In the dynamic landscape of the life sciences industry, science marketing has evolved into a multifaceted domain, driven by cutting-edge innovations and a deep integration of technology. As we navigate through this rapidly advancing era, life science organizations must look for ways to capitalize on these new techniques and not fall behind. Here, we examine some of the top marketing trends of 2024 to help you stay ahead of the curve.
1. Hyper-Personalization and Customization
Personalized marketing content for scientific niches and individuals is becoming increasingly more important. Staying ahead of this emerging trend is critical to creating a positive experience for your customers. In fact, recent research by a customer engagement platform identified that 62% of consumers expect personalization and will lose their loyalty to a brand without it. But with advancements in AI and machine learning, it’s become easier than ever to tailor content and outreach for specific scientists, researchers, or institutions, resulting in highly relevant product promotions and custom content.
So how is hyper-personalization achieved? It’s done by creating targeted, customized experiences through the combination of data, analytics, AI, and automation. However, be cautious about relying too heavily on AI-generated content as doing so can actually dehumanize and detract from the personalized feel of content for your audience.
While a majority of brands are already deploying several aspects of hyper-personalization strategies in their marketing efforts, we can expect major improvements to this technology as data collection and processing becomes faster and more sophisticated. Altogether, adding hyper-personalization to your marketing strategy enhances brand loyalty among customers, increases conversions, and creates an impactful experience that improves your brand’s reputation.
2. Data-Driven Decision Making
Using sophisticated data analytics and marketing technology to gain insights into the behavior and preferences of your science audience has been shown to help refine marketing strategies. This trend is expected to continue into the coming years with a growing emphasis on data privacy and ethics going forward.
We have access to more data than ever before, meaning that in 2024 it’s a chance to figure out how to extract that data in usable, precise ways. By next year, predictive analytics is expected to become crucial for organizations seeking a competitive advantage in understanding customer behavior, meaning that investments in the latest technology for data-driven decision making are essential.
However, this increase in data extraction means that it is important to instill trust in your customers by demonstrating a commitment to data privacy and ethical practices. Transparency is key in data compliance and a critical detail to the GDPR; by incorporating actions such as asking before gathering cookie data, your customers will feel that their personal information is secure and therefore more likely to share that data by choice. Privacy-conscious data collection helps achieve personalization without compromising consumer privacy, resulting in increased trust and willingness to share personal information to create a more targeted customer experience.
3. Content Marketing for Scientific Thought Leadership
Establishing scientists and experts as thought leaders in their respective fields through high-quality content, such as research papers, blog posts, webinars, and social media, is a trend that has proven its effectiveness and is likely to continue into 2024. Building trust and credibility within the scientific community is achieved through thought leadership and involves creating and sharing informative content that addresses industry-specific topics, trends, and breakthroughs. Having company leaders submit articles, speak at conferences, or participate in expert panels can help your company stay top-of-mind among your scientific audience while also attracting new potential collaborators and customers.
But because the life sciences field is so dynamic and ever-evolving, it’s important to sustain consistent delivery of new, insightful content to help maintain your competitive edge through SEO and customer engagement. You can also incorporate strategic repurposing to maximize content’s potential and avoid the often rigorous review and approval processes required in the life sciences industry. This can be done by creating downloadable e-books from past thought leadership pieces or breaking down more extensive papers into smaller segments to be shared across multiple platforms. In all of this, be sure to select a topic that is relevant and valuable to your industry – a whopping 71% of executives were reported to find that less than half of the thought leadership they encountered actually offered useful insights.
4. Sustainability and Ethical Considerations
As scientists and researchers are becoming increasingly more concerned about environmental and ethical issues, sustainability is likely to play a more prominent role in science marketing in 2024 and aligning your marketing efforts with these values can really resonate with your target audience. It’s predicted that companies with increased consciousness about environmental responsibility who commit to reshaping their social impact will have a competitive edge in marketing over other brands.
Companies can accomplish this by shifting focus to reducing their digital carbon footprint, promoting ethical practices, and using sustainable materials. As governments continue to emphasize the importance of social responsibility, taking a marketing approach that embraces these principles reflects a forward-thinking strategy and will position you as industry leaders and responsible citizens.
5. Video Marketing and Short-Form Content Dominance
Science marketing has seen an increase in video content in recent years and in 2024, marketers will increasingly harness the capabilities of video to narrate compelling brand stories, showcase products, and connect with their target audience on a deeper level. In the life sciences industry, subject matters are often intricate and can be challenging to convey through just text alone. Because of this, more and more life sciences organizations are turning to video marketing to utilize the advantages of visuals, animations, and demonstrations to make those difficult concepts accessible to a broader audience. You can also use video marketing to humanize your company and put a face behind the science through interviews or features. In doing this, it creates a sense of authenticity and builds credibility amongst your audience.
Short form video content such as Instagram Reels, TikToks, and YouTube Shorts can be an excellent entry point for science brands and yield massive reach. YouTube Shorts, for example, has over 1.5 billion monthly users and is growing 135% year over year. Demand for YouTube Shorts content is actually outpacing supply, creating massive opportunity for brands to reach audiences. The ACS Reactions YouTube channel took advantage of this emerging trend last year. By creating Shorts that demonstrated chemistry in every day life, they experienced a surge in views and have seen record visitors to their channel.
With the growth of live-streaming, a realm of possibilities have also opened up in video marketing as you now have the ability to connect with your audience in real-time and virtually host events, product launches, or other captivating moments. Further, you could use video content to host virtual tours of a site which not only shows off your company’s capabilities, but also makes a critical site visit in the life sciences industry accessible from anywhere in the world.
