PR ON THE GO October 22, 2023

How To Start PR For Your BioTech Or Health Startup

By Jia Jia He

The biotech and health startup space is one of the most exciting right now. As more innovative startups emerge, they need ways to be seen. Why is press coverage important? This is due to the fact that most biotech and health startups need investor funding, and what better way to expand your community and reach potential investors or business clients than through press coverage.

From Lab to Market

PR ON THE GO expert Rakesh Bisht, Digital Marketing Manager at Gleexa, summarizes: “The health and biotech startup scene is thriving, and there are some exciting developments to watch. Take for example Tempus, using AI for personalized healthcare; 23andMe, making genetic testing accessible; and CRISPR Therapeutics, the gene-editing pioneers.”

While PR is relevant to all niches and sectors of startups, it can be incredibly beneficial in this era for biotech and healthtech startups. It can take many forms to expand from academic journal publications to the business or consumer space - including through pop science and open science.

Pop Science and Open Science

Pop Science, or popular science, refers to the presentation of intricate scientific topics and theories in a comprehensive medium, easy for the average reader to understand. This form of journalistic coverage casts a broad net for a variety of readers by simplifying the content to be engaging and a spark for curiosity among a broad scope of readers, including those without a scientific background. Notably, this takes form in mixed media, magazines, websites and even TV shows. It is an excellent medium for education and should be widely used among businesses aiming to reach a diverse genre of consumers.

On the other hand, Open Science is far more technical and goes into detail about specific research topics. It emphasizes transparency and making databases and research widely accessible to the general public. It encourages scientists to share their data in hopes of strengthening the work of others and expediting the growth of adjacent projects. This specifically targets scientists within a certain field to promote inclusivity, collaborative and reproducibility of scientific work.

Know the Science & Health Media Landscape

There is a plethora of news and special interest media covering topics related to the latest updates in science, health, environmentalism, biotechnology, and health resolutions. They range from mainstream media to trade media to investor reports. Become familiar with industry happenings, media pundits, and media outlets that cover science and health. We recommend subscribing to various newsletters, such as MIT Technology Review's The Checkup - a weekly newsletter focused on the top health and biotech news.

Bisht recommends: "In the expert corner, keep an eye on Dr. Jennifer Doudna (CRISPR co-inventor), Dr. Eric Topol (deep medicine guru), and Dr. Atul Gawande (healthcare quality advocate). For the latest updates, check out sources like STAT News, Fierce Biotech, Nature Biotechnology, and MedCity News. And if you're into podcasts, Bio2040 and TechTonics cover all things health and biotech. Exciting partnerships are happening too, with big pharma players like Pfizer and Bayer teaming up with smaller startups for innovation."

Publish Press Releases

Every milestone is worth sharing. Issue press releases of about 500 to 600 words and submit them to the journalists at the different media outlets. In the BioTech and Health Tech space, there are also paid options to distribute your press release to the interested target audiences; e.g. BioPharma Dive will deliver your news to the inbox of 100,000 industry decision-makers. EurekAlert! offers global science news distribution for multi-language science news.

Collaborate With Science Writers

Science journalists often freelance for a variety of media beats and are available to freelance for biotech and healthcare startups. We recommend hiring a science writer with extensive media experience in science and health tech coverage to produce content to build your brand. They can be your most valuable asset for creating your brand manifesto, white papers and product launch information. You can search for science journalists through science writer associations, which are available in almost every country in the world.

We hope we can get you as excited about PR for your biotech and healthcare startup as we are about hearing about the latest launches in the space! To help you on your PR journey, we've collected over 200 journalist contacts covering science and health, biotech, and the environment in our Green Media List, with email addresses ready for you to introduce yourself!

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