touch point podcast

Digital marketing continues to develop methods to measure consumer preference, leveraging consumer data and digital footprints to help identify customer’s needs and intent. In this episode, hosts Chris Boyer and Reed Smith discuss the latest benefits and risks health systems might face using data footprints to personalize their marketing. They also explore the potential consumer backlash to levera...

Hospital and health system marketers realize that social media is an important part of their digital efforts, but given the recent shift in social platforms to a “pay to play” model, are we overstating the importance they have on your brand? In this episode, hosts Chris Boyer and Reed Smith analyze the positive and negative impacts that social media can have on your brand, and are then joined by C...

Hospitals are eager to use marketing automation as part of their technology stack, but are they doing so correctly? In this episode, hosts Chris Boyer and Reed Smith discuss the history of the marketing automation and share 11 use-cases on how health systems can apply this technology effectively in their efforts. They are joined by Dana Cutter, Sr. Solutions Consultant for Marketo, in which he sha...

Are we failing enough? In this episode, hosts Chris Boyer and Reed Smith discuss how building a culture of failure is an important component of developing a growth mindset, and how hospital and health system marketers are using digital strategies to build a framework that embraces failing forward. They also interview Jess Columbo, CEO of MedEd Digital, in which she shares her  “fail-case” of a fun...

Recorded live from the Mayo Clinic Social Media Network Annual Conference in Jacksonville, Florida, hosts Reed Smith and Chris Boyer are joined by fellow (and former) Mayo Clinic social media alums Jason Pratt, Randy Schwartz and Shawn Bishop. Together, they discuss how social media has evolved and changed over the last decade and how the way hospitals and how hospitals and health systems have had...

Based on a listener request, the second “live” recording live from the Healthcare Internet Conference is an insightful conversation of how health systems and academic medical centers have approached a website redesign effort. Topics range from exploring the business drivers behind the website change, understanding website user’s needs, and developing an information architecture that can support bo...

Recording live from the Healthcare Internet Conference in Scottsdale, AZ, hosts Reed Smith and Chris Boyer head outside to record a show with Healthcare Internet Hall of Famers, Ed Bennett, founder of MarTech Health,  and Lee Aase, Communications Director at Mayo Clinic. They discuss how they have seen digital and the internet evolve over the years. They reminisce on the early days of developing h...

Hospital and health system marketers are facing more and more pressure to measure and track their efforts. The need for data fluency is becoming critical for CMOs and marketing professionals. In this episode, hosts Reed Smith and Chris Boyer are joined by Greg Matthews, host of Touch Point Media’s new show DataPoint, in which they discuss their experience in becoming more familiar with analyzing d...

The term “digital front door” has been been often used in healthcare -  by those in marketing, patient experience, IT, patient access and many other departments within a hospital. But what does it actually mean? In this episode, hosts Chris Boyer and Reed Smith explore how the digital front door is defined, what tools and strategies make up a front-door strategy and how to structure different appr...

This week, hosts Reed Smith and Chris Boyer come to you live from the Fifth Annual Thought Leadership on Access Symposium in Boston, MA. They are joined by a panel of experts, including Chi-Cheng Huang of Wake Forest Baptist Health System, Jennifer Melby of Piedmont Healthcare, and Chris Gervais of Kyruus, in which they discuss the concept of “systemness,” how consumerism is impacting health syste...

As health systems  continue to focus on digital transformation efforts, the question often arises on which is the right digital team structure to use, Newer digital technologies and a focus on consumer experience are blurring the lines between digital, clinical and IT. In this episode, hosts Chris Boyer and Reed Smith discuss the current state of digital within hospitals and health systems, and sh...

Over 55 percent of website content worldwide is written in English. For hospitals and health systems, this can present a challenge when communicating with audiences that do not speak English as a primary language. In this episode, hosts Reed Smith and Chris Boyer discuss the challenges of building digital programs and websites with language localization. They are joined by Tiffani Helberg, VP of C...

In hospitals and health systems, the concept of “decision support” is often restricted for clinical areas. In this episode, hosts Chris Boyer and Reed Smith expand on this concept to explore ways marketing (and digital marketing) can be used to help support consumers and patients throughout the customer journey. They share challenges with developing online decision support systems and also explore...

The technology and medical community were abuzz with the latest release of the Apple Watch - particularly the ECG functionality - wondering the impact this wearable device would have on hospital admissions. In this episode, hosts Reed Smith and Chris Boyer revisit the topic of wearables and medical devices, discussing how the FDA categorizes “general wellness products” vs.regulated medical devices...

How hospitals and health systems engage in targeted communications and marketing, they use a variety of tools to help them understand their audiences better. In this episode, hosts Reed Smith and Chris Boyer explore how organizations are using market segmentation - along with personas and personalization - to improve their go-to-market strategies. In our expert interview, we are joined by Suzanne...

As healthcare marketing continues to extend past simply promotion to building engaging and loyal audiences, the responsibility of community management is becoming more important than ever. In this episode, Reed Smith and Chris Boyer discuss the four types of online communities and share the best characteristics of a good community manager. They are joined by Dan Hinmon, principal at Hive Strategie...

In this episode, hosts Reed Smith and Chris Boyer discuss a few legal risks that can potentially impact hospital marketers. In particular, they explore how to stay clear of vague and hyperbolic language, and then use examples from their experiences on how Stark laws can influence the way a health system promotes physicians online. They then invite health care lawyer, consultant, podcast and owner...

With the introduction of HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996), health systems, researchers and data scientists were given access to the use of de-identified patient data for a variety of clinical purposes. Over the last 20 years, however, the advancements of digital technologies, social platforms and marketing data analysis have advanced the usefulness of patient dat...

In this age of consumerism and enhancing access for patients, many hospitals and health systems are turning to telemedicine solutions as a way to expand their care to their patients. In this episode, hosts Reed Smith and Chris Boyer discuss the different services offered through telemedicine, the delivery mechanisms used, and pros and cons they pose to patients and health systems alike. They are j...

With the advancements of advertising and marketing in hospitals and health systems over the last decade has had tremendous impacts - both within the organization as well as with the agencies they partner with. In this episode, Reed Smith and Chris Boyer talk through the trends and advancements of marketing and advertising, and how these have presented unique challenges for agencies to transform th...

Inbound marketing is a term coined by Hubspot to reflect a unique approach to marketing many years ago to reflect a “new” way of marketing/advertising, based primarily on using digital tactics and content to engage audiences. However, over the years, digital channels have evolved and expanded to blur the lines between “inbound” and “outbound” efforts. In this episode, Reed Smith and Chris Boyer ex...

Hospitals and health systems often use the term “patient experience” to mean a multitude of things, from ensuring good clinical outcomes to developing Ritz-Carlton-like encounters. But how do actual patients define “patient experience?” In this episode, hosts Reed Smith and Chris Boyer share thoughts on a recent conference on healthcare consumerism, and then explore findings in the 2018 Consumer E...

This week, hosts Chris Boyer and Reed Smith are joined by content strategist expert Ahava Leibtag, President of Aha Media Group, and they discuss the challenges and complexities hospitals and health systems may face when building a content strategy. They define the elements needed in a comprehensive strategy, what exactly “content “ is and how to structure an editorial calendar that is long-term a...

Typically, in hospitals and health systems, there is an organizational divide that exists between marketing/communications and government relations departments. Yet, often these two departments can find benefit from collaborating and partnering to address advocacy efforts. In this episode, hosts Reed Smith and Chris Boyer stretch outside of their comfort zone and discuss common uncomfortable chall...

Everything online is absolutely measurable. Because of this, the often mistaken belief is that once you launch a digital campaign or effort, the measurement will be comprehensive and complete from the onset. Hosts Reed Smith and Chris Boyer spend this episode detailing the common misperceptions hospitals and health systems have with measuring their efforts, and detail a high level framework organi...