March 2008, Issue 1
Welcome to the latest issue of the G2D newsletter!

Newsletter Contents
• Now Available: Life Science Product Catalogs: Techniques to Increase Sales
• Upcoming Webinars: Register Now
• 2008 Life Science Industry Awards: Are Your Customers Voting?
• Methodology Spotlight: Market Estimation
• Blog Spotlight: Awards Season

Now Available
Life Science Product Catalogs: Techniques to Increase Sales

According to our latest report, 80% of scientists use print catalogs at least once a month. 96% of scientists use online catalogs at least once a month; 75% use online catalogs more than once a month.

Life Science Product Catalogs: Techniques to Increase Sales serves as an invaluable guide to successfully marketing through print and online catalogs. The traditional role of the catalog in the life science market has been to disseminate useful product information and to facilitate product ordering. In addition, successful catalog marketing for 2008 and beyond requires a broader perspective and integrating the use of catalogs into a multi-channel marketing strategy.

This report is designed to help vendors better understand their customers' catalog preferences as well as how scientists use print and online catalogs in their work. It focuses on ways that vendors can optimize the use of print catalogs and maximize the effectiveness of online catalogs through multi-channel integration, customer acquisition, e-commerce, creative copy, and print production.

We also assessed changes from 2005 to 2008, allowing suppliers to see long-term trends and providing valuable context for the new data. For instance, we found that on average, life science labs now maintain about 35 product catalogs, which is a notable decline from the 46 print catalogs labs maintained in 2005.

For more information about Life Science Product Catalogs: Techniques to Increase Sales, visit http://www.gene2drug.com/report/190/.

Upcoming Webinars
Register Now

Webinar
Life Science Product Catalogs: Techniques to Increase Sales
Wednesday, March 12, 2008 at 1:00 p.m. EST (10:00 a.m. PST)

This webinar will present key findings from our report, Life Science Product Catalogs: Techniques to Increase Sales, which examines what attracts scientists to print and online catalogs, what information they need, their preferred formats, and what guides their buying decisions. For more information or to register for this webinar, please send an email with your contact information to webinars@gene2drug.com.

Webinar
Managing Customers in Changing Times: Effective Selling Through Mergers & Acquisitions
Wednesday, March 19, 2008 at 1:00 p.m. EST (10:00 a.m. PST)

Mergers and acquisitions are a fact of life in today's life science market and present tremendous opportunities for company growth and expansion. Yet every corporate change places customer relationships at risk and opens opportunities for your competition. This webinar will present key findings from our report Managing Customers in Changing Times: Effective Selling Through Mergers & Acquisitions. For more information or to register for this webinar, please send an email with your contact information to webinars@gene2drug.com.

Webinar
Supplier Switching Dynamics: Tips for Holding On and Breaking Through
Wednesday, March 26, 2008 at 1:00 p.m. EST (10:00 a.m. PST)

Our report Supplier Switching Dynamics: Tips for Holding On and Breaking Through examines what motivates buyers to switch brand allegiances. In this webinar, we present key findings on factors that create "customers for life" and those that enable you to take advantage of opportunities to secure new accounts. For more information or to register for this webinar, please send an email with your contact information to webinars@gene2drug.com.

For a complete listing of upcoming webinars, visit http://www.gene2drug.com/about/events.asp.

2008 Life Science Industry Awards
Are Your Customers Voting?

BioInformatics, LLC is sponsoring The Life Science Industry Awards (LSIA) for the fourth consecutive year. The LSIA is the first and only industry specific awards where thousands of scientists choose the life science suppliers with the best solution in fourteen separate product categories as well as suppliers that are "best-in-class" in six customer communications and support categories.

Voting for the Awards has already begun! Are your customers voting for you? To ensure that your customers are fully represented, please help us "get out the vote!"

Use your marketing communications and sales force to encourage your customers to select your company as "best-in-class" in the product categories where you compete by registering here http://www.scienceboard.net/register/lsia.asp.

Qualified scientists who meet our eligibility for voting will be promptly invited to participate in the 2008 LSIA nominations.

You can read more on the 2008 Life Science Industry Awards at http://www.lifescienceindustryawards.com, including categories, methodology and past winners and finalists!

Methodology Spotlight
Market Estimation

Understanding the market size and share of your product line is critical data to gauge the impact of ongoing marketing, to stay informed about competitors and to calibrate important marketing efforts. A Market Estimation from BioInformatics provides your company with the current landscape, forecasted changes in the market, and the positioning of each major competitor. Market size gives decision-makers current metrics valuable for strategic planning.

Case Study: What is the current status of the mass spectrometer market?

A leading life science supplier asked BioInformatics to estimate the market size and share of the mass spectrometry market for instrumentation and consumables. Our client needed to understand their competitive position, recent purchasing activity, future growth, and threats/opportunities posed by other suppliers. We utilized a Market Estimation incorporating end-users' purchasing patterns, usage rates, and equipment inventory along with secondary market data confirmation. Our results provided this life science supplier with the most accurate market size and share data for the mass spectrometer market, along with segmentation and growth information.

Structuring a Market Estimation
Utilizing primary data from end-users as well as secondary market data, we designed a statistical model that combined key input variables to forecast the market for mass spectrometry instruments and reagents. This approach is based on the market viewed as a set of objects (products, prices, discounts, usage, etc.) that interact. Using sophisticated statistical analysis, we can display the relationships between these objects and achieve higher accuracy than top-down market estimates. Some of the variables that were used to build the statistical model in this case study included:

The statistical model output was presented to our client in clearly explained tables that combined the areas of size, share and segment to give an overall Market Estimation.

For more information on Market Estimation services from BioInformatics, please visit http://www.gene2drug.com/bCustom/bMarket_estimation.asp.

Blog Spotlight
Awards Season

The researchers at BioInformatics, LLC peer through the Looking Glass to report and comment on trends in the life science tools industry. The following is excerpted from http://marketanalysts.lifescienceexec.com/.

Awards Season
Posted February 21, 2008 by Bill Kelly

Well it's Awards season...the Oscars are coming up and the buzz from Hollywood grows louder by the day. Not to be outdone, BioInformatics, LLC and The Scientist magazine are teaming up again to host the 2008 Life Science Industry Awards.

There are still a few details to be worked out but one thing that you can count on is that this year's awards gala will be held in Boston on June 3rd to coincide with the General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology.

Last year, more than 3,000 life scientists from around the world voted for the "best-in-class" supplier in 14 different product categories and six categories representing customer communications and support. The 2007 list of finalists and winners represented all of the big names serving the life science market, but yet there persists a degree of skepticism in industry that these are meaningful awards.

To me, this is incomprehensible! When thousands of customers from academia and industry, and every regional market around the globe take time away from their important research to voice their opinions on who is "best", industry would be wise to take notice.

With apologies to the original authors (who probably want to remain anonymous) here's a selection of comments I received when we announce the results of last year's voting:
"Just because they have more customers than anyone else doesn't mean they're better."
"Innovation is more important than market share."
"Our customers are too busy to join The Science Advisory Board."

In a maturing market where consolidation is occurring there's no shame in being a niche player in the product categories we've defined as representing the life science market. But to say that the opinions of customers don't reflect the reality of the market is to deny the fact that our industry is increasingly dominated by a relatively small number of powerful companies.

Our philosophy has always been "Let the scientists have their say!"

To read the rest of this entry or more thoughts from Bill Kelly, visit the blog at http://marketanalysts.lifescienceexec.com/.


Thank you for reading this issue of the G2D newsletter! As always, I welcome your feedback. Send me your complaints, comments, or compliments at a.donathen@gene2drug.com.

All the best,
Amanda

Amanda Donathen
Marketing Communications Manager
BioInformatics, LLC
2111 Wilson Boulevard
Suite 250
Arlington, VA 22201
TEL: (703) 778-3080 x 14
FAX: (703) 778-3081
a.donathen@gene2drug.com
http://www.gene2drug.com

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