Life Sciences Marketing Group

Whether you're a business owner, an executive, a company representative or a job seeker, the fundamentals of branding can help you gain effectiveness in reaching your growth goals. 

In this talk, we discussed: 

• How articulating differentiation grows brand value at the time of sale or seeking investment capital
• Understanding how to develop differentiating brand messages that resonate by understanding the Voice of Your Customer (VOC)
• How to build brand advocacy 
• Actions to create the foundation for building an effective brand
   

Speaker

Wendy Coulter, CEO
Hummingbird Creative Group

Wendy Coulter, CEO of Hummingbird Creative Group, a brand strategy agency founded in 1995, is committed to providing clients insightful BIG IDEAS, intuitive innovation and inspired creative solutions. With over 30 years of sales, marketing communication, and branding experience, Wendy is passionate about helping clients more effectively communicate the positioning of their business, differentiate their brand, and grow revenue.

Wendy has served as Chair of the Board of the Cary Chamber of Commerce in 2022-2023. As a champion of Women Business Owners, Wendy also founded the NC Women Business Owners Hall of Fame in 2018 to honor North Carolina’s most successful female entrepreneurs and advocates who have made significant and enduring contributions to impact women’s entrepreneurial development in North Carolina.

Build Your Brand, Build Your Value Slide Presentation
Zoom Recording

Life sciences companies have an opportunity to build markets and categories for new medicines that promise better efficacy, safety, value and price.

In this talk, we discussed: 

• At what company stage to begin thinking about market shaping
• Strategies and tactics to lay the foundation for shifting perceptions ahead of pre-commercial launch
• Which stakeholders to involve in market shaping activities
• How to measure the impact of market shaping activities

Speaker 

Donna LaVoie
President and CEO
LavoieHealthScience

Donna LaVoie is a proven strategic communications leader in health and science innovation. She founded LaVoieHealthScience (LHS) in 2001. LHS advances health and science innovations through our partnerships with global medical and health companies and brands to build recognition and value, attract capital, and reach business partners, medical audiences, customers and talent through integrated communications and marketing. Prior to founding LHS, Donna had a successful corporate career with signature biotech companies leading strategic communications functions.

Market Shaping Before Regulatory Zoom Recording
Slide Presentation

Social media is constantly evolving, making it easy to fall behind when managing multiple platforms for your brand. It is important to be aware of these changes so you can adapt accordingly. 

In this talk, we discussed:

• Algorithm changes for LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram
• How to shift your content strategy to accommodate the algorithm
• Social media analytics
• How to maximize and repurpose content

Meet the Speakers

Chelsey Holts is the director of social media at UNC, overseeing the university’s flagship accounts. In her role, she advises leadership on strategy and reputation and works with a team to create and amplify engaging content for UNC's various audiences. She consults teams across campus on social media strategies, updates and crisis management. 

Previously, she's worked with North Carolina Central University, Essence Festival and the Dreamville Festival. She has worked in the social media and marketing field for over 11 years. A graduate of the UNC Hussman School of Journalism, Chelsey is an Ohio native who enjoys coffee, reading, all things true crime and spending time with her husband and daughter. 
 

Jane Rudenko is the digital media analyst at UNC, providing recommendations and insights to improve content strategy and paid social campaigns for university communications. In her role, Jane optimizes digital marketing efforts and tracks and processes analytics for unc.edu and across all social platforms.

Previously, she has worked as the university's social media specialist, as a media associate in a congressional campaign and as a student success specialist at Carolina. She earned a bachelor's degree in both philosophy and studio art from UNC. Jane is a Ukrainian-American who enjoys taking photos and painting in her free time.

Social Media Updates for 2023 & Maximizing Your Content Strategy Zoom Recording

Slide Presentation

This session was about Content Strategy and Management. Participants learned best practices for: 

• Planning an editorial calendar
• Developing content vehicles for different stakeholders
• Taking control of the narrative rather than reacting to events
   

Speakers

Matthew Chamberlin
Associate Dean for Communications and Marketing
UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health

Matthew Chamberlin has more than 20 years of domestic and international experience in strategic planning, digital marketing and communications. Since moving to North Carolina in 2012, he has worked to establish strategic communications initiatives centered on education, including Higher Ed Works and the myFutureNC Commission, where he was the deputy director.

In his role at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, he has launched digital campaigns to recruit an increased number and wider range of master's and doctoral applicants, grown social media followers, reorganized the marketing and communications priorities for the online degree program and more.

A graduate of Hamilton College with a degree in international relations and Spanish, he is fluent in both written and spoken Spanish. He lives in Durham and both of his children are undergraduates at UNC-Chapel Hill.
 

Meghan Palmer, MFA
Public Communications Specialist
UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health

Meghan Palmer has more than 15 years of experience in communications, digital content and social media for academia and health care. Prior to joining UNC in 2019, she was the digital content and social media specialist for NC State University's College of Design.

In her role at the UNC Gillings School, she is the managing editor of Carolina Public Health magazine. She also manages media relations, distributes a weekly newsletter, and writes news stories and news releases about public health research and student and faculty achievements.

A graduate of NC State University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English, she also earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in creative writing from Queens University of Charlotte and is a former tutor for Japanese. She resides in Holly Springs with her family and enjoys reading and continuing Japanese practice.
 

Content Strategy and Management (Zoom Recording)
Slide Presentation 

This session was all about How to Prepare for a Media Interview. Attendees learned best practices for:

• Handling interview logistics
• How to come across confident and credible
• Developing talking points consistent with your corporate brand
• Anticipating tough questions and how to best respond
• Staying on message and guiding the conversation 

Speaker


McGavock Edwards, APR
Partner and Senior VP, Strategy and Client Service
Eckel & Vaughan 

With more than 25 years of experience in public relations and integrated communications, McGavock Edwards brings a wealth of knowledge focused on connecting the right message with the right audience at the right time. Her clients look to her for strategic counsel and tactical execution for a multitude of activities—from crisis communication and reputation management to media relations, employee communications, and social media marketing. For the E&V team, she leads operations, team engagement, and client relations. McGavock has worked with well-known brands, including Novo Nordisk, MyFutureNC, Raleigh-Durham International Airport Authority, GSK, Pacira, and more. She listens to client business goals, identifies audience insights, and helps create a path to connectivity and success. A graduate of the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, McGavock holds her accreditation in public relations, is a two-time PRSA Silver Anvil winner, and has served on both the Southeast District Board and the North Carolina Board of the Public Relations Society of America. 

How to Prepare for a Media Interview (slide presentation)

Discoveries in neuroscience are helping scientists, innovators, communicators and thought leaders understand how our brains operate. Explore how the brain listens, learns, and is motivated to act. With a greater ability to get into the minds of your audience, your communications can be more influential.

During this talk, you will learn how to:

• Tailor your communications to work in harmony with how the brain processes information
• Improve cognition and retention of presentations
• Reduce chances for misunderstandings

Sidd Chopra is an award-winning public speaker, distinguished Toastmaster, and certified project management professional. He is a program director at LookWiser. Sidd manages a consortium of professional speakers providing expert training and coaching services to executives, entrepreneurs, scientists, managers, government officials, and educators.

Throughout his career, Sidd has engaged with more than 200 leading scientists, inventors, investors, professional public speakers, military generals, and thought leaders. 

Sidd earned a bachelor's degree in computer science from North Carolina State University, served as a subject matter expert for Project Management Institute (PMI) Global and was a finalist in a national public speaking contest and is a Distinguished Toastmaster Award recipient.

Whether you are working with your immediate team, a cross-functional team, or external partners, communication is critical. Communication can foster trust, greater efficiency, and improved results. Improved listening skills and accurate interpretation of body language can lead teams to optimal performance.
This talk covered:

Product management is an important function that guides every step of a product's life cycle—from understanding user needs to positioning and pricing. The role of product management has evolved and varies widely between industries, stage of the product, and stage of the company.

Attend this talk to get a modern view of product management, with a particular focus on the health care industry. Topics include:

• A value chain/system approach to product management
• How to adapt techniques of fast-paced development, like agile, to the regulated environment of medtech
• The roles of product marketing and product ownership, along with product management
• How data engineering and data science are shaping product management

The talk will help health care marketers understand how to leverage product management to create the highest value for their customers and their organization.

Meet the Speaker

Nishant Mohan, Ph.D., is the vice president of product at Notal Vision, a company focused on ophthalmic home monitoring devices and services.

Previously he served as chief technology officer at Tesseract Health, and chief product and technology officer at PhotoniCare, Inc. Dr. Mohan has developed several products in the medical device space both in software and hardware. He has also led development of artificial intelligence-based tools for medical technologies. Dr. Mohan received the Early Career Achievement Award from the International Society of Optics and Photonics. He has a postdoctoral degree from Harvard Medical School, a doctorate in biomedical engineering from Boston University and undergraduate degree from the Indian Institute of Technology.

Product Management: A MedTech View Slide Presentation

The new year offers us a fresh start. It's an opportunity to plan and act on the marketing skills we wish to build in 2022.

Listen to our panelists as they share their experiences, resources, and insights on how training has helped them in their jobs. We will cover a range of training options, including:

• Local classes 
• Online classes
• Certifications
• Conferences
• Podcasts
• Books and more.

This lively discussion may help save you time and money as you set out to find the best training options for your needs.  

Speakers

Julie Barberio, Director of Marketing at Sequence, Inc.

Reuel Heyden, Principal at Heyden Communications

Elizabeth Smith, Director, US Aesthetics Brand Marketing at Merz Aesthetics

Elizabeth Ruf, President, Triangle Chapter of American Marketing Association

Training Options for Life Sciences Marketers.pdf

Mobile apps and other connected health devices have become an important touchpoint between patients, health care professionals (HCPs) and patient support programs (PSPs). For patients, these devices can provide crucial support and instant feedback, leading to increased adherence to prescribed medicines and improved diagnostics. For HCPs and PSPs, these devices have transformed many aspects of clinical practice, allowing care providers to make better-informed decisions based on individual and aggregated real-time patient data.

This presentation will cover how Phillips-Medisize and DMI Experience Group partnered to design a health care platform with an optimal user experience to support patients receiving human growth hormone treatments. The platform also enables HCPs to analyze patient data efficiently to make informed decisions and improve patient communication. 

Speakers

Samuel Schwalb is a senior client partner at DMI Experience Group. He has spent most of his career advising clients on digital transformation journeys.

He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in media arts from the University of Arizona and an MBA from Queens University in Charlotte.

Quinn Peyser is the user experience director at DMI Experience Group. For nearly 15 years, Quinn has been working on high-profile mobile applications and websites in the healthcare, nonprofit, and government sectors. She is passionate about creating useful, efficient, and surprising user experiences for a wide range of audiences.

Quinn earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in telecommunications, with a specialization in digital media from Michigan State University.

Charles Edwards is a user experience architect at DMI Experience Group. He has experience in researching, designing, prototyping and testing numerous apps to improve user experience and increase sales conversions.

Charles studied user interface and user experience design at the Flatiron School in London. He also earned a bachelor's degree in modern languages from University of Southampton in Southampton, England.

​

Patient-Driven User Experience Design Presentation

Omnichannel marketing is a strategic tactic for the life sciences. Given the challenges that biopharmaceutical companies face in obtaining a clear, actionable, and measurable view of all relationship-building efforts and the impact on customer behavior, omnichannel can be a game changer if done right.

This program covered:

• Identifying barriers to adopting an omnichannel strategy
• What an efficient, effective omnichannel model looks like
• Utilizing advanced targeting and analytics to make fully integrated omnichannel solutions accessible to organizations of any size
• Building the perfect dashboard
• Developing the right key performance indicators

Attendees learned how to leverage omnichannel marketing to deliver the right message, to the right person, at the right moment to optimize performance. This presentation included real-world examples using this strategy.

Guest Speaker

Rishi Manchanda is the vice president of omnichannel strategy at Syneos Health, a fully integrated contract research organization and contract commercial organization. The company shares insights, uses the latest technologies, and applies advanced business practices to speed its customers’ delivery of important therapies to patients.

Rishi leads his team drawing on his experience in analytics and clinical research. He earned an MBA from Xavier Institute of Management and Entrepreneurship and a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from the B.M.S. College of Engineering, both in India.

Maximizing Omnichannel Capabilities to Accelerate Engagement Presentation

The COVID-19 pandemic negatively impacted many life sciences companies. However, Labcorp’s experience was different. From meeting with the White House, to launching the first at-home COVID-19 test collection kit, to relaunching its corporate brand, Labcorp’s brand took center stage.

Kelly Chtcheprov, chief of staff, shared marketing lessons learned from her team’s work to:

• crystallize Labcorp's brand promise
• develop a new brand identity
• obtain executive team buy-in
• launch a direct-to-consumer product

Learn from Labcorp’s experience in creating new opportunities and navigating marketing challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Meet the Speaker

Kelly Chtcheprov is the chief of staff at Labcorp. She also serves as an adjunct professor at the University of North Carolina's School of Media and Journalism, her alma mater, where she earned a bachelor's degree in journalism and mass communication. Kelly also earned a Masters of Business Administration degree from Duke University's Fuqua School of Business.

​Branding in a Pandemic - How Labcorp Navigated 2020 Presentation

​

​

Life sciences companies are beginning to host hybrid events that have both in-person and virtual components. These events are challenging, requiring careful planning and flawless execution to maximize engagement opportunities with both audiences.

Learn how to adapt your event strategy for this new format, which will likely become the new norm. Our panel discussion covered:

• Setting realistic goals
• Planning engaging content
• Making the in-person audience feel safe
• Staffing needs
• Establishing metrics for success
• Avoiding common pitfalls

Meet the Panelists

Pam Putz is managing director at EBD Group. Her organization recently hosted the ChinaBio Partnering Forum, a hybrid event.

Joy Thomas is the manager, site training solutions and global events at IQVIA. Her team has embraced the hybrid event format to continue to service clients during the pandemic.

Jason Daniels is an account director at Holt Environments. He and his team continue to help life sciences companies produce hybrid events by building engaging exhibits and content.

Jim Hoyle is president and CEO of Audio and Light, Inc. His team provides audiovisual production services as well as equipment rentals for hybrid events.

Best Practices Guide for Hosting Hybrid Events

Account-based marketing (ABM) is a go-to-market approach for business-to-business (B2B) organizations throughout a customer lifecycle, from awareness through advocacy. ABM can help life sciences companies build stronger relationships with customers, reduce sales cycles, and increase marketing return on investment (ROI).

Eighty-seven percent of B2B marketers surveyed reported that ABM initatives outperformed other marketing investments in terms of ROI (Source: ITSMA survey).

Method Savvy shared their expertise in helping healthcare and life sciences companies adopt ABM. The presentation covered:

• Which organizations are best suited for ABM
• Who in the organization owns ABM
• How ABM integrates the marketing, sales and customer success functions
• How to know if ABM is successful
• Pros and cons for adopting ABM

Speaker

Devin Kelley is the vice president of client services at Method Savvy, a marketing consultancy located in downtown Durham. He and his team help ambitious leaders find better ways to grow their brands and businesses.

A proud Elon University alum, Devin has led Method Savvy’s business development and accounts team for nearly a decade. He draws upon his knowledge and experience in digital communications, advertising strategies, and e-commerce as host of the Marketing Behind the Curtain podcast.

The Power of ABM Presentation

Life sciences marketers must reach their target audiences efficiently and effectively. Some marketers are adopting agile marketing as a way to boost their productivity in producing valuable marketing deliverables.

In this session, we discussed:

• How an uncertain world has changed the way marketers respond to customers
• Why agile marketing is more of a cultural shift than a process
• How frameworks like scrums and kanban help marketers to become more agile
• Five easy ways to get started with agile marketing.

This presentation included a case study from a Charlotte-based healthcare improvement company as well as a fun breakout activity to experience agile marketing firsthand.

Speaker

Stacey Ackerman is the founder of Agilify Coaching & Training, which helps marketers learn and apply agile marketing. Stacey spent more than 15 years as a marketer prior launching her career in agile. She has trained and coached many companies on how to transform their culture to become more customer-centric and agile.

Stacey is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and a contributing author for MarTech Today. She earned her Masters of Arts degree in organizational management from Concord University - St. Paul and a bachelor's degree in journalism and mass communications from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities.

Achieving Better Outcomes While Saving Time and Money

Marketing automation involves the use of technology to manage marketing processes and campaigns across multiple channels (i.e., email, webpages, social media and text). It helps life sciences companies to achieve productivity gains by replacing repetitive manual processes with automated solutions.

Marketing automation also allows marketers to set the journey for prospective customers and provides data and insights to optimize campaign performance.

This presentation provided several success stories to inspire your thinking as well as tips for getting started with marketing automation.

Speaker

Milena Mitova is the senior manager of marketing operations and automation at Bausch Health, Inc. in Princeton, New Jersey. She is an award-winning marketing technologist who has used automation over the past 15 years to deliver business results. 

She enjoys sharing her strategic and tactical expertise in marketing operations, campaign management and lead generation via her blog, speaking at conferences and as a consultant.

Milena earned her master's in business administration degree at the Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University.

Marketing Automation Presentation

During this meeting, we shared the results of our marketing survey which explores how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted marketing in 2020. 

After sharing the survey results, participants joined one of four small groups for a lively discussion on:

• Greatest marketing challenge to tackle in 2021
• Success stories from 2020
• Best marketing tools adopted during the pandemic
• Best practices for tracking marketing metrics

Presenter

Mark Hozza is the founder and president of Dragonfly Life Science Consulting in Research Triangle Park (RTP). He has spent the majority of his career helping companies realize their full commercial potential. Mark is a board member and head of the RTP chapter of the Sales and Marketing Professionals in Science.

He earned his master's degrees in pharmacology from the State University of New York Upstate Medical University and a bachelor's of science degree in bioengineering from Syracuse University.

Marketing Survey Results

Content marketing has allowed us to educate, inform and entertain our audiences. But, how is content marketing evolving? And, how do life science marketers go about developing content that will continue to build brand awareness and generate qualified leads?

This presentation covered:

• How the role of content marketer is evolving
• Audience engagement with content
• End-to-end integration of business strategy, content and metrics
• Content management best practices

Whether you are in the midst of developing a content strategy or seeking to interject fresh ideas into your current content strategy, this presentation provided insights to help you achieve success.

Speaker

Ayaz Malik, MBA, is an enterprise marketing excellence manager at Roche Diagnostics in Indianapolis. He has spent the majority of his career building, transforming and enabling marketing communications teams with a focus on healthcare and medical devices. His passion is marketing in the digital era and evolving marketing roles in highly matrixed organizations. Ayaz is a frequent speaker at marketing conferences.

He earned a master's degrees in business administration from the University of Arizona's Eller College of Management and a bachelor's degree in fine arts in visual communications from Indiana University.

Is your company prepared to handle a crisis? Whether it’s a lawsuit, product recall, adverse event, accident or natural disaster, you and your company need to be ready. Otherwise your corporate reputation, brand and bottom line are likely to pay a very heavy price. And If you think a crisis won’t happen at your company, think again. It’s really not a matter of whether, but when.

This program explored:

• What constitutes a crisis in 2020
• How to respond when a crisis occurs
• How to avoid the pitfalls that can transform a manageable situation into a marketing disaster.

In the Digital Age, the important of being ready to respond effectively within minutes has never been greater.

Speakers

Roger Friedensen, MA, APR, is a founding partner of Forge Communications, a strategic communications firm in Raleigh. Roger has managed an array of strategic marketing communication programs for clients in ag tech, industrial biosciences, healthcare and pharmaceuticals. Some of his specialties include brand/reputation design and management, content development, public relations, crisis communications, media relations, and digital communications. Roger is a visiting instructor at North Carolina State University's Department of Communication Studies and a frequent speaker at conferences. He earned bachelor's and master's degrees in speech communication from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Bryant Haskins, APR, is a strategic communications counselor and founder of Otter Creek Communications. He has almost four decades of experience in global communications and engagement, primarily for pharmaceutical clients. He provides strategic counsel to organizations during periods of crisis or significant change. Bryant helps corporations and business leaders to increase the effectiveness of their messages and the impact of their delivery. He is also a regular freelance writer and consultant for NCBiotech. Bryant earned a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and a photography degree from Randolph Community College.

Videos are an important marketing tool for life sciences companies. They can make product demos, executive interviews, and case studies more inviting and memorable. They have the potential for boosting engagement on social channels, improving search engine results, and increasing sales. 

Smartphones are making it easier to capture, edit, and share videos. However, with 50% of videos being consumed on mobile devices, marketers must develop a flexible video strategy optimized for laptop, tablet, and mobile consumption. If you are seeking advice on how to integrate more videos into your marketing, attend this program. Gain practical information on developing your video strategy and discover the best practices and tips for achieving excellent results.

Speaker

Alexander Ferguson is the founder and CEO of Your Local Studio, a video production company based in Cary. His company provides video services that help healthcare and life sciences companies engage with customers and prospects.

Alexander and his team co-authored a book entitled "The Marketer's Guide to Video: Your Complete Resource to Making Marketing Videos."

The virtual reality industry is projected to grow to $34 billion by 2022. Virtual reality is a groundbreaking technology and represents the next major technology shift after web and mobile devices. It allows marketers to provide a new, immersive experience for customers to engage with products and services.

How are life science companies utilizing this technology to create engaging, interactive experiences? Has the COVID-19 pandemic made virtual reality a more important marketing tool as corporate marketers struggle with being socially distant from customers and potential customers? Attendees heard from two local virtual reality corporate leaders. They shared success stories on how life science companies are integrating virtual reality into their marketing mix.

Speakers

Jason Cooper is the chief digital officer at Horizon Productions. Jason has helped evolve this 38-year-old, Emmy award-winning production company into a premier virtual and augmented reality provider. Jason leads Horizon's team that focuses on the non-gaming applications of virtual reality/augmented reality – research, education, training, marketing, filmmaking and real-time immersive experiences for health care, life sciences and other industries.

Joshua Setzer is the CEO and co-founder of Lucid Dream VR. Fascinated by the intersection of creativity and technology, Joshua’s professional background includes experience in design, manufacturing, and corporate sales training. As a passionate entrepreneur, Joshua loves building great businesses that challenge employees and customers to continuously grow.

There is real opportunity for marketing and innovation to have a significant impact across the organization. In today’s fast-moving world that is a necessity. For the May program, Tom Triumph covered the five fundamental pillars of every organization and how marketing professionals can positively impact the entire organization.

Real-world examples and puzzles illustrated how to:

• Understand how intentional evolution leads to success
• Discover what NASA taught us about creative genius
• Identify areas in your company where you can compound improvement
• Change your perception of the difficulties you encounter in work and life
   

Speaker

Thomas Triumph helps companies grow by helping them reinvent their business, technology and product development. Along the way he has helped large Fortune 500 organizations act nimbly and small, entrepreneurial companies scale. He has been a participant in two global technology revolutions and has been part of some remarkable success stories and some misfires. He is the author of the book Evolve or Die: Lessons for World-Class Innovation & Creativity.

Tom fulfilled a childhood dream of living aboard an ocean research ship and tending to the mini-sub (Cousteau was on the Board) and has wrestled in the Olympic trials. He resides in North Carolina and is an ultra runner.

Social media is an integral part of today’s life science marketing programs. Now more than ever brands are rarely successful without a strong social media presence. Social media provides an opportunity to engage with important audiences and helps to build strong relationships with your brand.

However, it is difficult for marketers to keep up with all that is happening in the ever-evolving digital landscape. This session covered practical tips and tricks to maximize results of your social media efforts:

• Tactics for gaining high visibility on popular social platforms
• Marrying content marketing and social media marketing and why it’s important to have both
• The types of content that are resonating with modern audiences
• Tracking relevant key performance indicators to measure ROI

Speakers

At some point, all marketing professionals will be involved in launching a new product or service. Product launches are an important opportunity. If done well, a product launch can generate revenue, create a competitive edge, and build trust with your target market.

This program detailed a tried-and-tested method for launching innovation. In this presentation, we covered:

• Discussing new marketing and sales strategies for launching innovative products
• Challenging conventional thinking and provide new strategies and tactics
• Exploring the cost and risks of getting it wrong
• Providing a framework for anticipating and recovering from inevitable missteps

Speaker

Chris Morrison is the founder of ViaVerus, a life science and healthcare consulting company focused on the strategy of introducing new products to market. Prior to launching ViaVerus, Chris headed sales and marketing at Expression Analysis, a genomic services company. Earlier in his career, he held various sales and business development roles at healthcare and medtech companies. Chris earned a bachelor of science degree in engineering at the University of Vermont.

Whether you are having coffee with a local reporter or helping a company executive prepare for an interview with a national news outlet, engaging with the media presents a crucial opportunity to deliver strategic business messages to key stakeholders. With preparation and practice, you can develop strong relationships with the media and guide conversations to achieve optimal outcomes. 

During this session, the do’s and don’ts for interview preparation and management, including proper research, appropriate body language, the use of strategic techniques to successfully deliver key messages, as well as how to bring mainstream relevance to technical information were discussed.

  Speaker

Karyn Ostrom is an account director based in the Raleigh office of G&S Business Communications, where she supports corporate communications for one of the agency’s key agribusiness clients. In this role, she helps her client navigate the changing media landscape and advises on issues management and profile-raising media opportunities. Prior to joining G&S in 2012, Karyn advised companies in the corporate legal and emergency management sectors. She holds a Master of Science degree in journalism from Columbia University.

Websites are a critical branding and sales tool. They often create the first impression that visitors will have of your company and have the power to make or break your reputation. It’s imperative to know your audience, have a measurement plan in place and have stakeholder buy-in in order to be successful online.

Whether you are launching a new website or looking to refresh your current website, attend this program to gain insights on website development and analytics. Get the answers to all your questions on how to create a great user experience while optimizing for search engines and mobile-friendliness.

Presenters:

Gary Towning, executive vice president of digital services, Trone Brand Energy

Laura Flugga, director of digital experience, Trone Brand Energy

Innovation is the key to growth. Thus, life science marketers must dedicate some time and effort to identify opportunities for innovation.

Fun-filled exercises inspired thinking by using real-world examples of marketing innovations. Small teams were created to brainstorm, prioritize, and unlock keys to success for innovating marketing programs for the new year.

Life science marketers must be adept at product naming. However, naming new products and services can be challenging. How do you develop a name that fits with the company brand and properly conveys the product brand? How do you ensure that regulatory requirements are met? 

Workshop attendees learned the art and science of naming and discovered the process and timelines for gaining company stakeholder buy-in and clearing regulatory hurdles. Naming strategies, global linguistic considerations, legal hurdles, and market research techniques to develop optimal names were explored to conceptualize brand strengthening. The Life Science Marketing group also explored differences in product naming for biotech/pharma vs. medical devices vs. animal health.

Speakers

Clayton is president and CEO of Brandsymbol, headquartered in Matthews, North Carolina. He began his career in 1993 with Addison Whitney in Charlotte, where he developed comprehensive industry knowledge while working with some of the world’s largest companies. He helped Addison Whitney develop some of the world’s most memorable brands such as Advair, Escalade, and Outlook. Quickly rising to the rank of president and CEO, Clayton turned Addison Whitney into one of the top 10 branding agencies in the world. After the sale of Addison Whitney, Clayton revitalized his branding process with Brandsymbol. Clayton is a graduate of UNC Asheville. 
 

Ben is a senior brand consultant at Brandsymbol. He helps clients establish project objectives and manages resources to achieve optimal results. He leads client projects involving branding strategy, research, nonproprietary and brand naming, and more for pharmaceutical, biotech, and medical device companies. Ben earned a bachelor’s degree from the Bloch School of Business at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

Networking event for life science marketing professionals was held at Brier Creek Carolina Ale Houses. Attendees were encouraged to mingle and discuss their individual marketing challenges and successes and learn about our fall program lineup.

This session covered aspects of market research and why is a critical tool for life science companies at every stage of growth. It helps companies to:

• Understand and monitor the competitive landscape
• Establish baseline requirements and pricing for products and services
• Gain insight into customers' receptivity to current and future offerings
• Come and learn basic primary and secondary market research techniques to get to the data and insights needed to make informed business decisions.  Discover how to tap into affordable, readily available market research resources to support all stages of the product/service lifecycle.

Speakers

Amy DeWinter
Founder, Ascenda Medical

Amy DeWinter, founder of Ascenda Medical Marketing, is a seasoned medical marketing professional with more than 20 years of experience in both startups and established company environments.  She has a strong background in emerging technologies and has used market research to plan product launches and business development ventures.

Amy has successfully assisted multiple organizations in everything from product naming to clinician training programs and market planning. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of San Diego.  

Lori Melliere
Outreach and Client Services Librarian, NCBiotech

Lori Melliere, is the outreach and client services librarian with Life Science Intelligence (LSI) at NCBiotech. LSI works with North Carolina's life science entrepreneurs, delivering targeted market and scientific insight needed to inform strategic decisions. Lori helps clients with their research needs by connecting them with LSI's resources and expertise.

Lori obtained her Master of Science degree in library science, and a master's degree in public administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

The organization of a marketing department must evolve as a company moves from startup through various stages of growth.

Insights from a medtech expert, Brian Regan, touched on the ideal marketing structure for each stage of a company's life cycle. Clearly defining roles and responsibilities is crucial for optimal performance, along with strategic marketing practices for setting and achieving goals at each stage of a startup.

Speaker

As vice president of marketing and development at TearScience, Brian led his marketing team from a few-person startup through company acquisition when TearScience was sold to Johnson & Johnson. Brian has held a variety of marketing and sales leadership positions at medtech companies. He earned his MBA at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management.

Whether your company is a small biotech startup or an established pharmaceutical company, brand building is important. Strong brands can:

• Differentiate an offering from the competition
• Build recognition, credibility & confidence
• Boost customer preference & loyalty
• Help attract investors & top talent

Speakers

This panel of experts shared their insights on building a brand strategy from scratch and help us evaluate if it’s time for a brand refresh. Learn the best practices for maximizing your brand.

This session was all about lead generation. Attendees learned how to:

• Set your lead generation strategy based on your overall marketing goals
• Measure ROI on lead generation campaign
• Employ different lead generation tactics by market segment
• Analyze and use data to continually improve your efforts

Speaker

Karen is a talented and experienced marketing professional who has held positions in a diverse array of organizations.  For the past 13 years, Karen has worked for life science and biotech fims, specializing on planning and implementing marketing initiatives.  She has worked with industry leaders such as IQVIA, Expression Analysis, Metabolon and Epicypher.