Ignite: Healthcare Marketing Podcast

Cardinal Digital Marketing
  • 4.7 (23)
  • MARKETING
  • UPDATED WEEKLY

Hear the latest performance marketing strategies, industry news, and innovative tactics that will help grow your healthcare organization. Brought to you by Cardinal Digital Marketing, our CEO Alex Membrillo sits down with industry leaders and the nation's top healthcare marketing professionals to uncover practical insights to boost your digital presence and attract more patients.

  1. 3D AGO

    The Honest Programmatic Conversation Healthcare Marketers Need

    If you are treating programmatic like paid search, you are likely measuring it wrong and leaving growth on the table. In this episode, Evan, Cardinal's VP of Paid Media, and Lisa Fisher, Cardinal's Associate Media Director specializing in programmatic, break down what healthcare marketers actually need to understand about programmatic today. They unpack when it works, when it does not, and how to approach it without wasting budget. With deep experience managing multi-channel media strategies for healthcare brands, they share what separates inflated impression reports from real incremental growth. You will learn: • When to use programmatic after search hits saturation • How to measure success beyond last click attribution • What HIPAA, pixels, and BAAs mean for your strategy • How upper funnel investment lowers incremental CPA If you want a smarter, more scalable approach to patient acquisition beyond search, this is the episode to queue up next. RELATED RESOURCES The Search Plateau Problem: Why Healthcare Providers Need Incrementality Testing - https://www.cardinaldigitalmarketing.com/healthcare-resources/blog/healthcare-incrementality-testing/ When & How to Expand Your Healthcare Media Mix - https://www.cardinaldigitalmarketing.com/healthcare-resources/blog/expanding-channel-media-mix-strategy/ Privacy First: Marketing Technologies That Prioritize HIPAA Compliance  - https://www.cardinaldigitalmarketing.com/healthcare-resources/blog/hipaa-compliant-martech/ How to Reach Niche Audiences with 3P Data  - https://www.cardinaldigitalmarketing.com/healthcare-resources/blog/reach-niche-audiences-3p-data/

    28 min

  2. MAR 3

    Healthcare Influencer Strategy Built on Trust

    If your healthcare brand still treats influencer marketing like a one-off promotion, you are missing the real opportunity. In this episode, Ashley Petrochenko Cardinal's VP of Brand Marketing sits down with Ella McMahan, Director of Brand Marketing at Spring Fertility, to unpack what it actually takes to build an influencer program in a highly sensitive, high-consideration healthcare space. With six years leading brand at a leading fertility clinic and a background in women's consumer brands, Ella shares how to turn influencers into trust builders, not short-term conversion plays. In an industry where patients crave authenticity and community, this strategy can reshape how your brand shows up. You will learn: How to evaluate if your marketing mix is ready for influencers Why healthcare influencer ROI requires a long-term mindset How to give creators freedom without losing brand control Ways to activate real-world events that deepen patient trust If you've been curious about influencer marketing but unsure where it fits, this conversation will help. RELATED RESOURCES Connect with Ella - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ellamcmahan/ How to Build a Full-Funnel Healthcare Marketing Strategy - https://www.cardinaldigitalmarketing.com/healthcare-resources/blog/healthcare-full-funnel-marketing-strategy/ What is a Patient Journey? Examples to Grow Your Practice - https://www.cardinaldigitalmarketing.com/healthcare-resources/blog/what-is-a-patient-journey-grow-your-practice/ Performance Creative: The Key to Paid Media Success  - https://www.cardinaldigitalmarketing.com/healthcare-resources/blog/performance-creative-the-key-to-paid-media-success/ How Influencer Marketing is Changing Healthcare  - https://www.cardinaldigitalmarketing.com/healthcare-resources/podcast/how-influencer-marketing-is-changing-healthcare/

    25 min

  3. FEB 24

    AI Visibility Starts With SEO Basics

    AI tools are changing how patients search, but most healthcare brands are missing the real opportunity. In this episode, Caroline Adamek, Senior SEO Data Manager at BetterHelp, joins Ashley Petrochenko Cardinal's VP of Brand Marketing to break down what AI visibility actually requires and why strong SEO foundations matter more than ever. They unpack how patient search behavior is shifting across social, AI platforms, and Google, and what healthcare marketers must do to stay visible at high intent moments that drive real growth. You will learn • Why AI search rewards trusted brands, not keyword tricks • How patient discovery now starts on social and ends in Google • What makes content AI friendly and conversion ready • How to align SEO with real patient decision journeys If you want your brand to show up when patients are ready to act, this is the episode to listen to next.   RELATED RESOURCES Connect with Caroline - https://www.linkedin.com/in/caroline-adamec-0962361ba/ Optimizing for AI Search: A New Era in Healthcare Marketing - https://www.cardinaldigitalmarketing.com/healthcare-resources/blog/optimizing-for-ai-search-a-new-era-in-healthcare-marketing/ How a Primary Care Provider Futureproofed Their SEO in an AI-Driven Search World -https://www.cardinaldigitalmarketing.com/healthcare-resources/blog/search-content-strategy-ai-landscape/ How to Avoid Keyword Cannibalization Between Paid Search & SEO  - https://www.cardinaldigitalmarketing.com/healthcare-resources/blog/avoid-keyword-cannibalization-between-paid-search-seo/ What is a Patient Journey? Examples to Grow Your Practice  - https://www.cardinaldigitalmarketing.com/healthcare-resources/blog/what-is-a-patient-journey-grow-your-practice/

    24 min

  4. FEB 17

    Patient Acquisition Demands Local Trust

    Referrals are no longer enough to secure patient volume, and healthcare marketers who ignore local trust signals are losing patients before the first appointment is ever booked. In this episode, Ashley Petrochenko, Cardinal's VP of Brand Marketing talks with Ashley Pollard, Practice Marketing Manager at United Digestive, a multi location, PE backed gastroenterology platform. With more than a decade inside a referral heavy specialty, Ashley shares how patient behavior has shifted and what growth focused teams must do to stay visible, credible, and chosen. This conversation makes it clear that modern patient acquisition is as much about reputation and access as it is about media. You will learn • Why referred patients still shop and how to win their trust locally • How to balance centralized marketing with hyperlocal credibility • Where AI driven search and reviews now influence patient choice • Which metrics actually connect marketing to kept appointments If you want your patient acquisition strategy to drive real visits and not just clicks, this is the episode to queue up next. RELATED RESOURCES Connect with Ashley- https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashley-pollard-a734825/ Why Capacity-Driven Marketing Is Non-Negotiable - https://www.cardinaldigitalmarketing.com/capacity-driven-marketing-media-investment-strategy/ Optimizing for AI Search: A New Era in Healthcare Marketing - https://www.cardinaldigitalmarketing.com/healthcare-resources/blog/optimizing-for-ai-search-a-new-era-in-healthcare-marketing/ How to Build a Full-Funnel Healthcare Marketing Strategy - https://www.cardinaldigitalmarketing.com/healthcare-resources/blog/healthcare-full-funnel-marketing-strategy/ Marketing + Operations: Why Total Alignment is Vital to Growth  - https://www.cardinaldigitalmarketing.com/healthcare-resources/blog/healthcare-marketing-operations-alignment/

    14 min

  5. FEB 10

    State of AI Search 2026

    AI search is no longer experimental and it is already shaping how patients choose providers. On this episode of Ignite, Lauren Leone Cardinal's CGO is joined by Rob Sauter, Cardinal's SVP of Earned and Owned, to break down what the State of AI Search 2026 really means for healthcare marketers. He explains how platforms like ChatGPT and Google AI are influencing patient research earlier in the journey and why traditional SEO alone is no longer enough to stay visible. For growth-focused teams, this shift can be the difference between being considered or overlooked during patient research. You will learn • How AI search is changing the patient decision journey before they ever click a website • Why healthcare brands must move from keyword pages to connected authority • Where most organizations have content gaps that hurt AI visibility • How to balance SEO fundamentals with AI-focused strategy today If patient acquisition and digital visibility matter to your growth goals this year, this is a must-listen for your 2026 strategy. RELATED RESOURCES Healthcare PPC & Google Ads Marketing Trends in 2026  - https://www.cardinaldigitalmarketing.com/healthcare-resources/blog/healthcare-ppc-google-ads-trends-2026/ 2026 Healthcare Marketing Trends: The New Rules Redefining Growth - https://www.cardinaldigitalmarketing.com/healthcare-resources/blog/healthcare-marketing-trends-2026/ Optimizing for AI Search: A New Era in Healthcare Marketing - https://www.cardinaldigitalmarketing.com/healthcare-resources/blog/optimizing-for-ai-search-a-new-era-in-healthcare-marketing/ How a Primary Care Provider Futureproofed Their SEO in an AI-Driven Search World - https://www.cardinaldigitalmarketing.com/healthcare-resources/blog/search-content-strategy-ai-landscape/

    20 min

  6. FEB 3

    The Next Era of Healthcare Marketing

    Healthcare marketing is entering a new phase: one where patient journeys are more complex, measurement expectations are higher, and confidence in growth depends on more than last-click reporting. In this episode of the Ignite Healthcare Marketing Podcast, Cardinal Digital Marketing Founder, Alex Membrillo, and Power Digital CEO, Jeff Mason, unpack how patient acquisition has fundamentally changed, and why last-click attribution, single-channel thinking, and tactic-chasing are putting healthcare growth at risk. They also explain why this moment in the industry made it the right time for Cardinal to join Power Digital as its dedicated healthcare division. As patient journeys become more consumer-driven and CFO scrutiny intensifies, healthcare marketers need more than reports—they need confidence. This conversation breaks down how advanced measurement, faster creative testing, and consumer-grade data infrastructure are becoming essential to scaling patient acquisition responsibly. You'll walk away with: Why last-click attribution fails as patient journeys span TikTok, search, influencers, and AI How Cardinal's healthcare specialization, combined with Power's data and measurement capabilities, unlocks smarter investment decisions What retail and ecomm got right, and how healthcare can adapt without compromising trust or compliance How better measurement enables better patient experiences, not just cleaner dashboards If you're under pressure to prove growth, justify spend, and move beyond what's "worked before," this episode lays out what healthcare marketing needs next, and why this partnership makes that evolution possible.

    22 min

  7. JAN 27

    Inside the Marketing Machine Powering 500+ Locations

    In this conversation, Rachelle Kuebler-Weber, Chief Marketing Officer at AEG Vision, and Allison Lancaster, Associate Vice President of Marketing at AEG Vision, break down how a 500+ location healthcare organization rebuilt marketing to directly support capacity, profitability, and patient access. They share how AEG Vision moved from fragmented brand marketing to a unified, operationally aligned growth engine. The stakes are clear. Without clean data, call visibility, and ops alignment, even strong media spend fails to deliver meaningful results. You will hear how AEG Vision laid the foundation that allows marketing to scale locally while driving enterprise value, even in a complex, multi brand environment. What you will walk away with: How to align marketing spend with utilization, margins, and available capacity Why call centers and operations are critical to patient acquisition success How better tracking changes budget decisions and executive trust A practical path from foundational data to advanced optimization If you want marketing to drive growth your organization can actually support, this is the episode to queue up next. RELATED RESOURCES Why Capacity-Driven Marketing Is Non-Negotiable - https://www.cardinaldigitalmarketing.com/capacity-driven-marketing-media-investment-strategy/ Marketing + Operations: Why Total Alignment is Vital to Growth  - https://www.cardinaldigitalmarketing.com/healthcare-resources/blog/healthcare-marketing-operations-alignment/ Privacy First: Marketing Technologies That Prioritize HIPAA Compliance - https://www.cardinaldigitalmarketing.com/healthcare-resources/blog/hipaa-compliant-martech/ Mastering Performance Max (PMAX) for Healthcare - https://www.cardinaldigitalmarketing.com/healthcare-resources/blog/performance-max-pmax-healthcare-guide/

    41 min

  8. JAN 20

    Scaling Multi-Location Healthcare Marketing the Right Way

    Scaling healthcare brands shouldn't mean sacrificing local trust, but for many growing systems, that's exactly what happens. On this episode of Ignite, Ashley Petrochenko, Cardinal's VP of Brand Marketing, sits down with Kim Craven, Director of Field Marketing at Ethos Veterinary Health, to unpack how multi-location healthcare organizations can scale sustainably without losing the local relevance patients rely on. Drawing from her work supporting 140+ specialty and emergency hospitals, Kim shares how strong marketing foundations, not shiny tactics, are what actually unlock growth at scale. The conversation breaks down why centralized data and attribution matter, how local storytelling builds confidence in moments of anxiety, and where AI fits once the basics are done right. The stakes are real. As budgets tighten and expectations rise, healthcare marketers need strategies that drive growth while protecting trust and experience. You will learn: How to scale local healthcare brands without diluting credibility Why patient stories outperform generic brand messaging What a frictionless digital front door really looks like How attribution and AI support smarter growth decisions If scaling without breaking trust is on your roadmap, this is the episode to queue up next. RELATED RESOURCES Connect with Kim - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimberly-craven/ Is Your Organization Actually Ready for Marketing? - https://www.cardinaldigitalmarketing.com/healthcare-resources/blog/marketing-readiness/ Marketing + Operations: Why Total Alignment is Vital to Growth  - https://www.cardinaldigitalmarketing.com/healthcare-resources/blog/healthcare-marketing-operations-alignment/ Why Capacity-Driven Marketing Is Non-Negotiable - https://www.cardinaldigitalmarketing.com/capacity-driven-marketing-media-investment-strategy/ Optimizing for AI Search: A New Era in Healthcare Marketing - https://www.cardinaldigitalmarketing.com/healthcare-resources/blog/optimizing-for-ai-search-a-new-era-in-healthcare-marketing/

    20 min
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4.7
out of 5
23 Ratings

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Hear the latest performance marketing strategies, industry news, and innovative tactics that will help grow your healthcare organization. Brought to you by Cardinal Digital Marketing, our CEO Alex Membrillo sits down with industry leaders and the nation's top healthcare marketing professionals to uncover practical insights to boost your digital presence and attract more patients.

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