Event Marketer’s 2025 B-to-B Dream has been unveiled. Each month, we’re sitting down with one of our all-stars to talk trends, best practices and all things uniquely b-to-b.
Michelle Martin, Senior Director-Marketing, 4DMedical
Michelle Martin has been working in the medical device industry for almost 20 years, and it all started by taking a chance on a job ad in a newspaper. She was looking for a new opportunity after building a career as a graphic design contractor and consultant, producing work for clients in biotech, higher education, real estate and packaging. While unfamiliar with medical devices, Martin brought her graphic design skills to Stryker, where she worked her way up to art director, and it was the start of the next phase of her career.
Moving to Intuitive, Martin “enthusiastically” expanded into marketing, and once again, she advanced through the business but kept a hand in design by managing design and production groups, among others. Her marketing experience then took her to a few medical technology startups as a director of marketing communications and product marketing. Now, Martin is senior director-marketing at Australia-headquartered 4DMedical, which is expanding in the U.S., so she is focused on driving brand awareness with her team of three.
“Conferences and trade shows in my industry are critical, and I was surprised how critical these shows were when I first got into med device,” she says. “If you don’t do the shows, you may as well be invisible. It is a crucial component to our awareness, education and the opportunity to meet with our customers, who are doctors, and you just do not have another opportunity to meet with that many of them in three days, for instance.”
Martin’s team participates in about 20 shows per year, including one of the industry’s biggest events, the Radiological Society of North America’s Annual Meeting, and she manages 4DMedical’s trade show strategy, partnering with vendors and exhibit houses to bring to life her vision that shows the value of the brand’s product.
Fun Fact: Michelle Martin’s biggest pet peeve? Don’t ask marketing to make something look pretty. There’s so much more to it. To her, marketing and graphic design are a science.
Her portfolio of past exhibiting experiences run the gamut, from an action-packed two-story booth to one of her most memorable projects—transforming a boutique theater in San Francisco into two operating rooms. With every exhibit, Martin examines what worked and what didn’t, tailoring decisions and exhibit elements for 4DMedical’s most current objectives.
Recent booths have featured highly targeted messaging, bold imagery, graphics, video walls and interactive demo stations. The brand’s exhibit at RSNA 2023 was recognized as a “Standout Booth,” and at the Society of Thoracic Surgeons’ Annual Meeting that year, 4DMedical won “Best in Show” in the mid-size category.
“In general, I still see a lot of blitz without any substance,” Martin says. “If your goal in having coffee bars or giving away ice cream is to have nice hospitality for the people who you really want to talk to or the meetings that you have set up, then great. But if your goal is to get a ton of leads, then I would wager that if you covered their eyes as they’re waiting in line and said, ‘Hey, thanks for coming to our booth. What is the name of our company?’, they would not know. They are not interested in talking to the sales people at the booth.”
Capturing qualified leads is important to the sales team at 4DMedical, so Martin works with her partners on ways to qualify them up front so they’re ready to go post-conference. She is particularly passionate about sustainability and the concept of a paperless booth, opting to keep things digital and make donations instead of handing out tchotchkes.
Martin equates the entire trade show process—from concept development to exhibiting to debriefing post-event—to playing baseball: “It’s like you’re up at bat, and you can’t just hit the ball, you gotta swing all the way through.” So once she wraps up an event, she takes some time to herself before jumping into the next cycle.
“I have my own little tradition that I’ve made up ever since a conference I did in Seattle, and I remember walking out of the hotel that morning after it ended and seeing families going to the Space Needle and people talking about normal things,” she says. “There weren’t doctors all around anymore. I felt like somebody just dropped me, boom, back on Earth, and I thought, ‘I’m going to get a proper breakfast and eat at a normal pace before I fly out.’ Ever since then, I take my breakfast and reset my brain because I know it’s going to be back to dealing with these leads and doing follow-ups. I’ll be ready to go.”
DAY IN THE LIFE:
Photos: Courtesy of Michelle Martin
Featured photo credit: Laurence L. Levin
