“We’re announcing Phase 3 data in about two weeks, so we thought now would be the perfect time to engage with a PR firm.” As a member of LifeSci Communications’ business development team, I hear this comment often. While technically this statement isn’t wrong, as I would argue better late than never, our CEO’s response on these calls is almost always the same. “That’s great to hear, but I wish you guys would have called us six months ago.” Granted, our team is more than capable of delivering results to a company on an expedited timeline and we’re happy to figure out a solution together, but ideally if you want maximum results for your company’s big announcements, you need to first build a foundation in the form of a proactive communications strategy.
If you take away one thing from this post please let it be this: Hiring a communications firm is not a short-term solution; it is a long term investment and strategy to continuously raise visibility of your company and its technology in order to achieve other “big picture” corporate objectives. To emerging biotech and medtech companies, hiring a communications firm can seem like a risky investment. What if the PR account team can’t get you any media hits, or launch your website in time, etc.? However, having a clear understanding of which milestones you should reach out for and how far in advance you should engage a firm can help provide more confidence in your investment.
Which milestones require heavy communications support?
Prior to hiring a communications firm, it’s important to understand which milestones or company announcements may require a heavy lift of prep work. Generally, these milestones or announcements require up to six months of prep work (I will get to the reasons why later in this post):
- Clinical data announcements
- Closing of financial rounds
- Reverse mergers/IPOs
- Major conference presentations (J.P. Morgan, AACR, ASCO, BIO Convention)
- Major patient advocacy events
- High profile board placements
- Company rebrands
- Clinical trial recruitment
Now, you might be thinking, “Well, why can’t we just write and send out a press release and call it a day? There has to be at least one industry publication that’ll pick up our news.” We recommend thinking about the biotech industry. Over a dozen financings, data announcements, and IPOs are announced even on a slow day. Realistically we have to think of a company’s presence in the biotech industry and ability to rise above the noise of the Sanofi, Pfizer and Gilead’s.
As I mentioned earlier, hiring a communications firm isn’t just a short term strategy, but a long term investment that requires some foundational work before pitching a company’s story to the masses, which is why we recommend hiring a communications firm up to six months before any critical milestones or announcements. This timeline is based on the fact that it takes time to build up this foundational work. Developing, polishing and refining a company’s messaging can take up to four weeks. It also takes time to develop a media story that journalists will be excited to write about. Developing a social media strategy can also take weeks of competitor analysis, social channel auditing and content calendar creation. It would take a separate blog post to go over all of the work a creative team has to do for new clients, including refining corporate decks and updating and developing websites, which can take three months or more to build. Finally, once this foundational work is finished, our team can focus on the best strategy for communicating a company’s major milestone or announcement. In today’s communications environment, a corporate communications strategy no longer involves just issuing a press release and sending over to some journalists hoping it’s covered. In today’s world, a full-blown strategy encompassing social, digital, creative and media relations tools is recommended to raise as much company awareness and reach as many audiences as possible.
Manage your expectations
One last thing to remember when hiring a communications firm is to manage your expectations on the results you’ll see and when you will begin to see them. Another too-often repeated phrase I hear in new business meetings is, “With our science/data/technology/story/etc., we should be featured in The New York Times/Wall Street Journal/USA Today/etc.” And once again, I need to use a little tough love. Yes, your Phase 1 data is promising, maybe even a little exciting. That $90M Series B is quite impressive, and your story is one that showcases your passion for science and patients with unmet needs in the healthcare space, but unless you have a high profile board member like Bill Gates or Jeff Bezos (which, if you do, please message me on LinkedIn. We’d love to work with you!) chances are the Wall Street Journal, or The New York Times aren’t going to cover your story or company yet. Don’t get me wrong, our team excels at producing results, but we can’t work miracles (well actually, sometimes we can, but those are the exceptions to the rule.) This also applies to social media. We probably can’t get you 500 more followers overnight or get a celebrity influencer to retweet you right off the bat, but we can definitely deliver results that will demonstrate growth over time. Just remember that you have to be aware of the current state of the biotech industry and your presence in the industry.
Not all of this info may apply to your company, but hopefully it provides a better insight into the work and strategy that goes into a successful communications program. My team and I are always happy to discuss how our firm can further help biotech and medtech companies raise visibility. Feel free to reach out at brianna@lifescicomms.com if you’re curious to learn more!
Graphic created by: Autumn Von Plinsky
