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Succession Bio works with life science/biotech companies to help drive sales, licensing, and partnership opportunities.

We do this through market research to identify the right companies and people, craft scientifically credible messages, and then perform the outbound sales and marketing tactics on your behalf to facilitate meetings with the right people at the right companies.

Succession

To build consistent pipeline, you need to be everywhere, all of the time, for your buyers.

Emails, conferences, LI messages, ads, newsletter, podcasts. On average, it takes 6-11 touch points before a cold prospect engages in a true sales conversation.

LinkedIn posts count towards these touch points.

But people underestimate the power of establishing an engaging presence and building trust through LinkedIn. Or they think thought leadership is reposting the same dry company post about the latest product launch or press release.

Most people treat LinkedIn in one of two ways:

1. They don't post at all. Their profile is a digital CV that hasn't been updated since 2019. They scroll, maybe like a few things, but never put themselves out there. To their buyers, they are invisible.

2. Every post is a company advert. "Thrilled to share that [Company] has launched [Product]! Come visit us at booth 247!" These posts get about as much engagement as a terms and conditions email. Your buyers scroll straight past them because they look and feel like every other vendor post on their feed.

People are on LinkedIn all the time, they're scrolling through their feed between experiments or meetings, during lunch, on the train home. 

80% of deals are won by the 1st person your buyer thinks of when it’s time to buy.

If you don’t show up with something that adds value to their scrolling session, when it's time for them to make a purchasing decision, you’re much less likely to be part of the conversation. 

They'll go with the person who's been in their feed for months, sharing useful insights, showing they actually understand the space, and critically, coming across like a real human being.

That’s how you start to establish yourself as a thought leader. You don’t always need a fancy title or a ghostwritten corporate blog. Just consistently showing up with something worth paying attention to. 

We know this first-hand at Succession. We've had people who found us through LinkedIn and said “you guys are everywhere”. That's not an accident, and it's not because we've got some massive marketing budget. It's because, as a team, we make it a non-negotiable to post regularly. We try to share useful tools, tips, and insights, without making every single post a sales pitch. People see us, they trust us, and when they need help, they already know who to call.

I call this out because I have been bad at it in the past. I’ve flip-flopped between being a LI ghost and just regurgitating company content. I wish I could go back and tell myself to get my shit together and make more of an effort.

But since we’re not quite there with time travel, my Valentine's gift to you is to provide some inspiration for your LinkedIn.

So let's build your content playbook.

Here's a menu of post types to rotate through. Mix them up, and you'll never run out of things to say.

A paper drops in Nature Methods or Cell that's relevant to your buyers' world. Don't just share the link, break it down. What did they find? Why does it matter? What could it mean for the workflows your buyers care about?

Example: "A new study in [Journal] just showed [finding]. Here's what that could mean for teams working on [application], and why it might change how we think about [process]..."

This positions you as someone who reads the science, not just someone who sells tools.

Funding rounds, M&A activity, regulatory changes, layoffs, FDA approvals, there's always something happening. Share the news and add your take. What does it mean for the people you sell to? What should they be thinking about?

You don't need to be a journalist, you just need to have a point of view.

We've all seen the "So excited to be at AACR!" selfie with a lanyard. Lovely, I’m sure your mates like it and wish you a good event, but truly, your potential buyers do not care. They’ve seen the same post 100s of times.

Instead, try this: pick one talk, one poster, or one conversation that genuinely made you think differently. Share the specific insight, why it matters, and what you took away from it. Bonus: tag the speaker or researcher. They'll probably engage with it, which puts you in front of their network too.

Example: "The most interesting thing I heard at [Conference] wasn't from a keynote. It was a conversation at the poster session about [topic]. Here's what stuck with me..."

You could also take the key themes that came up from the event and write a discussion piece around that, and encourage people to share their own takes on what’s shifting in your industry. 

People stop scrolling for visuals, us humans are a sucker for pretty colours and shiny new things. A simple carousel that walks through a concept, a process, or a comparison performs incredibly well on LinkedIn. You don't need a designer, tools like Canva make it easy.

Think: "5 things I wish I knew about [application area] when I started" or "5 challenges with traditional kinase profiling assays"

Share practical tips that help your buyers do their jobs better, whether or not it has anything to do with your product.

Example: "3 ways to reduce variability in your flow cytometry panel design" or "How to write a convincing internal business case for new lab equipment."

If you want to showcase your product, don’t stroke your own/company’s ego and make it about you. Make it about the scientist using it.

Share a real use case. Show someone in the lab getting results. Film a quick video of a customer walkthrough (with permission, obviously). Let them tell the story of what they achieved, and your product becomes part of their success rather than the main character.

Example: "Dr. [Name]'s team at [Institution] used [approach] to cut their Hit-to-lead time in half. Here's how they did it..." (then you naturally mention the tool as part of the story)

This lets your buyer see themselves in your post, and makes them go “I want to be the hero in my lab too” 

These posts are vulnerable, they're relatable, and they show growth.

Example: "I used to think the only way to get clean single-cell data was to run everything fresh. Turns out, with the right cryopreservation protocol, frozen samples can give you just as reliable results, and it completely changed how we plan experiments."

Sharing your own evolution is way more engaging than always telling someone else they're doing it wrong (although you can do this too sometimes, just don’t be a massive dickhead about it).

Got an opinion that goes against the grain? Share it. "Unpopular opinion: [thing everyone assumes] is actually holding back [outcome]."

These posts generate comments, and comments generate reach. Scientists, in particular, bloody love a good debate. Their brains are wired to challenge what’s in front of them. 

Just keep it respectful and backed up with reasoning, you want to be thought-provoking, not controversial for the sake of it.

What's something weird, funny, or unexpected you've learned in your career? What was your biggest mistake? What advice would you give yourself three years ago?

These posts humanise you. They make people want to follow you because you're interesting, not because you're useful (although ideally you're both).

A 60-second video of you talking to camera about one insight, one tip, or one observation outperforms most text posts. LinkedIn's algorithm loves video, and your face builds familiarity faster than words on a screen.

If you're showcasing a product, do a quick walkthrough that shows it in action, but keep it light. Create curiosity, but never satisfy it. You can give them the full story when they are intrigued enough to get on a call.

Share an achievement, a reflection, something you've been thinking about outside of work, or just throw in a frivolous pet post (everyone’s a sucker for those).

You're a human being, not a product page. People buy from people they like, let them see who you are outside of work sometimes too.

Yes, you can still post about what you sell. But it shouldn't be more than maybe 1 in every 5-6 posts. And even then, frame it around the problem it solves, not the features it has.

Resist the urge to bring every post back to your product. If you share an interesting paper, you don't need to end with "...and that's why you should use our platform!" Just let it be a good post. People will connect the dots. If every post feels like it's going to end with a CTA, people will stop reading them.

Great, now you've got some ideas. But how do you actually keep this going without it eating into your selling time? Here are some systems to make it sustainable.

Go to google.com/alerts and set up alerts for:

You'll get a daily digest of articles and news straight to your inbox. Instant content inspiration without having to go looking for it.

Most journals let you set up email alerts for new publications. Set these up for the journals your buyers read:

Follow key opinion leaders, researchers, and industry voices in your space. Their posts and shares will keep your feed full of content you can comment on, share, or riff off.

You can use AI to draft LinkedIn posts in your voice quickly. Claude is particularly good for writing. A few tips:

The goal isn't to have AI completely write your posts for you. But you can use it to get past the blank page paralysis faster, so you can focus on adding your own voice and perspective.

Treat LinkedIn like you treat prospecting: put 15-20 minutes in your calendar two or three times a week. Use it to draft a post, comment on other people's content, and engage with your network. Consistency beats perfection, and the LI algorithm actually rewards it. A decent post every week will outperform a perfect post once a quarter, every single time.

Posting is only half of it. Commenting thoughtfully on other people's posts, especially your buyers, is one of the fastest ways to get on their radar and make the algorithm show your posts to them more. A genuine, insightful comment on a researcher's post about their latest work is golden. Even better if you can do this in the hour leading up to your own post.

Your post will be shown to more people if it gains traction quickly. Get your team to like, comment and repost in the first 30 mins of you posting. And, if someone comments, reply to it, this will boost visibility too. 

TL;DR

Your buyers are on LinkedIn all the time, but only 3-5% of your market is in a buying phase at any one time. If the only time they see you is when you're selling something, they won’t remember you when it’s time for them buy. Show up consistently, share things that are genuinely interesting. Increase those touch points whilst showing off your expertise and personality.

Build trust before you need it.

Now go smash it, you little LI influencer.