It’s important to establish a bold brand identity with specialist physicians.
“I have a novel product. Why do I need branding?”
Let’s say you are commercializing your first product. As momentous a task as this is, there’s another huge undertaking to consider. You are also launching a brand. There is a major difference.
While you may think of your product as a total of clinical data, active ingredients, vehicle, dosing, half-life, side effects and all other important features, your audience considers your product in its own perspective and in its own spheres of influence.
Just as important to overall commercial success is how you visually package, deliver, and manage that message to your audience. That is your brand: the set of mental shortcuts, perceptions, experiences, and associations that your product will spur in the subconscious mind of prescribers, pharmacy, managed care, or patients. It’s your product’s identity. And even though your physician specialist audience may understand and may be interested in your product, ultimately it will be your brand that helps them change a behavior, initiate a trial, consider prescribing, or take some action on your behalf.
Never underestimate the power of a brand
Unfortunately for a growing biotech or biopharma company, it may be hard to wrap your mind around the sheer investment it takes to build a brand. It may be difficult to understand why it’s so important, and how much actual benefit a powerful brand has over just a very good “product.”
You can have the most robust data in the world but if the brand perception is negative, commercial success is unlikely. Building a distinct brand personality differentiates your product succinctly and memorably, and in doing so gains you a foothold in the very busy, very cluttered mind of a specialist.
Letting your competition define you…
Still not buying it?
OK, then, there is the competitive factor to consider. If you don’t proactively establish a significant share of mind with positive brand perceptions from the start, you are leaving it to chance, or even worse, to your competitor to establish your brand perceptions for you. Have you looked on cafepharma.com lately? There seems to be no shortage of industry people who are willing to generalize and characterize just about any product out there. And that is just one example of hundreds of the personal, non-personal and digital channels where your product could be maligned, misunderstood and unfairly portrayed.
Or defining yourself
But the good news is there is no better defense from that unfortunately effective, but negative, chatter than a good brand offense that captures your product’s essence and conveys it directly to your audience in ethical channels. You only get one chance to set your commercial success on the right path. Make sure you take advantage of everything that marketing and branding can bring to your table.
Launch day is coming. Is your biotech brand ready?
