ASTARTE BIOLOGICS SUCCESS STORY
How digital marketing excellence led to a $38M acquisition by Charles River Labs
- Astarte Biologics leaned into technology-enabled marketing as the foundation of its growth strategy.
- Through strategic and tactical marketing efforts and complete outsourcing of marketing functions to Clarity Quest, Astarte revenues grew by 5X, followed by a PE event and eventual acquisition by Charles River Labs for $38M.
- The company’s e-commerce site stands out as an industry leader and key differentiator, supporting a 67% increase in online order revenue one year after site launch.
- The Clarity Quest life sciences marketing team successfully builds awareness for Astarte Biologics as a trusted leader in the immunology and inflammatory research industry.
Astarte Biologics has always been ahead of the competition curve in engaging customers and connecting with the needs of the research community. That’s why, when they identified their need to invest in marketing, they turned to Clarity Quest’s specialized life sciences marketing expertise.
Astarte leadership attributes at least 60% of the company’s revenue directly to marketing campaigns.
Astarte Biologics provides the highest quality immune cell products and research services to pharmaceutical companies and mid-market biotech labs. Their marketing focus includes an innovative customer experience that centers on the needs of scientists and researchers.
Marketing services provided
A smooth start to marketing-enabled growth
The Seattle-based company’s relationship with Clarity Quest began when President & Founder Anne Lodge decided to leverage a full-service marketing agency that had deep expertise in the biotech space.
After discussing business goals, marketing plans, budget recommendations, and the results Anne expected to see from her marketing investment, work kicked off with digital marketing and a deliberate focus on growth and revenue generation.
Results that define success
We have worked with Astarte Biologics since 2014. Recent focus has been continuing strategic growth through expanding communications and brand awareness, building an inventory management system, redesigning Astarte’s e-commerce website, and launching digital engagement and outreach programs.
Increased revenues by 5X
Boosted organic search traffic by 600%
Achieved attributable marketing ROI of 645%
Helped Astarte successfully increase valuation for an equity event
Building a brand with purpose
Research and discovery are in the heart of every immunology scientist. To connect with the audience, the Astarte brand needed to represent the company’s mission to deliver quality products and services that propel research forward.
Through much research and understanding, Clarity Quest was able to create a brand that successfully delivers an energetic and motivational message that scientists can’t overlook.
Giving scientists the freedom to be scientists
Creating a lead generation strategy and handling the day-to-day operations of marketing campaigns alleviated many burdens for the Astarte team. With the help of Clarity Quest’s outsource marketing team, Astarte’s scientists were able to get out of the sales/marketing role and into the lab to innovate and create new, high-quality products that define the brand.
Deploying leading e‑commerce
After seeing how marketing could grow top-line revenue, Astarte quickly realized it was time to invest in a custom approach to managing their expansive inventory. Showcasing expertise in technology development, Clarity Quest created an e-commerce solution that would centralize the inventory and online purchasing functions.
With the launch of its new website and inventory management solution in mid-2017, Astarte began an impressive level of engagement for its customers by providing an intuitive, effective buying experience — one that was the first in its industry and that leading pharmaceutical companies regularly compliment to this day.
Digital marketing successes
The optimization of Astarte’s e-commerce website and digital campaigns resulted in:
- 162% increase in overall website sessions
- 999% increase in blog post page views
- 96% increase in organic social media sessions
- 59% increase in Act-On website email sessions
- 11% increase in LinkedIn-driven website sessions
“I enjoy the enthusiasm of the CQ team in helping me grow my business. Clarity Quest effectively grew our biotechnology company by developing campaigns to engage and convert the top pharmaceutical companies in the world. Large pharmaceutical companies frequently compliment us on our marketing programs and branding.”
Anne Lodge, Ph.D., Founder | Astarte Biologics
A high-yield journey into ABM
While e-commerce is a key focus for Astarte, account-based marketing (ABM) has also become a pillar of their marketing success.
Clarity Quest identified Astarte’s enterprise pharmaceutical customers with the most growth potential and then created targeted content for email and social advertising campaigns.
Overall, Astarte has seen a 96% lift in ABM revenues since 2017.
- Engagement by ABM contacts increased by 3,127%
- LinkedIn ABM Engagement increased by 355%
How do you top success? Keep moving forward.
Clarity Quest continually works with Astarte to evaluate their strengths and identify opportunities for even more growth. Each year, Astarte invests in an annual marketing plan that outlines a solid strategy with a detailed monthly schedule and budget, offering the right balance of lead generation and nurture campaigns that foster marketing accountability, grow revenues, and continue to build a referral network.
The future with Clarity Quest
After five years of impressive results, Astarte’s founder touts the fact that the heart of their marketing success comes down to content and building a customer base. She believes in the power of high-quality content to bring in business.
Today, Clarity Quest is an indispensable part of the Astarte team.
