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Regis Grenier: Unlocking internal insights to guide strategic marketing, always providing value to scientists, and building trust through genuine content
The "Life, Science and Marketing" podcast, hosted by our CEO Paul Avery, presents engaging conversations with leading marketing experts in the life sciences industry. Each episode showcases the personal stories, experiences, and insights of these professionals, offering valuable guidance on effective marketing strategies and practices.
In this episode, Paul had an engaging chat with Regis Grenier, an industry veteran with over 25 years in sales and marketing roles at companies like Bio-Rad and Titian. Now an independent marketing consultant, Regis offered a wealth of perspectives from crafting impactful positioning to creating content that truly resonates with scientists.
Read on for a recap of episode 9 with Regis and his advice on tapping internal knowledge to guide strategy, consistently delivering value to science-driven buyers, and building trust by leading with credible content rather than aggressive sales pitches. You can also listen to their full conversation in the podcast episode below or find us on your favourite podcast platform.
How did you get into life science marketing and sales?
Regis Grenier: I've always been interested in science and read science articles every day. My background is in business - I'm not a scientist. I was fortunate to start early as a sales representative years ago in France for a company called Merieux. Then I moved to the UK and worked for Bio-Rad for about 16 years in the informatics division, in charge of sales and marketing for the whole world basically except Japan. More recently, I was at Titian for 6 and a half years in charge of marketing only.
What do you love most about working in sales and marketing roles?
Regis Grenier: What really interests me is thinking about strategy and implementing - looking at the big picture holistically and seeing things globally. And always keeping an eye on measuring results daily to participate in company growth. That's what really wakes me up in the morning - thinking about what I can produce today that will interest the audience and contribute to growth. The second phase around actual selling comes more naturally once you provide interesting content.
What are some of your interests and activities outside of work?
Regis Grenier: I have a lot of activities - kids take up time of course but I also have sports activities. And I'm overseeing a reforestation project in Scotland where part of my family is from. That's a very different type of project but I'm very interested in environmental issues. I try to diversify my interests beyond just science.
What's been the most interesting product or project you've worked on from a science perspective and why?
Regis Grenier: The Bio-Rad informatics experience was likely the most stimulating. We were in an era of analytical chemistry, identifying compounds and material content on a molecular level using spectroscopy techniques like infrared, NMR, mass spectrometry. It was interesting because we served many industries - aerospace, automotive, paint, defense, environmental, and more. The technology expanded a lot into various sectors. I visited many labs and scientists like to talk about their work. I spent time listening then offered products to accelerate their research. It was very fascinating to be part of helping science progress.
What areas of science are you finding most interesting at the moment?
Regis Grenier: I think life sciences is a really enormous industry with different sectors that you can work on. And they're all part of an interconnected chain and all interesting. At Titian specifically, I worked a lot on automation integration with software and hardware, as well as integration between software and automated lab systems. Customers want integrated systems - they don't want to have to deal with many disjointed systems.
So, this sector around life science software, automation, and integrations really interests me given my recent focus. I hope to stay consulting in this area of lab informatics, automation, and scientific software integration post-Titian. There is massive potential still yet to be unlocked. The solutions provide enormous value to pharmaceutical and biotech companies by accelerating research and providing actionable data insights. So yes, staying in this domain through my consultancy projects seems extremely stimulating.
What's the best professional tip you've learned in your career so far?
Regis Grenier: Always provide real value through marketing and avoid just seeming salesy or annoying. My daily obsession is "Am I delivering value?" Especially in technical, scientific areas I constantly challenge myself on that when creating content. Sometimes marketing can seem intrusive from the receiver's point of view. But if you identify pain points and offer helpful solutions, then eventual sales contacts make more sense and are less aggressive.
The goal is creating marketing that doesn't seem like marketing - valuable content solving problems. My job is determining what people want to know and search for in terms of software solutions. I use techniques to get content found but ensure people aren't disappointed by it. They can gather technical details on their own timeline before a sales call. That difference between everyday marketing and content with real value is what fascinates me.
What's been your favourite marketing campaign or strategy you've implemented and why?
Regis Grenier: In terms of strategy, my last experience at Titian was very rewarding. When I started, there was very limited marketing. Building from scratch is always stimulating, especially with the top-notch people Titian had. I knew I had all the expertise needed internally to create absolutely fabulous content. But it took time because these people have other critical roles.
The human challenge was convincing internal stakeholders of the marketing value before you produce external content. Those discussions took a while but were worthwhile to deeply understand the technology we could extract into content. The software had enormous potential not yet revealed since marketing was undeveloped. So, my job was unleashing those secrets known internally but not beyond current customers.
In terms of campaigns, I really enjoyed case studies - letting customers share real scenarios and talk to their peers. But getting participation, especially from big pharmas, is not easy due to legal permissions and not seeming like endorsements. You can't rush or pressure people but gradual conversations over a long timeframe help. For example, if you want case studies for a conference, start conversations a year before. Be opportunistic when a customer seems ready to share. Contract research organizations and smaller biotechs tend to be more willing.
Any other top marketing tips based on your experience?
Regis Grenier: Especially in scientific segments, deeply understand the market value of what you're marketing before exaggerating claims. Be realistic - scientists will know if you overstate things. Software evolves rapidly so even if you aren't ready as a leader currently, gather continuous feedback to get there in months or years. Sense the market demand and feed insights back to product teams.
Don't isolate marketing - integrate with internal tech experts. Have genuine interest in the science and technology. Ask engineers and technicians questions - they reveal unutilized perspectives. For example, I discovered unmatched integration capabilities that were never marketed. Activating those can strengthen partnerships too through co-marketing and lead referral programs. So, take advantage of internal knowledge before embellishing capabilities.
What are some good ways to better understand a target market?
Regis Grenier: The best way is simply talking extensively to internal staff. Ask what customers are trying to achieve and what problems they need to solve. Engineers told me about integration abilities not on our website - I asked how customers would ever know about those differentiating capabilities if they aren't marketed.
Trade shows are also interactions where people share more openly than remote talks. But don't over-index on events. I've found customer visits very valuable as well to hear pains directly. Go sometimes with sales colleagues to talks and listen. Customers explain openly what their software needs to resolve.
Take advantage too of partners eager to co-market integrations or other strengths once you start sharing those externally. So, incredible internal insights unlock outside programs beyond just better understanding the market.
Discover more insights with the Life, Science & Marketing Podcast
As we wrap up this enriching discussion with Regis Grenier, we'd like to express our gratitude for him generously sharing his abundant marketing wisdom. Regis is always eager to engage in further conversations, answer questions, and provide more perspectives from his impressive career (you can connect with him on LinkedIn). Alternatively, feel free to reach out to him via email at Regis1000@hotmail.co.uk.
Stay tuned for more episodes of the "Life, Science and Marketing" podcast. We look forward to bringing you many more thought-provoking dialogues and practical recommendations from leading marketing experts in the life sciences sphere.
You can also follow the official Life, Science and Marketing LinkedIn page to keep current with the latest podcast updates and new episodes being released.
