Meet our guest:
Rhonda Blashke is a data-driven marketing executive and go-to-market strategist with over 20 years of experience in healthcare IT, AI solutions, medical devices, and global marketing transformation. Known for building high-performing teams and customer-centric strategies, Rhonda excels in developing innovative marketing plans that drive growth and profitability. Her expertise spans product launches, sales enablement, and customer success, making her a leader in amplifying the Voice of the Customer to fuel impactful marketing initiatives.
Learn more about Rhonda Blashke on Linkedin.
My learnings from the episode:
- Building Trust through Listening: Rhonda emphasized the critical role of listening to customers and collaborating with experts, such as tech-savvy physicians, to ensure marketing strategies align with real-world needs and foster trust.
- The Dynamic Nature of Personas: Creating effective healthcare personas requires deep, iterative research and adaptability. Rhonda highlighted the need to regularly refine personas to reflect shifting patient needs and behaviors, like the rise of digital health solutions.
- The Value of Field Experience: Rhonda stressed the importance of marketers spending time in the field with sales and customer success teams. This firsthand exposure to customer interactions helps create more authentic, impactful marketing strategies.
Looking to share your experiences?
We’re always looking for guests! If interested, email us at podcast@diacreative.com
Read while you listen:
[00:00:00] Rhonda Blashke: You develop those roadmaps. You really need to understand ultimately who your customer is. What are you trying to solve? And how do you actually take solutions from just an idea in somebody’s head, but really make sure it’s the right idea at the right time and put it in the hands of the right persona.
[00:00:17] So it was really interesting because you’d see completely different requirements from a physician. Then an administrator and you have to balance the two. Um, so it’s a lot of communication and understanding and listening to learn.
[00:00:30] Andreea: Welcome to pioneering perspectives, a Dia Creative podcast, where we explore marketing insights from regulated industries.
[00:00:37] Join me as we chat with real professionals, navigating these complexities today, uncovering their stories and their savvy strategies for marketing success.
[00:00:48] Welcome everyone. I’m your host, Andrea Porcha here from Dia Creative, and I am super excited to Rhonda Blaschke, who has over 20 years in healthcare marketing. Uh, so tell us a little bit about, uh, your background. What have you been doing? Uh, and how did you get into healthcare marketing?
[00:01:04] Rhonda Blashke: Um, and thanks for having me, Andrea.
[00:01:06] It’s so great to be here. I, um, I’ve been in healthcare IT for. Over 20 years. And when I got into marketing, um, I actually came in through a consulting route. So I was not marketing the entire time. But what I did was a lot of work in helping to create new, um, launch strategies and go to market planning for, um, betas.
[00:01:28] And new products that were being developed to help healthcare organizations, specifically in hospitals and provider organizations. Um, so my background has been in not only being in the hospitals, helping physicians understand what their needs are, but helping to develop how we could create value, um, and messaging those to the organ to different organizations to drive growth and help improve
[00:01:51] Andreea: healthcare.
[00:01:53] That’s incredible. How, I mean, I feel like launching in particular, especially something in beta has got to be really challenging. Are you, were you finding that doctors were like, yes, give me new tech or they were like, ah, slow down.
[00:02:07] Rhonda Blashke: You know, it’s a little bit of both. It’s really interesting. They want technology, but they don’t want technology to get in way of what they’re really there to do, which is to take care of patients.
[00:02:15] And so it was a lot of fun. work and what I really enjoyed about it was that it’s not just knowing what technology they want, but really understanding how it fits into their ultimate drive and why they’re in healthcare in the first place, which is all patient care. So we always, I always looked at it as how do I help them do what they’re there to do, which is take care of me and you as a patient.
[00:02:39] And that’s where I looked to understanding. Um, who they were, what their needs were, um, and how we could really drive value into the organization. So it was a very customer centric thinking.
[00:02:50] Andreea: Oh, nice. When, when you do that, do you actually start by conversations with the potential customer or, cause you were actually working as a consultant.
[00:02:59] So you, that, I mean, cause you also have the tech company being like, this is what we have, go sell it. How do you balance the two?
[00:03:07] Rhonda Blashke: You know, um, I think marketing has shifted a lot to really making sure you understand who your customers are. Um, and my background has helped me with that because, The way that you would create the solutions was to go into those customers so we would find beta partners or customers that were interested in helping us develop and really understanding what we were developing to help them drive again that patient care efficiency games and safety requirements that they had to meet regulatory requirements, all of the things that are.
[00:03:36] put upon a physician every single day. Um, and so we would go in and we would interview customers and we would fail sometimes Andrea, and we had to learn from that and that would drive our roadmap. And I think that’s why I ended up in marketing is because when you develop those roadmaps, you really need to understand ultimately who your customer is.
[00:03:56] What are you trying to solve? And how do you actually take solutions? From just an idea, um, in somebody’s head, but really make sure it’s the right idea at the right time and put it in the hands of the right persona. Um, so it was really interesting because you’d see completely different requirements from a physician.
[00:04:15] Then an administrator and you have to balance the two. Um, so it’s a lot of communication and understanding and listening to learn.
[00:04:22] Andreea: And I bet a lot of, uh, building trust with, with both parties. Right. And that to me seems like the biggest challenge really is because physicians in my experience, always like, they feel like they know best and they know how they want things.
[00:04:35] So building that trust as an outsider coming in, did you have any experience with like how to better build trust?
[00:04:42] Rhonda Blashke: Absolutely. You know, I think one of the biggest things for any of us is we learn from our peers. Um, and so me coming in and telling a physician what they need in their workflow, probably not the best idea.
[00:04:53] But what I did is, again, I listened to learn and I brought in experts that were physicians, that were CMIOs, that were technology forward thinking innovators and really understood how they would help position it. So I partnered very well, even internally with those that were physicians, but were physicians that are.
[00:05:11] There’s a lot of physicians out there that are very technology savvy, that are very innovative, and having those physicians help us educate ourselves as marketers or consultants, in addition to what we’re trying to do with the customers really was how we bridge that trust. So it’s really again going back to persona speaking to persona, I should never tell a finance person.
[00:05:34] What’s best, right? ? Yeah. But they can be my advisor and guider, um, guidance provide me guidance to what we need to do, um, to be the best that we can.
[00:05:46] Andreea: I’d love to dig into a bit more like personas. ’cause I, I, I think a lot of people think they know how to build a persona, but it, it’s a lot more complex than I think a lot of people originally think.
[00:05:56] So tell me, you know, how, how do you personally build personas when you’re starting off something new?
[00:06:02] Rhonda Blashke: A lot of what we do or what I’ve done in the past that’s successful is, um, not only working with customers directly, but actually doing market research. Um, so going out into the industry, there’s lots of in healthcare, there’s lots of industry organizations that have a very broad depth of different personas that are members of them.
[00:06:20] And you can do surveys and analysis of What are they looking for? What are their top priorities? How are they looking to drive growth? For instance, right now, digital health is not only a big thing, but it’s actually diversity and equity and inclusion. Um, and, and how do we not only create a way in which everybody has access to care, but where do they access that care?
[00:06:41] How are consumers changing the way and where we want to access care? So it’s a constant iterative process, Andrea. It’s, it’s something that you really have to. have a starting point and get that research from not only, um, surveys, but actually going out in the field as well and putting that together and then continue to build upon it.
[00:07:02] Um, it’s not easy, but right now with marketing, I think it’s a huge thing to really understand who the personas are so you can message correctly to what the needs are they need to solve.
[00:07:13] Andreea: Definitely. Yeah. If you’re not talking to the right people in the right way, then it’s pointless. How often do you feel like you need to update your personas to like, make sure that you’re still speaking the right way to the right person?
[00:07:25] Rhonda Blashke: You know, I think it depends. Um, I think a lot of it is if you’re going into a new market. Versus if you’re staying in your current market. Um, so for example, if you’re going into a new market with new solutions, there’s probably a lot more research up front. But once you have a good foundation of a persona, you can do kind of just a little bit of a test on that.
[00:07:44] Um, and I think you need to update it on at least a, I’ll say a yearly basis. But again, it kind of depends on if it’s a brand new solution coming in, because you’re solving a different problem and you may need to speak to different buyers. Healthcare market healthcare right now the buyers are not a single person.
[00:08:01] It’s really a committee. And I think that’s what you have to stay aware of as well so. In addition to keeping yourself aware of from from the research that you can do yourself. It’s also staying involved in the organizations that are out there, helping you stay abreast of what’s going in to the minds in the forefront of solving for the healthcare issues.
[00:08:22] So I’ll give you an example. I went to a CHE recently American College of Healthcare Executives. And what was interesting there is it seemed like there were certain themes you could pick up from every presentation, at least the ones that I attended, that were really around how do you get access to your patients as far as the care that you’re providing, um, in a different way than what you may have done five, 10 years ago.
[00:08:46] Um, how do you use different resources within your hospitals because there’s a shortage, shortage of resources. So how do you start changing the way that you actually deliver that health care?
[00:08:55] Andreea: Oh, that’s really interesting. Are you seeing, because at least what I’m seeing on the, on the wellness side is a lot more people are trying to take better control of their health.
[00:09:04] They’re reading more books. They’re more aware. Are you seeing that in the hospital space as well? Is that influencing how people use hospitals in their healthcare journey?
[00:09:14] Rhonda Blashke: Yeah. And I will say that, um, with hospitals, a lot of the care is moving outside the four walls. of the hospital. Um, and so that’s where you’re seeing the change.
[00:09:25] Um, a lot more interaction with, well, I mean, the industry is shifting completely. You know, how many times have you gone to a clinic at your local pharmacy that you would have never gone to and gotten a flu shot or gotten, um, a COVID test, for example. I just think there’s a natural, um, way in which healthcare delivery is being changed or is.
[00:09:46] is changing, I should say. Um, and I think that’s what hospitals are managing through. How do they partner? How do they give access outside of the four walls of hospital versus traditional ways of bringing in people to the hospital and to the larger clinics?
[00:10:00] Andreea: Yeah, the whole challenge of how do I own my own health data because that’s never what it was before but used to go to one doctor so it didn’t matter.
[00:10:06] But now, you know, you’re right, I went to the minute clinic and then I go to the hospital when I need to and then I go to urgent care and then I go to my doctor and how, how do they all actually understand what’s happening.
[00:10:17] Rhonda Blashke: You know, and I don’t think that’s a challenge that we’ve solved yet. To be perfectly honest with you.
[00:10:21] Um, I think there’s a lot of data that’s being, there’s a lot of organizations that are looking at how to solve that right now. Um, originally they thought EHRs were going to be the solve for it, but the EHRs don’t talk to each other and you could literally be in the same health system and have multiple EHRs in use.
[00:10:38] Um, and I think that’s one of the biggest things to, um, data is very, data can be very siloed, but how do you move it to being accessible. By all when you need it, um, to be able to serve that patient. So that’s a lot of the things that are actually in changing the way healthcare is delivered to because your point patients want access to their health care, not only for themselves, but for those they have to provide care for.
[00:11:02] Um, you know, we, we have a population that is, we’ve moved away from our parents maybe, and we have to keep up with them. So how do you do that in a way that’s helpful? Especially as you have older generations that are needing care.
[00:11:15] Andreea: Yeah, that’s, that’s really challenging. So even with that, it, you know, the, it might not even be the patient that’s your target persona.
[00:11:22] It’s actually who’s taking care of the patient. Uh, and then what are all their healthcare touch points that that gets a lot more complex when you go back to your personas.
[00:11:33] Rhonda Blashke: Yeah, it does. And it even gets more complex when, and you know, it’s not always B2B anymore. Sometimes you have a B2B to C, um, factor in there because again, we’re becoming much more consumer driven in healthcare.
[00:11:46] Um, I know for me, Gosh, I do all my appointments now through my patient portals with my physicians for me, my kids, my husband, um, everybody else. And, and we manage a lot of our healthcare in that way, access to our labs. We expect it to be right there, access to our exams. Um, so there’s so much that’s changing in healthcare.
[00:12:06] And I think it’s a challenge for marketers, um, because they do have to become a little bit more, um, not a little bit more, a lot more strategic. And how they actually continue to modify and change their messages to meet the needs.
[00:12:21] Andreea: Yeah. Well, and because, cause I think you’re right. Everybody wants this like grand solution that they expect.
[00:12:29] This is how things should behave and it just doesn’t. And so you have the want there, but then how do you convince them which solution is the right way? Um, are you finding with B2B to see that you’re actually having to educate a lot of the hospitals on how to talk to their. Consumers quote unquote, right?
[00:12:47] Rhonda Blashke: You know, I don’t think so. I would say that I think hospitals do a really good job of talking to their consumers for the most part. Um, patient portals have been out for a while now and the COVID push made telehealth explode exponentially. Um, but I think they’re still trying to figure out what does that mean?
[00:13:04] Because the numbers may not still be as high as they were in the height of COVID, but they’re definitely higher than they were before. So I think they’re having to very quickly think through how they communicate to those consumers and actually retain them, because there is a fluidity in care, like you just mentioned, urgent care.
[00:13:22] Clinics at the CVS or the Walgreens. Um, there’s all kinds of ways in which patients are consuming. And so hospitals, I think, are challenged to retain and make sure that they actually are able to expand their network of physicians outside and help deliver that care. Um, you know, as far as education, I would say one of the biggest challenges still is just keeping up with how do you educate the ways in which technology is advancing.
[00:13:53] In a way that’s helpful. To those different personas. So cloud technology versus on prem technology, um, interoperability, access to data, all of those things. And that’s where I think the personas also take a really big forefront is because you are, um, definitely with new technology, having to make, And education, um, as your, uh, step as the first one, because they just don’t know what’s out there.
[00:14:19] There’s so much to consume and how do you stand out is really important.
[00:14:24] Andreea: Absolutely. And are you seeing a lot more startups coming into the health tech industry? And so same sort of thing, right? With all these new startups coming in, how do you know which one? Is going to be the one that has the right solution in the long run.
[00:14:40] Yeah, there’s a lot
[00:14:41] Rhonda Blashke: of, um, startups right now. And I think it’s a great thing. I think it’s disruptive and I think it’s pushing the organizations to, to do better. Um, from a technology perspective, as well as from a healthcare perspective. Um, I always think it’s interesting. I worked with EHR systems for a while selling solutions in.
[00:14:58] And one of the things we found is that EHRs have. Massive amounts of capabilities and functionality, but sometimes our organizations are only using a portion of it. And then what you see is purchasing happening where they’re buying additional technology that they think they need, but maybe there’s actually that capability within their organization.
[00:15:19] So you see also a lot of CIOs and IT resources, looking at how they rationalize their portfolio of technology as well. What am I investing in and can it meet more than one need? Um, yeah. But that’s where I think the amazing things are coming in from a technology perspective, because it’s pushing the boundaries, it’s making us think differently it’s keeping up with our consumer mindset, and our instantaneous need, we as consumers now are very used to being able to going online finding something ordering it right away.
[00:15:49] That doesn’t really change in healthcare. You want to be able to find an appointment. And I know for me, even I’ve looked at doctors. I’m like, I don’t want to wait three weeks for an appointment. I’ll find another one in the network. I mean, it’s, it’s kind of like, unless you have built that relationship with your physician.
[00:16:04] People are prone to look for the most immediate need and how do they solve for it?
[00:16:09] Andreea: Yeah, I can definitely see that. It, it still blows my mind when I was asked to fax something, uh, to, uh, a doctor’s office. And I, I, I don’t know how to fax that. I guess there’s an iPhone app for it and I’ll fax from that.
[00:16:22] Does that work? And, uh,
[00:16:25] Rhonda Blashke: It’s funny you say that because like I go into the doctor’s office. I’m like, why am I having to fill out all these forms? Can’t they just go online and fill this out one time and say, yeah, nothing’s changed. Um, so I think there is still definitely some digitalization that needs to happen in healthcare.
[00:16:40] Andreea: Absolutely. Uh, so do you have like a favorite campaign or launch that you’ve done in your career that you’re just like, look back really fondly on? Yeah, you know, I,
[00:16:49] Rhonda Blashke: I, uh, I’m very proud of some of the work that I did recently with, um, moving on prem solutions to cloud and the way that we really took just a couple of customers and started breaking into thought leadership and how do we use those as thought leaders to really give momentum and drive momentum.
[00:17:08] Um, and with that, we actually saw a huge growth in our pipeline. Um, we ended up being able to drive, um, over. 200 percent increase in our MQLs and our leads. And I think a lot of it just had to do with building the momentum. I will say the one thing though, that is, is interesting is going back to that instantaneous thing.
[00:17:29] Marketing takes time, especially when you’re going in with new solutions and really trying to differentiate yourself. Um, and it took us about a year to reach some of those, but I think we just stuck to it. We knew where we were needed to go. We started really thinking about it. I’m very proud of the, the team that worked on it and how we came together across.
[00:17:49] All parts of the organization to drive that momentum into the market.
[00:17:53] Andreea: That’s really incredible. I, I, I feel like the, the, a lot of the fear, correct me if I’m wrong, is that, well, the data is not going to be safe. If it’s in the cloud, everything has to stay on prem, right? You’re like, I, I just, I don’t know about that.
[00:18:05] Right. And how did you overcome that?
[00:18:08] Rhonda Blashke: You know, that is a great question. And I think cybersecurity and healthcare is Massive issue that everybody’s trying to address. Um, healthcare data is, I think, one of the top, if I remember correctly, it’s one of the top pieces of data that people are trying to steal.
[00:18:24] Andreea: Wow. Um,
[00:18:24] Rhonda Blashke: and so it’s, it’s a very, very high, high risk cybersecurity. Um, and I think what’s interesting is that when you really start looking at cloud technology, you start realizing that it avoids having to keep a lot of your systems up to date. Um, and when you really look at the technology itself and how it’s secure, um, Google has a great video out there of how their data centers are secure and literally there’s.
[00:18:51] few people that have access even into the data center. Um, but it’s a really fascinating way in which you have to educate people healthcare in particular, um, about how you are actually more secure when you move your solutions to the cloud. Um, and there’s a lot of different reasons for that, Andrea, but one of the main ones is that again, you have so many systems to maintain in the healthcare space and the resources and skillset to do it.
[00:19:19] I mean, it’s, it’s hard to keep that type of self. Um, a CIO I worked with recently, he said, I’m not in the business to maintain data centers. I’m in the business of delivering healthcare. Now he was a very progressive, um, CIO. He was also a physician by trade. So I think when you have those, those resources in healthcare systems that are very Physician focused as well as technology focus, they begin to see that that’s distracting away from their ultimate mission, and they’ll also see that they don’t have the resources to maintain it.
[00:19:52] They are the ones that I think are their first movers, and the innovators on how do you actually get into different ways of using technology to again, focus on healthcare delivery, not on the technology.
[00:20:03] Andreea: Yeah, that’s really powerful. Uh, because you’re right. I mean, if every single hospital had to run a data center, you’re that that’s a huge cost to have that team and that expertise.
[00:20:14] And what if you can’t find that expertise when you’re in the middle of nowhere in Missouri or something, right? Like, it’s just not possible. Yeah, that that’s so powerful. That’s so cool. Um, so what advice would you give if somebody was trying to get into healthcare marketing starting today? Like what, what should they really focus on to, to be able to make an impact and, and, uh, gain that trust you need for healthcare marketing.
[00:20:37] You know, I think the biggest
[00:20:39] Rhonda Blashke: thing is just become a very big partner with your sales organization, with your product management team, your R and D team. Um, if there’s anybody that’s in customer experience. Experience your customer success, or really partner across the organization and, and listen and learn and go out in the field.
[00:20:57] I think that one of the best things a marketer can do is to go out in the field with a salesperson and actually hear them speak to customers for several times. Because what you’re learning is the actual voice. Of the customer and you’re not hearing it, just third party, you can actually see and feel and touch, so to speak, the customer voice directly.
[00:21:17] Um, and hearing that story is so powerful in order for us to create the stories of what the needs are and how you drive value into those organizations. So my advice would be if you start in a marketing, see and ask if you can go out or just listen in on a conference call, be a fly on the wall with a sales person, with a couple of customers, and don’t just do it once.
[00:21:38] You know, it goes back to kind of our conversation about how do you keep in touch with your personas? You keep in touch because you keep in touch with your field. Um, you have to know what the customers are saying to your sales team in order to really understand the needs. And then the other thing is be a learner, constantly learn, keep up with different publications and events and organizations, and just, you know, Consume things, set aside some time every single day to read some of the highlights and delve into an article or two.
[00:22:07] Um, continuing just learning is, is my biggest thing with marketing.
[00:22:11] Andreea: Oh, absolutely. Especially with how quickly things are changing. I would totally agree with that. Yeah. One of my secret weapons for most of my marketing career has been talking to customer support because that they actually hear directly from customers rather than what executives think is happening right with their customers.
[00:22:28] It’s an actual ear to the ground.
[00:22:31] Rhonda Blashke: Well, yeah. And I mean, when so many customers are now moving to SAS models and into cloud solutions, the customer voice is huge because they want, again, instantaneous, they want to have their voice heard. Um, and I think that’s one of the things I loved about my career is having worked on betas being in the field with the customers, with the sales team, with the development team, and understanding how to put all those pieces together and create a solution.
[00:22:56] Is by far the most important. One of the things that I think I can say I’ve most learned from, um, and I think it’s made me a better marketing person today. I love that.
[00:23:07] Andreea: I love that. Well, Rhonda, I really want to thank you so much for taking the time to talk to me. This has been super fun. Yeah. I’m so glad to be here and thank you so much for inviting me.
[00:23:16] Each week on this podcast, we dive deep into the stories and strategies of healthcare marketing professionals, uncovering lessons that can inspire and inform my chat with Rhonda Blaschke was full of such insights and here’s what resonated the most with me. First, building trust through listening and learning.
[00:23:35] Rhonda emphasized the importance of listening to customers and bringing in those experts that can resonate with that persona you’re targeting. Especially when dealing with healthcare providers. Rather than imposing your own ideas, marketers must always collaborate with experts like tech savvy physicians, as an example, to bridge the trust gap and ensure messaging aligns with real world needs.
[00:24:00] Second, the complexity of the healthcare personas in particular, building effective personas and marketing is so crucial. But in healthcare marketing, it requires much more than surface level research. Rhonda highlighted the iterative nature of persona development, which involved continuous research, industry engagement, and direct customer interaction.
[00:24:24] Personas have to evolve, especially in healthcare, as patient needs and behaviors shift, like. As an example, the growing demand for digital health solutions and the changing access points for care. Finally, the power of field experience in marketing. Rhonda advised that marketers should partner closely with the sales and customer success teams and engage in field work to truly understand the customer voice.
[00:24:51] Spending time with the sales team in the field, listening directly to customers, providing valuable insights into their needs and challenges. All help make marketing strategies more effective and customer centric. Have you been curious if you can fit video into your healthcare marketing strategy? Well, you’re going to love our next episode where we dig into the unique practice identity and personal journey of Dr.
[00:25:14] Shaw, emphasizing trust in individuals over brands and the impact video marketing has made. 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. And if you’re looking for marketing support, well that’s exactly what we do.
[00:25:35] Visit dia creative.com. Diacreative.com. Any other info you might need will be in the show notes, including all links mentioned in this episode. Thanks for listening.
