Meet the Team

Name: Laura Baker

Job title: Marketing Manager

Time at BIOHIT HealthCare Ltd: 2.5 years

Education and Experience: I studied Business Development at Swansea University. I started out my marketing career in the agricultural industry, promoting herd improvements through genetics for cattle breeding. From there I made my first move into the IVD industry, working over six years for a developer and manufacturer of lateral flow tests and diagnostic reagents. This is where my passion for the diagnostic industry began, I love promoting products knowing that they have a purpose in improving someone’s quality of life. Yes, this isn’t always a positive experience for the person being diagnosed, but without a diagnosis, things cannot get better.

I became Marketing Manager at BIOHIT at the end of 2021 and have spent the last 9 months getting to grips with selling direct to the NHS and enjoying promoting our innovative products that make a difference to people’s lives.

What does a day in the life of Laura entail? From project managing events, to creating marketing campaigns to promote our unique products, my day-to-day tasks are very varied, that’s one reason I love my job. I’ve always enjoyed being creative, and within this role I get to do that through writing blogs, designing emails and curating social media campaigns. But with marketing it’s also thoroughly important to analyse your results, so that you manage your time on the most important elements that get you a return on your investment.

One thing I’ve learnt from my short time at BIOHIT is that building connections within the industry and understanding customer’s perspective on how our products can help them within the diagnostic pathway is vitally important. Time spent on this is invaluable.

If you could come up with a more accurate job title for your role what would it be? Promoter of diagnostic tests for all things related to your gut and faecal well-being – maybe we best stick with Marketing Manager!

What do you enjoy most about the work you do? What I like most about marketing is the fact I get to be statistical and creative, two factors that rarely come hand in hand. One minute I’m analysing the market, the next I’m creating catchy straplines and adverts to promote our products.

I did laugh to myself the other day when I was getting excited about an advert design promoting a diagnostic test for Diarrhoea. This is definitely not where I imagined my career path to go when I was in school! But when it comes to work, what’s most important for everyone’s wellbeing is to love what you do, and I’m grateful to be in that position, even when I’m promoting a stool test!

In the world of diagnostics, what future developments are you most excited about? PIFU (Patient Initiated Follow Up) is the buzzword within the NHS these days. And since the start of the pandemic we’ve been enlightened by how point of care testing (POCT) has the potential to transform the way we get diagnosed and make initiatives like PIFU possible.  

I’m excited to see how POCT is rapidly evolving, especially with the enablement of mobile to support it. It has the potential to bring convenience to patients, take pressure off NHS staff, speed up prognosis and therefore result in improved patient outcomes.

Take the example of our Calprotectin SmarTest. Since the launch of this product we’ve been overwhelmed by the positive feedback received. Enabling improved self-management for IBD patient’s will unmistakably improve their quality of life, as they learn to live with this ongoing disease.

It certainly is an exciting time to be part of this industry, and perhaps the silver-lining of Covid-19.

What values drive you? Hard work and determination - without that nothing will be achieved. And precision - I’ll be the first to admit I can get a bit pernickety about the small details, especially when it comes to proofreading a brochure.

What do you enjoy doing when you’re not in work? My other full-time job is being a mum, so spending time with my family is top of the agenda. I enjoy gardening, although I am very much a novice. I’m presently anxiously awaiting the fruits of my labour in the veg patch. Aside from that I like to get my creative juices flowing with a bit of flower arranging and I’m currently painting a mural in my daughters’ bedroom.

Finally just for fun, what biscuit best describes you and why? Chocolate chip cookie, a reliable favourite with a few sweet surprises every now and again.