Marketing is a creative profession, but it also calls for a solid dose of critical thinking. When medical marketing professionals are able to balance creative and critical thought, they become poised to spot and seize opportunities in the field and in their own careers before competitors do – benefiting not only their own growth, but also the growth of the companies they serve.

While not all great minds think alike, great critical thinkers do share common traits:

Anticipation

Anticipation doesn’t just call for thinking “straight ahead.” It also calls for thinking “side to side.”

Put another way, the best critical thinkers in marketing don’t merely create a plan, they stick to it. They create a plan and follow it, but they also keep one eye open at all times for opportunities that would mesh well with the current plan. They read journals, newsletters, and blogs in order to spot game-changing information bubbling up in the industry. They look beyond the sphere of marketing for new ideas, and they reach out to broad professional networks that can provide a fresh perspective.

Questioning

“Why is this happening?” “How can it work better?” “What else do we need?”

Good marketers question everything. While going along with the conventional party line or touting the latest marketing buzzwords might create less conflict, it also makes marketing professionals less creative and less able to adapt and seize opportunities. Instead of nodding along with everyone else, start asking questions like “What is the root cause of this problem?”, “Why do I believe that ____ is the case?”, or “What happens when I look at this problem from a different angle?”

Interpretation

The more you question, the more you’ll open up your perspectives to accommodate a wider range of data – and thus a wider range of possibilities. Practice living in a state of ambiguity in which you hunt for patterns, question prevailing assumptions, and test hypotheses before making a final decision. This interpretation and analysis allows you to make your decision more confidently and defend it if challenged – so you can forge ahead on a creative path.

At SMR Group Ltd, our recruiters specialize in matching medical marketing professionals with the best job openings in the biotech, pharmaceutical, and medical device industries. Contact us today to learn more.