Ignite: Healthcare Marketing Podcast

Most healthcare marketing breaks down when patient demand outpaces real clinical capacity. On this episode of Ignite, Ashley Petrochenko, Cardinal's VP of Brand Marketing, sits down with Joseph McLean, Director of B2C Marketing at Synergy Health Partners, to explore why patient acquisition only works when it is built around provider availability, operational reality, and access. Joseph shares how...

If growth is stalling, the problem is rarely the media plan. It is friction in the patient experience that marketing cannot fix after the fact. On this episode of Ignite, Cardinals VP of Brand Marketing Ashley Petrochenko sits down with Ben Whitaker, Director of Digital Strategies, Marketing, and Communications at UofL Health, to unpack why sustainable healthcare growth starts long before the appo...

Too many healthcare marketers allocate budgets based on guesswork or last year's spend. Cardinal's approach is different.  On this episode of Ignite, Cardinal's media and analytics team break down how to build smarter investment foundations by understanding what is actually driving growth. The discussion covers how to separate paid impact from organic and other channels, align media investment wit...

When patient acquisition feels unpredictable, it is usually an operations problem hiding inside a marketing problem. On this episode of Ignite, Cardinal's VP of Brand Marketing Ashley Petrochenko is joined by Stephen Harrell, Director of Marketing at StrideCare, to break down why real healthcare growth depends on tight alignment between marketing, access teams, and clinical operations. You will he...

Healthcare marketers write off Meta for one reason: lead quality. High volume or cheap leads don't matter when leads are unqualified, uninsured, or never convert to patients. Cardinal's paid social team cracked the code. Through systematic testing of Meta lead forms—adding SMS verification, progressive insurance qualification, and strategic engagement tactics—they transformed Meta from a brand cha...

In this episode of Ignite, Cardinal CEO Alex Membrillo sits down with Heather Lang, Chief Marketing & Experience Officer at Twin Cities Orthopedics, for a deep dive into how TCO is innovating in patient acquisition, brand differentiation, and digital strategy. You'll gain actionable insights on aligning marketing with business outcomes, leveraging data to secure budget increases, and using consume...

In this episode of Ignite, Cardinal CEO Alex Membrillo talks with Diana Ochoa, Sr. Director of Multicultural Marketing at Sage Dental, exploring what it takes to authentically connect with multicultural audiences and drive real business growth. You'll learn why understanding data, cultural intelligence, and acculturation levels is essential for effective segmentation and communication, and how to...

How do you scale marketing while hitting aggressive growth goals? Matt Stringer, CMO of Action Behavior Centers, joins Cardinal's Chief Strategy Officer, Rich Briddock, to share how ABC quadrupled qualified lead volume by building measurement infrastructure while moving fast—not waiting for perfection before launching. Learn how they expanded into new channels, navigate the quality vs. quantity da...

In this episode of Ignite, Cardinal CEO Alex Membrillo chats with Jessica Walker, Founder & CEO of Care Sherpa, about strategies for healthcare marketers who want to maximize the ROI of their patient acquisition efforts. You'll learn how to identify and fix the biggest gaps in lead management—like missed calls, lack of follow-up, and insufficient nurturing—that are costing your organization revenu...

In this episode of Ignite, Cardinal CEO Alex Membrillo sits down with Dane Titsworth, Manager of SEO & Digital Content at Ardent Health Services, for a must-listen conversation for healthcare marketers navigating the rapidly changing landscape of SEO and AI. You'll learn why accuracy, trust, and brand reputation are more important than ever, and how connecting with local teams and providers ensure...

In this episode of Ignite, Cardinal CEO Alex Membrillo sits down with Mindy Grantham, Director of Marketing at Mayo Clinic, to unpack the challenges and opportunities in oncology marketing—from demand generation and clinical trial accrual to leveraging AI, optimizing your website for both education and conversion, and building trust through community engagement and reputation management. You'll wa...

This episode of Ignite is your inside look at the upcoming Scaling Up Healthcare Performance Marketing Summit, designed specifically for healthcare marketers like you who want to drive real patient acquisition and stay ahead of industry trends. Hosted by Cardinal CEO Alex Membrillo and Cardinal CGO Lauren Leone, you'll hear about the event's top-tier speakers, actionable case studies, and focused...

Healthcare marketers are under constant pressure to deliver immediate patient volume. But when performance campaigns take center stage at the expense of brand marketing, the long-term health of the organization suffers. In this episode of Ignite, Lauren Leone sits down with Cardinal's Katie Gray, Senior Account Director, to explore how performance and brand can work together—not against each other...

In this episode of Ignite, Cardinal CEO Alex Membrillo sits down with Kent Mora, a marketing expert, to explore how healthcare marketers can break through the barriers of HIPAA and outdated mindsets to build truly measurable, ROI-driven marketing programs. You'll hear firsthand how applying proven direct-to-consumer strategies, focusing on demand capture, and embracing both digital and traditional...

In this episode of Ignite, Cardinal CEO Alex Membrillo sits down with Kaela Shupe, VP of Marketing at Tend, to share actionable insights on how to authentically manage your brand's reputation in today's digital landscape. You'll learn how Tend Dental leverages platforms like Reddit to shape brand perception, uses analytics to track not just lead volume but lead quality, and creates relatable, reas...

In this episode of Ignite, Alex Membrillo, CEO of Cardinal, sits down with Emily Rose, VP of Marketing at Lightwave Dental. If you're a healthcare marketer, this episode is packed with actionable insights on how to drive growth in multi-location practices by leveraging doctor engagement, optimizing your tech stack for lead tracking and online scheduling, and embracing both traditional and digital...

In this episode of Ignite, Cardinal's CGO Lauren Leone is joined by Jean Zhang, Senior Creative Director, for a deep dive into what it takes to optimize your landing pages and turn ad clicks into real patient actions. This episode is all about helping you, as a healthcare marketer, avoid common mistakes, build trust with the right credibility signals, and design pages that work for both users and...

How do you choose the right technology, measure what counts, and still keep patients at the center of your marketing? In this episode of Ignite, Cardinal CEO Alex Membrillo chats with Chelsea Lockhart, Senior Director of Platform Management and Marketing Technology at Sutter Health, about what it really takes to build effective marketing operations in health systems. You'll hear firsthand how to c...

In this episode of Ignite, Cardinal's CGO Lauren Leone sits down with VP of Owned & Earned Media Rob Sauter to help healthcare marketers understand and adapt to the rapidly changing world of search and SEO driven by AI and new Google features. You'll learn why traditional SEO tactics aren't enough anymore, how AI is changing what it means to "rank," and what practical steps you can take to improve...

In this episode of Ignite, Cardinal CEO Alex Membrillo chats with Michael Stevenson, SEO and CRM specialist, about how AI is reshaping SEO and digital marketing in healthcare. You'll learn why focusing on quality content, building your reputation through PR, and integrating your marketing systems are more important than ever. The episode offers practical advice on how to adapt your strategies, spe...

In this episode of Ignite, Cardinal CEO Alex Membrillo sits down with Pavllo Zengo, Vice President of Strategic Partnerships at The Influencer Marketing Factory, to explore how influencer and user-generated content marketing can build authentic trust and brand awareness in healthcare. You'll learn practical steps for launching successful campaigns, from setting clear goals and budgets to choosing...

Want to make social media work for your healthcare marketing strategy—even with today's privacy limitations? Join Cardinal's CGO, Lauren Leone, and Associate Media Director, Lisa Fisher, as they dive into how healthcare marketers can maximize the impact of social media advertising despite increasing privacy and tracking restrictions. You'll learn actionable strategies for building trust, nurturing...

In this episode of Ignite, Cardinal CEO Alex Membrillo chats with Genevieve Branco, Marketing and Communications Director at Adventist Health, about how healthcare marketers can drive patient acquisition and build brand trust—even with limited resources. You'll learn why authentic storytelling and earned media are more valuable than ever, how to align closely with operations teams, and how to meas...

What happens when a health system takes a full-funnel approach to digital transformation? Find out in this episode of Ignite, where Cardinal CEO Alex Membrillo chats with James Morgan, Digital Marketing Manager at Cape Fear Valley Health System. You'll get a behind-the-scenes look at how a fast-growing regional health system rebuilt its website from the ground up, streamlined patient journeys, and...

In this episode of Ignite, Cardinal's CGO Lauren Leone and CSO Rich Briddock continue the conversation on third-party audiences, this time with a focus on providers. They dive into how healthcare marketers can leverage third-party audience data to target not just patients, but also healthcare providers, unlocking new opportunities to drive referrals and support your business development teams. You...