Staying Ahead in Biotech and Pharma B2B Marketing
As a leading life science marketing agency partnered with a variety of different businesses that service or operate within the pharma and biotech sectors, we tend to keep on top of the key industry trends.
Marketing is no exception, with the B2B arena becoming one of the most notoriously fast-paced landscapes susceptible to marketing innovations, powerful technologies and digital transformations.
Across laboratory consumables, contract research organisations, medical diagnostics, at-home testing, R&D streamlining, bioassay development, toxicology testing and more, the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry trends change year on year.
How Biotech Digital Marketing Has Evolved in a Regulated Industry
The pharmaceutical and biotechnology markets are highly regulated, meaning all outbound and inbound marketing efforts must comply with strict protocols, including GMP, GLP, MHRA, FDA, pharmacopeial standards, and global trade regulations. For many years, these requirements constrained marketing campaigns, limiting creativity and reach.
That changed in 2019, when the global pandemic accelerated digital transformation and demonstrated the effectiveness of remote engagement in driving growth across the pharma and biotech sectors.
Since then, B2B marketing strategies in these industries have evolved significantly. Today, businesses can leverage a wide range of digital channels, innovative campaigns, and creative approaches to engage scientific audiences while staying fully compliant. Here, we highlight the latest biotech digital marketing trends and pharmaceutical marketing developments, along with standout scientific campaigns you won’t want to miss.
Digital Dominance in Biotech Marketing!
It’s no surprise that digital channels are now at the forefront of biotech digital marketing. In 2023, pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies are increasingly leveraging a wide range of online strategies to reach their target audiences.
From content marketing to search engine advertising, tools like Google Ads are no longer limited to B2C sectors such as finance or retail. Instead, they’re being used strategically to engage scientists, researchers, and other industry professionals.
Historically, these audiences were reached primarily through educational offline content, professional networks, and word-of-mouth recommendations. Today, digital channels amplify these efforts, driving measurable growth in marketing reach, lead generation, and business development.
The Pandemic-Driven Shift to Digital in Biotech Marketing
The rapid acceleration of R&D and drug manufacturing during the pandemic brought immediate challenges: shifting demand, evolving regulations, and a major move toward telecommunication and telemedicine. This period also marked a turning point for marketing in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors.
With businesses and their audiences now operating in the same digital space, growth continued with little disruption—but the way it was achieved changed entirely. Traditional in-person connections gave way to digital engagement, prompting a full-scale pivot toward digital transformation. Clients who previously relied solely on lead generation began requesting services such as blog content, site-wide SEO audits, new website designs, and strategic email campaigns.
By 2021, as lockdowns lifted, digital marketing had already proven its value in driving scientific business growth. Today, in 2023, scientists and industry professionals are well-versed in the language and benefits of digital outreach. Pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies are now excelling in their marketing efforts, with innovative campaigns leading the way. Here’s what’s trending this year:
Trend 1: Thought Leadership and Influencer Marketing
Since Google’s 2022 algorithm update prioritised E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authority, Trustworthiness) content, pharmaceutical and biotech companies have been striving to position themselves as trusted thought leaders in their fields.
The goal isn’t just to claim expertise, it’s about demonstrating it. Successful biotech digital marketing now focuses on curating valuable, insightful content that genuinely resonates with target audiences, rather than relying solely on product features or brand claims.
By sharing knowledge, insights, and best practices, companies can build credibility, strengthen relationships with scientific audiences, and stand out in an increasingly competitive digital landscape. Thought leadership is no longer optional, it’s a core strategy for B2B growth in the pharma and biotech sectors.
Building Authority Through Targeted Expertise and Storytelling
Authority in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors is earned by sharing valuable expertise with the right audience not by trying to appeal to everyone. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s ‘Behind the Science Podcast’ is a perfect example.
Each episode highlights the backgrounds, daily responsibilities, and career journeys of their team members. While this content may not attract a mass audience, it effectively tells the company’s story, showcases the value of its employees, and positions staff as key drivers of scientific innovation, whether inspiring a career at Thermo Fisher or advancing the broader scientific community.
Trend 2: Making the Complex, Creative
Pharmaceutical and biotechnology marketing has traditionally been highly technical and data-driven, with campaigns often limited by the complexity of products and services. For years, biotech digital marketing strategies faced a balancing act: communicate complex scientific information accurately while keeping campaigns engaging.
In 2023, this is changing. Companies are now transforming even the most technical products into creative, visually engaging campaigns. Through social media, websites, videos, and interactive content, digital marketing is making complex scientific concepts memorable and accessible, helping brands resonate with scientific audiences and strengthen their market presence.
Bringing Science to Life Through Creative Campaigns: Astra Zeneca & Withnell Sensors
The Astra Zeneca ‘Take it from a fish’ campaign potentially fuelled such creative ideas, as a talking fish entered various social media platforms in 2016. Platforms such as Twitter and Youtube gained a lot of traction as a character named ‘Brilinta Fish’ delivered health tips and medication information in a never-before-seen, humorous way!
Despite bagging the top prize at the 2015 Lions Health Festival, the ad was pulled. Not before its knock-on effects were felt, however. Now in 2023, we’ve seen various examples where pharmaceutical and biotechnology businesses are making the complex creative!
Take Withnell Sensors’ ‘Guardian of the vaccine vials’ campaign for example, where another fun-loving character, Guardian Sensei, took centre stage. The superhero data logger continues to educate life sciences businesses of the importance of owning an intuitive, wireless data logger to safeguard vaccines and research samples.
Trend 3: Personalisation and Account Based Marketing
A key trend in biotech digital marketing is the rise of account-based marketing (ABM), particularly when targeting large pharmaceutical organisations. Reaching these high-value accounts was traditionally challenging, but ABM allows companies to treat each organisation as a complete, strategic market.
By combining ABM with personalised marketing tactics, biotech and pharmaceutical businesses can increase engagement and conversion at every touchpoint. Strategies include personalised content hubs, one-on-one consultations, and account-specific webinars. Treating each target account as a singular focus enables scientific marketers to align campaigns precisely with the needs and interests of their audience, driving measurable results.
While many of these campaigns are confidential, their effectiveness has reshaped the way biotech digital marketing is approached in 2023.
Trend 4: Scientist-to-scientist marketing
In 2023, a new concept emerged in biotech digital marketing: scientist-to-scientist marketing, or S2B. By recognising that their niche target audiences were an advantage rather than a limitation, pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies leveraged their technical expertise to connect directly with other scientists.
This approach allows campaigns to speak the same language as the audience, using shared knowledge and technical insight to build credibility and trust. By aligning messaging with the scientific understanding of buyers, S2B marketing enables highly targeted strategies that maximise engagement and drive measurable business results.
The advantage of thinking like a scientist, speaking like a scientist and ultimately, being a scientist meant that pharma and biotechs had the awareness of how to buy like a scientist too. This changed the approach of elevation pitches and unique selling points to result in stronger relationships being built.
Qiagen’s ‘Next generation sequencing’ webinar series is a great example of such an approach. As a genomics and molecular diagnostics company, their primary target audience was researchers and professionals interested in genomics. Capitalising on this shared interest, the webinars provided valuable information on applications and best practices which ultimately resulted in a great deal of trust building activities between them and their customers.
Looking to capitalise on any of these trends?
Get in touch with our marketing department to find out how we can help you achieve any of the above approaches to your biotech digital marketing!
