Meet our guest:
Throughout her career, Cheri Lin has been recognized as an inspiring leader, driving profitable revenue in SaaS, B2B, B2C, and B2B2C health, wellness, and Edtech industries. Her success in igniting growth stems from solving critical business challenges, uncovering innovative insights that drive customer acquisition, and building data-driven, performance-based sales and marketing teams with operational excellence across both startups and Fortune 50 companies.
Her career began in brand management at Johnson & Johnson, where she was quickly distinguished as a ‘high potential’ leader with strong consumer insights and analytical skills. This led her to oversee TYLENOL’s advertising strategy, delivering a successful campaign that paved the way for her transition into the pharmaceutical sector. She went on to lead J&J’s first direct-to-consumer campaign for PROCRIT, a premier $4 billion cancer drug, which achieved significant results, including a boost in brand awareness from 32% to 94% and a 5:1 ROI. The New York Times ranked the campaign as the most remembered advertisement.
Driven by a passion for healthcare innovation, she joined P4 Healthcare as employee #7, launching a patient-supportive B2B2C service that improved compliance and patient outcomes. Under her leadership, the service achieved 4x+ annual growth, reaching $75 million in revenue within four years and ultimately contributing to the company’s acquisition by Cardinal Health for $500 million.
Since then, she has held C-level roles at companies including Pfizer, Dendreon, and various startups, consistently applying hyper-growth strategies. Currently, as CMO of Learning Ally, she has leveraged her expertise to build high-performance marketing and sales teams, leading initiatives in branding, lead generation, digital marketing, e-commerce, customer retention, and data analytics. Her efforts have driven exponential sales growth, even in large-scale B2B markets.
Outside of work, she is passionate about health and wellness, golf, nutrition, and helping people live better lives
Learn more about Cheri Lin on Linkedin.
My learnings from the episode:
- Understand Your Patient Segments Deeply
- Cherri highlighted the “stoic soldier” segment—patients who often feel shame or hesitation about their conditions. This group, making up 35-40% of many healthcare markets, tends to respond more positively when marketing addresses their skepticism and emotional barriers rather than showcasing idealized outcomes.
- Takeaway: Are you effectively identifying and addressing the emotional barriers that might be holding back your target market?
- Align Marketing Timing with Patient Needs
- Timing in healthcare marketing varies greatly by condition. Cherri explained that in oncology, for example, patients tend to research intensively upfront, so early visibility is essential. However, with chronic conditions like knee and back pain, patients may endure their symptoms for years before actively seeking help.
- Takeaway: Consider whether your channel strategy truly aligns with the patient’s journey, or if it simply follows general industry timing.
- Build a Data-Driven Foundation
- Cherri discussed predictive models her team uses, capable of forecasting eight-week outcomes using just two weeks of data. This approach enables timely adjustments and optimizations by basing decisions on early indicators rather than waiting for long-term results.
- Takeaway: Does your organization have the infrastructure to support rapid testing and feedback loops? Developing a strong data foundation could lead to quicker, more informed decisions in your marketing efforts.
- Each of these insights, from patient segmentation to data-driven strategies, reflects the future of healthcare marketing—prioritizing patient needs at every stage.
Looking to share your experiences?
We’re always looking for guests! If interested, email us at podcast@diacreative.com
Note: This episode is recut and remastered from an original recording of Marketing Mondays, on the Outcomes Rocket network. Original recording date: January 13, 2023
Read while you listen:
[00:00:00] Cheri Lin: You have to put yourself in their shoes. You have to put yourself in how they feel and how they feel is, Oh my God, this is another gimmick. Oh my God, I’ve tried this and it’s a fail. Do you know what I mean? Not another one. And when you have that head space and you have that mind share of what they’re thinking, you then have to have a really strong RTB reason to believe to break through that on why is this going to be different?
[00:00:26] Cheri Lin: And all those other times before
[00:00:28] Andreea: welcome to pioneering perspectives, a DIA creative podcast, where we explore marketing insights from regulated industries. Join me as we chat with real professionals, navigating these complexities today, uncovering their stories and their savvy strategies for marketing success.
[00:00:46] Andreea: Hi everyone. And welcome back. I’m your host, Andrea Borcher, CMO of DIA creative, a digital marketing agency. And today I have with me Cheri Lin, CMO of Appos Health. Thanks for being with me, Sherry.
[00:00:58] Cheri Lin: Ah, thanks for having me, Andrea. I’m [00:01:00] really excited to be
[00:01:00] Andreea: here. Awesome. So tell me a little bit about how you got where you are, uh, CMO, healthcare.
[00:01:07] Andreea: Did you always want to start with marketing or was it always health or did this just kind of come together on its own?
[00:01:13] Cheri Lin: So I actually started off in the financial sector on the trading floor at Fidelity Investments. And, um, thank God I had some great mentors who pushed me to go back to business school.
[00:01:26] Cheri Lin: And when I went back to business school, what I learned is that that, you know, and any advice to anyone is you have to go where your heart is. And even though I’m strong in the financial side of things, it wasn’t my passion, understanding consumer behavior, why people do things the way they do in growing businesses was my passion.
[00:01:46] Cheri Lin: And that led me to brand management. And my first job out of business school was just that it was brand management at Johnson and Johnson for a small little brand you might know called Tylenol. [00:02:00] And, um, on Tylenol, uh, marketing is not just marketing. It’s really running the brand and understanding all aspects of it, whether it be how much money you’re putting into sales, how many into sales.
[00:02:13] Cheri Lin: How much into marketing, the forecast and really understanding the P and L of the business. And with that, a strong sense of branding and positioning, of course. And that really was the foundation of my career, um, that led me to where I am today.
[00:02:32] Andreea: Amazing. Tylenol is such tricky. Well, any of these like major health brands is, is pretty tricky.
[00:02:39] Andreea: Um, did it feel like a big responsibility taking on that new role? No. No.
[00:02:42] Cheri Lin: Absolutely. So when I was in Tylenol, one of the first things we did was bring all of the Tylenol brands together. And, um, you know, I think one of the core areas of my success is doing what we call segmentation studies, going really deep inside to [00:03:00] patients to understand who’s the buyer, their attitudes, their needs, and their beliefs.
[00:03:06] Cheri Lin: And when you have a really good segmentation study, you not only have those personality types, but you understand the segments and which ones are the drivers in your market. So you know who, where to focus and where not to. And I’ve used that segmentation analysis and dividing the markets And figuring out what your low hanging fruit and where your big bulk to move the business and my whole career throughout all of the different places that I’ve been to that really, I think has helped me differentiate focus and figure out how to be profitable and successful.
[00:03:41] Andreea: Do you find it challenging at all with specifically healthcare brand? To the end consumer because health is such a sensitive thing for a lot of consumers and they’re very protective. I mean, Tylenol is a pretty common thing, but as you’re moving into like appos health, like you do have to kind of introduce products to people that, you know, have [00:04:00] their own health care concerns.
[00:04:01] Andreea: How do you address that with like messaging or the brand
[00:04:04] Cheri Lin: after Tylenol? I was on a drug called procreate, which is for chemotherapy related anemia. I was in the oncology space for many years. I was in the dyslexia space for many years. And now at Apple’s health, it’s a company that’s dealing with chronic knee and back pain.
[00:04:21] Cheri Lin: And what you understand is that in healthcare, there’s different attitudes, needs and beliefs and how you address your care. You know, some people are really Eager and our early adopters. Some people, um, you know, are, have a lot of guilt and fear because, you know, potentially they may feel that they’re, they did it to themselves, whether they may be overweight or not managing their diet or whatnot.
[00:04:51] Cheri Lin: And they’ve tried a lot of things and have failed and so working with that group and that population is very different than those who are maybe what I [00:05:00] call the upside activists who are proactive and maybe the pain or situation happened because of overuse. It’s a whole different mindset. So, so again, starting in that segmentation, understanding how they believe, um, you know, around healthcare and their belief systems is the most important entree into how you market to them
[00:05:25] Andreea: that I love that.
[00:05:26] Andreea: But how do you know if you’ve had enough segments or too many segments or breaking that down because I’m sure with a lot of marketers in this space, it’s like, Patient and then, well, no, let’s narrow it, but don’t get too narrow because now you’re stuck with entirely too much to do, right?
[00:05:44] Cheri Lin: Yeah, you know, there’s, I have, um, in the early days, I have done so many segmentations that they’re all different, but I usually think that there are three different groups, three or four.
[00:05:59] Cheri Lin: So there’s [00:06:00] one that’s usually your early adopters. Those in any category only represent about eight to 12 percent of your business. So when you’re launching something, you get excited because you have those hand raisers and those people are excited, but that’s not going to be a multimillion dollar business.
[00:06:17] Cheri Lin: You then have to move to another group. That second group may be, um, Those who are a little bit more involved in their health care, but the biggest group are those who are a little bit stoic, a little bit follow the doctor’s orders and a little bit, you know, kind of have that shame or blame around their health care.
[00:06:39] Cheri Lin: If you can reach that segment, that segment is the hardest to motivate. And they’re usually around 35 to 40 percent of the market. That is when your business kind of skyrockets. The fourth is what I’ll call doom and gloom. Um, you know, no matter what you do, they’re naysayers, you know, and so you really can’t [00:07:00] convince them.
[00:07:01] Cheri Lin: It’s that third group of this, what, you know, call it stoic soldiers or those who, um, feel a little guilt or shame. That if you can give them the confidence and give them the inspiration to take action and you appeal to that segment is where I see a lot of growth happening.
[00:07:18] Andreea: I love that you identified that particular segment to focus on.
[00:07:22] Andreea: Have you find any sort of tricks or tips to really address that? Because it does feel almost like a very emotional conversation you’re having with the brand.
[00:07:32] Cheri Lin: Yeah, you have to put yourself in their shoes. You have to put yourself in how they feel and how they feel is, Oh, my God, this is another gimmick.
[00:07:41] Cheri Lin: Oh, my God, I’ve tried this and it failed. You know what I mean? Not another one. And when you have that headspace and you have that mind share of what they’re thinking, you then have to have a really strong RTB reason to believe to break through that on why is this going to be different [00:08:00] than all those other times before.
[00:08:02] Andreea: And that’s really the challenge when there’s so many options out there and so many different people all trying to vie for that same solution that they’re looking for for their problem. Have you found anything in particular that that’s helped you stand out? Did you have any initiative that you did that like really helped break through?
[00:08:22] Cheri Lin: Yeah, there in all of them, it’s really testing and learning. And that’s another thing that I wanted to talk about, which is data. Um, but it’s really testing and learning and that emotional end benefit. That will actually help drive results. So for oncology, um, way back when, you know, a lot of these patients were like, well, I’m just going to follow my doctor’s orders.
[00:08:47] Cheri Lin: You know, how do you break through that? So telling the patient, You know, help your doctor help you. Your doctor needs to know that was the perfect way to break through because you’re not trying to [00:09:00] convince them of something different. You understand their hesitation. You understand where they are and you’re meeting them where they are at, you know, and you’re giving them a reason to move on.
[00:09:11] Cheri Lin: So that’s the perfect way to overcome, you know, a barrier within that group.
[00:09:18] Andreea: Yeah, I love that. It, it, I’m guessing you also had to do quite a bit of like, consumer mapping of like, what is their journey, so you can understand where you come into that conversation.
[00:09:29] Cheri Lin: Yes, that’s another really important thing from marketing is when, when and where you reach patients.
[00:09:36] Cheri Lin: Uh, it’s interesting in every area it’s going to be very different, but in the oncology space, which is so easy to talk to, cause everyone can kind of imagine it. People do a lot of their information seeking right up front. And then they have, you know, they may see a few doctors and then they have a plan.
[00:09:54] Cheri Lin: So if you have a. product or prescription drug or [00:10:00] treatment that’s in the middle of in of their treatment, you know, you have to figure out a way how to grab their attention in the beginning or be where they are, whether it be TV or whatever, whether just seeing it because they’re not looking for it, uh, in the space that I’m in now, which is chronic knee and back pain.
[00:10:18] Cheri Lin: Patients are living with this condition for many, many years, especially women, you know, they’re saying like, Oh, it’s not that bad. I can live with it. So they’re not actively looking for this condition, you know, for a new treatment because they don’t know that one’s there. So really being where they are at, whether it be, you know, on Facebook.
[00:10:38] Cheri Lin: Book or, um, even just on regular news outlets, we actually have to be there rather than Google search because they’re not searching. So understanding your consumer, understanding where they are in their journey, understanding where to best reach them is very critical in your media mix.
[00:10:58] Andreea: I hear that especially [00:11:00] when with when people are like not acknowledging that they have a problem like everything will be fine.
[00:11:04] Andreea: Everything will be fine. And I feel like we have a lot of that culture here in America where it’s just like, I don’t have to deal with this until it stops me in my tracks and by then maybe you’ve dealt with it for five years.
[00:11:16] Cheri Lin: Yeah, exactly. And that is a little bit more of an expensive media proposition because they’re not searching.
[00:11:24] Cheri Lin: So you have to really be in those mass media vehicles to capture their attention. And also for them, you know, being where they’re at. People are living with these chronic conditions. You don’t need to live with it, you know, and opening up their mind so that they are motivated. It goes back to that other first part of understanding where they are and their beliefs around the condition so that you can really capture them and inspire them.
[00:11:52] Andreea: I love that. With, uh, it sounds like when you’re actually having to plan all your marketing, you are planning quite a few different channels. Do you [00:12:00] also have to hit, like, press and PR? You’ve already got mass market. You’re doing Google. Any other channels that you found are really helpful in the health and wellness space, or ones you should absolutely avoid?
[00:12:11] Cheri Lin: Every product. Is different and where they are in their product. Life cycle is different. So it there is not one formula, but it’s really understanding where the company is where the awareness is and all stakeholders, payers, providers, patients, you know, all of it together to figure out your right channels.
[00:12:34] Andreea: Definitely with, um, do you play in social media at all? Because I know some health and companies are like, we’re not touching social media at all. It’s too dangerous. And other ones are like, we have to embrace it because that’s where our audience is.
[00:12:46] Cheri Lin: Yes, it’s a challenge because with health care compliance, uh, we need to be really careful and making sure that we’re saying the right things and we’re capturing, um, anything correct, any kind of [00:13:00] negative feedback or adverse events appropriately.
[00:13:03] Cheri Lin: So that we can handle them appropriately. So we have to be really careful. It’s not like a, a, uh, you know, regular package good for sure. Um, but we are really successful in doing social media ads in a very appropriate way that sends them to a landing page and where we can then build a relationship with our potential patients.
[00:13:27] Andreea: Right. So it’s very important in that sense. And I feel like patients also are on social media. So you kind of have to use that as social listening as well.
[00:13:33] Cheri Lin: Yeah. Absolutely. The social listening is really interesting because you learn a lot about attitudes, needs and beliefs. You learn a lot, the good, the bad and the ugly about how they feel about the condition, how they feel about your product and, and it provides a lot of nuggets and how to approach the market.
[00:13:54] Cheri Lin: And I will say that it goes for both patients and for [00:14:00] providers as well.
[00:14:01] Andreea: Absolutely. Now that you’ve had this history in health care marketing, is there anything you’re seeing as the future of health care marketing? Anything that you see is going to change as we move forward?
[00:14:13] Cheri Lin: Marketing technology, your mark tech, you know, stack and data and insight, which is another one of my passions.
[00:14:22] Cheri Lin: And it’s what I love, um, because it can really help, uh, tell you whether you’re have a strong return on investment or not. Um, and it has so many leading indicators to help you tweak and learn and refine your campaigns to be really effective. And it’s It’s just fabulous because, you know, not only can you track everything, but you can customize it based on personality types.
[00:14:50] Andreea: That’s incredible. It’s true. I feel like healthcare has been slower to adopt this than maybe like e commerce or other more aggressive industries, but you are seeing it getting more and more [00:15:00] integrating this like better data and more tech stack.
[00:15:03] Cheri Lin: Absolutely. So we can have different campaigns based on different zip codes, even, um, or Different audiences.
[00:15:13] Cheri Lin: And you know, we’re so sophisticated that our leading indicators, whether it be click through rates, landing rates, cost per lead, we have a longer journey because then when we have a lead right now, we then have a CRM program, whether we email and do calls to drive them into their practices, we evaluate everything to understand our customer acquisition cost and our and our ratios.
[00:15:41] Cheri Lin: So, um, what we’ve done is we have a predictive model based on what’s happened because our taking a step back, um, right now for APPOS Health, um, it might be an eight week process from the time someone sees an ad [00:16:00] to a time that they Then actually fill in a landing page to get a whole series of emails to call and make an appointment and actually go and get appointment and get on appos that could be eight weeks rather than waiting eight weeks to figure out whether we’re successful or not.
[00:16:20] Cheri Lin: What we’ve been able 80% Percentage of probability of what will happen within that eight weeks. So after two weeks of an ad being out there, we can look at our data and then predict what our cap is going to be and tweak. All of our ads really early on. So data, and if you use it well, and if you connect it really well, you can use your leading indicators as a predictive model for your CACs.
[00:16:53] Andreea: That’s such a cool. Way of using data because it’s, it still lets you pivot quickly, even in a slower moving industry [00:17:00] or a slower moving sales cycle. So what kind of data do you look at after the fact when you want to reevaluate how something did?
[00:17:09] Cheri Lin: So the after the fact is the end result, which is your customer acquisition cost.
[00:17:15] Cheri Lin: And you compare that to your, um, the value of your patient. You know, the LTV and you want to have a good return and every company has a different expectations of what that return would be so the after the fact is, is your cac, but leading up to that, you have your leading indicators of how well you’re doing and you should be looking at that on a daily and a weekly basis.
[00:17:43] Cheri Lin: You know, you start with the cost per media, the CPM per thousands. You then look at your click through rates for all of your ads. You then look at your landing page and your click through rates of your landing page. Then from there, what is your CTA, your call to action [00:18:00] that you’re hoping for them to do?
[00:18:01] Cheri Lin: Just put in their information. Call or, um, make a visit. And so then you keep having to track it all the way to the end. Um, but your leading indicators, if you do it well, can help you make some very quick decisions. So you don’t have to wait for that full eight weeks or whatever your let your cycle is.
[00:18:24] Andreea: Do you think you have to play this out historically for a few rounds or how long do you have to play it out historically before you can trust your leading indicators to be a good guide for you?
[00:18:37] Cheri Lin: Yeah, that’s a very good question because sometimes Andrea, like if you, you might have a really good, Cost per lead, but the leads are really poor quality, and then they’re not converting. So the middle of the funnel is looking fabulous. But when you get to the end of the funnel, it doesn’t. That’s a really good point.[00:19:00]
[00:19:00] Cheri Lin: And so you have to be pretty sophisticated and be in the market for a while to be able to trust what your models are showing you for sure.
[00:19:09] Andreea: When you first start a new role, since you’ve worked at a couple different industries, or Companies within the industry. What’s the first thing you do when you jump in?
[00:19:18] Cheri Lin: Oh, I love it. So I have two sides of my brain. Um, one is the positioning and the segmentation attitudes, needs, and beliefs, and looking how we’re positioning ourselves in the competitive set with the patient. And is that resonating? Is that working? And is that, you know, a solid positioning? The other is really thinking about the data and the return on investment.
[00:19:44] Cheri Lin: And in really diving into the numbers to look to see, okay, What are our goals? What are our media spends? What is our return? And are we using our media and reaching frequency and the right channels appropriately in order to get there? [00:20:00] So it’s kind of like the two sides, the art and the science together, that really, when you bring them together is when you have a successful campaign.
[00:20:09] Cheri Lin: So I’m really working on both. But the most important for me is putting the data together And really figuring out your KPIs and your leading indicators, because, you know, the positioning can be subjective, you know, you can test it and you can see if it works, but the proof is in the pudding, you know, so you have to make sure that it actually resonates and And it works throughout the whole final so it’s really critical that you start setting up from a financial perspective that that whole ROI analysis so that you can test the positioning and make sure and I always do like, you know, instead of doing market research now, I’m really using test markets because why do market research when you can [00:21:00] test in market, if you can just put like a little bit of money in there and see how it works.
[00:21:05] Andreea: That’s such a great point. Like market research is a ton of kind of guessing and figuring it out, but you know, test it, test it real time. What do you do internally with brainstorming all these positioning and all these tests that you’re going to do? Like, do you, how do you find all the different ideas?
[00:21:23] Andreea: Because obviously the whole point is to test as many different concepts as possible within the same realm of the brand.
[00:21:29] Cheri Lin: Yeah, testing is a challenge, too, because if you’re you’re using a small base, then you want to make sure that you have enough statistical significance when you are testing. Um, and, you know, I think when you go in, you look to see what is your weakest link.
[00:21:49] Cheri Lin: So, you know, everyone has, like, industry averages, right? And you look at your campaigns and you can say, well, where what are we doing now? Where’s our weakest link? Is [00:22:00] it the very top and the ads and the click through rate? Is it our landing page? Is it then, you know, converting all of our leads to whatever our CTA is?
[00:22:10] Cheri Lin: Um, and you can start from there. But I think that honestly, um, one of the keys to success is just because I’ve done all of those segmentation studies, You know, and being in the market and knowing whether it be in pain relief, diabetes, oncology, and now in the orthopedic side, um, you kind of come with an expertise of understanding patients and attitudes, needs, and beliefs that I feel like I don’t have to start from scratch.
[00:22:42] Cheri Lin: I can rely on, I hate to say it, over 20 years of marketing in the healthcare space. You know, and rely on that to really, I have, I never get it right the first time at all ever, but at least it’s a good place to start.
[00:22:58] Andreea: I think that’s such an important attitude in [00:23:00] marketing is like to not feel the pressure to have to get it right the first time because that’s just not how marketing works.
[00:23:07] Cheri Lin: No, I always tell my team to give them confidence. I never get it right the first time, nor should we. The most important thing is to set up an infrastructure so you can pivot quickly. And you asked me, what is the first thing that I do? It’s setting up the data and the analysis so that we can pivot quickly.
[00:23:27] Cheri Lin: So we can read the data, learn, and adjust as quickly as possible. And that’s critical. And so what is like Einstein, you know, insanity is doing the same thing over and over again. It’s, you know, to put it in the market, read and adjust.
[00:23:42] Andreea: And you can’t do that without that infrastructure. I love that the first step is to set up that foundation, that, that structure, and then you can do the creative side of marketing.
[00:23:50] Andreea: So first you have to start with the boundaries and the data, and then you can start having a little bit of fun.
[00:23:56] Cheri Lin: Absolutely.
[00:23:58] Andreea: Very cool. Is there any sort of [00:24:00] campaign or anything that stands out in your mind as something that was like really fun or that you really love doing in your career? Oh,
[00:24:09] Cheri Lin: um, the one that is most meaningful to me was in the oncology space.
[00:24:16] Cheri Lin: Uh, when I first went to the oncology space in this brand, um, what they were doing is they were advertising these very special moments, a wedding, a veteran walking, you know, on Veterans Day, they were tear jerkers, you know, and they were tear jerkers so much so that everyone forgot the product and it wasn’t motivating.
[00:24:38] Cheri Lin: And I’m like, you guys, like And I was like, people just want when you remember how I said about segmentation and there’s a group of people that are stoic. Oh, it’s not for me. They’re the naysayers. They will find every reason not to take action. Well, when you have those [00:25:00] lifetime events like a wedding or something so big, Oh, that’s not me.
[00:25:05] Cheri Lin: My life isn’t, you know, that important, or I don’t have such a big event, or it’s not worth it for me. There’s always that negative, you know, voice that you’re marketing to, to these people. So for what I did is I went in and it was about strength for everyday living. And it was about just being able to go grocery food shopping, just being able to like help out around the house.
[00:25:30] Cheri Lin: Just for these people to be able to babysit their grandchildren, everyday living. And it was the first of its kind, and I got so much resistance when we first started to do it. You know, like, Oh, the wedding, it was a tearjerker, you’re leaving the wedding? But it was what moved the business, because when you get to the attitudes, needs, and beliefs of your patients.
[00:25:54] Cheri Lin: And you think about all the reasons why they’re going to say no. And you can try to like, you know, put something [00:26:00] out there that gives them the confidence to motivate. That’s when people take action and inspire them. So I think that was one that stuck out the most. And, um, I guess I would end by saying words of advice is try to think of put yourself in the shoes of patients and all the reasons why they’ll say no.
[00:26:19] Cheri Lin: And if you can, like, come up with something that, you know, at least overcomes all of the naysayers, then you pretty much have a winner.
[00:26:29] Andreea: That’s so impactful. I love that story. I think that’s a great place to end. That’s our climax. Oh, good. Well, thank you, Sherry, so much for joining us. Uh, our guest today was Sherry Lin, CMO of Appos Health.
[00:26:44] Andreea: Uh, where can they find out more about Appos Health or about you?
[00:26:48] Cheri Lin: Oh, thank you, Andrea. For anyone who’s interested in Appos Health, they can visit startappos, A P O S dot com. And for me, Cherri, C H E R I, Lin, [00:27:00] L I N. And you can find me on LinkedIn.
[00:27:03] Andreea: Wonderful. Thanks everyone again for joining us. My name is Andrea Borcea.
[00:27:07] Andreea: I was your host and have a great day. One of my favorite things about this podcast is I get to learn from other professionals in the healthcare marketing space. That’s exactly why I like to end every episode with my key takeaways or learnings. My first major learning from my conversation with Cheri Lin was about the power of understanding your patient segments well.
[00:27:28] Andreea: What really stood out was her insight about the stoic soldier segment. That was that large group that makes up 35 to 40 percent of most healthcare markets, the people that feel shame or hesitation about their conditions. She highlighted how critical it is to meet these patients where they are emotionally, addressing their skepticism with strong reasons to believe, rather than just showing aspirational outcomes.
[00:27:50] Andreea: Are you truly understanding and addressing the emotional barriers that might be holding back your target market? My second learning focuses on the importance of timing in healthcare marketing. [00:28:00] Sherry shared a contrast between marketing for acute conditions versus chronic conditions. In oncology, patients front load their research, requiring early visibility.
[00:28:10] Andreea: But with chronic conditions like knee and back pain, Patients might live with the condition for years before seeking help. This means we need to think differently about where and when we reach patients. For your healthcare business, are you matching your channel strategy to your patient’s actual journey, or are you just following industry standards?
[00:28:28] Andreea: Finally, my third takeaway, really centers on that data driven approach she talked about. Sherry discussed how they’ve developed predictive models that can forecast eight week outcomes using two weeks of data. Rather than waiting months to understand campaign performance, they’re able to pivot quickly based on early indicators.
[00:28:46] Andreea: She emphasized starting with this infrastructure, setting up your data and analytics foundation before diving into the creative work. This allows for rapid testing and optimization. For your organization, how can you better build feedback [00:29:00] loops? What leading indicators could help you make faster, more informed decisions about your marketing efforts?
[00:29:06] Andreea: This kind of data driven approach while maintaining focus on patient needs seems to be the future of healthcare marketing. Join me next time as I have an interesting conversation with Kelly Fidler. We start by exploring her journey through healthcare marketing, a unique one in the sense that she worked in diagnostics, medical devices, and pharmaceuticals.
[00:29:26] Andreea: She also identifies a new target customer for your marketing copy. Sales team. So if you’re curious to learn more about her unique journey, make sure to tune in next week. Well, that’s the end of our episode for today. If you work in a regulated field like medical, legal, or finance and wanna share your own marketing insights, email us at podcast@diacreative.com.
[00:29:47] Andreea: And if you’re looking for marketing support, well that’s exactly what we do. Visit dia creative.com, dia a creative.com. Any other info you might need will be in the show notes, including all links mentioned in this episode. Thanks for [00:30:00] listening.
