Maximizing Market Share Through Brand Differentiation

Abstract

In a crowded life science market, lists of advantages and product features are no longer sufficient to differentiate one company' s offerings from another' s. How does a supplier capture potential customers' attention and ensure that scientists develop a positive impression of its brand? A strong corporate brand can have a halo effect on a company' s products across market segments, generating excitement and a premium on that company' s goods and services. Brands that can establish an emotional connection with customers benefit from the luxury of “earning” time with scientists to make a rational, persuasive case for buying their products. Without this close bond, however, a corporation' s product brands can get lost in the multitude of companies vying for scientists' attention.

BioInformatics' latest report, Maximizing Market Share Through Brand Differentiation, provides suppliers with a frank and unbiased assessment of how their customers perceive their corporate brands compared to competing corporate brands. These insights will help suppliers better differentiate themselves from their closest competitors because they detail what elements are most critical in building customer loyalty and what brand characteristics customers most prefer.

Based upon the opinions of over 1,000 life scientists globally, this report provides an overall brand “scorecard” based upon key performance metrics. This scorecard can be used to determine broad areas in which specific suppliers require attention (e.g, promotion strategies, product strategies, price strategies, place strategies, or service strategies) in order to improve a supplier' s brand image. The report also includes a special focus on “differentiation mapping,” which depicts brand relationships based upon similarities and differences between corporate brands. This information will provide suppliers with insight into understanding their competitive position and that of their key rivals in the market. It will enable suppliers to strengthen both their offensive strategy (i.e., From which companies can market share be taken?) and defensive strategy (i.e., From which companies should market share be protected?). Also unique to this report is measurement of each brand' s equity in relation to other brands.

From the perspective of life scientists, this report analyzes the performance and perceptions of 17 corporate brands in the life science market.

This report delivers the following:

• Estimates market share for different market segments and geographic regions using a set of hierarchical customer-based factors
• Assesses brand personality as a critical determinant of value creation and brand differentiation
• Examines market factors that influence a customer' s decision to purchase one brand over another
• Reveals customer perceptions of inter-brand differentiation
• Analyzes customer-based brand equity to determine the appeal of a brand by specific market segments
• Evaluates customer retention rate and average customer life on a per brand basis
• Calculates a brand' s customer value score globally and for segmented customer profiles

1054 scientists completed a 29-question survey conducted by BioInformatics, LLC (Arlington, Virginia, USA) between March 30 and April 6, 2006.

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 29,000 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 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.

Utilizing six key analyses to explore brand differentiation and evaluate the market share of the top 17 life science corporate brands, this report

• Develops in-depth customer profiles based upon detailed segmentation for each brand
• Estimates market share for each brand using a set of hierarchical customer-based factors
• Assesses brand personality as a critical determinant of value creation and brand differentiation
• Examines market factor(s) that influence a customer' s decision to purchase one brand over another
• Reveals customer perceptions of inter-brand differentiation
• Analyzes customer-based brand equity to determine the appeal of a brand
• Measures each brand' s customer value