In order to communicate science effectively, science marketers need to have a thorough understanding of both the science in their company’s field and best marketing practices.
Staying up to date means not only following the news to understand the latest scientific developments, but also understanding how those developments fit into the state of the industry as a whole. It means knowing the established and emerging marketing channels most suited to communicating those ideas, and then understanding what marketing channels are best suited for targeting scientists, lab managers and CEOs.
It means doing all of that while fulfilling your day-to-day responsibilities as a marketer. How can you find the time to stay on top of two constantly changing, complex fields? We’ve created a thorough list of ways to do just that. Browse by category below, or simply begin below!
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Click to jump to each resource list
Email Newsletters | Twitter Lists | Webinars | Live Events
Quick List Science Resources | Quick List Marketing Resources
Quick List Individual Influencers to Follow
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Managing Professional Development
There are hundreds of publications and channels to follow, and not nearly enough time to follow all of them. But these five tactics can be incorporated into your existing schedule to make professional development as painless as possible. We provide recommendations under each category, but be sure to see our additional recommendations at the end of the article.
Email Newsletters
It seems like everyone has an email newsletter nowadays. It’s easy to get subscription-happy with newsletters and subscribe to so many that you never have time to open them.
Try to choose one or two of the highest quality and most relevant newsletters to read regularly. Incorporating this reading into your regular email routine is a simple way to stay up-to-date on the latest happenings in science and marketing.
– For marketing, we recommend exploring newsletters from the American Marketing Association and specific to the science marketer, our own monthly C&EN Marketing Elements Blog.
– For science, we also recommend our own C&EN Newsletter, which recently became available for non ACS members. You can sign up here.
Twitter Lists
For every other publication under the sun, there’s Twitter. If you want to follow more publications but don’t have time to read more newsletters, make Twitter lists.
A Twitter lists allows you to group similar users and avoid the information overload that can occur on your home page. You can organize publication by type, industry, technique, or any other criteria you want. Chances are you already spend some time on social media, and Twitter lists are a way to make that time work for you.
It’s worth taking the time to build your own lists based on your specific area, but a variety of lists exist for you to use as a starting point.
– For marketing, we recommend this list of social media thought leaders.
– For science, this list of scientists, science writers and organizations is a good place to start.
Webinars
Every so often, a publication or company will host in-depth webinars on recent developments in the industry. Webinars provide a middle ground between reading articles and attending live events; the low time investment and ability to watch replays makes them easier to fit into your schedule.
Keep an eye on your favorite publications (through those emails and Twitter lists) and register for their upcoming webinars.
– For marketing, we recommend webinars hosted by HubSpot Academy.
– For science, we recommend webinars through our very own ACS Publications.
Live Events
There’s simply no substitute for live events. At conferences and other events, you have an unparalleled opportunity to both learn about the latest developments in your field and network with like-minded professionals.
It’s true, live events are the most time-intensive option on this list. However, be sure to plan your schedule around them and truly sign off of email and work-related projects so that you can make the most of your experience.
– For marketing, we recommend events hosted by the American Marketing Association, and if you’re in the pharma space specifically, we’ve liked ipharma.
– For science, the events you attend will depend heavily on your industry. ACS hosts several annual events for scientists to present their research. A lot of shows are now incorporating scicomm and marketing panels into the mix, such as BIO’s International Convention.
Internal Communications
With all of these external options, don’t neglect the knowledge you have within your own company. Some companies, like IBM, even have a content marketing strategy aimed directly at their employees. There are several options to learn from your colleagues:
• You or someone else in your company can compile a bi-weekly list of interesting articles.
• You can host periodic “lunch and learns,” where internal experts give talks over your lunch hour. Once launched, expand beyond your internal network and ask if anyone on the team could extend invitations to experts they know.
• You can meet with people individually, for coffee or lunch, to pick their brains.
Your coworkers have their own backgrounds and publications they follow. Make sure to exchange ideas with them.
Even More Resources
Constantly tracking down the most up-to-date information is challenging, so we tracked down additional resources for you in our expanded list below.
Science Resources
Scientific American and Popular Science
Scientific American and Popular Science provide compelling, engaging and extremely readable science news. Both publications are aimed at the general public and cover everything from recent scientific discoveries to the effect of public policy on the advancement of science.
Chemical and Engineering News
C&EN is the weekly news magazine of the chemical world. Published by the American Chemical Society, we provide news and worldwide coverage of science and technology, business and industry, government and policy, education and employment aspects of the chemistry field.
STAT and ENDPOINTS
STAT and ENDPOINTS target a slightly more technical business audience.
STAT reports on developments in health, medicine and policy, and it has a variety of industry-specific newsletters that provide a daily dose of scientific updates.
ENDPOINTS focuses on biotech and pharmaceutical R&D, providing breaking news alongside special reports and deep dives that broadly analyze the state of the industries.
Science Vs, Two Scientists Walk Into a Bar and Science Friday
Whether it’s because you drive to work or need new glasses, it isn’t always possible to follow the news by reading. Science Vs, Two Scientists Walk Into a Bar and Science Friday are three podcasts, run by scientists and experienced science journalists, that separate scientific hype from reality.
In Science Vs, a longtime science journalist tackles the most recent science news and trends to determine what’s fact and what’s fiction.
What are top research scientists working on? In Two Scientists Walk Into a Bar, guests spill the details of their latest research.
What started as a radio show is now NPR’s Science Friday, a podcast covering the latest and most exciting advances in science and technology.
Marketing Resources
It’s common for science marketers to become entrenched in their industries, exploring industry publications and developments. That professional development is important, but the ability to effectively communicate complex ideas is crucial to science marketing. Continue to hone that ability with these resources.
Marketing Donut and MarketingProfs
Marketing Donut and MarketingProfs are online resources that cover everything from branding to digital marketing to presentations.
Marketing Donut covers the business of marketing. With information on marketing strategy and best practices alongside articles on sales, market research and customer care, Marketing Donut has lessons for every aspect of marketing.
MarketingProfs is one of the largest providers of online marketing education. With articles, trainings and in-person event, MarketingProfs provides professional development for individuals, teams and entire organizations.
Medical Marketing and Media, eMarketer and Bioinformatics
Medical Marketing and Media (MM&M) and eMarketer provide in-depth data on marketing trends and budgets.
With its whitepapers and industry reports, MM&M brings you the latest data from healthcare and pharma marketing.
eMarketer reports are not always free, but they detail everything from mobile ad spend to the use of geotargeting.
While not necessarily specific to marketing, you won’t know how to market to a scientist without understanding the business of their business. Bioinformatics provides those reports, as well as free blog content.
All these data-rich sources are especially useful when making a business case for specific marketing tactics in your organization.
Individual Influencers
The nature of marketing makes it possible for individuals to rise to prominence and be influential within their specific niche. There are dozens of marketing personalities worth following, and which ones you choose will depend on your focus area within marketing.
Here are some examples.
Michael Smart offers advice for public relations professionals, ranging from crafting effective media pitches to writing compelling releases and articles.
Neil Patel covers all things digital, bringing you tested insights on SEO, ad targeting, conversion rates, and more. If you’re looking for marketing by the numbers, Neil Patel is an excellent resource.
Gary Vaynerchuck built his businesses with social media. Today he covers content, creative, and other aspects of marketing, spreading his message through a blog and popular social media videos.
Andy Crestodina is a content marketing and SEO expert. He combines marketing data with practical insights to present a logical, scalable and achievable approach to SEO and content.
Heidi Cohen covers a variety of marketing topics, from social media to content marketing to public relations and more. The uniting property of her content is that it is actionable: you’ll come away from each article with new ideas to apply to your business.
Chris Connor occupies a unique position as a marketing content creator that specializes in the life sciences. He runs a regular life science marketing podcast titled Life Science Marketing Radio.
Some call Seth Godin the father of modern marketing. With 18 published books and a daily blog going back a decade, Godin focuses on the fundamentals of great marketing. What is your core value proposition? How can you communicate effectively and authentically? These are the questions Godin tackles.
Plus, we’ve profiled the science marketers in our Marketing Masters series. Read about these science marketing pros:
Thermo Fisher, Shimadzu, Cell Associates, The Market Element agency, Colm O’Regan of Scientific Communications, Bitesize Bio, our own Raj Mukhopadhyay from C&EN BrandLab, and Lauren Wolf, C&EN’s science desk editor.
There are scores of influential marketers with expertise ranging from social media to personal branding. The ones you follow will depend on your marketing knowledge and needs.
Where do you go to keep up to date on the latest in science and marketing? Let us know your favorite resources in the blog comments below.
