Onboarding for success: what your communications agency needs from your biotech company

By: Cari Tornatta

What makes a partnership work between a health-tech company and its marketing/PR agency is more than smart strategy and eye-catching creative — it’s what happens in the “prior to” part. It might not seem ultra important (and admittedly it’s a bit boring, even tedious) but the onboarding process is essential for your agency to be successful. The purpose of onboarding is to provide context, access, and alignment. And when done correctly, effectively onboarding your agency will minimize frustration, save time, and result in a seamless transition. 

Insights matter

When your agency knows your business, it can craft sharper messages and smarter strategies. That kind of understanding starts with context. Case studies, press releases, and customer testimonials all help.

When your agency knows your business, it can craft sharper messages and smarter strategies. 

Maybe you’ve sent out press releases on your own, but they didn’t perform well. Sharing those examples gives the agency a clearer view of what worked, what didn’t, and why. Maybe the tone was too promotional, or maybe it lacked data. Those details matter, and they can help the agency shape messaging that will resonate the next time.

How to make the onboarding process a great one

A good PR and marketing agency will have a formal onboarding process. Depending on how established your company is, below are some of the documents you might be asked to share. It’s ok if you don’t have some of these. Perhaps this is why you’re hiring an agency in the first place and your agency will need to create them for you. Be sure to make this need clear as you discuss the deliverables and scope of work. 

• Brand guidelines and positioning statements
• Product decks or scientific explainer documents
• Past campaigns and performance data
• Key customer personas and user journeys
• Company history 
• Leadership team bios and headshots
• Strategic documents like internal KPIs, strategic imperatives, sales plans, product roadmaps, and marketing goals
• Demos / walkthroughs of products 
• Case studies
• Past press releases and media coverage
• Sales decks
• Customer/patient testimonials

Get your agency set up early with:

• Logins and passwords for tools such as Google Analytics, social media, and CRM platforms, etc.
• Assets for a press kit: photos, bios, boilerplate information, and logos
• Contact and approval information

A growing partnership

A well-onboarded agency isn’t just a supplier of content or an extra set of hands. It’s a strategic partner who can tell your story, accelerate your growth, and help you build a brand your customers trust.

At KNB Communications, we specialize in helping companies across the healthcare ecosystem — health tech, biotech, life sciences, med tech, pharma, and more — meet their goals. And we always start with best-in-class onboarding. Reach out to us and learn how we can help you get started.