Last week, I joined a few hundred peers in Orlando at the Healthcare Marketing & Physician Strategies Summit (HMPS), and it confirmed for me what I think a lot of us in the industry have been feeling: healthcare marketing is no longer slowly evolving – it’s completely transforming. Fast.
What once was a discipline focused primarily on awareness and lead gen is now being asked to steer the brand, develop and maintain trust and own more of the patient experience than ever before.
Marketing has always been a critical aspect of a health system’s success, but I’d argue that role is more important now than ever before. Here are what I believe were the five key themes that emerged during the conference, and what they mean for healthcare marketers now and going forward.
- Doing More With Less
Budgets are tighter. Teams are leaner. But expectations? Higher than ever. Healthcare marketers are being asked to drive revenue, manage seemingly constant organizational change and lead complex digital transformation – all while demonstrating measurable impact.
It’s a tall order, but the best marketing teams are responding with a renewed focus on efficiency. This means rethinking internal workflows, investing in better tools and tapping into agency partnerships that can scale with them. AI is cautiously being explored, but meaningful adoption is still emerging and has to be done with careful intention. As one speaker put it, “The question is no longer if we’ll use AI, it’s when – and how intelligently we apply it.”
The World Economic Forum recently estimated that 39% of current skills will be transformed or outdated due to AI within five years. That’s not a warning – it’s a wake-up call for marketing teams (and everyone else, really) to learn how to best integrate the tool.
- Marketing Is the Steward of Patient Experience
There was a time in healthcare when marketing departments had to fight just to get a seat at the table when it came to patient experience. Now? They’re leading the discussions. Increasingly, marketing leaders are being charged with overseeing patient experience strategies and aligning them with brand and operational goals.
It wasn’t surprising, then, to see CMOs sharing the stage with heads of nursing, operations and human resources. These aren’t just cross-functional partnerships for the fun of it – they're strategic realignments that reflect marketing’s newfound central role in defining, delivering and differentiating the healthcare experience.
Ballad Health CMO Molly Luton asked the room a provocative question during her presentation: “When was the last time you secret shopped your own brand?” It was a perfect example of how far marketing now extends – into patient journeys, access, empathy and trust.
- Yes, We Still Need Brand. Maybe More Than Ever.
For years, the focus in healthcare marketing has been on digital and lead gen. But at HMPS, there was a noticeable resurgence of interest in brand – and not just for awareness, but as a strategic lever influencing everything from performance media to workforce morale.
Many systems have recently rebranded – or are considering it ‐ as they look to differentiate in crowded, increasingly commoditized markets. There’s a cautionary note here, though: according to Monigle, 70% of rebrands lose momentum within 18 months.
To avoid that fate, organizations need more than a new logo. They need a strategic brand platform that informs culture, guides content and inspires consistent experience across every channel. It’s about far more than a new look – rebranding requires wholesale changes from top to bottom, inward and out.
- Content Chaos – And the Need to Rise Above It
Healthcare content is being produced at a mesmerizing pace – and AI is only going to take that up a notch. As one speaker noted, “ChatGPT is being trained to act as a therapist and a friend to people struggling with mental health.” That alone hints at the blurring lines between clinical expertise and algorithmic empathy.
With the volume of content, though, comes an undeniable opportunity: to stand out. Marketers who can create content that’s not just voluminous but valuable – personalized, trustworthy and human – will ultimately stand out above the rest.
Here’s an interesting stat: according to an NRC spokesperson at the conference, 30% of consumers say they don’t have a brand preference for a healthcare provider. And yet, according to that same data, only 24% of consumers say they’ve seen or heard any new messaging from their local hospital or health system. That’s a massive gap – and an even bigger opportunity. The right content (not the most content) can shape perception, build trust and spark connection that provides the consistent brand loyalty healthcare providers are always in search of. It’s about quality over quantity going forward.
- Trust Is Local. Experience Is Digital. Gen Z Wants It Now.
One of the most poignant insights came from a marketer who said: “Gen Z wants to have a virtual consult from the same place they order dinner: their couch.” That single quote captures a generational shift in expectations and perfectly underscores why digital experience can no longer be treated as an add-on or luxury.
Trust, though, still skews local. When asked about trust in healthcare as an industry, the majority of consumers are skeptical. Trust goes up significantly, though, when the question is about their local provider. This dichotomy tells me that brand and experience must work together – not just to generate leads, but to build enduring, local relationships that matter while providing the experience patients want.
Final Thought: The New Mandate for Healthcare Marketing
Look, the scope of healthcare marketing has fundamentally changed. It now stretches across brand, experience, content, operations – everything you can think of.
If you're a marketing leader navigating this, it’s no longer enough to be creative. You need to be strategic. Nimble. Insight-driven. And maybe most of all, collaborative – because this next era of healthcare marketing won't be won alone.
And for agencies like ours? It’s an opportunity to step up, help make sense of the noise and bring clarity, creativity and capability to the teams doing the real work on the inside.
From brand building to patient experience, efficiency to content strategy, today’s healthcare marketers are being asked to do more, be faster and leave a greater impact. At Hart, we help teams like yours do just that with clarity and confidence.
Whether you're rethinking your brand, aligning patient experience strategies or trying to figure out how to make AI work for you – let’s talk.
