Turning R&D into Marketing Copy

This month, you’ve seen some contributors express the value of using R&D as part of your company’s marketing plan. You probably nodded your head in solemn agreement, maybe issued a fist pump, and then asked yourself, “How the hell do I do that?”

Allow me to provide some help—free of charge!

If were handling a company’s marketing—a bone-shivering thought, I know, but hold on—I’d relish such an opportunity. It’s about taking the body of R&D and expressing it in the most succinct, memorable way possible. You’re adding some sex appeal to the lab, and your product, without having the FDA staking out your headquarters.    

Let’s say you’ve just conducted three human clinical trials to affirm Product X’s effectiveness in some health category. (Please note that the ensuing numbers are used to illustrate a point, and nothing more.) You invested 100 hours of manpower and $875,000 on this research, which involved 10 scientists at three universities. How can we make that research palatable for the consumer?

Let me take stab at it.

You shouldn’t have to worry what’s in your supplement. That’s why we spent 100 hours and close to a million dollars making sure Product X is the best fit for your nutritional needs.

Or imagine this text under a giant photo of your product.

100 hours of testing

10 scientists at 3 colleges

And close to one million dollars

Went into this one tablet/gelcap/gummy worm

How about…

We don’t take chances with Product X, that’s why we make every mistake in the lab. What you get, in our opinion, is the best X supplement on the market.

Obviously, these are coarse ideas: I probably spent five minutes on this. (Hey, what do you expect for free?) But this shows that turning R&D into a marketing asset isn’t exceedingly difficult. You’re not minimizing the hard work you’ve done or turning into glittery piffle. Consider this tack as the memorable introduction to a fuller conversation.