Healthcare marketers are seeing something strange: campaigns look like they’re working, but analytics can’t explain why. In this episode, Chris Boyer and Reed Smith unpack what’s really happening inside healthcare’s “dark funnel” — the growing share of patient decision-making that happens outside trackable channels.

Patients are increasingly influenced by AI summaries, private communities, reputation signals, and access realities long before they ever visit a website. By the time someone schedules care, the decision has already been shaped — just not in places marketing dashboards can see.

This conversation explores:

What the dark funnel actually is and why it’s accelerating in healthcare

How AI tools are reshaping discovery before patients ever search

Why reputation now acts as a signal of future loyalty, not just a score

Where attribution breaks down — and why that doesn’t mean marketing is failing

How health systems can influence decisions they’ll never directly measure

If patient intent is forming off the radar, the real question isn’t how to track it — it’s how to stay relevant when your brand is being inferred instead of discovered.

Mentions From the Show: 

Reed Smith on LinkedIn

Chris Boyer on LinkedIn

Chris Boyer website

Chris Boyer on BlueSky

Reed Smith on BlueSky

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