Abstract
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
- Determine scientists attitudes toward online advertising
- 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
Study Methodology and Demographics
- Methodology
- Demographics
- Questionnaires
- Scientists' questionnaire
- Vendors' questionnaire
Appendices
- Insights and Perspectives
- Other Recent Publications
- About BioInformatics
- Our Valued Clients
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