"I started taking graduate classes in Marketing…and never looked back."
Kim Marich, Senior Director of Product Marketing, turned a background in finance into a successful marketing career. Key to her longevity? Flexibility.
What’s your role at ConnectiveRx?
My role at ConnectiveRx is Senior Director of Product Marketing. I work with several teams including Sales, Product Management and Operations across the organization to help shape and market the different solutions we offer. From product videos, demos, and sales decks to train the BD team, to promotional campaigns (webinars, tradeshows, email communications and ads) the Marketing team ensures our pharmaceutical clients and their agencies are aware of and understand ConnectiveRx’s products.
What led you to this career?
My undergraduate degree is in Finance/Economics and when I graduated, I was going to be an investment banker—that was until the stock market crashed. Many people in finance were leaving their jobs as the economy was a bit unstable. I took a job as a marketing assistant at Simon and Schuster just to have a job and immediately liked the role. Collaborating with the editors to create interest for the books they were publishing and working with the sales force really piqued my interest. I started taking graduate classes in Marketing during that time and never looked back. To this day I still enjoy the work of bringing a product to market and supporting the teams as they go out to clients with it. But true to my finance roots, I have not let go of using Excel spreadsheets for as many Marketing projects as I can. 😊
What skill do you think is most important to succeed in your role?
One of the skills I think is most important to my role is flexibility. As pretty much everything nowadays, marketing benefits from the changing technology and different media to get our message to our audience. Using the different marketing tools available to us, we analyze the best ways to communicate with our customers, and the various social media and promotion avenues we can leverage to reach our audience. It is always exciting to see the different ways customers want to engage with us and it is important to have the ability to move to keep up with them.
Which ConnectiveRx value resonates with you the most and why?
I truly think that all our values are very important. I think about them every day as I begin to work. Above all though, I think that Customer-centric is one of the key values we have. This value shapes not only what solutions we create but why we are in business. Keeping our clients and their customers at the heart of what we do makes sure that our solutions are helping them solve their challenges. It should always be about what customers need, not what we want to sell them. By listening to clients and developing the solutions to help them, we create the types of products that ultimately help patients.
Both marketing and healthcare have seen a lot of change over the years. As an industry veteran, how have you grown the most during this time?
Well, something new that I have seen in this unprecedented time is the way our company and colleagues have pulled together to work in new ways. Overnight our in-house staff went 100% remote and all with very good results for customers and our company alike. It’s a testament to our teammates’ values — especially “accountable” and “collaborative” — that this could work company-wide. While I am excited by the idea of coming back to our offices to interact in person with friends, clients, and colleagues, I have confidence that with the dedication of all teammates, we can succeed in any environment.
I am also so proud and thankful to see how our company stood behind its employees—providing the tools, resources, and flexibility for us to succeed in our roles while we worked remotely over the past 16 months.
This summer is bringing a lot of change too. Restrictions are lifting, more people are returning to offices, traveling, etc. What are you looking forward to?
First, I am just looking forward to getting out with friends and family, strolling around the local shops, and eating at different restaurants again, especially during the beautifully long days of the summer. As an avid traveler, I am anxiously awaiting planning my next trip. One special trip, a week in Dubai, had to be canceled last year. Additionally, as a hockey Mom, I am looking forward to getting back into the rinks, even if I need my UGGS in August!