to navigate website with fresh content added daily through an easy to use content management system. With the aid of search engine optimization and Google Adwords, the site was ranked in the top 5 for keyword searches relating to early clinical development and formulation issues. We steadily increased website traffic through online webinar events and email campaigns, a relatively inexpensive way to build awareness.
3. New Sales Materials
The new sales team needed to become rapidly conversant in early clinical development issues and to clearly articulate the company’s portfolio of services in order to engage with a new market and progress new business opportunities. We developed new sales support materials that allowed them to do this without relying on scientific back-up for the early introductory meetings. We developed new editorials and a constant flow of news so that there was general awareness of the company’s approach to helping early clinical development.
4. Won Prominent Podium Slots
Our tactical marketing activities included a concerted effort to gain prominent conference speaker slots, presentation of scientific posters, exhibitions, webinars and workshops which were carefully coordinated in order to give maximum impact at each event. We coordinated PR activities in order to raise awareness of each marketing event, with the announcement of new service offerings, research findings and corporate activities.
5. Monitored the Marketing Return on Investment
We put in place monitoring tools and metrics to capture information regarding the source of leads and the number and value of new contracts that were won as a result of marketing campaigns. Most of this was done with the aid of off-the-shelf tools and resources available at Salesforce.com. They enabled us to constantly review and improve on the return on investment from every marketing activity.
The Outcome?
Over the course of 6 months, visitors to the new company website increased by more than 300%. Over a third of the company’s annual turnover was directly attributed to marketing activities. The company’s annual turnover increased by 21% with an increase in profit margins of 11%. It has since been acquired and has expanded its clinical facilities.
