Euro Biotechnology

Google Ads amounts to billions of dollars in revenue for the search engine giant, but what about your revenue?

Standing out in this competitive-and, let’s face it, cluttered-environment can be a huge challenge for advertisers, especially if they’re just starting out. There’s only so much space on a search results page to go around, after all.

As we enter the 2018 holiday season, it’s the right time to take a good, hard look at your stale ads. It’s time to breathe some new life into them.

With that in mind, here are the features the pros use to stand out from the competition:

The Latest Expanded Text Ads

Google made their standard text ads larger by introducing expanded text ads (ETAs) in 2016. The increased character count was a boon for advertisers because it enabled messaging to reflect more of the advertiser’s key incentives.

Experts jumped on this new format immediately, even though Google didn’t require they switch until January 2017. Even then, advertisers could continue to run standard (shorter) ads, but they couldn’t edit them or launch new ones.

Some people hesitated, but advertisers who were slow to switch were at a disadvantage compared to those who immediately moved to the new format. The go-getters ended up with a huge head start since ETAs proved to have higher clickthrough rates (CTRs) than standard ads.

(And good CTRs = good quality scores = lower CPCs = better ad positioning.)

Now you have this opportunity again!

In August, Google further expanded their text ad format-expanded expanded text ads?-but taking advantage of these new character limits is still optional (hint: you should use them).

The latest iteration of expanded text ads introduces a second headline and more characters to all text fields, making text ads even more prominent. Here’s what’s new:

• An additional, optional headline of up to 30 characters
• An additional, optional description line
• Both description lines can now be up to 90 characters (increased from 80)

And here’s a comparison of the three ad formats:

These longer character counts may not sound like much-oh boy, ten more characters!-but they add up and can have a significant impact on how your ads look (and how they convert). See for yourself how the three types of ads look in a side-by-side comparison:

The new ETAs feature up to 218% more text than the original “standard” format. As expected, search experts are already updating their ads to capitalize on the latest change-and this time you should too!

Even though the extra headline and description won’t show up all the time, they’ll help you stand out when they do by making the ad itself bigger. The third headline also gives you an extra thirty characters of highlighted blue text at the top of your ad.

Ad Extensions

Ad extensions are optional snippets of text that users can append to their ads. Google introduced the first extension-sitelinks-way back in 2009. These short links appear beneath the ad and direct searchers to different pages of the advertiser’s website.

But why stop there? There are now ten different types of manual extensions and six automated extensions that advertisers can use to compel more clicks:

On average, an ad’s CTR has the potential to improve by 10-15% per extension. Aside from adding functionality, extensions increase the surface area of your placement and are free to implement, so they’re a no-brainer.

Though every ad extension is potentially useful, there are four (highlighted in yellow above) that you must use (if you’re not already). This is because they’re easy to implement and they allow you to feature critical incentives and information about your business that would otherwise take up valuable ad copy.

1. Sitelinks

Sitelinks are valuable because they allow you to link deeply into your site. The number of sitelinks associated with your ad varies from 2 to 8. A great tip is to create specialty landing pages for each sitelink which are goal oriented and customized to the link. You can customize sitelinks at the ad group level too, making them even more relevant to specific searches.

2. Callouts

Callout extensions can be up to 25 characters each and are not clickable. They promote features, benefits, and selling points of your business. They’re also a great way to highlight specific qualities of your business that you don’t have room to showcase in your primary ad copy. For instance, 250 5 star reviews, 5 convenient locations, all credit cards accepted, etc.

3. Call Extensions

Call extensions add a phone number without wasting any of the primary copy. On mobile devices, a callout extension lets people tap a button to call your business directly. Implementing call extensions is quick and easy, so you should include them in all applicable ads.

4. Structured Snippets

This extension gives users the option to include a list of products or services beneath their ad. Structured snippets contain a category header (e.g., services) followed by a list of items (e.g., pet grooming, pet sitting, dog training, de-shedding).

Using all of these snippets is a great way to differentiate your ad from competitors’ ads. You can get creative too. For example, if you’re a B2B database host, you could list the features included in your service (e.g., Cloud Automation, Advanced Security, Easy-To-Use Data Browser).

It’s worth noting, though, that when it comes to the categories you can choose, you’re restricted to Google’s preset list. The full list of snippet categories (headers) is available here. Here are some other structured snippet examples based on different ones:

• Amenities: Free WiFi, Sauna, Early Check-In, Concierge Service, Continental Breakfast
• Brands: Urban Decay, bareMinerals, Nyx, Tarte, Too Faced
• Courses: Financial Training, Investment Banking, Business Economics, Fundraising

Using a few of the available extensions creates more opportunities to capture your prospects’ attention. It can even push your competition further down the page!

Here’s an example of how an ad would appear if all the above extensions showed at once:

Geotargeting and other important settings

Implementing ad extensions along with the latest ETA format is sure to get advertisers more clicks. Yet this can be a double-edged sword because (sadly) most of us don’t have an unlimited budget.

Fortunately, there are some settings and features that you can (and should) use to minimize clicks from unqualified traffic. The settings we’re going to focus on are bid modifiers, geotargeting, remarketing for search ads (RSLA), ad scheduling, and negative keyword lists.

Bid Modifiers

Bid modifiers, or adjustments as Google calls them, enable you to increase or decrease bids based on when and how people search. Bid modifiers can apply to devices, locations, ad scheduling, and more. Advertisers bid up or down by percentages.

For example, if you want to bid more aggressively on mobile searches, you can adjust your bids to +30% for mobile devices. Likewise, if you want to appear for desktop searches, but would rather pay less for these types of clicks, you can adjust your bids to -30% for desktop devices.

Expert tip: Use Google’s reporting tools to test how your modified segments are performing and adjust bids regularly. You can review performance by location, audience, device, time of day, and more right from the Google Ads main interface.

An example of locations segment (via Google Ads)

Geotargeting

There’s more to geotargeting than just showing your ads in your desired locations. You can also refine where your ads appear by excluding certain locations and regions. You can get granular with this too by increasing or decreasing bids to your targeted areas using bid modifiers.

Geotargeting improves your ROI by minimizing clicks from unqualified prospects (e.g., people outside of your service area, neighborhoods below a certain income threshold, etc.). So it’s well worth the time it takes to set up and refine.

Ad Scheduling

Maybe you’re not open on weekends. Maybe no one is operating the phones after 8 pm every night. Maybe your strongest return on ad spend occurs between the hours of 10 am and 1 pm every day. Once you figure out the best time of day for your ads to appear, you can use scheduling to choose exactly when they show. This is an especially great feature when you have a limited budget.

Remarketing for Search Ads (RSLA)

Remarketing isn’t just for display ads anymore! This feature allows you to target search ads to people who have already visited your site. Your ads then appear when they search on Google for the keywords you’re bidding on. You can either append RSLA lists to existing ad groups or create groups that only show ads if a searcher is on your remarketing list. Google provides detailed instructions for setting up RSLA campaigns. It’s definitely worth investing the time to read.

Negative Keyword Lists

You can ensure your ad isn’t triggered for undesirable keywords by creating negative keyword lists and applying them at the account, campaign, or ad group level. The new Google Ads interface makes creating and assigning negative keyword lists simple. Create themed lists (e.g., competitors, locations, common terms) and assign them based on account performance or structure.

We’ve only scratched the surface…

The good news is that there are things you can (and must) do to make your brand stand out and to ensure it’s reaching the most qualified prospects.

Google gives you some powerful tools to help improve the clickthrough rate of your ads, which contributes to a higher quality score. And, in turn, higher scores help drive down your cost per click, give you a higher impression share, and make your ad more likely to show up than your competitors’. They can even help your ad appear at the top of the search results.

But blindly implementing these tips can only help you so far.

It should go without saying (but we’re saying it anyway) that you should test all ads with different ad copy (and extensions) and then refine them based on actual performance.

Effective ads-even those loaded with ad extensions-are also only part of a good PPC strategy. Landing page optimization, tracking, A/B testing are critical practices for a successful campaign. Setting clear goals is also very important.

It’s also helpful to see what the competition is doing by reviewing competitor ads, landing pages, and incentives. Google’s Auction Insights report allows you to see who is bidding against you and their impression share compared with yours. Make sure you’re reviewing your competitive data monthly or quarterly. It can help you plan and revise your keyword and ad copy strategy.

Industry tools like SEMRush, KeywordSpy, and SpyFu also provide competitive information and enable you to automate monitoring. They’re worth checking out-you can be sure that most experts use them!

Even if you don’t dig deeper into the competitive data, however, implementing the above settings and ad extensions-as well as taking advantage of the latest expanded text specifications-will put you ahead of the competition. So get started today!

Alector, a biotech company focusing on the immune system to treat degenerative brain disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease, has filed to go public to fund human tests of its experimental therapies.

South San Francisco, CA-based Alector set a preliminary $150 million target for its IPO. The company has applied for a listing on the Nasdaq exchange under the stock symbol “ALEC.”

In its prospectus, Alector challenges longstanding theories that point to problem proteins-amyloid beta and tau in Alzheimer’s, alpha-synuclein in Parkinson’s, and TDP-43 in frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)-as the root causes of neurodegeneration. Alector contends that… Read more »

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In October of 2018, the Trump Administration outlined a proposal that would import foreign price controls for medicines covered under Medicare Part B. Despite warnings from BIO and dozens of other industry experts and patient advocates, the administration continues to defend its flawed plan and with equally flawed rhetoric.

In a recent blog for Vital Transformation, author Duane Schulthess examines a claim made by Secretary Azar at a Brookings Institute briefing where he touts the plan – known as the International Pricing Index Model or IPI – but fails to acknowledge its full impact on biomedical innovation.

“[A]t most [the IPI] model could pull around $700 million out of the entire pharmaceutical industry’s annual R&D budget, which they boast is more than $70 billion a year right now.  These savings, while very substantial for American patients and American taxpayers, cannot, therefore, possibly pull out more than 1 percent of R&D,” Azar purported.

But not so fast. As Schulthess points out in his analysis:

“[T]o assume that a good solution is targeting the most successful and needed new therapies with mandated price ceilings, often for drugs coming from innovative US companies, and then state that it will only impact 1% of R&D is sky-high rhetoric untethered from reality. … In fact, the impact on R&D and innovation globally will be devastating.”

He continued, “targeting only the most new, successful, and cutting-edge technologies for arbitrary price ceilings will have a debilitating impact on U.S. innovation and likely drive biotech firms to move to other markets. … [We] could easily see US companies having to move to Korea or Singapore if price ceilings that radically impact an innovative company’s ability to price new products are enacted.”

BIO echoed Schulthess assessment of the IPI in a recent comment letter to the administration expressing strong opposition to the model.

“[M]oving Part B from a market-based payment formula, to one based on artificially low and government-controlled foreign prices that largely ignore impacts on patient access and the development of new cures. … We support efforts aimed at improving the value of overall healthcare spending, but believe that the IPI model would do nothing to further this objective, or to foster a marketplace of enhanced choice, quality, and competition, which includes both generic and biosimilar options for beneficiaries.”

Among specific concerns, BIO warns in its letter that the administration’s draconian drug pricing proposal:

• Jeopardizes access to new medicines for Medicare’s vulnerable beneficiaries;
• Introduces new middlemen and complexity into providers’ delivery of critical medicines, potentially jeopardizing care to patients without reducing beneficiary costs;
• Is inconsistent with the charge of CMS’ Innovation Center, and does not appropriately consider benefit to the patient; and
• Reflects a broader effort to erode the value of the Medicare benefit for seniors and put patient access to care at risk.

For these reasons, the administration should withdraw the International Pricing Index model and “work with stakeholders on solutions that address the issues facing patients, including healthcare costs, without placing access to critical medical innovations at risk.”

To read BIO’s full comment letter, click here.

To read the full analysis by Schulthess, click here.

[Source: Research & Innovation] AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES SUMMIT The biggest event of AVs in CEE The first year of the two-days international conference with Expo part AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES SUMMIT is focused on Autonomous Vehicles, that folows the trends in current digital transformation in the automotive industry The event will be held in Bratislava , Slovakia

In frame of summit shall held conferences , incl . science – technological conference, with moderated round tables panels discussions , startups stage and EXPO part that allows partners companies stand presentation Target groups of the summit Car Manufacturers and Suppliers – Manufacturers and Suppliers of Automotive Components (OEMs) and their Research Centers – Technology bodies, R&D institutions- Universities / Academies – Smart cities urbanists- Governments – Private Firms – Industrial Automotive Business- Investors- Startups – Politicians- specialists in education- visionaries- Why to participate -Present your business proposals, future visions, ideas for product development, technologies and solutions! -Get your problem solved – matching organisations seeking or offering solutions! -Learn from experts -Meet numerous prospective cooperation partners in TWO DAYS days and reduce the amount of time and money for finding new partners!

The flow of biotech news is particularly heavy today, and for good reason. The annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference, one of the biggest gatherings for the biopharmaceutical industry, kicked off today in San Francisco, and many companies, whether they’re speaking at the event or not, use this time to get their news out.

Xconomy is on the ground covering the conference this week. In the meantime, here’s a short roundup of biotech news announced today.

DEALS AND DATA

-Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY) is paying $8 billion cash to acquire Loxo Oncology (NASDAQ: LOXO), a company developing drugs that target… Read more »

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[Source: Research & Innovation] AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES SUMMIT The biggest event of AVs in CEE The first year of the two-days international conference with Expo part AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES SUMMIT is focused on Autonomous Vehicles, that folows the trends in current digital transformation in the automotive industry The event will be held in Bratislava , Slovakia

In frame of summit shall held conferences , incl . science – technological conference, with moderated round tables panels discussions , startups stage and EXPO part that allows partners companies stand presentation Target groups of the summit Car Manufacturers and Suppliers – Manufacturers and Suppliers of Automotive Components (OEMs) and their Research Centers – Technology bodies, R&D institutions- Universities / Academies – Smart cities urbanists- Governments – Private Firms – Industrial Automotive Business- Investors- Startups – Politicians- specialists in education- visionaries- Why to participate -Present your business proposals, future visions, ideas for product development, technologies and solutions! -Get your problem solved – matching organisations seeking or offering solutions! -Learn from experts -Meet numerous prospective cooperation partners in TWO DAYS days and reduce the amount of time and money for finding new partners!

In October of 2018, the Trump Administration outlined a proposal that would import foreign price controls for medicines covered under Medicare Part B. Despite warnings from BIO and dozens of other industry experts and patient advocates, the administration continues to defend its flawed plan and with equally flawed rhetoric.

In a recent blog for Vital Transformation, author Duane Schulthess examines a claim made by Secretary Azar at a Brookings Institute briefing where he touts the plan – known as the International Pricing Index Model or IPI – but fails to acknowledge its full impact on biomedical innovation.

“[A]t most [the IPI] model could pull around $700 million out of the entire pharmaceutical industry’s annual R&D budget, which they boast is more than $70 billion a year right now.  These savings, while very substantial for American patients and American taxpayers, cannot, therefore, possibly pull out more than 1 percent of R&D,” Azar purported.

But not so fast. As Schulthess points out in his analysis:

“[T]o assume that a good solution is targeting the most successful and needed new therapies with mandated price ceilings, often for drugs coming from innovative US companies, and then state that it will only impact 1% of R&D is sky-high rhetoric untethered from reality. … In fact, the impact on R&D and innovation globally will be devastating.”

He continued, “targeting only the most new, successful, and cutting-edge technologies for arbitrary price ceilings will have a debilitating impact on U.S. innovation and likely drive biotech firms to move to other markets. … [We] could easily see US companies having to move to Korea or Singapore if price ceilings that radically impact an innovative company’s ability to price new products are enacted.”

BIO echoed Schulthess assessment of the IPI in a recent comment letter to the administration expressing strong opposition to the model.

“[M]oving Part B from a market-based payment formula, to one based on artificially low and government-controlled foreign prices that largely ignore impacts on patient access and the development of new cures. … We support efforts aimed at improving the value of overall healthcare spending, but believe that the IPI model would do nothing to further this objective, or to foster a marketplace of enhanced choice, quality, and competition, which includes both generic and biosimilar options for beneficiaries.”

Among specific concerns, BIO warns in its letter that the administration’s draconian drug pricing proposal:

• Jeopardizes access to new medicines for Medicare’s vulnerable beneficiaries;
• Introduces new middlemen and complexity into providers’ delivery of critical medicines, potentially jeopardizing care to patients without reducing beneficiary costs;
• Is inconsistent with the charge of CMS’ Innovation Center, and does not appropriately consider benefit to the patient; and
• Reflects a broader effort to erode the value of the Medicare benefit for seniors and put patient access to care at risk.

For these reasons, the administration should withdraw the International Pricing Index model and “work with stakeholders on solutions that address the issues facing patients, including healthcare costs, without placing access to critical medical innovations at risk.”

To read BIO’s full comment letter, click here.

To read the full analysis by Schulthess, click here.

Poseida Therapeutics, which is testing CAR-T cell therapies for blood-borne and solid tumor cancers, has laid the groundwork for an initial public offering.

In documents filed with securities regulators Friday, the San Diego company set a preliminary IPO target of $115 million. The company has applied for a listing on the Nasdaq stock exchange under the symbol “PSTX.”

CAR-T therapies deploy T cells that have been engineered to kill cancer. These cells, programmed to act aggressively, have in some cases led to significant side effects, however. Results for the first two CAR-T products approved, both in 2017, have varied…. Read more »

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What will your Christmas gifts be placed under this year? A Fraser fir? A Douglas fir? An artificial tree?

While some individuals love the look and smell of a real Christmas tree, others prefer the low upkeep and longevity of an artificial tree.

But what if we could use genetics to improve the Christmas tree? Would you trade in the fake tree for a fir that loses less needles and requires less upkeep?

Here are four facts about using genetics in pursuit of a more perfect Christmas tree:

1) Very little has been known about the genomes of Christmas trees. Megan Molteni of Wired reported last year:

“…the conifer genome is not just enormous-20 billion base pairs compared to your 3 billion-but also pretty weird. At some point in their deep past, spruces, pines, firs, and their relatives acquired a complete second set of genes. Scientists think this genome-wide duplication likely helped shape these species into the tallest, hardiest plants in the world. But it’s also made sequencing them an incredibly daunting challenge. And unlike corn and soybean, there hasn’t been much money available to even try. So far scientists have managed to put together partial DNA blueprints for only a handful of conifers, not including the most popular Christmas tree species.”

2) Scientists and researchers are studying genetic data taken from Christmas trees around the world to better understand the DNA of these trees and increase the potential for genetic improvement. For example, North Carolina State University’s Christmas Tree Genetics Program has been working since 1996 to advance the state’s Christmas tree industry through the application of genetic principles.

“We are doing DNA sequencing to understand the DNA of Christmas trees, and in the long term, this may lead in the future to genetic engineering.” – John Frampton, professor in the department of Forestry and Environmental Resources at North Carolina State University

3) Genetics research could lead to the development of Fraser firs that are resistant to pests like Phytophthora root rot and the balsam woolly adelgid. A Christmas tree spends six to 10 years growing before it is cut to be sold, and such pests can kill a tree before that time.

Phytophthora is a fungus-like organism that can infect a Fraser fir and cause yellow-green needles, wilting, dead branches, and eventually tree death.

Balsam woolly adelgid is a small insect that feeds on Fraser firs and kills the trees after several years of infestation.

4) Genetics research is also exploring what separates the best needle-holders from the worst. Using branches from different trees, Gary Chastenger, a plant pathologist at Washington State University, has been researching the genetic variations of trees and needle retention. Via Wired:

Today, Chastagner’s team hangs the branches on racks or wire clotheslines strung across a temperature-controlled concrete cistern, where they rest without water for seven to 10 days. Then, a few well-trained technicians gently rub each branch and rate the needle retention on a scale of one (1 percent of needles fall off) to seven (91 to 100 percent loss).

Chastagner is only interested in the extremes on both sides of the spectrum. Over the years, he’s taken any cuttings that rate zero to one, or six to seven and grafted little bits of them onto rootstocks his lab manages on 15 acres in Puyallup. This process converts each outlying specimen into an isolated stand of genetically identical trees, preserving their unique DNA in what’s called a clonal holding block.

Now, those trees are part of a massive effort to pinpoint the tiny genetic variations that determine why some trees turn out better than others.

Six years ago, Chastagner and researchers at Washington State University, North Carolina State University and University of California, Davis jointly secured $1.3 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to find genetic markers for Phytophthora root rot resistance and needle retention.

Chastagner’s graduate student, Katie McKeever, is collecting isolates of Phytophthora in various growing areas. By sequencing these samples and conducting pathogenicity trials, McKeever will contribute critical information to the team’s search for mechanisms of resistance in trees. Once the researchers find the relevant genetic markers, they can screen adult trees and select the most promising as seed sources for viable Christmas tree plantations.

The team will use similar techniques to resolve the matter of needle shedding. Chastagner’s multi-decade cataloging of Christmas trees with varying degrees of postharvest needle retention will give this part of the project a jump-start. By using these and other trees, scientists will be able to quickly identify needle-retentive gene sources so growers can produce desirable Christmas trees.

Through genetics research we can improve firs that are used for Christmas trees and ensure the genetic conservation of firs. There is much more to learn about conifer genetics, but as Chastagner said in the interview with Wired, “the potential for genetic improvement in these species is huge.”

Poseida Therapeutics, which is testing CAR-T cell therapies for blood-borne and solid tumor cancers, has laid the groundwork for an initial public offering.

In documents filed with securities regulators Friday, the San Diego company set a preliminary IPO target of $115 million. The company has applied for a listing on the Nasdaq stock exchange under the symbol “PSTX.”

CAR-T therapies deploy T cells that have been engineered to kill cancer. These cells, programmed to act aggressively, have in some cases led to significant side effects, however. Results for the first two CAR-T products approved, both in 2017, have varied…. Read more »

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