Life sciences companies are currently experiencing a period of forced change due to factors such as digital transformation, increased regulations, user requirements, and of course, diseases; forcing them to continually strive to find innovative solutions to address today’s challenges. Developing new products is important for many organizations, but it is paramount for the technology-driven industries of life sciences and biotechnology.
Many companies in this sector are under pressure to survive by continually launching new products and improvements faster, or risk losing out to more innovative competition if they don’t. As product life cycles and time to market becomes compressed, the New Product Introduction (NPI) strategy becomes more critical.
A New Product Introduction (NPI), or New Product Development (NPD), strategy comprises of all the actions needed to identify, develop, and launch a new or improved product.
When planning a life sciences product launch, it is essential to remember that people are just as important as the product itself as they are the researchers, advocates, and consumers needed to ensure the NPI’s success.
‘Pre-launch activities need to have a stronger customer focus, including early engagement with customers to co-develop the product value proposition (aligning R&D and Commercial) while capturing insights to inform the commercialization and access strategy’ (Deloitte: Evolving the product launch paradigm in pharma).
Read on to see our tips and best practices for targeting the people you need for a successful Life sciences New Product Introduction.
3 Tips for your Life Sciences New Product Introduction (NPI)
Here are three things needed to ensure your life sciences product marketing is effective and how to reach the key people needed to ensure its success through Investigation, Influencers, and Interest.
1. New Product Investigation – who are your customers and competition?
2. New Product Influencers – who are your advocates and advertisers?
3. New Product Interest – how will people experience your product?
1. New Product Investigation – who are your customers and competition?
Competitive analysis and investigation is conducted throughout the product lifecycle right from conception through to launch and beyond. Knowing whether there is a competitive product or service already on the market is imperative, as is researching who your target customer is going to be.
When undertaking your product’s research and development (R&D) and identifying your unique selling point (USP), it is essential to pinpoint who your potential purchasers are. By researching customers using a competitor’s product, you can highlight the areas in which your product surpasses the competition and leverage this to entice people to use your product instead.
‘Many Pharmaceutical companies find it challenging to create sufficiently differentiated granular and actionable customer insights, hindering the ability to fine-tune launch tactics to specific customer segments’. (McKinsey: Winning launches: using analytics and creativity to create superior Share of Insight)
With the SciLeads platform, you can:
- Rapidly research the exact people you want to target using competitive products and collate lists for use in your marketing and advertising efforts; saving valuable time and money.
- Discover pricing and market share information for companies offering similar products in the ‘Purchasing Search Area’. These can include new customer discounts, existing customer loyalty discounts and FOC shipments; all of which give you a valuable advantage over the competition for targeting your customers and selling your product.
- You can also see those that have recently moved to a new lab, a new position or organization meaning you can quickly and easily monitor those prospects/contacts that may be in need of the solutions you can offer.
2. New Product Influencers – How to Target Suitable KOLs
A primary element in any NPI campaign is finding those who can influence its use and success – the Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs). KOLs are experts in their respective fields, giving them the best standing to review, support and promote your upcoming product. KOL management is a vital component throughout the life-cycle process of any new product.
In Life Sciences, the KOLs are the physicians who will specialize in specific diseases and therapeutic areas. It is imperative to find the most effective and efficient ways to target them as they play an essential role in conducting research, writing articles, and speaking on your company’s behalf. By utilizing their knowledge, network and expertise they can provide the credibility and contacts needed to promote your product.
‘KOL management was developed on the accurate premise that consumers often turn to industry leaders for guidance and credibility, particularly in an industry as crucial and influential as the pharmaceutical industry. Efficient KOL management is crucial for companies, and as the industry struggles to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, the process has become more challenging’ Business Wire
The SciLeads platform has many advanced filters that enable you to find KOLs specific to your needs, such as by refining the results to show how many times someone has been ‘Last Author’ on a paper. If they have been noted as the author numerous times, it is fair to conclude that they have a level of seniority and credibility in their field. You can also search by grant awards and funding sources, allowing you to clearly see the teams and individuals that are best suited to what you’re selling. Again, these refined search results can be collated into various lists and used for expert targeting of KOLs.
Try the search function for yourself on our homepage here.
3. New Product Interest – How to Launch Your Product Live
So much of the NPI can be done digitally, but many life science marketers still feel that scientific trade shows and conferences are an important part of the marketing toolkit as the energy of face-to-face interactions is something that no other communication medium can match. Although COVID-19 put a halt to many live events, people will likely return to In Real Life (IRL) when it is safe to do so.
Trade shows bring together a high concentration of like-minded people focused on your specific market, who are likely to be receptive to your message and even primed to purchase your services, making them a great place to launch your new product.
The SciLeads platform has extensive and thorough information on life science trade shows (both IRL and virtual) and currently the most useful information it holds is the historical data that it has. This allows you to identify which trade shows will be most interesting to attend in the future, as well as identify who has visited which in the past – giving you a wealth of knowledge.
You can add keywords into your search and filter by trade show to give you bespoke scientific sales leads for your needs. These contacts can then be downloaded for review so you can judge where the best platform is to introduce your product. It also shows you the numbers and type of people who attend so you can judge if your target life science sales leads will be present.
Get a free trial or personal demonstration of the platform here.
Key takeaways
Creating a valuable product is only half the battle, whereas demonstrating and communicating that value to an audience is just as vital. By undertaking targeted customer research and interaction you will enhance the success of your New Product Introduction.
The 3 elements needed to ensure a successful NPI are:
Investigation – doing market research and customer targeting
Influencers – pinpointing and engaging your product advocates
Interest – utilizing trade shows and events to launch the product live
The SciLeads platform can help you increase sales leads by providing you with instant access to highly relevant prospect and market information including who has received life sciences grants, life sciences funding and what scientific trade shows they have and will be attending. To find out more and try SciLeads for yourself, click here.