A surprising number of people in marketing positions at biotech and pharma companies hold Ph.D.s in the life sciences. Over the years of working with such companies, I have been impressed by how valued these people are, as well as how much many of them enjoy their jobs. Let us look at what marketing is and why it appeals to many newly minted Ph.D.s.

In the broadest sense, marketing comprises a wide variety of ways in which companies capture markets for their products and thus build their revenues. In fact, different corporations take different approaches to how they segment different marketing functions among the various departments. For example, some companies align marketing employees with sales departments, while others have independent marketing departments. Smaller, growing companies may integrate the various marketing functions more closely than larger ones, since people in smaller companies may play many overlapping roles.

Regardless of how the companies parcel out marketing roles, every company must hire people to perform several basic marketing activities. These functions include: providing technical support to customers; conducting quantitative or qualitative market research to develop new or better products; creating strategies for marketing products to potential customers; working with sales employees to assure that marketing strategies are accurate (and sometimes determining whether sales people implement strategies well); and developing relationships with other companies that can either help market the company, or provide resources or technology to improve product development.

Recent graduates in the life sciences usually find it easiest to get initial marketing positions in which they provide technical support to customers. They may simply answer phone calls about technical problems with a product such as an instrument or software, or they may help to train users of the company's products and provide follow-up help as needed.

If you train users, you will go to their companies, perhaps develop training seminars for a number of employees, or supervise small groups as they learn to work with the product. In any case, you will first learn a great deal about the science and technology in your own company. Furthermore, you will have to stay abreast of related scientific and technical developments because they will help determine your customers' expectations. In these positions, you will likely have as much contact with other scientists as you did in graduate school, if not more.

Technical support positions can lead to market research positions, although others in market research are likely to have MBA degrees. It is not rare to encounter marketing executives who have both Ph.D. and MBA degrees. However, with your Ph.D. and willingness to learn the business, you can grow into senior positions. Quantitative market research will use your statistical and analytical skills to analyze and anticipate who will buy products, under what conditions, and at what price. In contrast, qualitative research draws more heavily upon social and verbal abilities.

Qualitative market researchers might, for example, organize focus groups where selected users (such as physicians, patients, or users of research products) respond to questions created by market researchers and delivered by a moderator. If you conduct qualitative research, you might also call customers and potential customers or analyze the results of other people's calls. Qualitative researchers measure attitudes, while quantitative researchers measure demographics, revenues, and other numerical data. They both contribute, however, to the end result: the capacity to imagine customers and products, develop scenarios and related marketing strategies, and forecast the results of the company's efforts.

Some other marketing positions focus on gathering market intelligence by informal discussions and observation of potential customers. These jobs may require attending meetings where prospects congregate, and perhaps standing at the exhibition booths at the conference along with the company's salespeople. In this position, one would listen closely to current and potential customers, examine how competing companies are marketing their products, and watch competitors demonstrate their products.

Marketing and sales functions can mesh easily at meetings, as well as when marketers and salespeople go to offices of customers to give demonstrations and other sales calls. Marketing employees, if they understand more about the technical features of the product than the salespeople, may have to answer the tough questions during a sales call. Extroverts take note: some marketing and sales activities are so interrelated that you could make the transition from marketing into a sales position, if you desire.

Another aspect of marketing is called business development. People in this area do the work of finding and forging alliances that would add strength to the products or to the marketing efforts. For example, I read a report recently about an alliance between a company selling information based on human gene fragments and a company that gathers clinical data from patients. Business development executives must have engineered this alliance, which will probably combine research resources as well as marketing clout.

Business development employees may have less interaction or knowledge of current customers than other marketing people. They focus on strategies for the future, sometimes for many years ahead, and interact with complementary businesses far more than customers. Business development people must learn how to structure and initiate deals, anticipating the needs of partner companies as well as their own company, and represent the entire company (not just the products).

Why do so many scientists like to work in marketing? Except for quantitative market researchers, people in marketing have more direct contact with people than lab scientists do. In fact, some marketing people interact more with scientists than bench scientists do. Marketers must keep current on scientific developments, but unlike bench scientists, they do not have to deal with the tedium of research. Finally, marketing positions tend to pay better than scientific positions, and they are probably easier to find throughout the country. The flexibility and pay are great advantages when raising a family or juggling dual careers.

A pundit once stated: all generalizations are misleading, including this one. It is difficult to give more than a glimpse of what scientists may encounter if they transition into marketing positions in biomedical, biotechnology, or pharmaceutical companies. While I have tried to outline some of the issues and advantages of this career move, you need to probe each prospective company and position carefully to be sure that you can be happy working there.

The good news is that you will not sacrifice your knowledge or interest in science. Instead, you will be translating the results of science into the marketplace, ultimately for the benefit of consumers. So many scientists have made this transition, sometimes grudgingly, and many of them enjoy their marketing careers. How about you?