Keeping your ‘why’ at the center of your communications

Carin Canale-Theakston, CEO of Evoke Canale outlines why it is important for biotechs to keep the patients they serve at the forefront of their ongoing communication strategies.

With over 20 years of experience working with C-suite life science executives, Carin shares her tips on how emerging biotech companies can secure investment and launch their corporate brand while keeping patients at the core of their communications, even as investors have a habit of drilling focus on the next milestone.

Focusing on the ‘why’ 

When a biotech business is emerging from stealth mode, there is a huge (and important) push to focus on securing investment which is often attached to the next 12-24 months of the company’s future. Because of the short-term horizon, emerging companies often end up overly focused on the wants and needs of the investors. But, as a company is pitching investors (who ultimately are focused on getting a return), it is critical to strike the balance between the wants and needs of the investors, while also focusing on sharing the right message for a myriad of stakeholders, including patients, physicians, potential partners and employees. 

Most biotech companies are created to ultimately serve patients and bring better healthcare outcomes to the market – this is the ‘why’ for a company’s existence and will be pivotal in its ongoing success. 

This core value should sit at the center of operations and carry through into a company’s overall strategy and communications.

Shaping your story to your stakeholders

Presenting a corporate story is challenging for emerging biotech companies because their corporate message should resonate with their different audiences at different times. 

Ultimately, what patients want to hear is very different from what the other stakeholders want to hear, but this doesn’t mean a company should tell two different stories. 

Ensuring effective communication with all audiences means shaping the same story differently to match the objectives of each stakeholder. 

Bringing the ‘why’ into investor conversations 

A key part of shaping the company story to effectively communicate with investors is understanding the current financial market and how to get them to buy into the company.

Companies should open a dialogue that focuses on a return on investment, while also keeping the focus on the patient. Many new players in the biotech space have a variety of financial stakeholders that focus on key clinical milestones as linchpins that will determine future investment. 

This presents an opportunity to bring the focus back on the patient, as there is seldom a return if a clear value proposition for the patient is not demonstrated. 

Attracting the right talent 

Acquiring and retaining the right talent across the biotech space is another key challenge facing many companies, and great care must be taken to effectively communicate with potential employee recruits. 

While the corporate umbrella message should always be the same, the key messages told for investors shouldn’t be the same as the one your recruit, as their needs and expectations differ greatly. A potential recruit is likely to want to know more about your biotech’s mission and how it aims to impact patient lives. 

Inizio: the knowledge that bridges science and markets

Every emerging biotech must understand how to effectively craft its brand story and communicate its narrative with the right audience and at the right time in the journey.

It is also crucial to ensure that focus on the patient remains at the core of the company communications while also understanding the needs, drivers and priorities of your audience.

Inizio Biotech understands that every day is an opportunity to help you nurture and build toward the true value of your assets. Providing best-in-class services across the clinical development and commercialization journey, our biotech solutions guide, validate, and inspire the decisions that will maximize the value of your assets. 

Find out more here.