How to Create a Winning Marketing Strategy in 2024

By Jennifer Andrews, M.Sc., MBA | November 27, 2023

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The new year is calling. Are you prepared, or feeling overwhelmed about how you’ll reach your goals?

Annual planning can fall by the wayside during busy season, leading us to scramble in the weeks leading up to January.

Speaking with my marketing clients and network, their biggest concerns are how to:

• Increase visibility for their company
• Get more, high-quality leads through the door
• Grow revenue year over year

But leaving critical activities like marketing and visibility on the back burner will only impede your success by delaying results. And with longer sales cycles typical in the life sciences, this can add precious weeks and months to your timeline.

Read on for tips on how scientific companies can successfully create a 2024 growth plan to attract new customers, boost visibility, and get more leads in the door.

Before Anything, Review Last Year’s Results

Whenever I start working with a new company in my marketing consulting practice, the first thing I look at is their historical metrics. It’s such an important step that I devoted an entire chapter to it in my book, Scientist to CEO. Having this baseline allows us to figure out where the company’s business comes from and where there are gaps.

When you sit down to plan your year, think about the following:

• Where did most of your leads and new business come from?
• Which events were most successful in terms of relationships made and leads generated?
• Did your LinkedIn presence drive inquiries for your business?
• Does your content (e.g., case studies, whitepapers) bring in new contacts?
• What is your biggest source of website traffic (e.g., organic search, referral, social)?
• Is your email list growing? What is the response rate (opens, clicks, replies)?
• What was the number and revenue value of leads generated last year?

Ideally you will be measuring all of the above (and more) in a CRM (customer relationship management) system, marketing automation platform, good old spreadsheet, or mix of any or all of those.

Identify Gaps in Your Visibility and Outreach Activities

The classic “know your audience” wisdom works well, but it can feel generic. Instead, take a look at the past 12 months and where your ideal 3-5 customers spent their professional time (online and off).

Make a list of:

• Trade shows, conferences, and networking events they attended
• Top social media channel they are using (it’s likely LinkedIn)
• Trade associations they are members of
• Industry media websites/outlets they frequent

Note any gaps. Are you going heavy on the traditional networking but ignoring or downplaying LinkedIn as a prospecting channel? Are you publishing educational content but neglecting to feature topics that would appeal to those further along the buyer journey (i.e., closer to a sale)? Is your team doing poster presentations but not following up with connections in a timely manner?

When you mix traditional and digital activities, you’re more likely to reach your goals.

Use Digital Media to Amplify Your Message

Why aren’t more scientific leaders posting about their companies and thought leadership online?

It’s not that they don’t recognize the value. From experience, it’s that it can be daunting to know exactly what to talk about, how to say it in the right way that will get people to pay attention, and keeping up with the constantly changing tools and tech.

In 2024, why not commit to posting regularly to gain awareness for yourself and your company? Create a simple schedule you can stick to so that you’re consistent over time.

The added exposure will attract interest and help you stand out. Learn how in my previous post, Easy Ways to Boost Your Authority as a Thought Leader.

Regularly Reach Out to Your Contacts (Without Being Spammy)

The main benefit to tracking your leads in a CRM or other system, as mentioned earlier, is that you can send customized messaging to them on a regular basis.

Next year, make a point to regularly reach out to your contacts, whether it’s quarterly, monthly, or some other schedule that makes sense for your business.

By segmenting your list by “like” characteristics, such as therapeutic area or country, you can email contacts resources, announcements, and other information that would be useful to them.

Before an event, send a friendly note asking warm connections to meet up for a coffee. A few days after a trade show, email the people whose business cards you collected to ask to continue your dialog over a video meeting.

It’s not about being spammy. Showing that you are genuinely helpful and concerned about their business problems will go a long way when it comes time for them to seek out your products or services.

Put the Right Resources in Place

If you’re looking to add some fuel to the marketing fire in the year ahead, you will need to have the right tools and help to execute on your plan.

For those who lack the budget to hire, a few tools you might find useful:

• Canva – simple graphic design
• Buffer – social media scheduler
• HubSpot – CRM, email marketing, marketing automation, landing pages, and more
• Trello – visual project management/task organization
• Mailchimp – email marketing
• Loom – desktop/screenshare videos
• LinkedIn Premium – better prospecting and communication capabilities

If you’re looking to bring on a team member, options can range from a part-time or full-time intern or employee, a marketing agency, or a consultant (like yours truly).

Whatever the case may be, having experienced hands working to execute on your strategy will save you time as leader to focus on only what you can do: working ON (not IN) the business to plan for the growth you deserve.

Final Thoughts

By incorporating these tips into your annual planning, you will be better equipped to tackle the new year. Wishing you a happy holidays and happy marketing!

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Jennifer Andrews, M.Sc., MBA, is a consultant and mentor, founder of FreshLeaf Marketing, and author of Scientist to CEO, the marketing book for businesses built by scientists. Learn more at jenniferroseandrews.com and follow Jennifer on LinkedIn.