Stop Social Media Marketing - Unless ...

By Augie Ray
Director, Voice of Customer Strategy
American Express




I predict that many CMOs will diminish their support for social media, content and earned media marketing in the next year or two, and when they do, careers will be adversely impacted. If your career relies on Marketing Department support for content or social media marketing, now is the time to take stock of the trends and consider some actions to protect your career. It is possible that you work for the right sort of company for which social media is well aligned for Marketing Department expectations---that's the "Unless" part of the title--but, as you will see, I believe this is the exception and not the rule.

What is (and is not) Social Media Marketing?

Before we explore where social media marketing works and where it does not, let's first be clear that the definition of "social media marketing" does not include paid media on social networks. Go ahead and invest in advertising on Facebook and Twitter, just do not call it "social." The most popular forms of advertising on Facebook today are retargeting and custom audiences, neither of which are remotely social, and less than one in six ad dollars use social data.

I suggest a better definition of Social Media Marketing is this: Content authored or encouraged by the brand and shared by Word of Mouth that creates earned media and delivers on Marketing objectives. This definition excludes a couple of things, such as advertising (which is not social) and consumer content not coaxed by a marketing program (which is not marketing). It also excludes social media programs that fail to deliver on key marketing metrics, and therein is the problem for most brands.

The Earned Media Venn Diagram

A simple Venn diagram explains what works and what does not in Social Media Marketing. The first circle includes what your brand can say to move consumers closer. This does not mean retweets and likes--the fool's gold of social media marketing--but rather changes in consumer attitude or behavior such as greater awareness, consideration and purchase intent.

The second circle in the Venn diagram is what consumers want to hear from your brand. For years, we have acted as if consumers crave branded content, but the data on this clear; a 2014 Kentico study found that 68% of US consumers “mostly” or “always” ignore brand posts on every social network. The situation is much worse for some categories than others--a 2014 Scratch/Viacom study found that 71% of Millennials would rather go to the dentist than listen to what their banks are saying! If people would rather get a cavity filled than listen to your brand, it's a good bet your content and social media marketing faces a profound uphill challenge.

Where Social Media Marketing Works

Some brands have an overlap between these two circles of the Earned Media Venn Diagram; most do not. There are three types of companies that have this "magic intersection" between content that helps the brand and that consumers want:

• Brands in select verticals:  Some categories have built-in consumer interest. For example, sports brands can easily post content that drives engagement and also increases demand for team attire and products. TV shows and movies have an easy time offering content fans will share that also increases ratings and box office receipts. Style brands are another example--in the same way that women eagerly purchase the September issue of Vogue with its 631(!) pages of ads, so too will style-conscious women pay attention to and share the latest pins and posts from their favorite fashion brands. Brands in select verticals enjoy a magic intersection between the content consumers want and the content that drives consideration and sales.

• Brands with purpose:  Consumers may have little interest in what banks have to say, but that does not stop USAA from delivering great engagement and inbound traffic with its posts. This is because USAA has created a brand with a purpose that resonates with its audience. Another example is Chipotle, which has outperformed other brands in the restaurant industry by promoting its commitment to more locally- and organically-sourced ingredients. (Just last quarter, Chipotle delivered a same-store sales increase of 17% in a vertical where almost no brands are able to achieve half that.)

• Brands with better products and services:  Of course, there is always the old-fashioned way of encouraging attention from consumers: Be better than the competition! Apple has no official company profile on either Facebook or Twitter, yet it still beats Samsung when it comes to building buzz. Both companies had product unveilings in early September (Samsung for the new Note and Apple for the iPhone 6), yet despite the fact Samsung has 2,350% more fans, followers and subscribers on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, Apple still delivered far more Word of Mouth about their event and product. Apple does not need social profiles and content to drive WOM; it just needs to continue producing interesting, innovative products that get fans talking.

Some companies can publish content that consumers want and delivers on marketing goals, but most brands simply do not have that same opportunity--they have no "magic intersection." This does not stop them from trying, of course, which is why so many brands stumble with unwelcome, heavy-handed, embarrassing, brand-damaging posts on Facebook and Twitter.

We entered the social media era suggesting that brands with something to say could use social media to say it; instead, we today have brands with little to say that nonetheless post 4.3 times per day because some consultant told them this was a best practice. Desperate for attention and relevance, these companies continue to invest in content that is delivering neither the scale marketers need nor the content consumers want.

Ironically, even for the best companies, earned media may wither and die in the coming years. In just six months, organic reach on Facebook was halved, and many expect that zero organic reach will soon be the rule on the social network that collects 57% of all social visits. The organic reach game has gotten so tough that Coca-Cola, one of the strongest brands in the world, only earns engagement with 1 in 100,000 of its fans on Facebook. The situation on Twitter is no better; a recent Forrester report notes that the average engagement rate with brand posts on Twitter is just 0.03%--75% less than banner ad clickthough rates today!

Earned media could soon be a thing of the past. What happens to your social media marketing strategies if the content you create and post reaches no one?

Social Media Marketing's Inability to Deliver Trust, Acquisition or Purchase Conversions

If the prospect of organic reach crumbling to nothing is not enough to worry about, social media marketing has a variety of other problems that marketers have been ignoring:

• Trust: Forrester's 2014 data reveals that people trust brand social media posts 40% less than they do information on brand websites (and, of course, 70% less than recommendations from family and friends). Adobe's 2013 research found the same--just 2% of US consumers found company social media page best for credibility compared to 17% for company web sites (and 59% for friends, family and coworkers.)

• Acquisition of prospects: Although many marketers continue to view fans and followers as prospects, the Adobe study found that consumers are three times more likely to follow brands from which they already buy than brands from which they aspire to buy. An even more damning study comes from Custora: Studying data from 86 retailers and 72 million customers, Custora found that Facebook and Twitter deliver essentially zero acquisition. While acquisition is best delivered by organic search (16%), CPC (10%) and email (7%), Facebook and Twitter account for just 0.2% and 0.01% respectively. Furthermore, the Customer Lifetime Value delivered by those acquired through Facebook was just average while Twitter was 23% below average.

• Purchase: An IBM study of the online sales generated by 800 retailer websites the week before Black Friday 2013 found that a mere 1% of those sales were generated from social media traffic, essentially unchanged from the year prior. And Monetate recently published its Q2 Ecommerce Quarterly based on 7 billion online shopping experiences--it found that social delivers an add-to-cart rate of just 0.6% (70% less than search), a minuscule conversion rate of 0.12% (70% lower than search) and an average revenue per session of $0.14 (yes, 70% less than search.)

If social media is so poorly equipped to deliver trust, traffic, acquisition and purchases--and is facing declining organic reach--why are marketers increasing their investment in the channel? These are, after all, the metrics that most marketers care about. In a 2013 study by Ascend2, both B2B and B2C marketers reported their top three most common performance metrics are website traffic, quantity of sales leads and conversions--goals against which social media does not deliver. Meanwhile, fewer than half of B2B and B2C marketers measure customer retention, awareness or reputation, which are metrics that align well to social media strategy.

But if social media is poorly matched to Marketing Department objectives, it remains a powerful opportunity for others in the enterprise who do not need to rely on reach and scale to deliver on their goals.  For example, The PR/Corporate Communications function can be successful if it uses social media to create relationships with a few dozen influencers, both traditional ones (journalists) and the new variety (bloggers). Product Development does not need to collaborate with tens of thousands of customers but can work collaboratively to develop new products and services with much smaller subsets of customers and vendors. And Customer Care can achieve success by answering the questions and complaints of a few hundred people in social channels. (Compare that to the average marketing campaign, which would be considered a dismal failure if it only engaged a few hundred people.)

Social Media Marketing on a Collision Course with C-Suite Expectations

For now, CMOs seem to have confidence in social media, but I believe this will change in the next year or two. Social media and content marketing is on a collision course with the C suite.

Recent research by the Fournaise Marketing Group, which was conducted with 1200 CEOs and CMOs, found that 80% of CEOs claim they have lost trust in their marketers. One of the reasons is that "74% of CEOs think Marketers focus too much on the latest marketing trends such as social media – but can rarely demonstrate how these trends will help them generate more business for the company."

This criticism is, sadly, entirely fair. In just-released data from the 2014 CMO Survey, derived from 351 top US marketers, a mere 15% of CMOs say they have proven the impact of social media quantitatively. Another 40% "have a good qualitative sense of the impact, but not a quantitative impact" and a whopping 45% have "not been able to show the impact yet." Despite this, CMOs expect to increase social media marketing spending 128% in the next five years. 

If you wonder why the tenure of CMOs is so short compared to the rest of the C-suite, the answer is right there. Less than one in six CMOs know if their social media investments are paying off, yet they still intend to rapidly double that investment!

I predict that increase will not happen. The falling organic reach, low acquisition, microscopic purchase conversion and inability to measure quantitative success will come crashing headlong into the growing pressure on the Marketing Department to demonstrate results. When this collision occurs, will you be the one holding the social media marketing bag? If your career depends on the success of social media or content marketing, now is the time to consider the data, trends and future.

How to Protect Your Social Media Marketing Career

For those in the social media marketing profession, I believe the time has come for a candid assessment. Protect your career by asking three questions:

• Does your brand have a "magic intersection"? Are you in one of those categories--such as entertainment, sports and style--that has built-in consumer demand for branded content? Or has your company won high levels of loyalty and advocacy with its sense of purpose or by producing products and services that are leaps and bounds better than your competitors? If so, then social media marketing can be an effective channel for the Marketing Department, but if not, then ask...

• Does your firm evaluate its Marketing spend based on reputation and loyalty? When marketing leaders furnish updates, do they lead with Net Promoter Score and measures of repurchase and reputation? Or do they lead with sales, conversions, acquisition and traffic data?  If the former, then social is well aligned to what the organization most cares about, but if it is the latter, then ask one last question....

• Can you control the paid media budget for social? If you can control the ad budget and are really held more accountable for delivering paid media than earned media, then your job is secure (provided you are doing it well). If, however, the ad budget is controlled elsewhere and your job is dedicated solely to content and earned media, I would suggest you have career challenges ahead. It may time to consider one of three options:

• Redirect: If your social media scorecard is full of non-marketing metrics such as likes, retweets and number of fans, then the time has come for you to lead a change. Do not wait until Marketing leadership begins to question how those useless social metrics tie to Marketing objectives; take the lead and start that conversation today. You may be able to change the conversation and redirect expectations toward the sorts of metrics on which social can realistically deliver.

• Detour: It may be time to consider social media opportunities outside of the Marketing Department. While social may not deliver on typical marketing goals, it certainly aligns well to the needs and expectations of Public Relations, Customer Care, Product Development, Sales and others parts of the organization.

• Exit: Or perhaps it is time to exit social media altogether and consider other career paths where your experience in customer-centricity and innovation can be of great value. In recent years, I have seen social media professionals successfully shift into new careers in Customer Experience, mobile and customer care, for example.

Of course, if your career is in social media marketing, you could choose the fourth option and bury your head into the sand. I hope you will not, because the data is consistent, the trends are in place and the questions about social media marketing effectiveness are only going to rise.

This article originally appeared on Experience: The Blog.

Why Social Media is Different - and How to Use it for Customer Engagement

By Brendan Read
Industry Analyst – Customer Contact
Frost & Sullivan




Every company understands the necessity of listening and engaging with customers on social media. But have most companies grasped how to effectively market to them on that channel?

As noted in the Frost & Sullivan Market Insight, From Mass Marketing to Social Marketing, companies may be challenged in marketing on that channel.  Here’s why, from this report and from other research:

• Companies are not used to engaging and interacting with a mass, but also a targeted audience, and a “target of one”. Companies are still conditioned to “message-out”. Shorter, colloquial conversations run a greater risk of misinterpretation.

• Applying metrics to track performance, results, and to determine ROI is very difficult to accomplish as there is a lack of universal metrics across social platforms. Companies can’t use audience size and length of engagement because there are active and passive audiences, including audience members (like me) who view social sites through other Web sites. This last category is probably bigger than most people or businesses think.

• Companies cannot generally use social media as a direct sales channel because it is open, hence confidential information cannot be revealed. Also, the social media culture frowns on this practice.  However, a new Facebook “buy” feature may change that attitude if it is unobtrusive and secure.

• While customers may be buying as a result of social marketing programs, the conversions are often difficult to track. For example, a customer may have purchased an item after reading a Tweet, but the seller may not be able to identify the direct link. 

To market on social media effectively, companies need to step back and look at social media for what it is, which is a gathering place, like an event, meeting, or a reception. The same social practices, conventions, and mores that apply when you attend in-person also apply while on social media:

• You listen politely to conversations, analyze what is being said (and not said) and, at the right moment, you introduce yourself.

• When the others allow you to speak, you engage with them in their conversation before talking about yourself, making your points, and introducing your topics.  All the while you are picking up “data points” about the others’ careers, interests, passions, demographics, status, and social influence.

• Only if the others express a direct interest in you and your points do you deep-dive into them.  And if there are one or two people who are especially interested in what you say you go to one side or follow up with them later “off-line”.  Some Twitter solutions, like those from HipLogiq, perform lead generation with social conversations. They capture and analyze Tweets for desires and wants, such as “I’m hungry for a burger”, and respond with targeted offers.

• Finally, if you find that the group is not listening to you, then you move on to another group.

There is so much information that is exchanged in a simple conversation that to sort it out and to respond accurately and appropriately in real-time with analytics solutions is extremely challenging.  I like IBM’s social media analytics solutions in part because IBM continually strives to bring machine intelligence closer to human intelligence, such as through its Watson cognitive processing technology.

Once companies see and understand the social dynamics in person they should apply them to social media marketing and social media in general, with the right tools. If they do then they might be pleasantly surprised with the results. 

How Do You Prioritize Your Marketing Resources?

By Sam Narisi
Publications Editor/Lead Writer
Frost & Sullivan









One of the biggest challenges for marketers is finding the best ways to utilize limited resources. There are a lot of opportunities to engage current and new customers across a variety of channels, adopt new technologies and implement new strategies.

However, while the opportunities are seemingly limitless, companies’ marketing budgets are not. In fact, despite increasing demands on the marketing department, most marketing budgets are expected to stay flat in the near future, according to Frost & Sullivan’s 2014 Marketing Priorities survey.

Among the marketing leaders polled, 57 percent expected their budgets to stay the same or decrease this year. Of those that were expecting an increase, only 10 percent thought it would be significant.

That’s why one quality of successful marketers is that they know how to prioritize.

Gauging the ROI

It’s important to assess the ROI of marketing channels and strategies in order to properly plan, said Misty Hathaway, Chair of Marketing at the Mayo Clinic, in a presentation at the 15th Anniversary MARKETING WORLD 2014: A Frost & Sullivan Executive MindXchange.

Hathaway recommended evaluating tactics by:

• Cost
• How many impressions they return
• How much staff time they require
• The depth of connection they generate
• The quality of that connection
• How easy they are to track

Think long term when estimating the ROI of an available channel. Evaluate the depth of the connection a campaign will create and make sure it will go beyond just a quick hit.

What tactics create the biggest impact for marketers? In a survey conducted by TechValidate on behalf of Frost & Sullivan, respondents listed the techniques that generate the greatest returns on their investment:

• Live events (cited by 53%)
• Webinars (35%)
• Email marketing (31%)
• White papers (22%)
• Social media (7%)

Content Marketing Efforts Increasing

One area where companies are putting a greater priority is content marketing. Among the marketers surveyed by Frost & Sullivan, 55 percent expected an increase in their budgets for content marketing.

Content marketing is becoming critical as customers do more research before they make purchases. Companies need to make sure they have content tailored to specific audience segments.

Content must also be targeted based on which phase of the buying cycle the customer is currently in:

1. Awareness: For this phase, focus on branding, content marketing, public relations, and thought leadership.
2. Consideration: As buyers are considering their options, focus on demand generation, product/solution demos, and sales-to-prospect connections.
3. Credibility: To build trust in your brand, use third-party validation, client case studies, thought leadership, and expert positioning.
4. Evaluation: To solidify the value of the brand, focus on trials and capability demos.

Focus on Your People

Beyond all the available channels, techniques and technology, what’s really critical for the success of companies’ marketing campaigns is the people working in the marketing department.

However, just as with the marketing budgets, companies aren’t likely to see big increases in the size of the marketing team, according to Frost & Sullivan’s priorities survey. The majority of respondents (57 percent) say their staffing levels will stay the same, while only 5 percent expect a substantial increase in headcount.

That makes it all the more important to hire right. You can have the best technology and plenty of money, but without the right talent, you can’t be successful, said Roseann Harrington, Vice President of Marketing, Communication & Community Relations with the Orlando Utilities Commission, during a presentation at MARKETING WORLD 2014.

Harrington offered some recruiting and on-boarding steps companies should take to hire the best marketers available and get the most out of that talent:

• Create a strong, accurate and unique job description.
• Widely promote the opportunity to reach as many candidates as possible.
• During the interview process, simulate the work environment as best as possible to find a good fit.
• When you find the right person, make a competitive, timely offer.
• Have a plan ready to onboard new hires properly.

What Should My Annual Marketing Budget Be?

One question many marketers may have: What size should our budget be?

It's been widely publicized that the average marketing budget for B2B firms is 2 percent of the company’s annual revenue.

Where does your budget stand? While there are plenty of factors that can affect how much should be directed toward marketing initiatives – for example, growing companies may spend more in order to drive brand awareness – that’s a good benchmark to start with. Then, of course, it’s a matter of making sure the resources are put to good use.


About the Author

Sam Narisi is the Publications Editor and Lead Writer for Frost & Sullivan’s Integrated Marketing Solutions Practice. For more information and insight, visit the IMS Knowledge Center and sign up for Frost & Sullivan’s quarterly eBulletins.

About Frost & Sullivan's Integrated Marketing Solutions Practice

Frost & Sullivan's Integrated Marketing Solutions Practice delivers above-market returns for our clients by utilizing a portfolio of over two dozen unique turnkey programs that are strategically designed as end-to-end solutions. Leveraging the third-party credibility of our brand, Frost & Sullivan can generate the awareness and interest around your products and service offerings, connect your sales team with prospects, enhance relationships with current clients and serve as an extension of your existing marketing team. Your goals are our goals.

Where Worlds Collide: The Evolution of the B2B Consumer

Consumer forces like mobile, 24/7 connectivity, customer empowerment, virtual communities and collaboration are spilling into the enterprise. As a result, the B2B marketer is expected to not only market to the business, but to the human beings who run that business. In this excerpt from Frost & Sullivan's Executive MindXchange Chronicles, a panel of experts explore the expectations of the new B2B consumer and looked at how marketing executives can creatively and strategically navigate the changing dynamics in the B2B and B2C consumer paradigms.

Session
ASK THE EXPERTS! PANEL DISCUSSION - Where Worlds Collide: The Evolution of the B2B Consumer

Moderator
Barbara Glasser, Senior Vice President, Head of Marketing, Corporate Communications and Product Management, Astoria Federal Savings Bank

Panelists

- Christa Carone, Executive Vice President, Corporate Affairs, Communications & Events, Fidelity Investments

- Lisa Connolly, Senior Brand Manager, INVISTA

- James Gross, Vice President, Global Marketing, Brady Corporation

- Roseann Harrington, Vice President, Marketing, Communication & Community Relations, Orlando Utilities Commission

- Kevin Murphy, Global Hair Care Industry Leader, Xiameter at Dow Corning

- Jamie Womack, Vice President, Marketing & Branding, CareerBuilder.com

TAKE-AWAY

In a lot of ways, B2C marketing is influencing how business is done on the B2B side. For example, there’s a greater push in B2B marketing to become more personalized. The panelists talked about some of the things they have learned from B2C marketing: 

• B2B customers now expect the same features the B2C customers get, said James Gross of the Brady Corporation. That includes ratings, reviews, personalization, selector tools, and advanced searches. All these things are blurring the line. Amazon is the fastest growing B2B company, or as Gross called it, B2E (business to everything). In this new environment, the key is having the right info at the right time and keeping messages consistent. B2B customers are trying to collect as much information prior to buying as they can, so you need to make sure they’re thinking of you. 

• A lot of it comes down to dialogue, said INVISTA’s Lisa Connolly. What’s the personal value in a B2B situation? You need to be able to have that dialogue to discuss problems and solutions.

• Another key is the greater need for transparency in purchasing journeys, said Christa Carone of Fidelity Investments. After the economic meltdown in 2008, Fidelity’s phones were ringing off the hook. Customers were looking for help and asking for the company’s point of view about the situation. Customers put a lot of trust in Fidelity, and the company has built a whole division for planning and guidance for clients. Everything is based on transparency to earn the trust and confidence of customers.

BEST PRACTICES

According to an Ad Age survey of B2B marketing decision-makers, 52% of marketing budgets will increase in the next year. The top three channels companies that will focus on are digital, events, and direct mail.

Panelists agreed that content is king today. Companies need to have great content geared toward the audience and medium. The average buyer looks at 10 pieces of content before making a decision, so companies need to make sure they’re offering content that potential customers find helpful during that process.

B2B marketers are using all social media platforms to publish content. The group ranked the platforms in order of effectiveness:

1. LinkedIn
2. Twitter
3. YouTube
4. Slideshare
5. Vimeo

To use those tools effectively, messages must be short and sweet, panelists said.

Mobile doesn’t seem to be part of marketers’ plans yet, but is shifting. One-third (33%) were using mobile marketing in 2013, while the number will increase to 49% in 2014.

One recommendation from the panel: Learn the language your customers’ companies use to communicate with their customers, and make sure you communicate with them in a similar way. 

TAKE-AWAY

Many of the audience members said that their companies use customer personas as part of their marketing efforts. Panelists discussed their approach to personas:

There are different viewpoints on what personas are for, said CareerBuilder’s Jamie Womack. Her team uses personas to humanize their efforts and keep the customer at the center. They’ve looked at what B2C marketers have done well to determine how to adapt that to the B2B world. The key is figuring out who the buyers are and what motivates them to buy.

The idea of the customer journey is also becoming commonplace in B2B, said Dow Corning’s Kevin Murphy. As his team maps the customer journey, they define it in two distinct phases. At every step, the company has an opportunity to be impressive or not.

BEST PRACTICES

Today, there’s a high-tech, high-touch paradigm; it’s easy to become overwhelmed by technology. However, it’s critical not to lose sight of the personal side of marketing. 

How can companies personalize their outreach in this landscape? Hosting and participating in events is one example cited. 

In addition, create content that speaks to different personas. One big area to focus on now is finding messages that resonate with cross-generational audiences.

Marketers must also make sure there is alignment between what the companies say and what they do. Content can be the bridge between the two. 

For more valuable insight from the 15th Anniversary MARKETING WORLD 2014: A Frost & Sullivan Executive MindXchange, download a copy of Frost & Sullivan’s Executive MindXchange Chronicles, a unique guidebook filled with strategies and insights collected from all the presentations and interactive sessions at MARKETING WORLD 2014.

Learning from your Customers – The Link Between Marketing and Product Development

An interview with
Sanjay Shrivastava
Director, Global Marketing
Vascular Therapies Covidien

Interviewed by Sam Narisi






As Director of Global Marketing in the Vascular Therapies business for  Covidien, Sanjay Shrivastava is responsible not just for promoting the company’s products, but also for engaging with customers to make sure products are developed that truly meet their needs.

Frost & Sullivan recently spoke with Sanjay about how marketing and product development teams are closely linked at his organization and what he’s learned from his R&D background and his customers in the medical field.

Tell me about your role with Covidien.

We market to physicians. My business unit markets products to neurointerventionalists and interventional radiologists primarily. We develop the portfolio strategy, determining what the disease states and the unmet needs are, and, from there, determine where best to invest our dollars and develop products in those spaces. Once the development process is completed, we begin the product launch process. For that, we reach out to customers to build our relationships with them and understand their needs. For example, we would engage our customers through trade shows, events and clinical work.

The healthcare market is very different from consumer markets because we’re often marketing to a very small group of physicians who are highly specialized. Our work involves a lot of one-on-one interaction by educating physicians on techniques to use our new products and conducting clinical studies to demonstrate the safety and efficacy of these products. We use clinical data, sponsor clinical studies and show how physicians can do procedures faster, better and safer when using our products, or how they could treat a disease that wasn’t treatable before. Clinical data and one-on-one interactions play an important role in our marketing and education efforts.

What are the biggest marketing challenges you’re facing right now?

Competition is always there. The competition can be more lean and agile sometimes if they are smaller companies. Larger companies  have brand equity that needs to be protected, certain quality criteria that need to be achieved, and certain compliance procedures that must be followed which may be more rigorous than for smaller companies. So probably our biggest challenge is to match the nimbleness of smaller start-up companies in bringing new technologies to market.

What are you doing to overcome that?

We scrutinize our own internal processes to see which steps are absolutely necessary for us to develop high quality products. We look for the areas where we can be more efficient in our product development and product launches while providing the highest quality and most reliable products. It’s a matter of identifying and scrutinizing our own internal activities and the steps we take and then strategizing on how we can streamline them.

Before moving into your marketing role, your background was in R&D and product development. Does that give a different perspective that’s valuable for marketing? Do you think it creates any challenges?

I was very active in R&D for many years, and prior to that I did a little bit of manufacturing as well. Having led different functions in R&D, I found that R&D is really a cross-functional effort, rather than just product development as may be typical elsewhere. There are regulatory affairs, clinical affairs, quality, process development, manufacturing, engineering, and other functions that support R&D projects. So as an R&D leader, I oversaw these cross-functional teams or the managed the managers who oversaw those teams.

In the cutting edge medical device field, leaders of R&D need to interface quite often with their customers to understand the unmet needs and know what’s working from a product standpoint and how it can be improved. I had very strong relationships with many customers which had resulted from providing them with high quality products, training them, and/or seeking their feedback during various stages of the development process, so coming into this role was a smooth transition in that regard because I was fairly customer-facing to begin with.

I think the advantage of having worked in R&D for many years is primarily in being product-savvy. What R&D can offer to marketing is an additional eye for how to improve those features to serve the next-generation needs, so I think that skill set helps me engage physicians. Rather than going at it from a purely sales perspective, I engage them from a critical and analytical perspective.

Is there a downside? There can be if some personnel are too much into engineering, where they are always looking at improving features or capabilities of the product without focusing on conveying the value of the current features. Marketing requires a good balance between highlighting the features that exist and a keen eye for improving on them. The latter aptitude is key to developingthe  strategy for next generation products that can meet the currently unmet needs, which is vital for business growth and the patient.

Do you have any advice to share with marketers from a more traditional, less product-focused background?

I think people shouldn’t take things for granted. They need to understand that things are not black or white, but usually somewhere in between. I think marketers need to have that perspective, especially in our field. I would definitely encourage them to question the current process, challenge it, and understand what else can it be or how else can it be done. Don’t just take somebody’s word.

Physicians who advance the field and/or invent new procedures or devices have a strong sense for knowing what’s not working or what can be better. I think for traditional marketers who just say that what they have is the greatest thing may learn that is prudent for them to know what could be a better way to improve the device.

Tell me more about the connection between marketing and product development at Covidien.

In our organization, Covidien thinks of the patient first. Marketing plays a big role in the product portfolio strategy. Marketing represents the customers and their needs, and R&D represents how and whether those needs can be fulfilled. We sit down quite often to review our portfolio to see where we can add new products and projects as well as drop some that no longer make sense. Once a project is a go, a marketing person works in the product development team to represent the customer side. They contribute to product specifications and design; then we bring customers in as needed to seek their feedback. By the time we’re done with the product development project, we make sure that we are not separated from the customer. We’ve obtained their feedback to be confident that this is something that our customers need and what we have is something that fulfills that need.

In our field, we work hand-in-hand with the clinical community to develop products. So marketing is not really just marketing to physicians, it’s also developing the right product at the right time. That’s almost a bigger role than the actual marketing. If we invest our resources in developing the right technologies that fulfill some unmet need, then the product markets itself. We spend a significant bit of time ensuring that we make the right investments. Physician input plays a valuable part in our investment decisions. Marketing plays a big role in establishing those relationships, knowing how to seek that input, and developing a portfolio strategy based on the information input received. Covidien is at the leading edge of different aspects of our business, not just the sales aspect. That, to me, is what makes this job so very interesting.