You know the buzzwords: click-through rates, impressions, SEO. But do you
really know the true value of your online advertising? Should your online
advertising supplant your print placement strategy? Or complement it?
Understanding your customers' preferences and knowing what publications and
Web sites that they read and trust can help you achieve the right mix and
optimize your ad buy. Seeing how your brand carries through the different
media helps you position your messages for maximum impact. Before launching
your new advertising campaign or committing to the next media buy, find out
what' s really going on inside your buyers' heads with BioInformatics' in depth
exploration of how to successfully advertise to life scientists.
Based upon the opinions of 1,000+ life scientists, the primary objectives of this report are as follows:
Assess the level of Internet use and sophistication of life scientists
Rank the usefulness of electronic sources of information for obtaining
product-related information
Evaluate the effectiveness of the most common types of online ads
Categorize the most common types of key word searches
Ascertain the reach of leading life science publications and which are the
most likely to be the most effective for ad placement
Identify novel means of reaching scientific audiences through advertising
Compare scientists' perceptions of print versus online advertising
Measure the overall receptivity to online advertising in the life sciences
The report also features a best practices guide to online advertising in the
life science industry based upon the perspectives of leading life science
vendors. Specifically, this best practices guide benchmarks Internet
advertising trends and focuses on the following:
Benefits of online advertising
Successful components of an online ad
Types of online ads that attract scientists' attention
Challenges for increasing the use and effectives of online ads
Internet advertising success metrics
Methodology
Advertising to Life Scientists: Resolving the Print vs. Online Dilemma
is based on responses to a 35-question online survey for life scientists and a
17-question online survey for leading life science vendors conducted by
BioInformatics, LLC (Arlington, Virginia, USA). 1,215 scientists participated
in the scientists' survey between January 7 and 10, 2008. 58 respondents from
life science vendors participated in the vendor survey between January 8 and
13, 2008.
The electronic questionnaire was fielded to registered members of The
Science Advisory Board. BioInformatics sponsors The Science Advisory
Board, an online community of more than 35,000 scientists, physicians and
healthcare professionals from around the world. The Science Advisory Board is
divided into two panels (Research and Clinical) and “convenes”
regularly via the World Wide Web (www. scienceboard.net) to voice their
opinions on a wide variety of issues relating to biomedical research and
clinical technologies. These experts- representing all aspects of the life
sciences and medicine- have agreed to make themselves available to participate
in our online research activities. The Science Advisory Board members who
participated in this study were drawn from the Board' s Research Panel.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Overview of the Internet & Technology Utilization Groups
Goals of this Report
Significant Findings and Analysis: Online vs. Print
The Scientist Perspective
Scientists' Reaction to Life Science Ads
General perceptions of life science advertising
How scientists obtain more information after viewing an interesting ad
Print versus Online Advertising
Overall effectiveness of print and online advertisements
Perceived purpose from the scientist' s perspective of online and print
advertising
Life science vendors with the most memorable ads in 2007
Designing Effective Online Ad Campaigns
Time spent obtaining product information online
Usefulness of online tools for obtaining product information
Search engines used to find Web content related to scientists' research
Common Internet search term combinations
Functions of an online ad from the scientist' s perspective
Most effective types of online ads
Most annoying attributes of online ads
Scientists' use of ad-blocking software
Optimizing the Use of Print Advertising
Time spent obtaining product information in print publications
Relative amount of time spent reading different content from print
publications
How scientists typically read their print publications
Durability and reach of print publications
Print publications in which scientists spend the most time viewing ads
American Biotechnology Laboratory
Bioscience Technology
BioTechniques
Cancer Research
Cell
Drug Discovery & Development
Drug Discovery News
Drug Discovery Today
Genetic Engineering & biotechnogy News (GEN)
Genome Technology
Genomics & Proteomics
Journal of Biological Chemistry
Journal of Cell Biology
Journal of Immunology
Journal of Neuroscience
Journal of Virology
Nature
Nature Biotechnology
Nature Medicine
Nature Methods
Proceeding of the National Academy of Sciences
Science
The Scientist
Demographics
Years conducting research
Total number of researchers in lab/group
Role in selecting life science products
Gender
Market segment
Job position
Geographic region
Area of research
The Vendor Perspective
Online Advertising Trends
Most important benefits of online advertising
Functions of an online ad
Most effectives types of online ads
Most annoying online ad attributes for scientists, as perceived by vendors
Online Advertising Budgeting
2008 advertising budget allocations for print and online ads
Expected change in budget for online ads from 2008 to 2009
Online advertising budget allocations by ad type
Purchasing Online Ads:
Most critical determinant in pricing online ads
Online
ad payment preferences
Preferred themes for key word targeting
Preferred type
of banner ad or tower ad
Challenges to Using Online Ads Successfully
Common ways to measure the success of online advertising campaigns
Greatest challenge in reaching target audiences with online ads
Critical challenges to increasing the use of online advertising
