The #1 Reason Why Your Science Marketing Communication is Failing

There’s a strong chance your life science marketing communication is falling on deaf ears.

You’ve got case studies, you’re posting on social media, and you may even be running email campaigns. Yet somehow you can’t seem to get your target audience to engage with your brand. Why is that?

The most likely problem: your marketing communication isn’t short enough.

In our 30+ years of experience in supporting CROs, CDMOs, and other life science orgs, the number-one issue facing many of these companies is that instead of keeping their marketing communication short and compelling, they opt to make long-winded and complex statements instead.

In the life sciences, brief is best

Long-form content isn’t necessarily always bad. Technical documentation and dense whitepapers definitely have their applications in the marketing ecosystem. However, there are myriad reasons why shorter marketing communication is proven to be more effective at reaching your audience and converting them into customers.

Short messages help cut through the clutter

There is more noise than ever in the marketing environment for life science companies. The amount of generic, bland marketing chaff has skyrocketed in recent years, and users are tired of having to sift through it in order to find what they’re looking for. Audience attention spans are shrinking, even among scientists. Try condensing your messages and say precisely what you mean – succinctly. After all, if you can’t say it succinctly, you don’t really understand it, do you?

If you’re seeing low engagement rates on your marcomm efforts and are looking for guidance, check out our blog 3 Reasons Why Your Marketing Content is Boring (And How to Fix It)

Marketing communication is for early-stage buyers

Buyers in the early stage of your sales process are looking for inspiration (short), not reassurance (long). Instead of trying to begin a monologue (long and one-sided) about your brand, focus on opening a dialogue (short exchanges between two parties) with your users. Longer messages ask more from the audience – straining their capacity to understand. You’ve only got one chance at making a good first impression, and your busy audience will appreciate it if you don’t waste their valuable time.

You want your marketing to intrigue, not completely inform

Marketing shouldn’t answer every question that your prospect has. You should want to inspire curiosity in your prospects and seek to compel them to come back for more information. Marketing exists to pique the interests of your audience, not to beat them over the head with long-winded content and belabored points. Messages should focus on your core differentiators, not every benefit.

At the end of the day, marketing communication isn’t about you, it’s about your audience

Many life science companies struggle with developing engaging marketing communication because they believe the more they talk, the more likely they are to convert customers. The goal of marketing communication should be to talk less and listen more. Shorter messages are proven to be a more effective means of communication because they’re more direct, more insightful, and more intriguing.

Stop boring your audience with over-long communication and start speaking their language by developing shorter, compelling messages!