Scimega Research Success Story

Since founding Scimega Research, partners Denise Deakin and Andree Marceau have grown their Laval-based contract research organization or CRO from a two-person operation, servicing a single biotech client, into a 15-person firm with a roster of big pharmaceutical customers.

The Need
Like most entrepreneurs, they started off doing the marketing themselves, growing their business through improvised business development initiatives such as sending email alerts to potential clients, mailing out brochures, cold calling and attending tradeshows.

"Our service offering is excellent, but a weakness for Scimega is our visibility as not enough people know about us," Deakin said. “To get to the next level, we recognized that we needed assistance not only in developing a marketing plan, but putting it into action.”

The Solution
To boost their visibility, Marceau and Deakin recently hired marketing consultant Scott Broady of Keystone Marketing to help them build a powerful brand, through customer-focused marketing messages that clearly communicate the value of their service offering to their target audience.

After defining Scimega’s corporate objectives, Keystone developed a messaging roadmap and Branding/Communications platform from which all other sales and marketing initiatives will be built.

“Keystone revamped our corporate brochure and Web site, fleshed out our brand identity, and advised us to take on more speaking engagements as we continue to ramp up our public relations efforts with more editorial exposure in trade magazines and newspapers,” said Deakin.

The Result
The marketing effort has not just been directed outward, Marceau explained. "We are now communicating a lot more with employees about our brand," she said. "The more clear vision we have as an organization, the easier it is going to be to build relationships with our clients."

“The challenge will be to maintain the enthusiasm of this small-company culture," Broady said of Scimega as it contemplates growth. "We want to avoid hierarchies, (and) keep the team work and unity, which has been their strength."

In the past, Scimega went to tradeshows and handed out brochures, but found it really was not a good return on their investment.

“Keystone helped us realize that we need to focus our energy on becoming a strategic partner to our clients rather than being seen as just another supplier,” said Deakin. “We’re going to turn our Web site into more of an educational tool and start investing in more focused meetings with targeted clients, like the one we did recently with U.S. biotech firms in Boston.”

The marketing effort is also about defining a niche, according to Broady, who has been working with Scimega since September. What are our strengths, our weaknesses and what are our competitors doing? These are some of the key questions he's helping Scimega to answer.

“I am extremely satisfied with Keystone’s contribution thus far and would definitely recommend them as I have already done,” added Deakin. “I really enjoy working with Scott and am very impressed, not only with the quality of work but with the high level of professionalism.”

With 10 years of experience providing marketing communications solutions, Keystone Marketing has become a distinct competitive advantage for clients from a wide range of industries.

Call (514) 693-8905 today to get the Keystone Marketing edge and realize your full business potential.

"Marketing is not an event, but a process . . . It has a beginning, a middle, but never an end. You improve it, perfect it, change it, even pause it. But you never stop it completely..."

- Jay Conrad Levinson