What “BRAND” Actually Means for Life Science Companies?

‘Brand’ is one of the central terms of marketing, yet there’s a lot of confusion about its meaning. ‘Brand’ actually has 4 meanings at the least, each different from the other. To build a solid marketing strategy, life science companies first need to get a very clear understanding of all elements constituted in marketing. If they don’t, their marketing approach may be flawed, which may lead to not so satisfactory results.

Here I am going to clarify the meaning of this key terminology of marketing – BRAND. Read on….

The 4 Meanings of ‘Brand’:

The term ‘brand’ has been defined by different marketers in 4 mutually exclusive, separate ways.

(A). For some marketers, ‘brand’ is what the audiences think about the company. These marketers may say – “Your ‘brand’ is what your audiences think it is, not what you say about it.”

(B). For some marketers, ‘brand’ is the group of all the methods in which audiences can come in contact with the company. These marketers may say – “Your ‘brand’ is a collection of all the things you do and say for influencing your audiences.”

(C). For some marketers, ‘brand’ is the stamp used for representing an organization – the logotype or symbol. Some other marketers would enlarge what ‘brand’ means to include the picture style used, the colors used, the typefaces used, and similar visual attributes. These marketers may say – “We need to maintain our ‘brand’ consistency by following the standards in order to avoid any confusion for the public.”

(D). For some marketers, ‘brand’ is the selection of attributes, which you would like your audience to associate with your company’s offering exclusively. These marketers may say – “Your ‘brand’ is what defines you to the market, it’s what gives you uniqueness.”

To carry out effective life science marketing, understanding the clear definitions of the key terms is important.

To make things easy and clear, let us replace the term ‘brand’ with terminology that’s accurate and makes better sense.

1. The word ‘image’ can be used to indicate the mental impression of your company among your audience. So, in example (A) above, let’s replace the term ‘brand’, and see how the sentence starts making sense – “Your ‘image’ is what your audiences think it is, not what you say about it.”

2. The word ‘touchpoints’ can be used to indicate ways in which your target audiences can come into contact with your company. So, in example (B) above, replace the term ‘brand’, and the resultant sentence would have more clarity – “Your ‘touchpoints’ are a collection of all the things you do and say for influencing your audiences.”

3. The term ‘brand-story’ can be employed to indicate the distilled verbal and visual expression of your position. The epitome of such a distillation are the logotype or symbol you use for representing your company, and the core message and tagline for your company. So, we can understand better the example (C) above, by making a replacement of ‘brand’ with ‘brand-story’ – “We need to maintain our ‘brand-story’ consistency by following the standards in order to avoid any confusion for the public.”

4. The word ‘position’ can be employed to indicate the selection of attributes, which you would like your audience to associate with your company’s offering exclusively. Let’s bring clarity to example (D) above by substituting ‘brand’ with ‘position’ – “Your ‘position‘ is what defines you to the market, it’s what gives you uniqueness.”

By now, you may have gained a clear understanding of the term ‘brand’ in life science marketing. Now, go ahead and implement your understanding when crafting digital marketing strategies for your life science firm.