Frankly Speaking: Embracing new channels and new skills in the healthcare industry with Jethro Marsh

May 15




Tune in for part two of our conversation with Jethro Marsh, Head of Strategy and Solutions at Roche Diagnostics.

We discuss in-demand skills in healthcare marketing teams and how to stay current and up-to-date in the industry.

Did you miss part 1? Click here to read our discussion on industry challenges, changing customer expectations, and pathways forward to more effective commercial healthcare strategies.
If you were to talk to someone who's starting their career in a healthcare organisation, what advice would you give to them so they can set themselves up for success?
Constantly expose yourself to things that are happening outside the industry and outside the organisation. Set yourself almost like a renewal, a software update. Your laptop will tell you when you need to restart because it needs to put software patches in. We are the same. We have a biochemical computer running in our head, which means that computer needs to have updates, it needs to have new information fed in. It needs to have that reset regularly.

Put in a rhythm where, for example, one afternoon every three or six months, you have an afternoon where you shut your email off and you don't do anything except think about - "What are the different things that we're going to move?" "What are the different things that we're going to do?"  Stay current and constant.

Are there any particular resources that you use to help you do that? 
It really depends on the industry. For me, I like to stay current and so I go to a lot of smaller marketing events that are very focused on specific topics. For example, digital execution, commercial execution, platform transformation, paid advertising, social and content. I like very focused conferences because they tend to have deeper, more specific content.

Outside of that, join networking groups. Keep in touch with people. As people move on from the organisation, keep in touch with them and understand what they're doing in other organisations. You can always learn from other people.

I think there's also a risk for most organisations - in healthcare and beyond - that they assume that people arrive fully formed and absolutely perfect in absolutely everything that they do. So, why would they need training or any support or development in anything relating to marketing, sales, communication or whatever it might be? As you get to be a manager or even when you approach a manager, be open to say: this is an area I'd like to expand in. 

It's not a weakness to want to grow and develop. It's a strength to recognise that you want to grow.
Do you think it would be valuable for pharma to attend non-pharma industry events?
Absolutely. From a personal perspective I've always have found this. Regardless of what organisation I've worked in, when you go to one of these out-of-industry events or a marketing event (for example, Salesforce World Tour) you hear the challenges of different organisations, in different industries and how they overcame them. Or different vendors with different approaches. 

It sparks your thinking in a way that sitting in an industry specific conference just never will. I remember my team at Fuji Xerox always used to know when I was sitting in one of those conferences, because all of a sudden these emails and chat messages would start to fire off, ‘have we thought about this’, or ‘can we can do this’ or ‘let's talk about this’. That broadening of the horizon, both in terms of attending industry events, but also in terms of looking for broader training and information and educational material outside of just the industry, can be incredibly powerful.

In the modern marketing landscape, what skills do you think are in demand for pharma marketers and communications professionals now? Do you think the industry is well up to speed or needs more training in these areas?  
I could use a broad term of 'digital', because that space moves so quickly. I think especially in organisations or industries which are slower moving, (and as you know, the sales cycle and development cycle in healthcare is slower than a lot of other industries), our evolution pathway when it comes to social media adoption, digital design, user centric design, predictive data analytics or whatever it might be, is normally slower. So anything in digital, but specifically in those areas of predictive design, dynamic design, digital infrastructure or activation is a critical skills gap. And that’s probably outside of healthcare, it's everywhere. 

Particularly in healthcare, we have access to amazing platforms and technology, but we don't necessarily use it to the best of its ability.
And how do we ensure that marketing or communications teams in these organisations keep up to date with the new tactics or new channels that are needed to do this? And ensure the organisation is open to embracing something new? 
That's always a challenge in any organisation. Probably the most commonly used phrase in any organisation that I've joined has been, “no we've always done it this way” or alternatively “our customers aren't there”.

For our traditional customers the most effective way of generating an understanding of the importance of using a new channel, say LinkedIn and Twitter, is to find any competitors that are already active on there and to talk about what they're posting and the levels of engagement they're getting. And look for existing or potential customers and contacts, clinicians, key opinion leaders and thought leaders in that space. Are they on LinkedIn or Twitter? Are they participating? What does that look like? That then builds your case for something new.

When we talk about new channels, and this stretches across both existing customers and also direct to the patient, we need to really understand that these new channels are here. Again, it's this notion that if we kind of build a wall around our headquarters, then no one will find their way in, and no one will talk about us. That's not the world we live in.

If people have something to say about your organisation, your product, your brand, your service, they'll go onto Facebook and say it. They'll go on Instagram and post about it. They'll go onto LinkedIn and comment on it. They will do it anyway, regardless of whether you are there or not.

The only choice that organisations have in healthcare, or in any industry, is do we want to participate in the conversation, or do we want people talking about us and not even to know what's happening? 
On the direct patient side, it's around rules of engagement, so quite rightly, every healthcare organisation is very strictly regulated when it comes to compliance. When it comes to quality, assurance, safety, patient data, all of this is paramount, and it should be.

To communicate directly to patients, you need to create that framework of engagement for that channel. So let's say on Instagram, you need to create that framework of engagement that's agreed within the organisation. That takes the risk away from engaging in that channel. We are not going to be advocating specific products or treatments. We are not going to be mentioning brand terms or brand names. We are not going to be making comparative statements between, for example, us and the competitor. We are taking that completely off the table and having a very clear purpose for that channel. That's probably the best way to drive that adoption, or at least to drive the opportunity for adoption of a brand new channel.

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