Intro: The following SHSMD podcast is a production of DrPodcasting.com.

Bill Klaproth (Host): On this edition of the SHSMD podcast, we talk about diving deeper into 2025 trends, 2025, oh my gosh, but you know what? We got to be ready for it. We got to attack it. So we're going to talk about Gen AI Influencer marketing and healthcare retailization. These are things that are going to impact 2025.

It's good that we're discussing these things. So let's talk with Erin Killion and Jennifer Dixon from the Goodway Group, as we talk about these things that you should probably know about, learn about and use in 2025. So let's get to it, right now.

 This is the SHSMD Podcast, rapid insights for healthcare strategy professionals in planning, business development, marketing, communications, and public relations. I'm your host, Bill Klaproth. Today, we welcome two guests from Gradient Goodway Group's Digital Agency. Joining us is Erin Killion, the Director of Client Strategy for Healthcare, and Jennifer Dixon, the Senior Director of Client Experience for Healthcare, both with Gradient Goodway Group's Digital Agency, as we talk about the trends that are going to shape 2025, oh my gosh, we're talking Gen AI Influencer Marketing and the Retailization of Healthcare. Erin and Jennifer, welcome.

Erin Killion: Thank you.

Jennifer Dixon-Lux: Hi, Bill. Thank you. So happy to be here today.

Host: Yeah, you bet. Thank you, Erin and Jennifer. Great to talk with you. Jen, let me start with you. Let's talk about Influencer Marketing. Can you tell us about that and how you feel Influencer Marketing will affect Healthcare Marketing in 2025?

Jennifer Dixon-Lux: Of course, I think that influencer marketing in the last few years have really started to take off. When we think traditionally about healthcare, you know, we're, we're a little bit behind your e-commerce and retail, but I would say specifically with our clients, what we've seen in the last 18 months, two years is, are them really leaning into healthcare influencer marketing.

I think in 2025, influencer marketing is really poised to make a significant impact by reshaping patient engagement, health awareness, and building trust. When we think about how our patients seek information, and there's a lot of misinformation out there. For healthcare organizations to really rely on credible influencers to build that trust and relay credible information specifically, like when we think about promoting preventative care. That is a great area of opportunity, schedule your annual mammogram really being that kind of advocacy for some preventative messages. I think also, there's also an opportunity to lean into influencer marketing to balance some of that privacy and compliance issues that healthcare struggles with.

But overall, I think, what we've seen is when healthcare companies really lean into influencer marketing in this space, it really has made a significant impact on their business outcomes and the ability to track that all the way through to show to the organization that ROI. Um, we've just seen a lot of success with that over the last couple of years.

Erin Killion: Especially when you're talking about specific audiences, right, like Gen Z, which is particularly hard for healthcare organizations to, it's a tough cohort, for them to engage with. So really being able to sort of meet them where they are and knowing that they do engage with and follow health influencers across social media platforms.

It's just really a great opportunity for those healthcare organizations to extend the conversation with this super important cohort.

Host: Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. When I think of Healthcare Marketing, I don't think Influencer Marketing. . So it's interesting that we're talking about this, and as you said Jen, you know, we in the healthcare space are a little bit behind the trends that retail uh, comes up with first, so I could see that finally coming to the healthcare space.

And then, Erin, let's talk about Gen AI. Can you tell us how it will impact healthcare, in 2025?

Erin Killion: Absolutely. You know, hot, hot topic right now. And oddly enough, in healthcare, we're actually a little bit ahead of the curve when you compare it to sort of where other industries are in terms of their integration with Gen AI. When it comes to healthcare marketing, healthcare strategy; we're definitely seeing a lot of opportunity to enhance patient experience through Generative AI and through those integrations, you know, with your EHRs with your CRMs, just even with, you know, your website being able to, once again, meet those patients, meet those consumers where they're at and communicate with them in, almost real time.

And really just being able to capitalize on that. Of course, always something that you have to sort of balance with the pros and cons, but Generative AI, definitely a great opportunity for healthcare organizations to enhance patient experience, which we then know directly results in higher ROI, in less leakage, in, this ideal keepage percentage that people are looking for and then just overall satisfaction, which we know definitely impacts things like your HCAP scores and your reimbursement rates.

Host: Yeah, enhancing a patient experience always a good thing. And like you say, it can lead to higher ROI, less leakage and things like that. So that's an important thing to remember as we talk about Gen AI, as we move into 2025. And then, Erin, how about retailization? Love that word. Can you tell us about retailization and, how it will impact 2025?

Erin Killion: Sure, yeah. So a lot of times we call it either retailization or the Amazonification, right, of healthcare. Healthcare consumers are expecting the same level of experience that they're getting across their other, across the other industries that they're interacting with from their health care providers.

And we do know that if they don't receive it, that they are quick to walk. And they, definitely are speaking with their feet and their health care dollars. Particularly as we see more and more of that health care dollar falling on the patient or the consumer responsibility. You know, with those high deductible health plans and so really you're going to start to see the need to enhance patient experience, once again, through, you know, Gen AI, through those communication strategies that could include Influencer.

But, also making sure that you are meeting them where they're at. Giving them multiple ways to engage in ways that are specific to them. Whether they want to text you, whether they want to chat with you through, the MyChart app or whatever EHR app that you're integrated with.

 Whether they want to be able to email their provider or pick up the phone and call; those things change from moment to moment. And so really being able to make sure that you are providing them with that enhanced experience at every touch point is what is going to be so crucial for our healthcare organizations to really, you know, stand out in this competitive marketplace.

On top of that, I would say, you know, we're also seeing these true retail partners sort of beginning to come in and make impacts in the industry. When you look at Amazon's One Medical, when you look at Walmart's recently pulled back out of healthcare, but, you know, really just CVS and Walgreens and all of your online providers, your virtual care consumers have more choice now than ever.

And really access, value, transparency, and service are the things that are going to really, really matter to them in 2025 and beyond.

Jennifer Dixon-Lux: To add on to that, Bill, I was recently, Erin knows this I was recently at HCIC last week ton oaf great content and I was in this session about consumerism and the evolving future of healthcare choices. And there was some context that the speaker gave. Before COVID, we think about patients and patients were really just passengers of a system. They didn't have choice. They didn't have access. And as COVID entered into our life and retail, these retail disruptors came to be, we no longer have patients that need to be passengers of the system. They have choice. Everything that consumers are demanding, the retail disruptors are offering and for systems to win and retain their patients, they need to continue to lean into technology, lean into that AI to give our patients what they're demanding. It was a really powerful session. And I just wanted to add that to Erin's comment.

Erin Killion: I love that.

Host: Yeah, really good point, talking about the retailization of healthcare and how we should be leaning into tech and AI and people are no longer a passenger in their healthcare. So all of this really makes sense as we talk about influencer marketing, Gen AI, and the retailization of healthcare. So Erin then what are some strategic marketing opportunities healthcare organizations can use given these trends?

Erin Killion: Yeah, that's a great question, Bill. I think the biggest one really is to just get a better understanding of the data that you have. Right? We have this tremendous amount of data in our EHR systems, in our CRMs and it's typically pretty siloed, but if you can aggregate all that data, you can start to identify where there's some opportunities to really lean in. I feel like that's our buzzword for today. To lean into engaging with these consumers. When you're talking about meeting them where they're at, definitely understand that healthcare is something that's very passive in the back of people's minds.

No one wants to think about healthcare except maybe the people on this call or on this, podcast right now. But for most consumers, it's really not at the forethought of their minds and so, making sure you are leveraging, you know, whether it's influencer, whether it's Gen AI to enhance the patient experience, whether it's making sure that you're leaning into the retailization component.

Making sure that you're truly there when they need you and that you can provide the services for them whether it's that, research and information, or it's that access that they need when they need it and, how they need it so that it's really, you just more about them.

Make it about the patient. I think that for a really long time we've all worked with healthcare systems and healthcare stakeholders that have these ideas of the things that they want to talk about. And I think it's really crucial, especially now to Jen's point as, they're no longer, the patients are no longer the passengers on their healthcare journey.

They're now the active navigators of this healthcare journey. You know, the driver that we're talking about things that matter to them. That we're engaging with them about the things that are longer term going to help them, that are going to resonate with them, not just the things that the healthcare organization might want to promote.

I think there's a lot of value in sort of taking a step back and zooming out and understanding what motivates the patient, what motivates that? What are those barriers? What are those pain points? Like, why aren't they getting care? Where is that break in their journey? And how can we help to sort of resolve that break?

In fact, I think Jen has a great example of where we took that data, we analyzed it and we identified a great opportunity. Jen, I don't know if you want to, if you want to speak to that. We have to keep, we can't necessarily talk about the client, but yeah.

Jennifer Dixon-Lux: Yeah, it's really interesting. Just again, thinking about what are some of those strategic opportunities is leaning into that Gen AI to free up time. So you can think about larger strategic initiatives and focus on patient care.

So we were able to apply some Gen AI technology to analyze some data to figure out, why was our emergency department experiencing extremely high readmittance rates? Not good for anybody. Not good. So, leveraging this technology, we were able to uncover that these folks who were being readmitted, readmitted, did not have a primary care doctor, did not follow up with their primary care doctor.

So what we were able to do, again, leaning on that personalization through Gen A, we were able to send a communication follow up. Some folks got a phone call, some folks got an email that said, Hey, follow up with your PCP and here are the available appointments for a PCP within the next two days. You know, after we were able to give them exactly what they needed, that seamless digital experience, again if you're on the phone we had a care navigator to help make that appointment, but we were able to provide that step that was lacking in their patient journey to reduce readmittance rates.

Now again, like, there was a lot of things that went involved and that was a very simplistic version, but when we think about what got us there, it was leaning into that Gen A. AI leaning into that personalization at scale. And I think those are some really crucial things that we need to apply to 2025 for our clients and in the larger healthcare vertical as a whole.

Erin Killion: Just to build on top of that, there's research out there that says that patients that attend or take part in a virtual care visit, typically have a higher rate of needing to see someone in person within the next two to three weeks, either if the issue is not solved.

And so really that's a great opportunity for healthcare organizations to, you know, if someone schedules or has a virtual care appointment, to, you know, instantaneously sort of follow up with them. And then sort of do that trickle or that, slow nurture through their owned platforms whether it's an email, whether it's an app message, whether it's a phone call that really just allows you to reach out to them and make sure that their symptoms are subsiding or making sure that, you know, if they need anything else, that you're there. It's that level of patient experience that's going to really not only help enhance the overall patient experience and keep your patients happy, which is so crucial but it also really will impact your outcomes. And we all know the value of improved outcomes in healthcare.

Host: Those are great examples. Thank you for sharing those. It's really important when you hear, it's easy to talk about these things, but when you actually hear real world examples of how you can put these things in place, that always helps. So, Erin, can you discuss then any potential pitfalls to avoid when implementing Gen AI into marketing strategies?

Erin Killion: Absolutely. Yeah, it's definitely a double edged sword, right? I think that just be aware, be cognizant of the where some of those downfalls might be. You can have the hallucinations that you get with Gen AI, you can have it can exacerbate myths and disinformation based on where it's pulling from.

You could potentially risk, depending on, where it's sourcing its data, some privacy concerns. So definitely just some things, to make sure you understand sort of where that data's being sourced. Understand where it sits in your ecosystem. Is it, you know, behind that user authentication or user identification portal, or is it in front of that?

And how are you leveraging it in just your communications, and do you still have that human touch that is allowing you to review what Gen AI is putting out? Are you spot checking? Are you making sure that it's not just, sort of a rinse and repeat? Because there are some downsides to it, right?

And I think really important when it comes to how people are even just engaging with the Generative AI, like a Chat GPT or a Google Gemini. I think really critical for marketers to look at how that's impacting patient journeys in terms of search, you know, where are they starting?

How are they engaging with Gen AI from a search perspective? And at what part of their patient journey are they doing that, right? Like, we know that they're not going to a Chat GPT or a Generative AI engine to search for like, hospitals near me, or, you know, some of those lower funnel things, right?

They tend to start a little bit higher up in the patient journey looking at symptoms or asking questions or identifying broader conversational ideas. But definitely sort of figuring out where that sits is going to be really critical because your website and your digital properties have to be able to sort of placate both your Gen AI, as well as the search market, which is so crucial right now, as well, especially when you're looking at those lower funnel activities.

Host: Yeah, really good points there. And as I'm hearing you both talk about this, we always gravitate towards the shiny object. What's new in marketing? But these things seem to have really long term impact, I think. So if I could ask both of you, Jen, let me start with you. Do you see long term impact of these trends on the healthcare industry, if you could look into your crystal ball?

Jennifer Dixon-Lux: Yes, I think that when organizations commit to embracing let's use Gen AI. When they commit to embracing Gen AI, it is going to free up time for organizations to really focus on patient care. Technology as a whole is getting to a place where I don't wanna freak anybody out, but technology is getting to a place where they're gonna be able to predict a patient's potential wellness issue or just needs in general before they actually arise. And I think embracing that technology is going to be crucial to winning. I see healthcare as, we are going to have a lot of healthy people in the future because we're going to lean into technology to help us get there.

And I think that it's here to stay for a while, specifically when we think about influencer marketing. There's nothing like the human touch. So I think having that emotional connection with a trusted, influencer, influencer can be a doctor as well, too, but having that one to one emotional connection is not going away anytime soon.

So kind of embracing both that technology side and freeing up time to make more meaningful emotional connections; those two things combined are super powerful and organizations that can do it and do it well and do it first are going to be able to win in this space.

Host: Okay. You're freaking me out now. I just got to say, if Gen AI is going to predict, okay, guess what? You're going to get this, in a year. Okay. Thanks.

Erin Killion: Yeah, I don't, I don't think it will quite be to the, the timeline component, Bill, but I mean, I don't think it will help.

Host: I'm kind of teasing, but, but, but it is kind of interesting to talk about that. Like, oh, you know, it potentially could perform these functions down the road, right?

Jennifer Dixon-Lux: Yeah, I think Apple, I think it was Apple that on their watch, I think it was Apple that released something a while back that said it's not far off to think that they would be able to predict when somebody has a stroke or when somebody is going to have a heart attack based on their vitals and based on that individual's prior health experience.

So, I think it's gonna be really powerful, Bill.

Erin Killion: Yeah, and Jen, I mean, more and more patients, I think this goes back to one of those implications too, more and more consumers are willing to share those wearable health data points with their provider, with the system. So, I think that's yet another data pool that healthcare organizations can start pulling from and that can help to make the overall experience, right?

Like that's, you're not just sitting in a doctor's office for those 15 minutes and engaging with your provider while they type on a screen. And ask you all the same questions. It's, they have real world data to pull from because you have your wearable, right? You've had those kind of, that relationship, those communications with them.

It definitely becomes more of like holistic, a holistic, whole patient sort of approach that really lends itself to just making people healthier.

Host: Yeah, great point. And so, interesting about the wearable, right? Like, right now, my Apple Watch can tell me if I'm in AFib or not, but, like you say, and this is only going to continue to get better, and they're going to continue to add more things in the future. So, when we talk about trends beyond today, this is going to be happening down the road.

Erin Killion: And you know what, honestly, patients expectations aren't changing, right? They're only going to continue to enhance. They're only going to continue, you know, same thing when we look at privacy, same thing when we look at their patient experience. Like those things aren't going away and people are only going to be expecting more. It's like, great that you did that for me yesterday, but what are you going to do for me today? Kind of thing. So, it's really critical that healthcare organizations are able to kind of get it right now because it's only going to have to get better if they want to continue to compete. And so really just keeping that in mind.

Host: Well, that's that whole retailization health care, and one of you said earlier people are looking for health care to be as easy to use like Amazon. So, people are going to be demanding that, and they no longer are the passenger in their health care journey. They want to take control, and they want that ease of use, like you both have said here today.

Well, this has been fascinating. One last question for both of you. Erin, let me start with you. Any final thoughts you want to add?

Erin Killion: There's so much information out there. There's so much research available. There's so much that you can kind of glean from just everything that's going on. I mean, just dive in and read. I think that's best way that you can really learn. And then of course, work with trusted partners, right?

Like, make sure that whether it's your agency, whether it's your marketing team, whether it's, whoever your freelancers are, just make sure that they are also equally as in tune to the healthcare space as you are. Because it is so nuanced, it's so specialized and it's not something that anyone can just step into.

And that's really what we're finding is that the more you can have that nuanced understanding and approach, the better off you're going to be from a healthcare marketing and just a healthcare experience side.

Host: Yeah, really good point. Thank you for that. And, Jen, how about you? Final thoughts?

Jennifer Dixon-Lux: I am so excited for the future of healthcare. I think, Erin summed it up nice, you need some trusted partners in this space, but I think healthcare is just really poised to knock it out of the park, and I'm excited for the future.

Erin Killion: Absolutely.

Host: Yeah, good stuff. Well, Erin and Jennifer, thank you so much for sharing your insights on these transformative trends in healthcare marketing as we look towards 2025. It's clear that these shifts offer exciting opportunities, as you both have been saying for healthcare organizations really to reinvent their strategies.

So, Jen and Erin, thank you so much for being here.

Jennifer Dixon-Lux: Bill, thank you so much, this is great, and thanks Erin.

Erin Killion: Thanks Jen.

Host: Yeah, and once again, that is Erin Killion and Jennifer Dixon. To learn more, please visit goodwaygroup.com/gradient/healthcare-marketing-agency. Once again, that's goodwaygroup.com/gradient/healthcare-marketing-agency. And if you found this podcast helpful, and how could you not? Come on, man, please share it on your social channels, and please hit subscribe or follow button to get every episode. And to podcast library full of great topics, please visit SHSMD.org/podcasts. This has been a production of DrPodcasting. I'm Bill Klaproth. See ya!