Marketing your Product in the Life Sciences

Nothing can be as daunting as entering today's life science marketplace as a novice. There is an abundance of mature instrumentation and assay solutions in every segment of the bioanalytical market. Classic separation and sensor technologies have branched out and morphed into dedicated analyzers for high-throughput screening, diagnostics, quality control and research application. Sensitive detection techniques combined with miniaturization, the ability to handle and transfer nano- to picoliter volumes has shrunken the size of the bioanalytical assay below the microliter level. It enables high-throughput screening (HTS), functionalized arrays and microfluidic assays (lab-on-a-chip). This technological revolution has tremendously empowered every segment of the life sciences, but it has also lead to somewhat of an 'overload conundrum': It has become increasingly difficult for users to pinpoint the best possible analytical solution for their problem as well as for the device developer to locate his customers as well as his competitors. If you are commercializing a new device, how do you find your customer and how do you convince them to change? Is your 'mousetrap' better than others, lower priced and yields results faster? How are you planning to market your newly developed product domestically and in a foreign country or culture? Most importantly, all this must happen fast enough in order to establish a sustainable business? Read on…