The Director of Marketing @ ACP-LS, Chris Conner is also the very accommodating and tactful host of the Life Science Marketing Radio podcast and whose blog is a detailed resource for life science marketers to gain insight from.
The Director of Marketing @ ACP-LS, Chris Conner is also the very accommodating and tactful host of the Life Science Marketing Radio podcast and whose blog is a detailed resource for life science marketers to gain insight from. He took time out of his busy day to let us get to know him and ask him the questions below, sharing with us some bits of wisdom of running his own business in the Life Sciences industry.|
Q: What made you want to start your own business? |
| A: One day, I calculated that I had spent 13 weeks of the last year in my car, just commuting to work. I started out as a freelance copywriter. Then I started listening to podcasts noticed a lot of people were doing it and thought Why don't I just do this for life sciences. So I took the opportunity to execute my own vision of how to do marketing in Life Sciences, and do something different than others have done. |
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Q: How do you prepare for the future for your business? |
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A: I pay attention to other marketers and I follow what I like. Most importantly, I pay attention to trends outside of the life sciences industry, like looking at marketing in consumer electronics. There are skills and ideas that a person in science can gain by looking at others in marketing outside of the industry. |
| Q: What is the most fun thing about your job? |
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A: The podcast is the most fun thing that I do. I get to talk to really smart life science marketers or salespeople and learn from them. I enjoy marketing and help my consulting clients on what type of content to produce to get more results with less effort. Another fun thing I am working on is a digital project focusing on technology like next generation sequencing in collaboration with Tyler Kay of Digital Creative Associates. |
| Q: What is your favorite thing about your job? |
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A: Freedom: there are 2 flavors. The first is creative freedom. I have the ability to think of something I want to make or a product I want to develop or course I want to provide, thinking of different ways of helping people with content marketing like creating a podcast and other web projects, as well as selling that vision to somebody. Secondly, I have the freedom to decide how to manage my time. There is no more commuting. It's a more efficient use of my time. |
| Q: Do you have a favorite interview? |
| A: They're all good and they keep getting better. I stand there with a smile thinking and learning from everyone. One of my very first interviews, How to Change an Organization Through Marketing Communications with Taia Ergueta who I used to work for, is the most unique, in terms of ideas of all the interviews I've done. One thing about content is you can never tell what is going to be the most popular. So don't hold something back because you never know what someone else is looking for. |
| Q: What is the hardest thing you've experienced in this life sciences marketing industry? |
| A: I'm not a CEO, so I do not have a bunch of people working for me. I am working for myself and by myself, but I collaborate with others. Prioritizing tasks and making the right choices on what to work on is the struggle. Some activities have a higher activation energy than others. |
| Q: What three words would you describe yourself as? |
| Curious: I love learning new things and meeting new people and hearing about what they're working on. Creative: I like thinking of new ideas and creating new twists on developed marketing methods Humorous: It's another thing that makes this job fun for me. |
| Overall |
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Chris's job allows him the freedom to see his daughter to school in the morning and to tend to work in the afternoons and evenings, letting his creativity flow as it comes. Though he does not perform on his guitar at cafes as often anymore, he enjoys his time swimming, something he could not do as much when he was commuting for almost 3 hours daily to his previous job. His journey to this part of his professional life took years of education, listening to podcasts and thinking deeply during long work commutes to the lab, and surely some from trips home he makes every now and then to Ohio, where he gets to see his brother and sister. We can see his curiosity brought him far. We can also see his good humor in the
Next Generation Sequencing video with Tyler Kay below: [iframe id="https://www.youtube.com/embed/PXY5zLRi26A"] |
We appreciate Chris’ time in speaking with us. We are proud to feature such talented individuals in our Who’s the Boss series. Remember, we would love to interview your organization as well! Comment below, if interested!
Check out more in the series: