Life sciences is an extremely broad umbrella term used to cover a range of fields and industries that deal with studying or extracting benefits from living organisms. In the context of products and services, any of the following could fall under life sciences:
The above, however, is by no means an exhaustive list.
Marketing products and services in this industry, especially online, can involve pitfalls not present in other sectors such as SaaS. Regulations exist to ensure that companies do not advertise health benefits in a way that is deceptive or ambiguous. Additionally, Google views content about such things with more scrutiny, and will penalise content that misleads the reader.
If you are a B2B organisation operating in this sector you may think this is less applicable to you, as you are not selling to the general public. However, these restrictions often apply even if you are only selling to other businesses.
Digital marketing can provide excellent results for B2B companies in life sciences, but the approach must be tailored to avoid falling foul of these restrictions.
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B2B companies operating within these sectors might include ingredient suppliers or manufacturers who do not sell directly to the end consumer. For this reason, there may be a less urgent attitude within these organisations when it comes to digital marketing. After all, the businesses you are selling to will take care of the marketing, right?
There are two counterarguments to this.
Firstly, your B2B target audience is spending more time online than ever. And they are using the wealth of information available to them through search engines like Google to make a purchasing decision. Think about testimonials, B2B reviews, deep-dive articles or buying guides.
Your website is now your greatest asset, but B2B companies are behind the curve. In fact, according to Gitnux, over half of B2B buyers say many vendor websites are missing easy-to-find “about us” information and team biographies. These pages are critical for building trust and pushing buyers down the funnel.
There are also a wealth of options for targeting your ideal customer persona online, including digital advertising on platforms like LinkedIn or Google Ads. In a niche like life sciences, this pinpoint level of segmentation is ideal for reaching your perfect target.
Secondly, through digital marketing your organisation can influence the buying decision of the end consumer, especially through educational content. By writing high quality educational content that gently directs consumers to distributors of your products, you can directly impact your products’ chances of success on the market.
Forward-thinking organisations are already taking this to the next level by offering B2C marketing guidance to distributors as part of their package.
To tap into the opportunities available online, businesses need to be aware of the extra hurdles present when it comes to marketing products that broadly sit in the health and wellness industry.
Before we even look at specific online settings, it’s worth mentioning that there are legal restrictions that apply both on and off line.
For example, businesses - including B2B ones like ingredient suppliers - must take care when making health claims. There are laws around making a link between your ingredient and a particular health benefit - and the devil can really be in the detail.
There are also restrictions around describing your product in a particular way because of implied health benefits. Take for example the term “probiotic”. Although things have shifted in recent years, in many countries this precise term is still banned in product descriptions.
Now entering the online arena, let’s examine how Google looks at content and product pages from businesses in life sciences.
Your Money or Your Life (YMYL) content includes any pages that “could potentially impact a person’s future happiness, health, financial stability or safety.”
Finance, medicine and healthcare frequently fall under this definition, so although Google doesn’t explicitly state what industries are affected by this, it’s reasonable to assume that content within life sciences is being viewed through this lens.
How much your business’ content might be affected depends on the specific product you are offering. You should always take care not to mislead the reader when writing any kind of content, but this is particularly critical when publishing content that may fall under the YMYL category.
To stay in Google’s goodbooks:
You can learn more about in the video below, where Google Search Advocate John Mueller gives further advice on curating high-quality content that might fall under the #YMYL umbrella.
The video was recorded in 2021 but comes directly from Google. Plus, much of the advice still rings true, so if you want more details it's definitely worth a watch!
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Find out more about search engine optimisation and the type of services available to B2B organisations here.
Leveraging Google’s advertising platforms such as search ads or banners on the Google Display Network can be an excellent way to get in front of your target audience. But the nature of some products that sit under the life sciences or biotechnology umbrella are subject to more strict regulations.
Advertising some products, such as diet pills containing anabolic steroids, is outright banned. Although technically products like nutraceuticals are permitted, the barriers to entry are sometimes a bit higher than other non “healthcare” products.
You can read Google’s Healthcare and Medicines policy here and see the list of unapproved pharmaceuticals and supplements here.
Any companies advertising products concerning women’s health via banners on the Google Display Network should be mindful of policies on adult content. Any suggestive imagery, no matter the intention behind it, could trigger these policies and cause Google to reject your ads.
Another challenge for B2B organisations within the life science and biotech industries is the microscopic nature of the audience being targeted.
The lack of data available in digital marketing tools for relevant long tail search queries might make conducting keyword research or planning paid campaigns more difficult.
Even if keyword research does uncover some keywords, often the tool being used has missing data or indicates the terms have low search volume. This can be off-putting, especially to non-digital stakeholders who are driven by volume.
B2B businesses need to re-shape their thinking when it comes to identifying opportunities within this sector.
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You can learn more about capitalising on low or no search volume keywords here.
Life science and biotech businesses must pay close attention to the above issues, particularly those around regulations online and offline. The good news is that it’s easy to take a proactive approach to ensuring your digital marketing efforts don’t fall foul of the law.
This is the most watertight way to ensure that your marketing, including product pages, adheres to legal requirements.
If you sell a product in multiple countries, make sure you contract a solicitor with experience and knowledge of policies in each of the countries you are targeting.
The legal landscape in life sciences and biotechnology is constantly evolving. The best way to keep up-to-date with changes that may affect how you market your products is to follow legal bodies and news outlets, as well as attending events on the matter.
Below are some useful examples - please research the outlets that most closely align to your niche independent of this article.
Legal bodies:
Associations:
News outlets:
If the individual or team responsible for promoting your products online has no knowledge of current legislation your business runs the risk of legal violations in your marketing going unnoticed.
Provide a basic crash-course on legislation in your sector to new joiners and foster a culture of awareness. This means that any legally questionable elements of your marketing are flagged and dealt with right away.
An alternative is to hire a digital marketing consultant with previous experience in life sciences and biotechnology. This ensures they already have a legislation-first mindset and know when to check policies for guidance on the legality of the marketing routes they are recommending.
If this sounds like exactly what you need - then you’re in the right place. I have spent the last 10 years driving results for B2B companies in a range of industries - including life sciences and biotechnology.
Book a free consultation with me to see how we can scale your business growth in a compliant way with digital marketing.