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A startup marketing playbook teaches to “focus on your users.” However, if you’re a B2B SaaS within Biotech and Life Sciences, that mantra won’t do. Why? Because users can’t buy your product. In the B2B landscape, your main clients aren't the ones using your tech day in and day out, but those with the purchasing power. So, in this context, it's time to expand your marketing view beyond users alone.
As a matter of fact, this is exactly what happened with one of my clients, LabTwin. As the growth team and I were calibrating LabTwin’s brand identity to the audience, testing designs and communication strategies, we realized that scientists, the users, may not have been our primary audience. In the case study, you can read in full what growth design strategies we utilized to solve this challenge.
Meanwhile, in this article, I’m going to break down the B2B SaaS audience in Biotech and Life Sciences to give you a better understanding of which marketing touchpoints correspond to which group so you can strengthen your customer acquisition strategy.
Alright, let's break it down. When you're playing the B2B SaaS game in the Biotech and Life Sciences arena, there are three key groups you want to take care of:
As you can see, successful acquisition actually hinges on winning managers and decision-makers. And users come in for retention when the product is already purchased.
Now that we've got the cast of characters, let's dive into each group and figure out which touchpoints to fine-tune and for whom.
The first stop on the acquisition journey is managers, actively exploring tools and technology. Unlike business partners, they are the ones closest to the users and have their hands dirty in the process. They understand the pain points firsthand, having been users themselves dealing with inefficiencies. This emotional connection fuels their dedication to removing bottlenecks and optimizing workflows.
Their journey typically unfolds in the following (generalized) way: they first come across the technology at conferences, through LinkedIn campaigns, or via word-of-mouth referrals. Subsequently, they delve into researching the technology through your website, white papers, and case studies. They gain a deeper understanding and test-drive it with the Sales and Customer Success teams. After the evaluation phase, they go to the decision-maker to initiate discussions about the terms of purchase. Once the tool is bought, they actively collaborate with the Customer Success team to implement and adopt the new technology.
When managers come across a promising solution, their primary concern is to grasp the technology's functionality and the advantages it can offer their teams. Interestingly, they might be uncertain about the specific problems they're facing. For example, senior scientists might be searching for a more advanced Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) to improve data organization. Yet, what they might truly benefit from is a voice-powered lab assistant that organizes data at the moment of capture. So, how can you effectively communicate with managers and address their needs?
Pain points and wins address managers' concerns directly while solutions and features explain in detail how the product delivers its promise.
Once the manager confirms that the product has value to the team, they go to the decision-maker, usually a business partner, to present the findings and seek approval.
Business partners aren’t in the trenches with the users so they tend to lack awareness about the challenges encountered by them. Positioned on the strategic side of the spectrum, they focus on the operational dynamics and shaping its overarching direction. Their purview extends to the larger industry context, and their decisions are anchored in the pursuit of a company vision in the most efficient and cost-effective way.
Decision-makers chase slightly different objectives. They care about the prosperity of the business. If managers want to solve the problem, business partners want to know how solving this problem will benefit their venture overall.
What status or reputation will be derived from integrating the product?*By "status”, I mean the tangible transformation the business undergoes through technology adoption, such as achieving full digitization or becoming a worthy player of the corporate world. In this context, status is less an abstract label and more an operational shift in the business identity perceived.
“No company buys software because it looks nice on the balance sheet; they buy it because they see an opportunity to increase revenue, cut costs, save time, or gain influence,” - Leila Nazari, Branding 101: A Complete Guide to Building a Relatable Brand
Every proposition that a manager presents, such as "Save time" or "Automate your workflow," needs to be translated into the language of finance and operations, implying a boost in overall prosperity. Surprisingly, even benefits like “Cut costs” or “Save money” have made little impact on their willingness to approve the tool (of course, that could be debated based on the economic situation, but not in the long run).
What is the strongest signal of prosperity you can utilize?
ROI.
For business partners, monetary gains hold significant weight. When you consider it, ROI is much simpler to estimate in a shorter time frame compared to more abstract measures like reputation or achieving long-term vision milestones.
Now that the product is acquired, the focus shifts to engaging with users who are pivotal in customer retention.
It is users who have the pain points and they will be the ones actively employing the solution. They play a crucial role in the final value assessment. If managers and decision-makers assess brand promise, users subject that promise to a practical test. Keep in mind that their digital proficiency will vary: some may require guidance during training while others will be more savvy.
To sum up, before the product ends up in the hands of the users, it has to be scouted by managers and approved by business partners. Meaning, for the B2B SaaS marketing strategies to be effective in Biotech and Life Science, they should differentiate these groups and tailor messages for each group at the appropriate touchpoints.
Explore the B2B Elements of Value by Brain & Company, 2018
Branding 101: A Complete Guide to Building a Relatable Brand by Leila Nazari in Entrepreneur’s Handbook, 2021
The B2B Elements of Value by Eric Almquist, Jamie Cleghorn, and Lori Sheer in Harvard Business Review, 2018
