3 Rules for Creating a Strong Life Sciences Brand

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Have you wondered how to make visual elements come together to represent your company? A brand is so much more than just a logo. In order to be successful, your brand needs to have a cohesive identity that is communicated across all platforms including printed materials, presentations and your website. A strong brand identity will help you connect with your target audience whether it be patients, physicians, investors, or a combination of all of these people, and create a consistent look and feel for your business.

What is a Brand Identity?

A brand identity is the overall look and feel of your brand. This includes your logo, color scheme, typography, and more. A strong brand strategy and identity will help you do the following:

  • Help you stand out from your competition
  • Create a lasting impression with your target audience
  • Validate your science
  • Create authority and trust in your products and services
  • Clearly communicate complex ideas to a diverse audience

Rule #1: Identify Your Target Audience

A target audience is a specific group of people that you want to reach with your brand. When you know who your target audience is, you can tailor your brand strategy to appeal to them. Some examples of typical target audiences in the life science and healthcare space are:

  • Patients
  • Providers and Physicians
  • Caregivers
  • Investors
  • Researchers
  • Policy Makers and Regulators

Within each of these categories you can get even more granular by identifying a specific demographic, for example:

Female patients, aged 20-50 with a family history of breast cancer who live in the United States.

If you don’t know who your target audience is, then identifying them is the first step you need to take before moving ahead with any rebrand work.  Understanding what your target audience expects, aligns with and reacts to is critical when building your brand.

Rule #2: Keep it Cohesive

Cohesion is important because it creates a sense of trust and credibility with your audience. Making sure everything fits together nicely will help build trust and brand recognition with your audience. How can you make sure your brand is cohesive? There are several strategies you can use to create a cohesive brand identity including:

  • Use consistent color schemes and fonts
  • Using a consistent style of photography or illustrations on all your pieces
  • Using a consistent look and feel for rendering of complex charts, tables and graphs
  • Branding every touch point including investor presentations, diagnostic reports, email marketing and social media graphics
  • Keeping a consistent tone with your writing

Rule #3: Creating (and Sticking to) Brand Guidelines

One of the best ways to ensure all your hard work in creating a cohesive foundation sticks is to create brand guidelines. Brand guidelines are a document that outlines how your brand should be used. It includes things like your color palette, font choices, logo usage, and more. Once you create brand guidelines, make sure you stick to them and insist everyone that has a hand in designing your brand does the same.  Here is a list of typical things you should include in your brand guidelines:

  • Logo usage guidelines including examples of “Dos” and “Don’ts”
  • Alternative logo usages
  • Color palettes
  • Icon and graphics
  • Imagery examples including lifestyle and clinical images, before and after examples, and device images as applicable
  • Font usage, for print, digital and web
  • Examples of writing style and tone to follow
  • Examples of existing publications showing the brand guidelines in action
  • Contact information for those who may have questions about the guidelines

How Wyndetryst Can Help You Create a Cohesive Brand

Knowing your audience and creating a cohesive brand identity is essential for any business especially those in the life sciences sector where competition can be intense and every opportunity to come off professional and authoritative is important. By following the tips above, you are taking the first foundational step to stand out from your competition and resonate with your target audiences.

If you need help creating a cohesive life science brand or strategy let’s schedule a chat to see where you are at today and what steps you can take to strengthen your brand for the future.