Healthcare Marketing Approaches

As Chief Medical Officer at GE HealthCare, my primary responsibility is to lead the medical function grounding our innovations in clinical evidence, ensuring efficacy, and bringing the voice of the clinician into every strategic decision we make. But there’s another element to this role that’s less visible yet deeply impactful: marketing. While I don’t manage marketing directly, I collaborate with our marketing teams more than one might expect from a physician by training. Why? Because in healthcare, clinical credibility and commercial clarity must go hand in hand. Here are the marketing elements I find most critical: 1. Storytelling with substance Clinicians don’t respond to hype, they respond to evidence. But evidence needs a compelling narrative. I work with marketing to ensure our stories are rooted in data, but framed in a way that communicates real-world value to providers, health systems, and patients alike. 2. Segmentation that reflects reality Understanding our clinical stakeholders - radiologists, cardiologists, oncologists, technologists, hospital executives - is essential. Marketing helps us tailor messaging by audience, while I help ensure those audience profiles reflect real clinical behaviors and challenges. 3. Positioning built on outcomes It’s not enough to say a product is innovative; we must demonstrate how it improves outcomes. The medical team contributes the data, the trials, the insights. Marketing shapes that into positioning that resonates across markets, languages, and care settings. 4. Credibility through collaboration Thought leadership is a shared responsibility. Whether we’re preparing for a major conference or publishing peer-reviewed studies, marketing helps amplify the work of our clinical experts. Together, we balance scientific rigor with accessible communication. 5. Listening as a strategy Much of marketing is about listening to the market. Much of medicine is about listening to the patient. At this intersection, I find some of the most valuable insights. Marketing teams surface unmet needs, competitive dynamics, and shifting expectations. My role is to interpret those through a clinical lens and help turn them into better solutions. In short: I don’t “do” marketing, but I can’t do my job without it. Healthcare is evolving rapidly. The Chief Medical Officer-role must evolve with it bridging clinical insight and market relevance, ensuring that what we build is not only scientifically sound, but also meaningfully communicated to the people who need it most. Would love to hear how others in clinical or marketing roles navigate this balance. #healthcare #radiology #marketing #digitalhealth

I still remember how distressing it was being the hospital executive on call in winter, knowing the hospital had no beds left and no good options — for patients or staff.   High‑quality, affordable healthcare starts with one thing: understanding demand — and planning capacity around it.   During my recent trip to Saudi Arabia, I saw how this is being applied at a national scale through Vision 2030. A robust nationwide demand and capacity model which is already shaping decisions across prevention, primary care, new hospital builds and major diagnostics such as MRI.   Earlier in my career as an NHS CFO, I saw how frequently decisions were made in silos — capital, workforce, digital — often disconnected from a real understanding of population driven demand.   The consequences are stark: long A&E waits, cancelled operations, and teams working at breaking point. Even with the best intentions, systems struggle when demand isn’t clearly understood and planned for.   The progress under Vision 2030 is real: a shift toward population health and prevention, clearer system governance, and far more disciplined, data‑led planning. Importantly, that same model is now guiding the next phase — shaping virtual care and targeted uses of agentic AI so digital investment delivers real impact.   The lesson is simple: Start with demand. Design integrated services around population need. Align workforce, estates, diagnostics and digital behind it. Stop planning in silos.   That’s how health systems move from ambition to delivery — and from pressure to performance. #healthcare #tranformation #virtualcare #agenticAI #integratedcare #populationhealthmanagement

We set the world record. Most heart transplants in history. I saw this message walking through the airport in the Music City, on my way to our customer advisory board meeting. It stopped me. Not because of the marketing itself (as a Marketer I am always interested to learn from billboards). But because of what it represents. Confidence. Outcomes. Pride in impact. When you compare healthcare marketing and messaging in the US vs. Europe, the differences are striking and instructive. Here is what the US does differently (and often better) 1. Outcomes over descriptions: US providers lead with results: volumes, survival rates, records. In Germany/Europe, we often describe capabilities instead of impact. Lesson: Patients and stakeholders don’t buy features. They trust outcomes. 2. Confidence in storytelling This billboard is bold. Almost provocative by European standards. But it creates attention and trust through clarity. Lesson: Being clear and confident is not arrogance. It is orientation. 3. Patient-centric framing Even when talking about scale, the implicit message is: “We save lives. At scale.” In Europe, messaging is often system-centric, not patient-journey centric. Lesson: Patients don’t experience healthcare in departments. They experience it as a journey. 4. Simplicity wins No jargon. No complexity. One message. One proof point. Lesson: If your message needs explanation, it’s not ready. 5. Pride in excellence Celebrating a “world record” in healthcare in Germany would feel uncomfortable to many. In the US, it signals leadership and attracts talent, partners, and patients. Lesson: Excellence deserves visibility. Quiet excellence is often invisible. Here is what we should take forward on our side of the pond. Europe has incredible quality, rigor, and trust in its healthcare systems. But we often under-communicate our impact. If we combine: • European clinical excellence with • US-style clarity, confidence, and outcome-driven storytelling we unlock a new level of engagement. My takeaway from Nashville: Healthcare transformation is not only about technology, AI, or workflows. It’s also about how we communicate value. If this message were in a German airport, we wouldn’t start with the billboard. We’d start with the legal review. And that’s exactly the problem. We don’t lack outcomes in Europe. We lack the courage to communicate them clearly. Patients don’t compare compliance statements. They respond to clarity. And clarity wins! In Europe, excellence is often quiet. In the US, excellence is visible. Only one of the two scales. If you don’t communicate outcomes, you leave trust on the table. #Healthcare #DigitalHealth #Marketing #PatientCentricity #Leadership #EnterpriseImaging #AI #BetterTogether

Look, cold call pick-up rates and landing in spam are NOT the reasons why outbound isn't working for you in 2025. How do I know? We've worked with thousands of reps in the last few years: - I see all the sh*tty emails - Hardly any reps leave voicemails - People are afraid to call cell phones - Leaders are afraid to set call activity targets - Product pitching like crazy So why isn't outbound working for you? Messaging. I know. Messaging isn't a sexy topic. But poor messaging is likely why outbound doesn't work for you. Common messaging mistakes: ⛔️ Creating outbound messaging in a silo Mistake: A lone BDR leader, sales exec, or marketing exec creates all the cold call talk tracks and email sequences by themselves. Impact: Messaging sounds generic and has too much personal bias. ⛔️ Marketing or product creating outbound messaging Mistake: A PMM or marketing leader writes all the outbound messaging Impact: Since they've had little (or zero) conversations with real customers, the messaging is super generic ⛔️ Product voice: feature heavy messaging Mistake: Messaging focuses on how the solution works, specific features, etc. Impact: This might work on a webpage, but not in a cold email. Messaging feels super salesy and isn't appealing to execs. ⛔️ Not "chunking up" to business outcomes Mistake: Messaging addresses all of the pains of the user, not the decision-makers Impact: Reps get delegated down to product users and struggle to start sales conversations at the exec level ⛔️ Not leveraging customer conversations Mistake: Not using recorded customer conversations to inform messaging Impact: Messaging doesn't use the customer's language and feels generic. What to do instead: ✅ Build a messaging team Get no more than 10 of the best people together to build common messaging. This should include a few of the best AEs, marketing, customer success, sales leaders, product specialists, etc. And make sure to assign a single person to own messaging. ✅ Live workshop messaging by persona/vertical Run live workshops to work out messaging together. At a minimum, messaging should be created for each specific persona. For enterprise, messaging should be created by persona AND industry. A healthcare security leader speaks a different language than a SaaS security leader. ✅ Build a messaging matrix This is what the end product should look like: Personas → Priorities → Current Solutions → Problems/Impact → Desired Outcomes Now you have something that can easily be repurposed into talk tracks and emails. ~~~ If 2025 H1 pipeline looks thin—and outbound isn't producing results—get back to the basics and start with great messaging. Marketing should NOT own sales messaging. Sales needs to own sales messaging. And everyone needs to collaborate together for great messaging. Agree or disagree? 

Pharmaceutical and medical device companies face unique challenges in connecting with HCPs, patients, and stakeholders. As traditional marketing methods become less effective and privacy concerns grow, first-party data emerges as a game-changer for our industry. First-party data—information collected directly from customers with their consent—is becoming increasingly crucial for success in digital marketing. With the impending phase-out of third-party cookies, leveraging your own data will be more important than ever. But how can pharma and medical device companies harness the full potential of first-party data? A study by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and Google revealed that while data-driven marketing can double revenue and increase cost savings by 1.6 times, only about 30% of companies are creating a single customer view across channels. Even more striking, just 1-2% are using data to deliver a full cross-channel experience for their customers. To bridge this gap and gain a competitive edge, industry leaders need to focus on three key actions: 1. Develop a Comprehensive Data Strategy - Instead of collecting data indiscriminately. This might involve prioritizing data from healthcare provider interactions, patient support programs, or clinical trial participants. Assess the value of your first-party data rigorously. Calculate associated costs and risks and develop a clear implementation roadmap. This approach not only streamlines your efforts but also helps secure buy-in from executives—crucial for successful implementation. 2. Test, Learn, and Measure - Start with a specific business case for your data. For instance, you might aim to improve adherence to a particular treatment or increase adoption of a new medical device. Define what needs to be personalized to achieve this goal. While one-to-one personalization might seem ideal, it requires significant investment and time. Focus on a narrow use case—perhaps a specific physician specialty or patient segment—and invest only in the data and technology required to test that particular case. 3. Build Robust In-House Tech Capabilities - Traditionally, pharma and medical device companies have heavily relied on agencies for marketing efforts. However, a hybrid approach may be more effective in the age of first-party data. Consider insourcing your technology stack and capabilities related to data analysis and activation. At the same time, leverage agencies for their strategic perspective, creative content, and media buying expertise. Many agencies are evolving to meet these changing needs, offering everything from à la carte services for mature brands to turnkey solutions for those just starting their data journey. By focusing on these three areas, pharmaceutical and medical device companies can unlock the full potential of their first-party data. This not only improves the customer experience, but also boosts business results. #CXStrategy #pharmaceuticals #medicaldevices #DataStrategy

India spends more on healthcare each year but, the key question persists: are health outcomes improving at the same pace?   After six months of cross-sector collaboration, the report “𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗪𝗲 𝗩𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗛𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵: 𝗔 𝗖𝗼𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗩𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗕𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗖𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗜𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗮” has been released. It sets out a clear and strategic roadmap to help shift India’s health system from a volume-led approach to one centred on value and outcomes.   I am proud to have contributed to this unique coalition and to have shared perspectives from an insurer’s point of view. Months of structured, constructive dialogue and collaboration have helped reimagine the future roadmap of healthcare in India. With a ringside, three-tiered view of the ecosystem – across my organisation, the insurance sector, and the broader system – I was particularly invested in exploring avenues to strengthen health financing and drive sustainable outcomes.   Congratulations to Leapfrog to Value and its CEO Dr. Balkrishna Korgaonkar for spearheading this important effort and bringing together diverse voices across the healthcare ecosystem.   The coalition’s work identifies core systemic gaps such as fragmented care, limited transparency of outcomes, and financing structures that reward service volume over improved health. It also highlights promising bright spots across the system.   The initiative has resulted in four catalytic proposals: ✅ People’s Commission for Health Improvement – transparent benchmarking to strengthen accountability ✅ Primary Health Care Design Laboratory – prototyping integrated, outcome-focused care models ✅ Business Case for Quality, Safety & Patient Experience – aligning incentives with what truly matters to patients ✅ Coordinated Care Bundles – piloting bundled payments for NCDs and surgeries   The roadmap presents a practical agenda aimed at improving alignment, equity and measurable outcomes. It is an important step toward a more resilient and health-focused future for India.   You can download the strategy here: https://lnkd.in/gErbNiFV Bindu Ananth, Dr. N. Krishna Reddy, Ravi Vishwanath, Sarang Deo, Tejasvi Ravi, Vishnu Vasudev, Rubayat Khan, Dr. Balkrishna Korgaonkar and Chintan Maru.

"This saves you time." - is one of the most used, and least valuable 'benefits' that sellers love to use. 'This will save you time!' Cool. So does skipping lunch. Doesn't mean I'm buying. Most reps stop at the surface benefit and wonder why prospects don't get excited. Save time. Save money. More insights. Faster process. These are lazy benefits. They're true, but they're invisible. The prospect can't feel them. 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗕𝗟𝗘𝗠 𝗪𝗜𝗧𝗛 𝗦𝗨𝗥𝗙𝗔𝗖𝗘 𝗕𝗘𝗡𝗘𝗙𝗜𝗧𝗦 "Save time" means nothing because everyone claims it. Your prospect has heard "save time" from the last 18 vendors. It's noise now. And the shame is: the benefit is actually real. You DO save them time. But you're not going deep enough to make them see it. 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝟯-𝗟𝗔𝗬𝗘𝗥 𝗕𝗘𝗡𝗘𝗙𝗜𝗧 𝗥𝗨𝗟𝗘 Don't stop at the benefit. Go three layers deep. Layer 1: The feature benefit (surface) Layer 2: What that enables (the "so the f what") Layer 3: What they can now picture doing (the visual) Watch the difference: ❌ Surface: "This saves you time on reporting." ✅ Three layers deep: "Look at how many fewer steps this process takes. You're cutting 6 clicks down to 2. Because there's fewer steps, you're not just saving time — you're getting more done in the same hours. Picture this: instead of generating 3 reports a week, you're generating 6. Same time investment, double the output. That's what your Monday morning looks like now." See the difference? One is a claim. The other is a movie playing in their head. 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗟 𝗜𝗡𝗦𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧 "Save time" is almost never the real benefit anyway. Nobody actually wants more free time at work. They want to accomplish more in the time they have. So flip the pitch: Instead of: "This saves you 2 hours a week" Try: "This lets you reach twice as many prospects in the same time block" Instead of: "Faster reporting" Try: "Picture sending that board deck out Tuesday instead of scrambling Friday" Make. It. Visual. 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗪𝗚𝗟𝗟 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗕𝗘𝗡𝗘𝗙𝗜𝗧𝗦 Before your next demo, pressure test every benefit: 1. Can I go three layers deep on this? 2. Can the prospect actually picture the outcome? 3. Am I describing what changes in their day-to-day? If you can't answer yes to all three, you're still at the surface. Generic benefits get generic responses. Specific, visual, layered benefits get people leaning in saying "wait, show me that again." Go deeper, ya'll.

TRUTH bomb of the day: People connect with people, not faceless corporations on social. This insight helped two merging health systems successfully rebrand without losing their employees' trust. When Beaumont Health and Spectrum Health merged into Corewell Health, they were up against: - 21 hospitals becoming one brand - 300+ outpatient locations needing alignment - 65,000 employees wondering "what's next?" The typical thing to do is to blast out corporate memos and hope for the best. (Spoiler: that never works) Instead, Corewell Health's social team did something different: They turned their EMPLOYEES into the voice of the brand. They leveraged 65,000+ people in their organization and empowered them to drive results! Using Hootsuite Enterprise they were able to: - Create one central hub for brand content (keeping 65,000 people across 300+ locations on-brand) - Make sharing authentic stories effortless (busy healthcare workers could share pre-approved content in seconds) - Monitor conversations in real-time (it became easy to spot negative sentiment early and adjust their content accordingly) And I’m still shocked by the results they generated: → 3M+ MORE impressions from employee-shared content →  2.5x HIGHER engagement than healthcare industry average (4.76% to 1.8%) → 50% DROP in negative sentiment since the merger went into effect (14% to 7%) The big lesson? 👇🏻 Your most powerful brand ambassadors aren't your ads or announcements. They're your people. When you empower employees to share their authentic experiences on social media, you build trust in ways traditional corporate communications never could.

This Sunday, OPDP issued its first enforcement letter of 2025 to Edenbridge DBA Dexcel Pharma for their drug HEMADY (dexamethasone tablets). What's notable? This action resulted from a complaint submitted through FDA's Bad Ad Program. ✅ What is FDA Bad Ad Program? It's an educational outreach initiative that helps HCP recognize and report potentially false or misleading prescription drug promotion they encounter in their professional settings. ✅ Who started it? Launched in 2010 by then-FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg, M.D., the program was conceived by two former pharmaceutical representatives from in FDA - Michael Sauers and Bob Dean. ✅ How does it work? Healthcare providers who spot potentially misleading drug promotion can easily report concerns directly to FDA, serving as the agency's "eyes and ears" in settings regulators rarely access. We used AI to analyze 300+ OPDP letters issued since this program began, identifying 20+ specific Bad Ad-triggered enforcement actions (excel sheet with latest label/PI) Here are the key insights: 📌 70% cited complete omission of risk information while presenting benefit claims 📌 45% targeted digital/social media promotions (Instagram, Facebook, Google ads) 📌 30% involved promotion for unapproved uses 📌 25% contained misleading comparative claims without adequate evidence Many violations involved poor presentation of risk information (tiny scrolling text, distracting visuals) If you want this excel sheet with detailed analysis, reach out to me in DM or post "AskOPDP" in comments. #FDA #Pharma #RegulatoryAffairs #BadAdProgram

Ever notice how some medical reps get welcomed like old friends while others get avoided like an IRS agent? (yeah, today's date made me think of that reference). The difference isn't your product—it's being perceived as a resource that provides valuable information that isn't always connected to using your product. Finding golden intel isn't complicated: set up industry alerts, follow the right LinkedIn gurus, and—revolutionary concept—pay attention to the things you see working in some accounts that other accounts aren't doing. When sharing insights, ditch the robotic "studies show" approach. Instead, try: "That reimbursement headache you mentioned? Memorial Hospital solved it with a documentation tweak that's saving them 20 hours weekly. Thought of you immediately." Leave behind something they'll actually keep—a clean, personalized summary with YOUR analysis added. Not just facts they could Google, but your perspective on what it means for THEM. The uncomfortable truth: if you only bring insights (or donuts) when pushing for a close, you're as subtle as a code blue announcement. The HCPs and stakeholders who remember you aren't the ones who got the best pitch—they're the one who think, "That's the rep who helped me solve a problem even when I wasn't buying." What conversation-worthy insight are you bringing to your next call that makes you memorable whether they're buying from you or not? And... Do think this might be worth a bit of pre-call planning since it creates a level of distinction few medical reps enjoy?