4 Types of Brand Misalignment That Can Hurt Your Science Organization

Brand misalignment can take many forms, but they all spell danger for your science brand.

Brand misalignment goes by many names. Whether you call it “being on a different wavelength” or “marching to the beat of a different drum”, the truth is that if one part of your science organization isn’t on the same page, it can be disastrous for your sales and marketing efforts.

Do you have a feeling that your organization may have a misalignment problem? Here are four warning signs to keep an eye out for.

1) High employee turnover

Low morale and minimal employee engagement can be a death sentence for any science organization. This is why it’s important to have your thumb on the internal pulse of your company.

Are your workers happy to be there? Are they knowledgeable about your brand? Or are you sensing undercurrents of frustration or ambivalence? These can be hard questions to answer in a concrete way, but it doesn’t mean you should ignore them.

Take the time to get honest answers from your workers. If they feel the brand is going in the wrong direction or they don’t feel valued as employees, that’s important feedback that you should take seriously.

2) A confused audience

This is one of the most common issues plaguing the life science industry. Typically, a science organization will be very proud of their product and services, but they have no idea how to communicate with their target audience.

You shouldn’t need a 200-word technical breakdown to explain what your company does. Conversely, a generic 5-word tagline isn’t going to cut it either. If you want your audience to understand and engage with your brand, you need a concise, memorable way to communicate what your company does and what you stand for.

In 2020, we felt our homepage messaging was too vague to be understood easily, so we rewrote our opening statement to be  more simple and direct:

After making this change, we saw a massive increase in audience engagement, including a 70% increase in inbound leads in 2021. This is why it’s so important to nail your messaging; if you can explain what you do in an exciting way, there’s a much higher chance they’ll be compelled to work with you.

If you’d like to see more examples of how we’ve increased brand engagement for our clients in the life sciences and biotech, check out our library of Case Studies

3) Marketing initiatives with low ROI

One of the hardest pills for many people to swallow is that marketing is more of an art than a science. There are no surefire, silver-bullet solutions that will guarantee a 250% increase in revenue or a 500% increase in website traffic. This is why in order to be a successful marketer, you need to be open to experimentation.

Experimentation means trying new things and measuring the results. The best marketers know that while it’s important to know what works, it’s equally important to know what doesn’t work.

Are you spending a ton of time and energy on huge email campaigns with low open rates? Is your sales team making 500 calls per day and not getting any leads? Then it’s time to pause and reassess your situation. This doesn’t mean abandoning email marketing or firing your sales team. It means it’s time to examine your approach and adapt.

Maybe your email subject lines are poorly optimized and uninteresting. Maybe your sales team is trying to start conversations with the wrong people. Whatever the cause is, always be vigilant about where you devote your resources, and be ready to adapt if something isn’t working.

4) Lack of focus

If you ask your marketers and sales team who your audience is, they should be able to answer with no hesitation. If there’s any confusion about your marketplace, your specialization, or your purpose, that’s a clear indicator of brand misalignment.

These misunderstandings can lead to an unfocused message, which is never a good thing. Take the time to make sure your internal teams are working together to achieve a common, unified goal, and try to provide clarity in order to prevent confusion about what you’re trying to accomplish.

If you suspect your science organization may be suffering from brand misalignment issues, reach out today to start a conversation about how Forma can help make sure everyone is rowing in the same direction.