Swaay.Health Podcast

Swaay.Health Team
  • 5.0 (3)
  • MARKETING

Welcome to The Swaay.Health Podcast – a podcast for healthcare marketing, PR, and communications professionals! We’re all about building a brighter future in healthcare through the power of community! Join us as we dive into the latest news, strategies, and trends from the brightest minds in the field.

  1. 5D AGO

    Amsive Health: Turning a Loss into a Specialized Healthcare Brand

    Is it fair that healthcare organizations prefer to do business with agencies and individuals exclusively focused on this industry? That depends on whether you have recently lost a healthcare opportunity. For Amsive, this moment became a catalyst for launching a specialized brand. Craig Blake, Agency Growth at Amsive, joined Swaay.Health to discuss the launch of Amsive Health and what it reveals about how healthcare organizations choose partners today. What This Conversation Revealed Specialization often ranks above prior success and logos when healthcare buyers evaluate vendors Marketing remains essential to growth yet is still treated like a discretionary cost Industry credibility determines who gets invited to compete The launch of Amsive Health did not start as a brand exercise. It started with a missed opportunity. “You lose a deal and they say to you – ‘you’re not healthcare enough’. Well that’s enough to make you go, it’s time,” Blake explained. “Healthcare likes to work with healthcare.” Healthcare organizations operate in a space shaped by regulation, risk, and public trust. It makes sense that they prefer partners who already understand the environment rather than those who need to learn it mid-engagement. Blake framed Amsive Health as a signal of commitment to the category rather than a structural separation from the parent organization. “You can dabble and grow it to a point, but if you’re looking to take that next level, you need to have an outward facing healthcare presence.” Going forward, that presence will be front and center at conferences and in market conversations. Healthcare marketing drives growth yet the expense is still questioned Given Amsive Health’s work across providers and plans, we asked Blake what pressure he sees most often from healthcare marketing teams. One stood out. Marketers are responsible for growth, yet they remain under constant pressure to justify their existence. “I think marketers in healthcare have the hardest job possible because it’s so critical to drive new patients and new members,” said Blake. “Marketing is also always first criticized as being unnecessary and an expense. That’s a tough place to live.” That tension is not new, but current cost pressures mean that more marketers are feeling it more acutely. Some teams are being pushed to cut staff, pause promising initiatives, and revert to rinse-and-repeat tactics judged solely on near-term financial return. Blake believes credibility with leadership should be a core strategy for healthcare marketers. Small wins, operational transparency, and consistent execution can help rebuild internal trust. Marketing Credibility come from focus Credibility comes from focus. Externally, a clear commitment to healthcare opens doors, and internally, a steady focus on results is what earns marketing the trust it needs to last. What Healthcare Marketing Leaders Are Asking How do we prove our healthcare credibility? Healthcare buyers often filter partners based on perceived specialization, not just past performance. That means marketers and agencies need visible signals of focus, whether through positioning, partnerships, or consistent category presence, long before the RFP stage. What does “focus” actually look like in a crowded healthcare agency market? Focus is less about narrowing services and more about demonstrating understanding of healthcare’s operating environment. Leaders are prioritizing clarity in positioning, disciplined execution, and internal alignment so that credibility builds over time rather than needing to be re-earned with every initiative. How can marketing protect its budget when leadership is focused on cost reduction? Marketing teams are being asked to defend spend in organizations under financial strain. The leaders who retain influence are the ones tying initiatives to measurable growth, communicating progress frequently, and showing how marketing activity connects to operational outcomes. Learn more about Amsive Health at https://health.amsive.com/

    20 min

  2. 6D AGO

    Healthcare Marketing That Is Strategic, Holistic, and Integrated

    If a health IT company is sending different messages in its materials (technical and marketing) or through its sales team, clients will have trouble trusting the company or even knowing whether its solution is relevant to them. If customers’ online research turns up a different focus from what the company is saying in sales and marketing, that too is a big problem. fuoco helps healthcare firms coordinate their messaging, content and data across departments and media channels and optimize them for AI search engines, an approach they call “Media Engine Optimization” or MEO. We recently sat down with fuoco’s founder and chief firestarter Kriste Goad to learn more about their unique perspective on extreme client collaboration, busting marketing silos, and how to help healthcare IT companies not get left behind. She points out that there are more sources of data and more online channels for messaging, than ever, so coordination becomes both more difficult and more critical. The AI searches conducted by potential clients complicate the scene even further—and like search engine optimization, “No one has it totally figured out yet.” In an environment where everybody is seeking information online, the old cliché “Content is king” takes on even greater force. Goad praises “brand journalism” where a company presents information about itself in more editorial, less salesy ways, helping customers see themselves in the stories being told and the impact being delivered. Too often, marketing efforts are siloed and even “a bit chaotic,” and some companies depend on canned advice from experts that doesn’t tie in with the company’s specific needs. fuoco offers help with individual marketing efforts and channels, but concentrates on strategies that include and inform the full marketing spectrum. Their clientele tend to be companies poised in the gap between start-ups and the major companies with big budgets. Goad discusses how to make the most of the budget you have. Check out our video interview with Kriste Goad from fuoco to learn more about creating a holistic approach to your healthcare B2B marketing. Learn more about fuoco: https://growwithfuoco.com/ fuoco is a sponsor of Healthcare Scene

    28 min

  3. FEB 11

    Getting Clinicians and SMEs to Say Yes to Healthcare Marketing

    Healthcare marketers want clinicians and subject matter experts front and center. But when it’s time to involve them, calendars fill up and responsibility gets passed around. One organization stepped back, rethought how SME engagement actually works, and now has a waiting list of experts eager to contribute. This conversation brings together Alexandria Diaz, VP of Marketing at Ventra Health, and Marnie Hayutin, Founder & CEO of Writing.Health. They share how clear expectations, visible outcomes, and real collaboration turn SME participation from a struggle into a system. What This Conversation Revealed SME engagement breaks down when marketing treats their time as assumed instead of earned Collaboration works better when strategy and storytelling happen in the same room Experts participate more when they can see what their contribution becomes Clarity, Not Persistence Earns SME Participation For Diaz and Hayutin, SME engagement starts with expectations set early and made explicit. “I set expectations as far in advance as possible,” Diaz explained. “I let them know exactly how much time is required of them – from the interview to the review process or whatever else is needed. I don’t want surprises along the way.” Clear expectations are reinforced by Ventra Health’s internal culture. “Ventra Health has a culture of respect that is quite remarkable,” Hayutin noted. “If they sign on to do something, they work together to get it done.” That respect extends to marketing work as well. “Our people are always willing to share,” added Diaz. Joint Interviews Eliminate Rework and Second-Guessing Rather than treating interviews as a handoff or extraction exercise, Ventra brings marketing and writing into the same conversation from the start. “We do the interviews jointly,” Diaz said. “That helps a lot. We don’t do our own thing and then throw it over the fence to our writing partners. It’s a collaborative process. We’re in the calls together. We’re asking the questions together.” Hayutin sees the downstream impact immediately: “Doing it together means we cover the topic faster. It’s very efficient. There’s no rework. There are no additional questions that we should have asked.” Bringing everyone together, and coming prepared. respects the SME’s time and expertise. The interview becomes one-and-done. Less cleanup. Less rework. Credibility Continues to be Built After Content is Published At many organizations, SME effort disappears into a black box. Over time, that silence erodes willingness to participate again. Diaz was direct about what changes that dynamic: “Sometimes you have to show your value before people can appreciate it. If you give 30 minutes of time today, there will be this fantastic blog six weeks from now, and you’ll get all the praise for it.” “Promote the outcome so people understand it’s not just a blog,” Hayutin added. “Show how it fits into the overall plan and what they’re contributing to.” Closing that loop turns content from an abstract ask into a visible return. When Expertise Is Treated Like a Partnership On paper, this all sounds straightforward: be clear with expectations, collaborate early, and close the loop so experts can see what their time actually produced. In practice, very few healthcare marketing teams do all three consistently. Instead of treating expertise like a tradable asset, Diaz and Hayutin approach SMEs as true partners. Showing up together for interviews sends a simple but powerful signal: your time matters, and so does your perspective. That approach explains why, at Ventra Health, clinicians and subject matter experts aren’t being chased for content, they’re lining up to contribute. ——— What Healthcare Marketing Leaders Are Asking How do we get clinicians and SMEs to engage without constantly chasing them? Sustained engagement breaks down when participation feels open-ended or disconnected from outcomes. Clear expectations, visible results, and respectful use of time are key to engagement, not repeated reminders. What’s the most common mistake marketing teams make when working with internal experts? Many teams treat expertise as something they can tap on demand, rather than something that needs to be earned and maintained. When experts don’t see how their input is used, trust erodes and participation drops. Where does SME collaboration typically fall apart in healthcare organizations? Breakdowns often happen between interviews and publication, when context is lost or follow-up is inconsistent. That is “collaboration friction” and makes future participation less likely, even when the content itself performs well. Learn more about Ventra Health at https://ventrahealth.com/ Learn more about Writing.Health at https://www.writing.health/ Writing.Health is a sponsor of Healthcare Scene

    28 min

  4. FEB 10

    Don’t Believe the Doomsayers. Healthcare Websites Aren’t Dead.

    Healthcare websites are not dying. They are just evolving from the job they have been doing for the past decade. The idea that websites are soon to be obsolete is more about click-bait rather than true marketing insight. For healthcare marketers, websites will continue to be an important anchor point for campaigns, for access, and for knowledge. It just may not be the ultimate destination for people seeking quick answers. Swaay.Health sat down with Ahava Leibtag, CEO of Aha Media Group to dive deeper on this topic and to discuss their Healthcare Marketing in 2026: Key Trends & Takeaways Report. Doomsayers are chasing attention, not outcomes Declaring websites “dead” is all about provoking a response. Leibtag was blunt about the narrative itself: “I think some of the thought leaders in the space are using that line to get attention, and I don’t particularly find that kind of language useful. I would prefer for people to say, websites are evolving and you need to pay attention.” That evolution is being driven the rapid rise of AI-powered search through platforms like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude. Search is no longer delivering visitor volumes the way it once did, but that is no reason to give up on websites. There are still many important reasons healthcare still needs websites. According to Leibtag, providing accurate health information to the community, being a hub of personal health information, and the place to access care still matters. Websites are becoming trust infrastructure So where are healthcare websites headed if not the scrap heap? Leibtag provided a clear answer: “People are coming to [your website] to transact. You need to show them they can trust you.” That starts with providing as much information about your services and facilities as possible. “I recently had an experience with a family member where we had to stay in the hospital for five days,” Leibtag shared. “I wanted to understand what amenities the rooms had. There was no information on the hospital website. That made me apprehensive and anxious for my loved one. Detailed things like that help to build trust.” No more excuses for healthcare websites AI has not killed healthcare websites. It has just removed the excuses for the lack of usability, incomplete information, and poor user experiences. Websites can no longer hide behind volume or vague storytelling. In this age of AI, websites will now function as proof points for patients. The teams that understand this are quickly moving to evolve their sites to earn trust rather than clicks. What healthcare marketing leaders are asking If AI is answering questions before people click, what role should the website actually play now? The website is no longer a discovery engine. It is a validation and transaction layer where patients confirm trust, assess readiness, and decide whether to move forward. That makes accuracy, clarity, and usability operational requirements, not marketing preferences. How do we know if our website is building trust instead of just looking polished? Trust shows up in whether people can complete tasks without friction and anxiety. Appointment scheduling, clear service information, and practical details often matter more than visual design because they reduce uncertainty at the moment of decision. Where should marketing teams focus when traffic declines? Fewer visits mean each one carries more weight. Teams are shifting attention from volume metrics to experience quality, content completeness, and coordination with access and operations to ensure the site reflects how patients want their care delivered. Learn more about Aha Media Group at: https://ahamediagroup.com/ Learn more about Answers with Ahava & Friends at: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRdP7v0zff8MOUxC5VWxCiRa-zdcwKk1M Download the Healthcare Marketing in 2026: Key Trends & Takeaways Report at https://hubs.ly/Q03-bJsS0

    20 min

  5. FEB 9

    AI Says. Swaay Responds.

    We let ChatGPT be the third host Brittany Quemby and I decided to try something new. We asked ChatGPT what it sees most often from healthcare marketers and then tried to guess the answers ourselves. Think of it as “AI says… and Swaay responds”. We asked four things: the most overused word, the city people plan events around, the conference they’re researching, and what they’re actually using ChatGPT for. Brittany and I had a friendly competition to see who was more in tune with ChatGPT. Overused words by healthcare marketers I expected “workflow”, “clinicians” or “burnout” – they’re everywhere in press pitches, booth copy, and websites. Alas, the most overused word turned out to be “innovative”. It’s a word that everyone loves to use to describe themselves, but as Brittany put it: “It’s a word that really says nothing and if everybody’s innovative, then nobody really is.” Healthcare Cities and conferences Both Brittany and I were hoping to see less popular cities appear on the list of places that healthcare marketers are searching for when planning their own events. Sadly it was major conference cities like: Las Vegas, Orlando, Chicago, and San Diego that topped ChatGPT’s list. While the answers were not surprising, we learned something important. We should’ve asked about planning their own events, separate from the big conferences already in those cities. ‘Planning events’ was just too broad. Something similar happened with our next question, all the usual large conferences showed up: HIMSS and HLTH, but also a few that are specific to healthcare marketing like HCIC, HMPS, and (surprise!) Swaay.Health LIVE. At first Brittany and I were proud, but after we filmed the video, we started to think that maybe it wasn’t a good thing we appeared on the list. Why? Because if people are turning to ChatGPT to learn more about our event then we have not done a good enough job educating our target audience about it. How healthcare marketers are using ChatGPT The answers to this question were as expected…except for one. Content creation, of course, was the top use-case. Event planning and marketing strategy were also popular, but it was personas that caught us by surprise. Using ChatGPT to help with developing and testing personas is an excellent use of the technology and it was very encouraging to see it as one of the top uses for the platform. I did not think it was something a lot of healthcare marketers were using it for. I was glad to be wrong. An important ChatGPT lesson The biggest takeaway from this fun exercise: prompts matters, but the follow-up thinking matters more.

    20 min

  6. JAN 30

    Founder-Led Branding Works in Healthcare. Until It Doesn’t.

    Any marketer that has been at a startup knows the moment when the founder story that once opened doors and got people excited starts raising eyebrows. What felt authentic and scrappy during the startup phase begins to feel tired and a bit risky when scaling. The challenge is recognizing when founder-centric branding stops being a springboard and becomes an anchor. Swaay.Health sat down with Sue McCluskey, Partner, and Carey George, Founder and Creative Director, at Goods and Services Branding (G&S Branding) to talk about founder-led branding, founder stories, brand strategy, and what changes as healthcare organizations grow and scale. What This Conversation Revealed Founder-led branding ages faster than most companies plan for Strong stories without strategy create momentum—but not resilience AI is amplifying the need for visible, human credibility—not replacing it Founder Stories Build Momentum, Until They Create Risk McCluskey put founder stories and founder-centric branding in context: “It can be an amazing thing, especially if the founder is super charismatic or just embodies the uniqueness of a brand. Where it starts to get risky when it’s a larger organization with more at stake.” Here’s why. “When the company becomes publicly traded [or has become a recognized name in their field], if the founder makes a misstep, then there’s a cascading effect of trouble. Shareholders get upset. Board of directors freak out. The public can freak out.” There is a potential for antics of the founder which were once seen as rebellious or daring to now be seen as reckless or tired. This is amplified in healthcare where audiences are risk-averse and brand credibility is easily damaged by controversy. A Brand Story Without Strategy Eventually Collapses Under Its Own Weight George sees many startups, and some scaling companies, confuse brand stories with a brand strategy. “Most of the time companies come to us and lead with ‘we need a brand story’,” said George. “What we try to tell them is that a brand story is not a strategy. You need a strategy. The brand story is just part of that strategy. Just telling your brand story, just writing your founder’s story isn’t enough. It may win you a pitch competition, but that’s only going to take you so far.” In the beginning, a company’s origin story and the founder’s journey make for a compelling narrative. Tied up in that narrative are the foundational elements of the company. Everything is aligned and works together. When you are a young startup, these stories may be enough to help generate interest. However, as George points out these are just stories and not a cohesive strategy. As a company matures a cohesive brand strategy is one of the things that provide separation from young startups. Cohesive brands generate the trust signals that healthcare buyers react favorably to. AI is Making Human Credibility More Important Both McCluskey and George both caution against completely jettisoning all elements of founder-centric branding. Why? Because as AI usage in marketing increases, the value of human connection and credibility also increases “You can publish all the information you want,” explained George. “But you’re going to have to get out into the public. You’re going to have to go to forums, conferences, talk to the media, and be real people in front of the media saying real things. People want to see people live.” George’s ‘real things’ means more that just the origin story or founder opinions that served a startup company well. However it does not mean completely benching the founder from all public appearances. They can still be a face of the company (ie: not the only face), but they need to diversify their public comments to include meaningful comments on the industry and customers. Very soon, presence will be a key differentiator. What Healthcare Marketing Leaders Are Asking How do we know when our founder-led brand is starting to create risk instead of trust? Leaders tend to feel it first through subtle signals: smaller pipelines, longer sales cycles, tougher questions from risk-averse buyers, or internal discomfort about off-script comments. What replaces the founder story as a brand matures without losing authenticity? As organizations scale, credibility moves away from who started the company to how consistently the company delivers for customers, partners, and clinicians. Mature brands earn trust through aligned leadership voices, customer proof points, and disciplined messaging—not a single origin narrative. How should healthcare brands balance human visibility as AI-generated content increases? Automation makes content easier to produce, but it also raises skepticism. Leaders are realizing that real-world presence through panels, media interviews, and conference presentations has become a critical trust signal that no amount of polished content or origin story can substitute. Learn more about G&S Branding at https://gsbranding.com/

    24 min

  7. JAN 27

    AI-Driven Discovery Shifts Healthcare Marketing Funnels: How to Adjust

    Website dashboards are looking very different these days. Traffic is down. Once reliable buying signals are fading away. Why? One big reason is the the nature of search is changing and healthcare marketers need to adapt quickly. Alexis Pratsides, Global Head of Digital at FINN Partners, sat down with Swaay.Health to talk about the rapid evolution of search and what it means for healthcare marketers trying to protect trust, relevance, and demand in a world increasingly moving towards AI-driven discovery. What This Conversation Revealed The top of the funnel hasn’t collapsed, it relocated outside owned channels PR has quietly become a primary input to discoverability, not a supporting one Structure now determines visibility more than volume ever did Search Isn’t Sending Traffic Anymore. It’s Sending Decisions. “What we’re seeing is the top of the funnel is moving off of your website now, and it’s into the LLMs,” explained Pratsides. “All the research and all the activity that people undertake as they are starting out on a journey to do something, that is happening off your site.” The alarming consequence is that website traffic is dropping for healthcare vendors, precipitously in some cases. However, there is a silver lining. “Interestingly, the conversion rates are increasing now,” continued Pratsides. “That’s because the traffic that ends up on your website, having already done their research elsewhere, is ready to do something and are highly engaged.” Your dashboard looks worse at first glance, but if you tune your website for these visitors who are further down the funnel, then your revenue pipeline will be stronger in this new search environment. GEO Is Putting PR Back in the Spotlight “Generative Engine Optimization or GEO is bringing together the disciplines of SEO and Public Relations [PR],” said Pratsides. “You need to be thinking about how they interact and work together to then get visibility bumps within the AI algorithms.” According to Pratsides, coverage of your customer success stories, executive thought-leadership, and  company announcements, particularly if they are covered by trusted, publications with high authority in healthcare or the general public, can help boost your company and your content to LLMs. “The LLMs seem to be favoring the really big branded, authoritative places online,” said Pratsides. “These are the media outlets that our PR colleagues are working with every day.” LLMs reward clarity, not content sprawl “We’ve proven with some testing that the LLMs favor really well-structured pages,” revealed Pratsides. “They like bite-sized, digestible chunks of content. So, if you can have a subheading and then a small chunk of content, often that will just get almost entirely cited in the answer to people’s questions on those LLMs.” For marketers who want their organizations to be cited by LLMs, creating content that is shorter, more structured, and more consumable is a must. It is no longer about keywords, rather it is writing content that matches how people are asking questions of LLMs. Good Content + PR – What’s old is new again with GEO For veteran school healthcare marketers, Pratsides words should be comforting. In this new world of GEO, what matters most is well written content that takes into consideration what the audience is looking for. It also means that getting earned (and paid) media coverage has tremendous value once again. It’s hard not to chuckle because this is a classic marketing playbook, just modernized for LLMs. Put another way, what was valuable decades ago is just as valid today. Time to dust off that old playbook. *Editor’s note: Partsides shared a lot of fantastic insights and recommendations in the interview – too many to include in this written article. What Healthcare Marketing Leaders Are Asking If website traffic is declining, how should marketing teams judge performance without losing credibility internally? Leaders are being pushed to defend marketing impact while familiar volume metrics weaken. The focus is shifting toward conversion quality, pipeline influence, and downstream outcomes that better reflect how buyers now research and decide. How do PR and content teams need to change their working model as AI-driven search becomes more influential? PR is no longer a downstream amplifier. Earned media, executive visibility, and authoritative mentions are becoming primary inputs to discoverability, forcing tighter coordination between communications, digital, and content teams. What content changes actually improve visibility in AI-driven search without increasing workload? The biggest gains are coming from clearer structure, tighter sections, and content that mirrors how real questions are asked. Teams are finding that reorganizing existing material often matters more than producing net-new assets. Learn more about FINN Partners at https://www.finnpartners.com/ FINN Partners is a sponsor of Healthcare Scene.

    27 min

  8. JAN 26

    Leveraging Live Events to Build Trust

    It’s kind of crazy to think back to the COVID days when we wondered about the future of live events. It is clear now that people love to attend conferences to engage with their peers. There’s something about connecting with a live person that can’t be replicated digitally. We’re seeing that at our own healthcare marketing conference and the many healthcare IT conferences we attend each year. In a recent interview with Wendy Porter, Founder of Wendy Porter Events and Michelle Hogan, Executive Producer at OVC Productions, we got a chance to learn from their decades of experiences in the live events industry to hear how live events can be leveraged to build trust. We start off the interview with Porter and Hogan sharing why live events still matter and why events are still worth it even as budgets get tightened. The reality we’ve seen at Swaay.Health is that how you as a vendor execute at the event is really key to making sure the event is successful for your organization. After discussing the value of live events, I ask Porter to share what it takes to build trust with your audience. Needless to say, trust doesn’t just happen automatically even at a conference or other event.  Building trust happens by design and with real effort and planning. Hogan highlighted this really well when she shared some of the ways that your event design can directly affect the audience’s emotion and either build or hurt your credibility. Even though we were talking about live events, I couldn’t resist talking with Porter and Hogan about how AI is reshaping event production. As is happening in seemingly all areas of our lives, AI is becoming a great tool for event organizers. In fact, they’re even using it to avoid the near-disasters that every event organizer has experienced. That’s why we asked Porter and Hogan to share a story of a near-disaster they experienced and how they navigated to a better outcome. Start thinking about what you’d do if your party venue fell through last minute.  Listen to the interview to hear about that experience and how Hogan navigated it like a pro. As we wrapped the interview, we did a quick lightning round of topics around: one thing health marketers should stop doing immediately, the best event marketing thing they’ve ever seen, and one event trend to lean into in 2026. Check out our interview with Wendy Porter and Michelle Hogan to learn more about live events and how to make the most of them. Learn more about Wendy Porter Events: https://www.wendyporterevents.com/ Learn more about OVC Productions: https://www.ovcproductions.com/

    34 min
See All (64)

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
3 Ratings

About

Welcome to The Swaay.Health Podcast – a podcast for healthcare marketing, PR, and communications professionals! We’re all about building a brighter future in healthcare through the power of community! Join us as we dive into the latest news, strategies, and trends from the brightest minds in the field.

Information

  • Creator
    Swaay.Health Team
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    64
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2024
  • Show Website
    Swaay.Health Podcast