Step into the shoes of a Procurement Officer at a big cosmetics and personal care (CPC) company. They need to hire a CRO to help them develop a new product. With this mission in mind, she makes herself a fresh cup of coffee and sits down at her desk to start searching. After googling a few keywords, she opens your website expecting technical credibility, regulatory awareness, and clarity of scope. Within seconds, she’s closed the tab.
It is a common myth that your lab is losing to better-equipped competitors. In fact, you’re often not losing out to a competitor, but to uncertainty, confusion, or inertia. Essentially, if the buyer can’t confidently assess your capabilities, the project stalls.
If you are a lab marketing your products or services to CPC companies, you need to know what decision makers are searching for and how to make the right first impression with your messaging. In this blog, we break down some common misconceptions about scientific marketing and reveal how stakeholders in CPC evaluate really vendors. Armed with this knowledge you will be able to boost your ROI by focusing on fostering trust and credibility with your audience.
Myth 1: We Keep Losing Out to Bigger and Better Labs
In B2B scientific services, most labs think that they’re competing with the big companies. However, this is simply not the case. In general, CPC companies demonstrate a measured but genuine willingness to try new labs and vendors, especially when innovation, quality, or specialized expertise is offered. Entrepreneurs even more so, as they seek to improve their products and come up with innovative new formulations. This willingness is driven for the most part by the following industry trends:
- Personal care companies are using technology and science in innovative ways, all with the hope of winning new customers.
- The current biotechnology trend is taking the science of beauty to a whole new level as consumers express a desire for more sustainable and natural products (great news for R&D labs!).
In the fast-growing CPC industry, expected to generate $104.7 billion in revenue in 2025 in the United States alone, there is a wealth of opportunity for smaller labs to carve out a niche for themselves. However, a CPC company needs to know they can trust you before they will be willing to take a risk on your products or services.
To reassure decision makers, you need to build trust and the best way to do that is to put your lab coat forward and lead with the science.
- Decision makers are scientifically literate - They WANT to know the details of your protocols, especially when it comes to repeatability, documentation, and data standards.
- Show off your regulatory prowess - Do your products and services comply with FDA, REACH and IFRA standards?
- Are you an innovator or a sustainability guru? - Make your personal mission your brand. This will help you align with the right audience.
Putting all these points into your messaging will present a clear and coherent argument of why you are the natural fit for CPC companies trying to make the most of industry trends. Remember, ambiguity kills momentum! A technically strong lab will lose out to both competitors and inertia if they fail to make their message clear.
Get Your Research Across in Your Messaging
Myth 2: CPC Decision Makers Don’t Speak Science
This is categorically untrue. For the most part, decisions at CPC companies are either scientists themselves or are well informed on scientific topics. Their expertise lends itself to the partner selection process and they want to know the details. Make sure you provide:
- Clear analytical methodology (e.g., GC-MS, LC-MS/MS, in vitro assays)
- Evidence of matrix expertise (e.g., emulsions, surfactants, peptides)
- Experience with similar formulation types (e.g., SPF creams, detergents)
- QA/QC controls, GLP/GMP compliance if applicable
Don’t be afraid to get technical, jargon - when used correctly - can build trust. List services, timelines and accreditations and be sure to let buyers know that you are ready to make the onboarding process as transparent as possible.
Get Technical and Extend Your Reach
Myth 3: One Message is Enough to Build a Brand
Great, you’ve got the technical details listed, from now on the science should speak for itself right? WRONG! One message is not enough to build a brand. This is because decisions are not made by one audience member, but by a committee of multiple stakeholders. A message that might work for an R&D scientist might not work for a procurement officer or CEO.
In today’s market, buyers expect personalized outreach that fits their needs and desires. There are several marketing strategies that can help you match your key messages to the right audience and reach them where they work. Account Based Management (ABM) should be the number one tool in your toolkit because it allows you to segment by industry, company size, geography, and buying stage in order to create personalized campaigns that resonate.
Other digital marketing strategies that are valuable in the B2B scientific marketing space include content marketing, which lets you build credibility by promoting thought leadership and advertising both through social media platforms like LinkedIn and good old Google Ads, a tried and true method to boost visibility.
Conclusion: Scientific Marketing Works in B2B CPC
In this blog, we’ve discussed three common myths about B2B CPC marketing and we’ve learned the importance of clear, scientific messaging. We’ve also touched on the importance of diversifying your messaging to reach not only scientists working at CPC companies but the rest of the decision making committee, which may include non-scientists.
Using ABM to identify and nurture high-value leads through personalized outreach such as LinkedIn, emails and other content is a tried and true method that helps you to focus on the most likely prospects. With ample resources, these potential buyers are open to trying new things, especially if your lab can show them that you can provide innovation, quality, or specialized expertise. To learn more, download our whitepaper on how to build visibility in B2B CPC.
