We Are, Marketing Happy - A Healthcare Marketing Podcast

In this week’s episode, Jenny compares the two primary types of marketing agencies: brand agencies and performance agencies. Brand agencies are focused on big-picture, brand awareness efforts to make sure your brand is well known. Performance agencies, like Hedy & Hopp, focus on the finer details to make sure campaigns are driving strong results.

There are three aspects to consider when considering working with a brand or performance agency:

Campaign Strategy

A brand agency will focus on awareness tactics, like TV and programmatic, to make sure your brand is well known. On the other hand, campaigns from a brand agency will be specific and conversion-focused. Performance agencies may work to develop specific personas to make sure your brand’s message is effectively reaching the right audience.
 

Reporting Specificity

With a brand agency, don’t expect a lot of detail when it comes to reporting. Brand agencies aren’t necessarily results-focused, whereas performance agencies are. Performance agencies produce robust reporting, measured all the way to conversion, with a heavy focus on ROI. Performance agency reporting can get very granular to let you know what’s working and how campaign performance can be optimized for even better results.
Technical Ability

Simply put, brand agencies may have gaps when it comes to technical knowledge. Since brand agency campaigns emphasize brand awareness, they aren’t built to know everything about website conversion tracking or how a website tool works, whereas a performance agency is.

Both brand and performance agencies have specific strengths to consider before working with them. While H&H primarily operates as a performance agency, we do have team members from brand agency backgrounds to fulfill your organization’s brand awareness needs, too.

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In today’s episode, Jenny shares her top four tips for marketing on a budget. The vast majority of folks in the healthcare space operate on a smaller budget, and Jenny shares the following tips for maximizing marketing performance when budgets are tight:

Know your audience. Who are you marketing to? Develop and understand personas around your target audience, so that you know you’re effectively reaching them.

Create an annual plan. Rather than playing catch up or trying to squeeze a lot of results into a smaller time frame, create an annual plan that maximizes your budget throughout the year to drive consistent results and growth.

You are a bottom funnel marketer! Be sure to target people who are actively looking for the services you offer and are actively seeking a solution to their problem. Be sure to leverage Google Grants if you are a nonprofit.

Build a measurement plan and dashboard. Make sure you understand your marketing performance and results. Track all key actions on your website, so that you can effectively optimize performance for prospective customers.

This episode is worth the listen, as Jenny shares all the details marketers need to know when marketing on a budget.

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Welcome to this episode of "We Are, Marketing Happy," the podcast that brings joy to healthcare marketing. Today, our host, CEO, and founder Jenny Bristow, dissects a topic that's stirring up the digital marketing world alongside Mark Brandes, Hedy & Hopp’s head of all things analytics and decision science. 

This episode sheds light on the mixed feelings surrounding GA4, digging into its challenges and revealing how to harness its full potential. Jenny and Mark go beyond critique, offering practical advice for organizations deeply invested in GA4. Whether you're grappling with catch-all tracking, seeking clarity on website performance, or looking to beautify your data analysis with Looker Studio dashboards, this episode is packed with actionable solutions. Join us as we transform technical hurdles into opportunities for joy and insight, ensuring your marketing efforts are both happy and effective.

Episode Highlights:

[0:45] - Introduction to GA4's Mixed Reception: Insights into the digital marketing community's varied reactions to Google Analytics 4.

[1:20] - The Challenge with GA4: Mark and Jenny discuss the steep learning curve and common frustrations with the new platform.

[2:55] - Embracing Measurement Planning: Highlighting the importance of a well-crafted measurement plan for accurate data analysis in healthcare marketing.

[4:10] - Implementing Dashboards for Better Analytics: How custom dashboards can make data from GA4 more accessible and actionable.

[6:00] - The Future of Healthcare Marketing with GA4: Optimizing Google Analytics 4 for enhanced decision-making in healthcare marketing.

[7:30] - Practical Tips for GA4 Transition: Jenny and Mark offer advice for organizations adapting to Google Analytics 4, focusing on setup and tracking strategies.

In this week’s episode of “We Are Marketing Happy,” we explore the dynamic world of healthcare marketing and the impact of COVID-19 on physician referrals. Our host Jenny Bristow, CEO and founder of Hedy & Hopp, discusses the shifts and trends in healthcare systems' marketing strategies with Lindsey Brown, our esteemed Director of Digital Activation. Together, they delve into the nuances of referral marketing in a post-pandemic landscape, offering invaluable insights for healthcare marketers looking to enhance their referral processes and improve patient care through strategic marketing.

In healthcare marketing, leaders often face the challenge of helping their teams become more efficient in a field full of regulations and diverse patient needs. Balancing the demands of technology with the personal touch of healthcare requires finding smart ways to streamline processes and maximize productivity. In this week's episode, discover how to amp up your healthcare marketing team with Jenny Bristow, CEO and founder at Hedy & Hopp. 

Jenny explores innovative approaches to streamline workflows, maximize collaboration, and ultimately amplify success. She hits on project briefs, scorecards, case studies, and in-house knowledge-sharing to revolutionize your approach. Tune in to learn how to utilize these actionable steps and empower your team toward greater efficiency. 

When you find out you have a budget that must be spent by end of your fiscal year, how should you spend it? We outline Foundation vs. Acquisition activities and the framework we use to help our clients spend the funds in a way that can help the entire fiscal budget of next year perform better.

In this week’s podcast, Jenny talks about utilizing end-of-year budget surpluses. One way is through Foundation activities, or one time projects that have a defined start and end time that set your organization up for success next year. The other are Acquisition initiatives, which help your organization finish out the current year in a strong way. Jenny offers advice on how to choose where to put that extra budget and how to choose the projects that will have the biggest payoff in the long term.

In this week’s episode, Jenny discusses candidate recruiting and how marketing teams can lean in to help build a full and successful candidate pipeline.

Healthcare marketing is a pendulum. On one end, marketing efforts are focused on new patient acquisition. On the other end, HR and recruiting teams need to invest time and resources into finding quality providers to deliver the care you are promising new patients.

Jenny outlines three key steps for recruiting marketing:

1. Strategy

Jenny states that in today’s hiring landscape, it’s essential to do research to figure out the competitive landscape for recruiting. You can’t just rely on throwing up a job posting and expecting a full pipeline of qualified candidates.

Do research to figure out the pay range for similar positions in your area, key differentiators, and value propositions. Create a variety of postings to test what positioning works best and figure out ways to stand out.

2. User Journey

Jenny explains that the next step is putting yourself in a candidate’s shoes to figure out what journey they have to take to apply for your position. Do they have to add their information multiple times? Is there a way to easily add a phone number or email to get a file started? Document the steps a candidate takes, and optimize to improve.

In today’s world, there are two ways people find you: they could either be actively looking for a new position, or they could be the right person for the job but not actively looking. In order to catch the latter, you may have to spend a little to promote your posting and make sure it’s seen by the right people.

3. Optimization

Finally, Jenny recommends treating your candidate recruiting efforts like patient acquisition. Every dollar counts. Figure out how much you’re spending for each stage of your recruiting process - interviews, applicants, hires, and employee retention - and optimize.

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Today, Jenny welcomes Hedy and Hopp’s own Director of Analytics and Decision Science, Mark Brandes to talk about the difference between GTM (Google Tag Manager) and sGTM (Server-Side Google Tag Manager).

Mark states that, while many healthcare marketers utilize traditional web GTM as an essential analytics tool, the tool is really focused on adding information to send between platforms. GTM doesn’t offer a ton of options for removing information, which is a critical consideration when it comes to sensitive PHI/PII that might get shared.

With Server-Side Google Tag Manager, the container lives on your server that you control, making it a safer place where you can make changes in a compliant environment. SGTM is a solution that allows you to continue using platforms like GA4 in a compliant and safe way.

In today’s episode, Jenny shares her top three reasons to spend energy and resources toward submitting for awards: for recruitment, for credibility, and for ego.

●     For recruitment. Recognition of your workplace culture can definitely help with recruiting language, both for your marketing team and for other positions that you might be helping recruitment fill, such as nursing.

●     For credibility. Winning awards that recognize your facility or a specific service line can help with patient acquisition for that facility/service line AND can sometimes help with recruitment for that facility/service line also, as folks love to work in highly ranked places.

●     For ego. These include any award that gives a pat on the back but patients and staff don’t necessarily care. You can use these awards strategically to get that grouchy Doc, who is awesome on camera, to participate more often (he may be grouchy but will love winning an award for a podcast/video he was in and will definitely say yes more often after winning).

Mentally categorizing award submissions into these three buckets each year helps her understand where her energy is going, and if it matches her goals.

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Today Jenny welcomes Jeff Stewart, VP of Strategic Marketing at CHRISTUS Health. Jeff discusses CHRISTUS Health’s strategic journey to grow brand equity through streamlining each of CHRISTUS Health’s twelve distinct health systems under one united strategic vision.

Jeff offers advice for striking the right balance between consolidating marketing initiatives and finding the right partners who perform specific functions really well, as there is no single agency that can do it all really well, each has its own strengths and weaknesses.

Finally, Jeff shares his advice for marketing leaders who are tasked with consolidating teams, agencies, and initiatives. Jeff shares a “both and” strategic approach to marketing that enables CHRISTUS Health to drive a unified brand message at a large scale, while also offering unique, localized selling points for each health system within CHRISTUS Health.

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In today’s episode, Jenny is joined by Hedy & Hopp Senior Vice President and long-time friend Maggie Piasecki. Harkening back to their early days working at a healthcare recruiting firm, together they discuss the growing demand for healthcare workers and how viewing recruiting as a marketing function can help fulfill that demand. They discuss the different approaches needed to engage active job seekers versus more passive groups and how organizations can benefit from taking a full-funnel approach to their recruitment, including focusing on upstream objectives like brand awareness. Maggie shares how a focus on the emotional drivers of the audience can help recruiters make their organization and roles standout, and the benefits of small tests and ongoing optimization in driving results. Jenny also discusses how many healthcare organizations are budgeting dollars and headcount for recruitment marketing and gives tips on how marketing and HR colleagues can best collaborate in 2024.

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In today’s episode, Jenny shares her top tips for establishing a strong and streamlined content marketing foundation, including audience strategy, production, and distribution. She starts off discussing Hedy & Hopp’s own content marketing approach, including her tips for simplified content production and how to use a “pillar content” strategy to maximize your time and effort. She then shares how a multi-channel distribution strategy can reach the right audiences in the right channels, even for complex organizations with a variety of content topics and personas. Jenny also shares tips for how to tag and organize content within a CRM to enable more automated “right persona, right content” approaches, and helps you think about segmenting your content strategy based on the type of care your audience is seeking. She wraps up with some tips for what to consider as you go into a website redesign or CRM implementation in 2024.

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In this week’s episode, Jenny welcomes Brian Deffaa, Chief Marketing Officer of Maryland-based LifeBridge Health. Brian shares his background in consumer and retail marketing and his journey into healthcare, where he is now on a mission to bring real emotion into delivering healthcare marketing. Brian discusses his “inside-out” approach to rallying LifeBridge teammates around a clear, compelling mission based on the organization’s history. Brian also discusses how he has translated that mission into a unique, authentic, and defensible brand proposition for LifeBridge Health that can be felt across every marketing touchpoint. Brian also discusses how he navigates measurement and ROI around more brand and awareness-driving marketing efforts.

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Back from their final conference of the year, Jenny Bristow, Shelby Auer and Julia Pitlyk of Hedy & Hopp share their highlights from the 2023 HCIC conference in Los Angeles. They discuss various sessions and speakers, including the patient privacy masterclass with Hedy & Hopp and Cincinnati Children’s, several sessions on new marketing channels for hospitals and health systems (like TikTok!), what they learned about marketing technology stacks to enable personalized patient experiences, and ways healthcare marketers can better collaborate cross-functionally. They also speak to the importance for healthcare marketers to lean into each others’ experiences, share their learnings, and work together to help healthcare marketing advance and innovate as an industry.

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In part two of this series on paid media, Jenny welcomes back Hedy & Hopp’s own Director of Activation, Lindsey Brown, and Director of Marketing, Julia Pitlyk. This time, the group covers paid media strategies for healthcare marketers targeting physicians and other healthcare marketers. The group discusses the importance of providing a clinical yet compelling message in any marketing channel to capture the attention of these audiences, and also cover the specific channels that tend to reach more providers than others. Jenny, Lindsey and Julia also talk about the importance of sales and marketing teams working together to create the right provider messages and campaigns, and also provide suggestions for how both teams can map out patient journeys and provider workflows to identify the right areas to reach target audiences. 

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In part one of a two-part series on paid media, Jenny welcomes Hedy & Hopp’s own Director of Activation, Lindsey Brown, and Director of Marketing, Julia Pitlyk. Together the group discusses what healthcare marketers should consider when planning their paid media strategies from 2024. They focus on how to balance awareness building and lead generation objectives in a media plan, the merits of paid social and exploring creative formats to tell a compelling brand story, considerations around patient data privacy in paid media tactics, and how to develop robust measurement plans for paid campaigns. Jenny, Julia and Lindsey also provide recommendations on how teams can conserve some of their 2024 media budget for experimental channels and tactics.

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In this episode, Jenny welcomes Hedy & Hopp’s own Director of Marketing, Julia Pitlyk. Reflecting on their latest discussions around changes to patient data privacy, Jenny and Julia discuss what healthcare marketers should expect from their marketing tactics and analytics. They focus on two main areas of change: marketing activation and analytics, and specifically discuss how those two areas will be impacted by implementing server-side Google Tag Manager to address new privacy guidelines. They also discuss how other solutions, like new analytics tools and CDPs (Customer Data Platforms), differ in terms of how they impact these areas. Jenny and Julia also recommend ways to reset the benchmark of marketing performance and emphasize the importance of making sure marketing and legal/compliance leadership develop a shared point-of-view on how to move forward with new guidelines. 

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Welcome back! Jenny is here today to present the impact of OCR's December 2022 Bulletin on healthcare marketing. She starts off discussing how the bulletin categorized IP addresses as PHI, causing panic among many marketers, and why she disagrees with the American Hospital Association's stance to fully withdraw the guidance. She advocates for patient privacy and supports OCR's guidance. Jenny welcomes the opportunity to be a leader and example to other industries in the safety of personal information. She emphasizes the importance of technology companies’ understanding and protecting patient data, highlights affordable and effective solutions to do so, and calls for a standardized approach to protect patient privacy, even if it means reallocating some marketing budget.

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Today Jenny is bringing you the inside scoop from the Becker’s HIT + DH + RCM Conference with a little help from Hedy and Hopp’s own Shelby Auer. Shelby discusses her experience at the conference, where they explored a wide range of healthcare topics, from digital health to IT, revenue cycle, and the patient experience. The conference featured diverse perspectives, including providers, highlighting the importance of cross-functional collaboration. She and Jenny dig into the themes of knowing patients as consumers, the role of AI in healthcare, and setting a solid marketing foundation. Speakers at the conference emphasized the need for convenience in healthcare and shared innovative approaches to patient care and referrals. Shelby rates her experience based on the thought-provoking content and valuable insights that were presented.

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Today Jenny welcomes Courtney Mahlandt, Senior Director of Segment Marketing at Evernorth Health Services. Courtney discusses their journey into segmentation, driven by the expansion of their healthcare services beyond pharmacy benefits. They aim to understand their broader audience and their needs and emphasize the importance of involving multiple internal teams. This meant including sales and product right from the start to make segmentation an organizational effort.

Courtney explains how they used a combination of first-party data and external quantitative data analysis, surveying over a thousand existing and potential buyers. Courtney and Jenny discuss the benefits of segmentation in working smarter across teams and enabling product customization, targeted sales efforts, and more engaging marketing campaigns. Courtney also emphasizes the need for continuous data refresh and adapting to market changes. 

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On today’s episode, Jenny is coming to you solo to discuss the recently released Experian State of Patient Access Report. The report is based on surveys of both patients and healthcare providers across the country, exploring their views on access to care over a three-year period. The report identifies five key aspects of patient access and reveals that both patients and providers agree that access to care has either remained the same or worsened in the past year but for different reasons. Patients desire a streamlined scheduling experience, while providers grapple with staffing shortages and care cost challenges. Jenny emphasizes the need for well-integrated digital solutions throughout the patient journey and encourages marketers to collaborate with operations teams to optimize the patient experience. She also highlights the importance of compliance in the rapidly evolving healthcare landscape and the critical role marketing plays in enhancing patient and provider experiences.

On this episode, Jenny is again joined by Shelby Auer, Account Manager at Hedy & Hopp as they bring even more insights from their time at SHSMD 2023.  Today she and Shelby discuss the evolving landscape of healthcare marketing regulations, pointing out changes in marketing practices driven by HIPAA, FTC, and state laws. Jenny highlights the importance of understanding GDPR, even for U.S.-based businesses, as opt-in policies and the "right to be forgotten" become more relevant. They also break down the growing complexity of state laws and emphasizes the need for collaboration between marketing, legal, and compliance teams to navigate these challenges.

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Fresh off the plane from this year's SHSMD, Jenny and Shelby Auer, account manager at Hedy and Hopp, share their highlights from the conference in Chicago. They discuss various sessions and speakers, including insights on rural healthcare, brand management, internal communications, data-driven decision-making, and improving the patient experience. They also speak about the importance of learning and sharing experiences within the healthcare marketing industry to make a positive impact. 

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On today’s episode, Jenny welcomes Ben Camp, CEO, and co-founder of RehabPath, a platform focused on improving the patient, caregiver, and family member experience in addiction treatment. Ben discusses the origins of RehabPath, which began in 2017, stemming from his prior work in marketing for addiction treatment centers and tech startups. He emphasizes the importance of the user and patient experience and the challenges people face when seeking addiction treatment information online.

RehabPath aims to provide independent and user-centric resources to help individuals navigate the complex process of finding treatment centers. They prioritize high-quality content, including photos and videos of treatment facilities, to assist potential patients in making informed decisions. Ben also touches on the evolving trends in digital marketing and the impact of insurance coverage on the addiction treatment industry.

RehabPath is playing a critical role in helping people find treatment options and reduce the barriers to seeking help. They are committed to providing free listings for treatment centers while offering an advertising program to expand reach and create a positive impact on individuals' lives.

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Today Jenny welcomes Sunny Yarrish, Director of Marketing, Digital, and Omnichannel at Myriad Genetics. On this episode, Sunny's journey into personal branding on LinkedIn takes center stage. Although Sunny humbly claims not to be an expert, she gets results and emphasizes the power of consistency over perfection. She began a challenge in February, posting daily on LinkedIn to share her insights on marketing, healthcare, personal growth, and optimism. Her content's positive impact is evident through messages from old friends, demonstrating the significance of meaningful one-on-one conversations. Sunny's experience highlights that a life worth sharing yields valuable content, prompting listeners to rethink their LinkedIn presence and approach.

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Today Jenny welcomes Megan Cornish, a licensed clinical social worker turned healthcare marketer. Megan shares her unique perspective on marketing and copywriting in the mental health space, emphasizing the importance of positive messaging and careful language choices. 

They discuss the intersection of marketing and clinicians in driving demand and the need for clinician involvement in marketing strategies. They also touch on the challenges posed by large companies entering the mental health space and the importance of viewing traditional therapists as allies, not competitors. 

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Today Jenny welcomes her longtime friend and VP of Marketing at TCARE, Julia Pitlyk. They dive into Julia's transition from the consumer packaged goods (CPG) industry to healthcare marketing, discussing the similarities, differences, and best practices that have emerged along the way.

Jenny and Julia reminisce about their early days working together and reflect on how their shared love for problem-solving and complexity led them to the healthcare industry. Julia shares her unique experiences in both the CPG and healthcare sectors, highlighting the valuable insights she gained from working on billion-dollar brands and driving consumer-driven campaigns.

She also emphasizes the need to consider the holistic manifestation of a brand throughout the patient journey, extending beyond visual elements to encompass every interaction. They also discuss the complexities of the healthcare industry, and developing a strong brand presence throughout the patient journey.

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You can’t fully understand the evolution of something without knowing the history. This is where Jenny and her guest, Michele Szczypka, Interim VP of Marketing and Communications SSM, begin today’s episode. Michele expresses the importance of understanding the industry's past to comprehend the impact of changes in the present. She emphasizes the value of this perspective for new graduates and early-career professionals.

Jenny and Michele discuss how healthcare marketing Initially started as PR and image-building for hospitals, but has gradually transitioned into true marketing and branding, aided by the emergence of marketing technology (MarTech) in the past decade. They highlight the challenges faced by early adopters of MarTech in developing models for ROI to convince hospital executives of the need for increased budgets.

Michele also notes the evolution of CRM in healthcare marketing which from their inception grew to allow more sophisticated tracking and measurement of marketing efforts. The implementation of CRM systems necessitated collaboration with finance teams and the establishment of goals and ROI models for different service lines.

The conversation shifts to the current concerns regarding tracking methodologies in

healthcare marketing due to HIPAA and FTC regulations. Michele identifies two

camps and how they are reacting and/or pivoting. She and Jenny know that it boils

down to the importance of respecting privacy and finding solutions that balance progress and compliance with guidelines.

After Jenny’s two-part series on the new HHS bulletin and movement from the FTC from two experts, she is recapping and giving a broad overview emphasizing the most essential parts you need to know.

She discusses what compliance used to mean, what you could be doing unknowingly that is considered sharing data, and the reasoning around the fines levied at GoodRx and Better Health.

She digs into what shifts organizations can make to their analytics and marketing to become compliant but continue marketing campaigns to service prospective patients.

Finally, the episode wraps up by explaining the three-part program that Hedy & Hopp is using to help healthcare companies across the United States become more confident in their marketing and technical work with these shifting rules.

Interested in working with Hedy & Hopp on a privacy compliance program?

Book time with Jenny today: https://calendly.com/jennybristow/30-minute-compliance-consultation

Is your team scrambling trying to figure out how to make your marketing analytics setup HIPAA-compliant with the new bulletin? Yep, everyone else is too.

Today, attorney Drew Westbrook joins the show to discuss the bulletin released by OCR in December 2022. In the bulletin, OCR expanded the definition of what information is protected under HIPAA beyond what most people have read in the law and completely changes the understanding of how marketers can and can’t use analytics tools as part of our toolset, including web analytics and call tracking.

Drew explains the biggest points of concern with the new bulletin, including IP addresses being identified as PHI under HIPAA.

We then shift the conversation to what healthcare marketers need to do to understand if their organization is at risk. Auditing data to understand the information being collected, where it is being collected from, and where it is going is a good first step. They also touch on state-specific legislation and if there is any real difference in data handling of covered and non-covered entities.

This (episode 16) is part one of a two-part series (episode 17)

On today’s show Jenny is pleased to welcome William (Skip) Hidlay, Vice President and Chief Communications and Marketing Officer for the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, to talk about the exciting things he's been doing in the world of content marketing.

Skip has been in his role for over two years and in that short time, he's already accomplished some truly impressive things. When he arrived, the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center was dealing with the winter surge of the pandemic, and as part of their outreach and branding strategy, Skip positioned the physicians and scientists of the center at the forefront to help counteract the misinformation that was spreading.

As he got to work, Skip realized that there were 11 different websites with no unified storytelling strategy. He envisioned a new website that would bring together the brand, storytelling and messaging into one cohesive platform. In just 9 months, Skip and his team built and launched Ohio State Health and Discovery which launched in January 2022 and is a true labor of love for everyone involved.

Skip's team strategy was to create an integrated organizational design that blended traditional disciplines to create a brand marketing and content strategy to create a hybrid of a content marketing agency and a traditional newsroom.

His passion for marketing and his ability to bring people together to achieve great things are truly inspiring. His work at Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center is a testament to his expertise and passion for content marketing.

Today’s episode is all about the important role of building a health care system’s image. No one knows this better than today’s guest, Cindy Graham, Director of Digital Strategy at St. Luke’s Health System in Boise, Idaho. Cindy has worked in healthcare almost 25 years, and has been in her current role for almost a decade, which gives her a unique position to be able to share the changes that have happened during that time and the areas that she and her team are focusing on now going into the new year. The discussion begins with one of those areas - reviews and online reputation management. Cindy gives insights on how she turned an overall poor rating into an overwhelmingly positive one over the last year, while boosting the number of reviews by nearly 20 times!

They also discuss the delicate balance of budgeting with the need for additional healthcare space and constructing the hospital system’s image and reputation in the community both in need of important funding. Jenny and Cindy end by talking about continuing education, mentorship, and other ways that you can help your organization now as you continue along your career path.

We are pleased to be back to weekly episodes! Today, we introduce you to Hedy and Hopp’s 2023 Artist In Residence, Lauren Younge. As AIR, Lauren’s art will be featured on our website, podcast, social media, and more!

Jenny and Lauren discuss her beginnings as a young artist, what inspires her work, how Covid changed her approach to creating, and steps that she took to take her art from a hobby to the professional level. Lauren also talks about creating an effective social media presence, including her fantastic IG content, and details on her next solo show coming up just days from now!

You’ve seen the beautiful artwork on Hedy & Hopp’s website, social media and podcast, but did you know who created it? Today you get to meet her. Jessica Hitchcock is the company’s 2022 Artist In Residence and has graciously joined the show to talk with Jenny.

Jessica didn’t travel down the most traditional path in becoming an artist. She started out going to business school and had a strong interest in accounting, but her love for art was still calling. She started doing bookkeeping for an arts organization, while still creating her own pieces. Her art side-hustle grew over the years, and she was able to quit the 9 to 5 and become a full-time artist.

Jenny talks about the Artist in Residency program they have at Hedy & Hopp, and why it is an important part of their values as a company. Jessica discusses why it is so refreshing to collaborate with a company that places such importance on the arts and local community. She also gives advice to other artists who haven’t yet taken the step to put their work out into the world. Jessica even has coaching classes for artists looking to take that leap! Listen to end when Jenny gives information about how you can help Hedy & Hopp chose the Artist In Residence for 2023. 

Today Jenny welcomes Deb Nevins, EVP of Customer Strategy at Point of Care Network (POCN). POCN is a platform whose goal is to help NPs and PAs practice at the top of their medical license. They help connect them to education, mentoring, and career opportunities.

This episode discusses:

• How NPs and PAs now make up almost one-third of all prescribing clinicians in the U.S.
• Preferences of communication and education for NP/PAs, compared to MDs and why it matters
• Tips to recruit NP/PAs, including what matters to many of them right now (tip - it’s not hiring bonuses!)

As internet users, SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is something that we interact with everyday whether we realize it or not. For healthcare providers, it’s a low-cost way to help reach more people, and ensure you show up in Google searches when they are trying to find care. No one knows this better than today’s guest, Suzie Schmitt, a Senior Digital Producer at Hedy and Hopp.

Suzie discusses how important it is to use terms that patients would use when searching, which may often not be the same terms doctors would use. She talks about the differences between desktop and mobile optimization, the advantages of using Google My Business, and how to best set it up to get zero-click conversions coming directly to you. For healthcare providers Suzie explains just how granular to get with your listing so that patients can have enough information at a first glance, and just how important ratings and reviews can be. Finally, Suzie explains which areas of SEO to focus on for providers that are just getting started with their search engine visibility.

If you’re ready to reach more patients, today’s episode is a must listen!

You order your food on an app, you order your furniture on an app, you plan your travel on an app… So why shouldn’t there be something similar for your healthcare? Jenny welcomes Sal Braico, CEO and Co-Founder of Pivotal Health, to the show to explain how he has pulled it off. Sal has worked in healthcare for 20 years, and still realizes just how difficult it can be to navigate the confusing and changing world of health insurance and care. On top of that, realizing the barriers to access for many people to even get the care they need. He discovered some organizations doing clinician house calls, which was great, but Sal knew that this could be something much more by leveraging tech and automation. So he and his friend, who happens to be a tech entrepreneur, started their own company and did just that. With their combined experience, they were able to choose the right tools, and the right designs to streamline processes in a remarkable way.

They began marketing and outreach, and they’ve expanded to other cities around Wisconsin. The response has been overwhelming and in fact, many people think it’s too good to be true. Using methods from online shopping and bringing it into the healthcare realm is reshaping the way that people can control their medical needs with more ease and convenience.

At-home medical equipment isn’t something new, but there is fresh innovation of remote monitoring tech that is changing the face of patient/doctor interactions. On today’s episode, Jenny welcomes one of the top innovators in this field, Bryan Potter, Head of Remote Patient Monitoring Solutions at Greater Goods, one of the leading providers of smart medical devices for remote patient monitoring. Their company was recently recognized by Forbes, for having the two top blood pressure monitoring devices on the market. Their products are a far cry from the older, confusing and cumbersome home devices. It’s a new frontier in the way that patients interact with their healthcare providers remotely.

Bryan gives a brief history of in-home monitoring devices and also what he sees as their future. He lays out the issues and hurdles that some more well-known tech companies face in being able to scale their products, and how his organization’s focus on patient needs and financial realities shape their products.

It’s hard to find a more perfect person to be on our healthcare marketing podcast than today’s guest, Noah Locke, Director of Marketing, Technology, and Analytics at UW Health in Madison, Wisconsin.

Jenny and Noah begin the show talking about marketing budgeting. Noah discusses how budgeting at the beginning of Covid was not as difficult as it is now that the overall economy is finally feeling the effects of two years of Covid disruption. One thing that he recommends that is easy and significant help in the budget is to review the cost for things large and small to see if they are needed, or if they could be doing the same job with a lower cost or even a free alternative. Jenny talks about how organizations can get stuck in old ways and not look for more affordable, more efficient choices.

The conversation then turns to measuring results and Noah explains how UW Health they are dedicated to tracking results that support their strategic plan, which has the goal of providing the best patient care possible. In order to do this, you can’t just track the areas that connect directly to patient care, but all the other supporting areas.  And as many of our listeners know, in healthcare it can take a lot of time and effort to make a change and get the tools you need. Noah expresses the importance of creating relationships with as many people and departments as you can and how to craft proposals in a way to speed up the process.

They also dive into analytics and how using both business and marketing analytics in tandem can help make the best decisions possible. Noah also gives some insight on what’s new that he and the team at UW Health are working on and plans for the future, and how he decides on the prioritization of these initiatives.

It is vital to have a strong digital team to grow your organization and reach patient acquisition goals. But is your team performing as effectively as it could?

Today Jenny welcomes Hedy & Hopp’s Director of Digital Activation, Lindsey Brown. Lindsey coordinates five different groups – Analytics, Paid Media, Development, Design/UX, and Digital Production. She talks about one of the most complex pieces of the job - determining when and who to bring in at any point during projects. She discusses tactics to avoid an overly-siloed approach and recommends always beginning with an analytics perspective to ensure measurement does not become an afterthought.

They discuss the decision on if and when to bring in outside agency partners by taking many different things into consideration, especially in the often complex and quickly changing healthcare landscape. Lindsey ends the show by explaining the planning process and the key ingredients to successfully working with an outside partner.

Telehealth: Finding the Human-Automation Balance

On today’s episode Jenny has invited the perfect guest to discuss the past few years of telehealth and automation development, along with looking at the current and future evolution of these technologies. Lauren Howard, Telehealth Expert, Digital Health Strategist, Startup Operations and Success Executive, and CEO of ElleTwo joins the show.

Both healthcare and non-healthcare companies were shifting slowly to digital and automated/tele-solutions for their customers, but when Covid arrived, the timeframe went from years to days as they scrambled to adjust. Now that there is some time to take a breath and reflect, these same organizations are now working to determine what is really needed and most effective. In the health sector, they are looking to put the ‘human back in healthcare.’ Lauren points out that now is the time to find the balance. The tools are there, but the tools without engagement with clinicians, support staff and providers leave patients lacking full quality care and follow up. Telehealth can be a supplement to care, and can provide more access, but is not a replacement for human-centered care.

The discussion goes more in depth on the flood of startup telehealth companies and how their initial success soon flamed out and how that impacts patient care. They discuss the appropriateness and limitations of telehealth in places like nursing homes, and inpatient vs. outpatient needs among all providers. Engagement, privacy, integration, training and turnover, the list is long when it comes to challenges that face health systems over the coming years. Lauren ends the show with invaluable advice on how organizations can build a groundwork to navigate these hurdles, along with her take on what is coming next!

As technology and marketing tools advance, changes continue to come to hospitals, patients, and the people that connect them. Today Jenny welcomes Dustin Horn, Associate Director of Digital Marketing and Communications at Siteman Cancer Center.

Dustin discusses different tools and platforms that he has found to be helpful in connecting and caring for clients. Having been at Siteman for over twelve years, he has seen the large shift and impacts that technology has brought to the health sector. Social media has allowed them to discover patients who have serious medical issues that they may be able to help, and it has made it easier for patients to find them. Automated chat and live chat have also been a successful tool in gaining new patients.

He also looks ahead and talks about the adoption of wearables to really make an impact in the patient-doctor relationship. This of course hinges on certain factors like accessibility, affordability and trust of data sharing. Jenny reminds us that with change and innovation, can often come with frustration. Dustin believes it isn’t so much the technology but how it’s utilized and how it functions will ultimately decide which technologies thrive.

Later in the episode listen as Dustin describes some of the most rewarding accomplishments of his career, some of the more frustrating ones, and his advice on the most important characteristic you can have if you want to succeed in marketing.

Today’s episode is so timely and so important to listen to. Jenny is joined by Bonyen Lee-Gilmore, Vice President of Strategy and Communications at Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri. They have a wide-ranging discussion on the dynamics in the country, and in individual states, post-Roe.

Bonyen breaks down the current deluge of misinformation, and the many challenges that women are facing in a state like Missouri. From an almost total ban, the fear that even many types of contraception will soon be on the chopping block, the pushback on those seeking sterilization services, to fake pregnancy centers staffed by anti-abortion activists. She also talks about Illinois being a critical access state, how they keep up with all the changing rules and regulations, and some troubling trends in digital media platforms whose overreaching algorithms block critical information.

Welcome to the first episode of the We Are Marketing Happy - a healthcare marketing podcast, hosted by Jenny Bristow. 

Jenny is the Founder and CEO of Hedy and Hopp, a healthcare marketing agency based in the Midwest. Today Jenny welcomes Annie Haarmann, Head of Consumer Experience, North America at Reputation.

On this episode, Annie breaks down how different health systems are responding to technology advancements in order to improve patient’s access to care. She outlines technology that is changing patient’s journey such as Google’s knowledge panel and local three-pack to natural language processing and artificial intelligence to determine emotions such as fear, optimism and anger.

We also talk about how health systems have been regrouping after many marketing budgets were slashed during Covid and the long-term impact to the growth of virtual care.

Annie discusses the importance of real relationship building with vendors, being brutally honest about your own weaknesses, talking about things that are broken, and using metrics that matter.