Marketing for Scientists - Intro and Chapter 1

Mark J. Kuchner's Intro

The author shares a wry observation by way of introduction: Anti-science sentiments seem to have become mainstream in the US. Only 40% of US adults agree that “human beings developed from earlier species of animals”. Science funding is on the decline. Many newspapers and magazines have dropped their science sections.

Chapter 1 - Business

In the first chapter, the author starts by introducing himself: He is a successful astrophysicist in his daytime, and an amateur country music songwriter in his spare moments. Though both activities are quite different in essence, he occasionnaly sees common grounds:

It struck me that scientists and other academics are often in the same position I was as a beginning songwriter: writing papers nobody reads-like songs nobody hears.

Long story short, after struggling to get a tiny bit of attention in the super-competitive music industry (that is, just getting a chance of showing his work to decision makers), understanding what the music business is really about and learning marketing and communication skills the hard way, the author realizes that some of his newly acquired knowledge could also prove very useful in his academic career.

My experience with the music business has taught me to cherish every bit of feedback I can get, and not to think of the hundreds of unreturned phone calls or ignored pitches I must face as signs of personal failings. It was this change of perspective, and the pressure it removed from my life, that first made me want to try systematically applying what I learned in the music business to the world of science.

When he says “change of perspective”, the author means it!

As Princeton ecology professor David Wilcove told me, "Even scientists who don't think they are marketing their work are marketing. The introduction to a technical paper is a piece of marketing. When you write a grant proposal, you're basically marketing."

So there's our premise...

Being a good scientist is half science and half marketing.

Wow. The idea might take a little time to sink in. As a scientist, you would need to read the book in order to fully grasp the argument. I can assure you, it is seriously backed-up by the author. For the sake of keeping it short, though, I suggest we just go with this idea in this blog post. You are actually marketing all the time, as a scientist, and since you have no training whatsoever in this field, you are probably not doing it right. The author is not talking about the marketing stereotype from the nineteen-sixties (you know, making unnecessary stuff all shiny to sell it to customers who don't want it), but about contemporary marketing, which only shares the name, not the concepts...

It's a sensibility that has emerged in the Internet era: marketing based on genuine two-way conversations and community-building.

In the next chapter, the author will share his definition - or rather his “fundamental theorem” - of marketing. Stay tuned! 

Category: science communication

Tags: marketing book marketing for scientists