Here is a transcript generated by Otter.ai of The Content Mix podcast interview with VeraContent’s Kyler Canastra and André da Silveira, Senior Product Marketing Manager for the EMEA region at GE Healthcare Digital, on content marketing in the healthcare industry:

Kyler Canastra 0:13
Hi everyone, my name is Kyler and we’re back with another episode of The Content Mix. Today we’re sitting down with André da Silveira, Senior Product Marketing Manager at GE Healthcare Digital. Adaptability, leadership and determination are three driving forces in André’s personal and professional career from working at Electa, a global leader in oncology solutions to his current role at GE Healthcare, one of the largest medical device companies in the world. André has dedicated himself to the area of healthcare, business and marketing, which even led him to lend a hand in the fight against COVID-19. Welcome André and thank you so much for joining us today on The Content Mix.

André da Silveira 0:50
Thank you. Thank you very much for having me.

Kyler Canastra 0:53
So to get the interview started, can you tell me a bit about yourself? In your own words, where are you from? And what’s your connection to content marketing in Europe?

André da Silveira 1:00
Yeah, so so I’m a Portuguese and British citizen living in London, my career journey touched multiple roles in multiple industries until I got to the healthcare industry. This is an amazing industry to be working on, mainly due to the sense of purpose, right, when we work in healthcare. So promoting solutions that help healthcare professionals to help their patients is very rewarding. And we see results on that. So that’s, that’s very rewarding as well. I’ve always had some kind of connection to content marketing, either because of my first graduation in public relations and advertising, or because of my role as communications manager in the beginning of my career, or in product marketing roles that you mentioned as well. So first local, then global. And now for the EMEA market. So the EMEA region means Europe, Middle East, and Africa, which is a very complex and important market in many aspects. So this is how I got into marketing and health. So before joining university, I studied Life Sciences in high school, which set a logical mindset in my mind, right, and helps me a lot with the healthcare language, as well. I always had this strategic mindset and hence my choice to study strategic communications and later in my life as well, Business Management. So this combined, as well as my experience in communications and other marketing fields, helped me get into to, to these medical sales, and maybe to the senior physician later in my life.

Kyler Canastra 2:33
That’s fantastic. It’s always cool to look back on your, you know, life journey and see how ,you know, all the things come together and kind of led you to where you are now. And ou said you work in multiple markets. And I guess this is a quick question before we continue with the rest of the interview is what kind of what differences do you find between like the European market versus the African market?

André da Silveira 2:54
Oh, well, so. So the way we communicate and of course, the audience characteristics, everything, the needs are different. And right. So, just in terms of product lifecycle and stages of development of their healthcare industry, there is in healthcare practitioners there is different, so different needs. And there’s a lot of differences as well with Middle East, where we have a lot of, there’s a lot of focus on medical tourism as well, which digital solutions helped with because of the connectivity and communications that allow. There’s a lot of content opportunities and to communicate that content in different ways. And even in Europe, there’s a lot of differences in Europe as well, just in this region, which is each country will have their needs, and regulations or their culture as well, the way that this. And the language.

Kyler Canastra 3:50
For sure. So then, kind of building upon that, you’ve been working at GE Healthcare, which, as an American, I know General Electric, it’s a company that everyone knows. And how has it been working in such a recognized, internationally recognized company and working with teams, I’m assuming across different markets in different countries?

André da Silveira 4:10
Working for such a large company, it’s, it’s very interesting. It’s very rewarding because I learned a lot, like I’ve learned a lot in terms of the size of the company, the complexity that the portfolio of solutions that we have. I learned a lot in terms of leadership as well. Because there’s a huge multiple, multidisciplinary team of teams, I would say that we have to get our projects running and lead those projects. And so it’s very rewarding and even more rewarding, even as I mentioned in the beginning, because we are working for a very, in my opinion, noble purpose right, which is helping healthcare practitioners help their patients.

Kyler Canastra 4:58
So it’s definitely rewarding work, for sure. And then I feel like on this podcast, and I’ve talked so much about COVID-19, but it’s kind of something that we can’t get rid of, you know, it’s part of our lives, and it’s very relevant. But in some research I was doing on your profile on your background, I found an article for healthcare IT news that was published in September 2020 that featured you, actually, because you were doing some work dealing with the increasing demand for tests X-rays, because of COVID-19. Could you elaborate a bit more about the work you’ve done? Because not often that, you know, someone in marketing, I talked to actually has this experience now kind of helping with a global pandemic? So could you just elaborate a bit more on the work that you did, and that your team has been carrying out since the beginning of the pandemic?

André da Silveira 5:42
So yeah, to put it in context, and as you said, COVID-19 created a huge demand for some solutions, right. But it also reduced the demand for other solutions as a result of the shift of focus and priorities on the healthcare providers. Right. So even well before Coronavirus entered our vocabulary, stories about clinician burnout, radiologists’ retirements, and health workforce shortages were hitting the headlines. And we talked about that a lot right, and that’s part of the content that we produce. Now the virus pandemic has cascaded across the globe, everywhere, right. So, and of course, India is not an exception, while greater empathy has been generated from a tired healthcare profession, more agile approach to tackling clinical overload in hospitals forced upon most of the world, right? Yeah, so my portfolio is digital solutions. And these have great influence, enabling an environment and workflow that help reduce the clinician burnout, helping to improve efficiencies as well, at the same time, which are so important at a time where healthcare providers are shifting, again, that focus and capacity to respond to COVID cases. And that’s from multiple departments, right, not from the usual departments. It was more in-depth, more often last year, so. So that’s in addition to a decade of growing with resourcing pressures across Europe, nations have now had to delay routine imaging procedures like CT, so that created also, besides those pressures, age backlog that has to be tackled, and digital solutions are important for that. So a lot of our contents, we develop positions designed to respond to the to the needs that the damage generated.

Kyler Canastra 7:33
And it represents this huge shift that we’ve all had to make in our lives, kind of to what we’re normally doing. And then you’re talking about this backlog and other things that were more normal. And then we’ve kind of had to really be quick on our feet, and be adaptable during this time, which is, I’m sure you’ve been very busy the past year.

André da Silveira 7:51
Well, healthcare companies in general in the digital and the digital vertical have been very busy.

Kyler Canastra 7:58
And have you been working from home?

André da Silveira 8:00
I have. But I was already right, so so the team is all over the place. My manager is in the US, in the United States, and in the team, we have a couple in France, one in Dubai, one in Germany. So there’s a lot of people around the world.

Kyler Canastra 8:16
So you’re used to it. That’s good. I’m sure the transition was easier that way, for sure. So throughout your career, value proposition design has been essential to your success. But for those of our listeners who do not know much about this topic, could you explain to us a bit about what it means and why this should be something that all marketeers are aware of?

André da Silveira 8:38
That’s a very important question, in my opinion, that’s that value proposition design is definitely something that at least product and product marketers should be aware of, because we need the tools that help us create value for our customers and our business, right. So, no one wants to pursue the wrong tasks that don’t create the necessary value to each of the persona in the target segment, right? So we need to understand their jobs, pains, the gains that they want to achieve, so that you can design the right offer. And well, in a nutshell, this is what value proposition design is.

Kyler Canastra 9:17
Perfect. It’s kind of a term that I feel like not many people, it’s not so mainstream, I guess in marketing, but it’s definitely interesting to learn more about it and to see how it’s been important in your career as well. But also speaking about more of your experience, you also have experience in content marketing, which is, you know, the podcast, our listeners, a lot of them are in content marketing or interested in the field, which I think recently has really taken on a big, big role in in marketing in general. So do you have an example of a campaign or a piece of content that really worked well for you, from your professional experience?

André da Silveira 9:50
I think I have several but I’m going to focus in this episode, well, if we’re talking about demand generation campaigns, whatever stage and whatever media we use, it’s crucial that we provide content that’s useful for our audience right. Something that informs the persona that you are targeting, that makes them feel that they’ve learned something. Right. So one good example that I have is a white paper that I wrote with GE Healthcare as Chief Medical Officer for EMEA. And that’s a white paper on a storytelling approach. It provides an overview of the challenges facing the complex world of healthcare, which is actually quite interesting in this era of COVID. The need to reduce clinician burnout, ensure staff retention and quality of care, improve efficiencies, reduce costs, length of stay and pathway and increase patient satisfaction. So this, talking about value proposition, this is what we wanted to talk about, because this is what our audience cares about. Right. So it’s a journey between the current and future technology, how to tackle the challenges head on, finding the ideal solution, and how a number of providers as well have already benefited from improved outcomes and preparing for the future. So I really enjoyed working on this white paper. And if we look to the metrics, it keeps traction, right, great success in the digital campaigns, and it’s still being frequently downloaded from our website.

Kyler Canastra 11:19
That’s fantastic. It must be such a good feeling to know, too, that you’re providing value to people’s lives to help them out as well. It’s definitely very rewarding. Now, we talked about some of the successes that you’ve had with content marketing, but are there some things that you’ve seen from your experience that people get wrong, so maybe some “let’s not do this” advice to some of our listeners?

André da Silveira 11:40
Oh yeah. Everyone makes mistakes. I made. I think I’m going to make more in my life so. And, and one thing is, sometimes one situation is right for one purpose, but not right for others. But one thing that I totally advise, everyone is: not neglecting the data. So that’s an effect that sometimes happens when you go to market. This is important, it’s not the only factor. But it’s important to have that in account. And not talking with the right personas. I see a lot of generic messages out there. So we need to make sure that we talk to the right persona with the right message. And we have that data in mind to understand what we want to achieve and in what market as well.

Kyler Canastra 12:28
Right. And what tips do you have to like help, you know, marketeers kind of really get narrowed down their target persona, and to actually understand who they’re trying to target? I feel that a lot of people struggle with that sometimes.

André da Silveira 12:40
Yeah, so it’s a, so, I think it’s a very important question. And it’s a very good one. I feel sometimes it’s, there’s a lot of, I would say, a lot of times that we see, we see a product driven type of go-to market approach. I think we need to think the other way around, we need to talk to our customers and understand what they want to achieve with our solutions. Or even without our solutions, we just need to understand what they want to achieve so that we can provide the right value, right? Or at least give that perception because sometimes the value is there, but they don’t know, they don’t understand it because we didn’t communicate it well. So I think that’s a very important question. And we need to talk with our customers to understand what are their jobs, what are their pains? And what are the gains that they want to achieve? So that we can create that value proposition. We need to talk and listen.

Kyler Canastra 13:42
It’s kind of like doing it the other way around, which is similar to another kind of concept that’s really marked your career, which is outcome-based marketing. Now, for our listeners who aren’t so familiar, just to make sure that we’re all on the same page, before we dive into this, outcome marketing is a different way of thinking about a campaign. So instead of running a campaign, and then analyzing the results, it acts as a shift to building campaigns around your big-picture goal. So it’s essentially working backwards from the profitable behavior you want. So what’s your opinion on outcome marketing, André? Is it worthwhile? What are your thoughts about it?

André da Silveira 14:15
Absolutely, it’s worthwhile. Go for it. More important than talking about what our products do, and that’s what I just mentioned right, is talking about what our customers achieve with our solutions, right? So we quantify their operational, financial and clinical outcomes, then we explain to our marketing qualified leads, how they achieve and how we can help the interested healthcare providers achieve as well. So this is very engaging and it’s very important. Eventually, well, one of the most important tactics for demand generation.

Kyler Canastra 14:45
And do you see a lot of organizations are using that nowadays?

André da Silveira 14:49
Well, it’s curious, I don’t… I see some. But I see, I mean, outcome-based marketing is a good trend in my opinion. But I’m always surprised that I don’t see enough. I think I don’t see enough.

Kyler Canastra 15:09
Yeah, we definitely. Well, maybe someone will be listening to this podcast, and get inspired to try it out. Now, another really important part of marketing too, is marketing assets. So from emails and brochures, data sheets, presentations to blog posts, website, there are so many different assets that exist. And the decision on which one to use is usually determined by a company’s marketing strategy. So in your opinion, and from your experience, which assets do you think are the most effective and which aren’t as effective?

André da Silveira 15:39
Well, I think it depends on the industry. It also depends on the sales cycle stage, the product lifecycle stage as well. Is it a growth strategy or replacement strategy? Are we talking installed base? Or is it net new? What is the channel or media? So, many factors influence the choice and the success of the asset. I wouldn’t say that there is one asset that fits all, best for all, but I think it will depend on the…

Kyler Canastra 16:11
Industry and the sector. And how about in your industry? What do you find to be most useful?

André da Silveira 16:18
Well, I think, again, it depends who we’re talking to. Is it installed base or not, is it requested, I think those are more informative, they work very well, I gave you the example of the white papers. It’s a very well structured white paper that people feel that they are getting the right information at the right time for what they want to achieve. With good references and good outcomes as well, that shows upon based on references, on opinions, that’s an important one. If it’s an asset for a salesperson presentation is also important. It depends on what we are talking about.

Kyler Canastra 17:01
That’s for sure. But definitely, yeah, it seems like in your line of work, whatever provides value, and especially with, you know, so many things online nowadays, it’s kind of overwhelming, and I think people that really, what they’re looking for is something that’s going to make an impact on them. So it seems like that.

André da Silveira 17:14
It’s very difficult to find that spotlight, right? So…

Kyler Canastra 17:18
Yeah, a lot of trial and error. I’m sure. And before the interview, we were talking about the podcast itself. And I was saying, you know, listeners can be people, from very experienced people, also to very inexperienced people. And I really like always try to ask this question, because I’m always, I’m still pretty fresh in this industry, full disclosure. And I always like to ask the guests kind of what advice do you give to somebody who’s just starting out? Someone that’s interested in marketing, and kind of maybe something that you wish you had done that you didn’t?

André da Silveira 17:48
Alright. One thing, well, one thing that’s very important is to listen, right? So one thing is leadership skills are very important, because we are driving projects that include sales teams, essentially, right. But listening is one that I highlight, because we need to listen to what each persona needs, so that we can work on the right message, and fine-tune the message. And help them achieve what they need to achieve. So, communication skills, as we are responsible to build the right messages based on those needs, and also communicate to product development what the trends are in the market. So those communication skills are important. So listen, essentially, listen, listen, talk with sales, talk with customers. And when you have the right offering, design the right value proposition for each persona. And, of course, don’t neglect data.

Kyler Canastra 18:38
No, for sure, you don’t want to neglect data. But also it’s interesting, because marketing, we’re like output, right? We’re putting out all this information out there. But in order to do that you really need to take in the input. Well, that’s really interesting. Now we’re at the part of the interview, which is probably one of my favorite parts, which is the recommendations. I always ask the guests in the show to share some recommendations, whether it be books or sources of inspiration, and I always add things to my list throughout the day so that I find it really helpful and the listeners really like it too. So to start off, do you have any like daily habits that you attribute to your success that you could share with our audience?

André da Silveira 19:12
Yeah, absolutely. So one is, look at the data, what the trends in terms of operational trends in the company are challenges. Right, so do we have the leads trends and the qualified leads, are they areconverting to sales qualified leads as well? And that’s an example. And talk, right? So always talk with the sales team, talk with the customers. I have very good calls with both. Mostly the sales team, sales leadership, sales teams in general, product management as well because we need to understand from both sides what’s happening to cascade what we have available in terms of how to communicate it, and the other way around, right, and the status if that’s working for each of the markets. It’s an international market. Right? So the way I talk about a subject in one country may not work in another country, right? So and maybe they don’t have that they need it.

Kyler Canastra 20:11
A lot of observation… And do you have like a source of inspiration or a professional role model? That kind of inspires you.

André da Silveira 20:19
Yes, several, right. So in general, if we’re talking general, and based on my academic, academic experience, Philip Kotler has an incredible strategic approach to marketing. So that’s my go-to when I need to, review my, go back to my, the source… In GE, my CMO and my VP of product marketing, both with very interesting careers, they helped develop multiple business successfully. And it’s always inspiring to listen to them. Interestingly as well, I recently met a neighbor, Dentin Barkley is his name, who has a great experience in journalism. He’s a great communicator. So I learn a lot every time I talk with him. Dunkin is the editor of Agent Agenda, he does podcasts, he wrote for ITV and BBC and all that. And everything. He’s a natural with regards to verbal communication. So a good inspiration when it comes to speech improvement.

Kyler Canastra 21:18
Yeah, it’s really cool to like hear that. Because I think a lot of times when that question is asked, in general, not just on the podcast, I always think of like, you know, people like you know, big names. But then it’s nice to hear like your neighbor, and even people that you work with on a daily basis really are inspiring to you. That’s really nice. We always can learn from everybody, doesn’t matter if they’re in our field or not. So important. Do you have any, like apps or tools or books that you would recommend as well?

André da Silveira 21:43
Yeah, well, I have a few books here…

Kyler Canastra 21:45
Yeah that’s a prettyobvious question for those who are watching the video, who can see all the books that André has.

André da Silveira 21:52
Exactly. So I I like LinkedIn for professional engagement. I think that’s an important one, Facebook and Instagram are very important to complement and scale with digital marketing tactics. I use these last two a lot personally as well, because it’s a way for my family and friends who don’t live in the same country as I do to keep up to date with what I’m doing. And one image is worth a thousand words, right. In terms of books, I would say that Churchill Alive is is a great book in terms of geopolitical leadership, in leadership by example, as an example, interesting character as well. When we work in marketing as well, it’s very likely that we need to learn the technical aspects at the right level. Right, so not too deep, but at the level that’s enough for us to unstandard the industry and the products that we are working on. The collection for them is, has always been a good help for me, because the right level of information, of technical detail. And finally, of course, any book from Mr. To record where I have one here in Portuguese, might also… so it’s marking for the 21st century as an example. Any book from him for me is good. Oh, and books that that teaches how to how to design PowerPoints. I think that’s important. Because I see a lot of PowerPoints that are not done as a PowerPoint presentation but as a text document. A lot of people need to learn how to build PowerPoints. And I was one of them. So, so I learned from because, yeah.

Kyler Canastra 23:40
There’s always room for growth, right, especially with the tools that we take for granted, right, for like PowerPoint. Everyone knows how to use it, but do they really know is the question. And well, thank you so much for sharing your recommendations. And we’re coming to the end of interview, which is sad, because it’s been really great talking to you and learning more about your experience. But you also mentioned LinkedIn before, is that a good way for people to connect with you if they wanted to connect after listening?

André da Silveira 24:02
Oh, yeah, absolutely. LinkedIn, my profile is André P Silveira. So it’s my name and my surname with a P. And my Instagram profile as well. I think it’s Mr. underscore, André underscore, d.a. underscore Silveira. Well, if you follow the hashtag, #PortugueseLondoner and select the most recent pictures, it’s very likely that you’ll find me there. Or by email, silveiraandre@gmail.com.

Kyler Canastra 24:34
Perfect. Well, and just to conclude everything now, do you have any final takeaways or parting advice for our audience?

André da Silveira 24:42
Well, yeah, I think Well, one thing I couldn’t agree more is when you said we mentioned that outcome marking is essential. That’s one thing. And also, don’t forget to design your value propositions for each of the persona that influences the decision of purchasing your solutions, right? So it’s a personal conversation rather than a general conversation, right?

Kyler Canastra 25:09
Yes, I’m sure. André thank you so, so much for sharing your insights with us today. It really was a great conversation that we had. And I’m sure a lot of our listeners will find a lot of value in it. And thanks for everyone who’s listening right now. As always, check out veacontent.com/mix for more perspectives on the content marketing industry in Europe. And keep tuning into the podcast for more interviews with content experts. We’ll see you next time. Thank you.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai