Although “what is science writing?” seems like a clear straightforward question, it is debated by writers within the sciences, which often leads to some misconceptions about expert knowledge, whom to hire for writing projects, and more.
Some writers believe “science writing” refers to the writing that we see in academic circles, while others believe it is a more journalistic form of writing. Yet another group of science writers believes science writing refers to the communication of scientific concepts to a wide audience. Personally, I believe all forms of writing within the sciences, whether for lay audiences or a scientific audience, is science writing.
In this blog post, I provide you with an introduction to science writing and scientific content marketing with some examples.
What Is Science Communication And Science Writing?
Science writing falls under the umbrella term “Science Communication (or SciComm)”. Theoretically, this is a broad term that encompasses areas of inward-facing and outward-facing science communication, as explained in the book Effective Science Communication (by Sam Illingworth and Grant Allen). The cartoon below by Tom Dunne perfectly explains these terms better. Inward-facing SciComm involves communicating to other scientists while outward-facing SciComm involves communicating science to diverse non-scientific audiences.
To me, all forms of writing about science is science writing. It doesn’t have to be more complicated than that, right? “Science writing” as a term is quite self-explanatory. However, as scientists, we tend to sometimes complicate matters further. Let’s take a closer look at science writing.
Extrapolating from the inward-facing and outward-facing SciComm, inward-facing science writing includes scientific papers, science manuscripts, a thesis or science essay, and scientific presentations. This is, of course, a non-exhaustive list. Inward-facing science writings is usually peer-to-peer writing amongst scientists and the scientific community. Inward-facing Scicommer’s or writers often call themselves scientific writers, distinguishing themselves from other science writers.
Outward-facing science writing includes writing science news (journalism), entertaining and/or educational content such as that written by the NHS or Healthline, writing scripts for videos and podcasts, writing books (like The Emperor of All Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee – my favourite), and more. This form of outward-facing SciComm (and science writing) relates more specifically to those that translate scientific findings researched by scientists into accessible content for a lay audience.
What Is Content Marketing For Sciences?
Today, science and health companies must focus on building the audience’s trust. To do this, companies often create educational and entertaining content that sells both in the short term and also in the long term (via searches on search engines). This form of promotional (but true) educational, entertaining, and impactful content is what content marketing relies on.
Similar to science writing, content marketing can take the form of inward-facing scientific content writing or outward-facing science content writing and focuses on creating all forms of content to directly or indirectly promote their products or services.
Companies such as Hello Bio, Promega, and Inspiralis undertake inward-facing scientific writing to encourage more scientists to buy their products for use in the laboratory. Companies like The Gut Stuff, Care/Of, and others, on the other hand, create content to educate the lay audience about the benefits of their products and increase sales.
As another example, Johnson & Johnson has a strong reputation for selling baby products. This includes their baby powder and the No More Tears shampoo. Their content marketing includes highlighting their expertise in developing baby products and the benefits of using their products — no more tears — on a baby’s “soft delicate skin”. All these benefits are based on scientific findings that their advertisements and their website mention. They also rely strongly on the 5-star reviews parents leave them, which leads to more sales.
For example, here’s what the Johnson’s Baby website has to say about their No More Tears shampoo:
Their advertisements (which are a form of traditional content) play a similar role and highlight the same science.
The 30-second advertisement above as well as their website mentions several studies that were undertaken to ensure their products are safe for babies. This includes studies that provide an understanding of babies’ eyes and blink reflexes and leveraging this information to formulate their special No More Tears formula that is “as gentle to eyes as pure water”.
Businesses often hire freelance science writers and scientific writers, such as myself, and more specifically content writers in the sciences, to further their sales and services through content marketing.
Examples Of Written Science/Scientific Writing Content
Content marketing is becoming increasingly useful for businesses of all sizes. According to a marketing report by Hubspot (2021), 82% of marketers report actively using content marketing. SEMrush (2021) has similar statistics – 84% of marketing agencies have a content marketing strategy.
When done correctly, content written with a defined marketing strategy, can improve brand awareness, increase trust in your brand, and set you apart from competitors. All this will lead to an increase in the number of sales.
Whether you hope to engage with scientists or a lay audience, written content for your website can make all the difference. Below, I provide a non-exhaustive list of written content types that you should consider for your health/science business website:
- Blog posts
Blog posts can permanently remain on your website to bring you traffic for the long-term. To be able to reap the benefits of long-lasting blog content, blog posts need to be periodically updated so that they can remain on the top of search engine searches. Blog posts optimized for search engines (i.e. SEO-optimized blog posts) increase brand awareness because it brings the client from a simple Google search to your website. I have previously written about the seven ways in which a blog will boost your business.
- Infographics/Posters
Infographics/Posters are another fantastic way for companies to put out trustworthy information without having a wall of text. Infographics/Posters are concise, eye-catching and easy-to-digest. A good infographic can generate thousands of backlinks (which Google loves), moving you closer to the top of the search engine. Backlinks are like a “like” on social media channels like Facebook and Instagram, if a lot of people “like” your posts, the algorithms shows the post to more people. Google does a similar thing with pages that have high numbers of backlinks as these pages are then deemed trustworthy.
- Whitepapers
Whitepapers are a fantastic way to show authority in a certain field of research. These documents are quite similar to the scientific reports and scientific papers we write, but have a more promotional feel to it. What do I mean? Like scientific reports/papers, whitepapers highlight a problem and then delve into providing a solution. The “solution” in the whitepaper is where the promotional content comes in – you nudge your reader to purchase your product or subscribe to your services as it solves a problem in the industry.
- Case studies/Testimonials
Case studies and testimonials are ways in which satisfied customers encourage other website visitors to make a purchase. Case studies are written by the company to promote your company, often seeming biased. But testimonials, comments and reviews left by customers are very good at instilling trust and confidence in a brand.
According to Big Commerce, 92% of consumers read online reviews and testimonials before making a purchase. Ensuring you have detailed case studies and testimonials on your website will help you reach your audience in a manner that builds trust and leads to sales.
- Ebooks/Guides
Ebooks and guides can follow the format of a blog post. However, they can also serve as lead magnets – an ebook or guide given for free in exchange for contact details (usually an email address). Lead magnets are used to collect email addresses that can be targetted using email marketing strategies. Using these email addresses, people are frequently contacted with further information about the offerings of the company, discount codes to increase sales, and more, with the aim to entice more people to invest in the services/products offered by the company.
The written word is not dead, especially within the sciences. Although podcasts, videos, images, and other forms of content are becoming increasingly popular, they all require planning, which is usually done in the form of writing a script or a rough draft of the text that will accompany the image.
If you are looking to create written scientific content for your science/health business, consider hiring a freelance science and health content writer that will help you get positive results and outcomes, like showing up on Google searches and creating a stellar backlink profile. Professional content writers are your best friends (and business partners) that can vouch for you when it comes to making Google happy!
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