Safer, Faster, Easier

Whale Imaging was an agile medical device startup with manufacturing overseas and Marketing, Sales, and R&D here in the US. I was hired as Marketing Manager and later, promoted to Marketing Director - reporting to the SVP of Marketing. This was a challenging but rewarding role as it allowed me to try new things such as training myself on—and implementing Salesforce.com. Over the course of 3 years, I worked very closely with the sales team, creating materials for them to use in demonstrations and presentations. Training videos, product tours, press releases, media events, website design and maintenance, and tradeshow marketing all fell under my domain. Plus, I created new channels of marketing that included email, paid search, paid social, and display.

Our products were divided into 2 categories: portable ultrasound machines and G-Arm biplane X-ray machines. The devices were sold both directly and via a network of distributors to doctor’s offices, medical centers, and hospitals. We also successfully sold our ultrasound machines to training programs and schools like the Sacramento Ultrasound Institute. It was fun bonding with team members when we exhibited at various radiological conferences, and I quickly became adept at explaining the functionality and benefits of all our products.

A few highlights from my time at Whale Imaging:

• Redesigning the Website: The content on whaleimaging.com was outdated and very text-heavy - I worked with external vendors and our internal team to make the site more intuitive, informative, and visually appealing. I also optimized the site for SEO and social - which led to increased lead and pipeline generation.

• Product Videos: Even though it was a small startup, Whale had a lot of the essential equipment for producing, editing, and publishing video content. I wrote scripts, set up studio-like space in the office, and filmed our sales team demoing our products. I also edited the videos in Adobe Premiere. These videos became powerful assets for informing and engaging both prospects and distributors.

• Tradeshow Exhibitions: I was the lead marketer working in collaboration with Sales and Marketing to identify opportunities to exhibit at relevant tradeshows for Spine Surgeons, Imaging Experts (RSNA in Chicago), and other target markets. We worked with a vendor who helped design and build our booths, and I traveled to several tradeshows per year to serve as a brand ambassador and an operations specialist. Shipping a 2,000-pound X-ray surgical system had logistical challenges that we overcame in creative and cost-effective ways.

• Social Media Advertising: While our large competitors were advertising in print publications, I created an in-depth social media strategy that grew our pipeline through targeted social ads and organic content marketing.

• Public Relations: I was also responsible for writing and distributing (newswire) press releases as well as coordinating with Fox Business to film a 15-minute TV segment for their network. This involved coordinating with a hospital to record a live surgery as well as interviews with executives at Whale and surgeons at Southcoast Medical Center. This professional video segment was also featured on our website and in sales presentations and brought new prospects into our sales funnel.

• Sales Presentations and Collateral: I worked with graphic designers and internal resources to develop compelling presentations, brochures, and 1-pagers. Presentations were optimized for both desktop and tablet use. These materials were essential for our inside sales team as well as distributors to use when selling Whale products.

• Email Marketing: At Whale, email communications were essential to connecting with our core audience. We developed compelling offers and promotions to entice mid-funnel leads to complete their purchase. Email was also used to update our network of distributors with new product information and the latest specs & pricing guidelines.

Helping Improve Patient Health

As I begin this professional blog on marketing and its various topics, I want to introduce myself. I’m a marketing professional with 20 years of experience working mainly on the client side for various companies.

The first half of my career was spent at a startup called M|C Communications / Pri-Med. Bain Capital acquired Pri-Med after I began working as an intern developing grassroots marketing campaigns for medical education conferences in various cities across the US. After graduation, I was hired full-time as a Marketing Specialist and worked my way up to Senior Digital Marketing Manager. Pri-Med was in a rapid state of growth during my 11+ years there. Managing 15 annual conferences quickly ballooned to marketing over 100 live events and 300+ online education courses. I loved my time at Pri-Med and was encouraged to bring ideas and strategies to the table including the website UX/UI, email, search, and social media marketing. As I moved on from Pri-Med, I took with me a solid foundation of both direct marketing and digital marketing skills.

A few highlights from my time at Pri-Med:

• Several rebranding initiatives including brand identity, UI/UX, tone, and company vision statements. This usually coincided with a website overhaul as well.

• Change Management: Working with the marketing department and engineering to get every campaign across all channels coded and tracked in Google Analytics as well as our CRM.

• Developing the Learning Lab online experience: With the collaboration of team members, we created a micro-site with an intuitive (Netflix-style) user experience. This portal featured recommended CME activities and was also featured onsite at Pri-Med conferences where physicians and APPs could learn online between lectures.

• Salesforce Marketing Cloud implementation and vendor management. With the help of our talented data engineers, we created an SFTP feed from our internal database to Salesforce Marketing Cloud. My team developed personalized and targeted email communications as well as automated up to 70% of all messages through Marketing Cloud’s Journey Builder.

• Winner of the New England Direct Marketing Association (NEDMA) Gold Award for the best integrated marketing campaign. This was for a series of conferences called Pri-Med Updates for Cardiologists that incorporated direct mail, email, telemarketing, fax, and online advertising channels to attract attendees for 10+ conferences in major cities across the US.

• Creating and managing social media channels: As a technology enthusiast and digital native I immediately saw the marketing potential of social media sites to promote our brand and encourage engagement of our clinician community. Since we were early adopters of this technology, we went full speed ahead on social organic and paid advertising.

• Virtual Education Seminars: With the guidance of a talented Digital Product team, Pri-Med launched live, online virtual education seminars. It’s no small feat getting busy doctors to tune in to an online broadcast, but we successfully hit attendance goals and set Pri-Med on the path to becoming a major leader in virtual continuing medical education.

• Worked at Pri-Med conferences as a brand ambassador meeting the doctors and APPs and helping wherever I was needed - registration, booth set up, website tutorials, etc.