In 2023, I led the go-to-market (GTM) strategy for the Spatial Biology CRO Service at Fortis Life Sciences. In 2025, I led the launch of a new campaign to refine our messaging strategy and drive additional visibility to this service.

By 2023 the spatial biology market was already saturated and the number of players in the space has only increased since. As a small CRO, the main challenge of entering into this space was the lack of brand awareness for Fortis/Bethyl Laboratories as a service provider – we are mainly known as an antibody reagent vendor.

2023: Go-to-market

Launch Day

We launched our Spatial Biology CRO Service at AACR 2023. To drive brand awareness, I selected a position for our booth on the show floor in proximity to other competitors in spatial biology. We made a splashy entry with a 20×20 booth!

We also hosted an in-booth event with our partners at Akoya Biosciences, published an editorial with Cancer Research Industry News, and were highlighted in the BioCompare Passport program to leverage other audiences and drive traffic to our booth.

Brand Positioning

Leading up to the launch of our spatial biology CRO services at AACR 2023, we published social media content highlighting:

• Our workflow-based approach to project design
• Real data from our IHC panel development in preparation for launching this service

Educational Content

As part of the launch, I developed a Spatial Biology Learning Center that highlights key applications in spatial biology including tyramide signal amplification and cyclic immunofluorescence. This content still lives on the Fortis website today and is maintained with updated references when applicable. The purpose of the learning center is not only to educate the scientific community but to position Fortis as thought leader knowledgeable in spatial biology, to provide reassurance to our customers that they are choosing a capable partner.

Industry Partnerships

We established partnerships with industry leaders in capital equipment, image handling, and image analysis in order to complement Fortis’ strength in reagent manufacturing and custom services. I personally maintained these relationships and worked with my counterparts to create co-branded marketing materials for use on digital platforms and at tradeshows including press releases, social media posts, flyers, webinars, whitepapers, and more.

2025: An updated campaign based on new knowledge

In 2025, we launched a new campaign, leveraging two years of projects, voice of customer, and marketing and sales data. In two months, this campaign has driven an increased frequency of conversions via our website compared to the quarter prior to campaign launch.

Our biggest challenge remains brand awareness as there is immense competition in the industry for spatial biology CRO providers. This campaign continues to drive brand awareness by leveraging the compelling scientific stories as well as key industry partnerships that set Fortis apart.

Messaging

Our key messaging drives home the advanced technologies that our CRO offers access to, as well as our industry partnerships that provide an end-to-end workflow that most CROs cannot offer.

Website

Now two years smarter, we revised the landing page with the goal of driving additional traffic and conversions by telling a better story about our value as a service provider.

Improvements to our Spatial Biology Services landing page included:

• SEO updates, researched using SEMRush, to update terminology to reflect current best practices. For example, using “spatial biology” more prominently in addition to “multiplex immunofluorescence”
• An updated value proposition highlighting what we’ve learned from customers that we have won opportunities from
• Expanding on details about each step in our end-to-end workflow, while maintaining a visual workflow diagram that has resonated with customers

Google Ads (PPC/SEM)

We drove additional traffic to the website by creating responsive Google Ads targeting keywords identified during the SEO audit. This was an addition to the 2025 campaign since budget increases allowed for spend further down the funnel.

Owned Social Media

Our 2025 campaign drives brand awareness on social media by highlighting real case studies from our lab and real data that we’ve provided to customers over the past two years.

Email Marketing

Using our database of prospects who have engaged with spatial biology content over the last two years, our email nurture program is designed to rapidly pull these prospects further down the funnel by providing multiple options for how they can engage with our spatial biology offerings.

Previous A/B tests indicated that in-line links typically convert at a higher rate than buttons, and that text-based emails get a higher conversion rate than emails containing images (even for spatial biology!), so you’ll see this reflected in the email design.

Third Party Social Media

Additionally, we are driving brand awareness via third party media partnerships and generating consented contacts through gated educational content. The research described in this gated content was developed in partnership with the scientists working with Fortis to generate the data.

Sales Enablement

To fully realize a full-funnel marketing campaign, I developed training materials including an internal and a customer-facing slide deck as well as SWOT and competitive analysis to support the field sales team in 1:1 interactions with potential customers.