Jenny Bristow and Senior Digital Producer Suzie Schmitt of Hedy & Hopp discuss the pervasive, yet often misunderstood, risks of tech dependencies for healthcare marketers. They explain what happens when single points of failure like AWS and Cloudflare experience outages, examine the instability of the internet's open-source foundation, and explain why these issues uniquely impact healthcare organizations. Learn actionable steps to create, document, and execute a disaster plan to mitigate operational and compliance risks.

Episode notes:

Understanding Tech Dependency Risks: How the internet's "Jenga tower" of dependencies creates massive ripple effects from a single break

Cloud Monopolies and Backup Strategy: The risk of relying on three major cloud providers (AWS, Azure, GCP) and the need to have your website backup on a separate infrastructure from your production environment

The Open-Source Developer Issue: The unsustainability of large enterprises depending on unpaid, volunteer open-source developers

Cloudflare Explained: How this intermediary service facilitates a secure and faster internet, and what happens when it fails

The Responsibility of Covered Entities: The HIPAA breach notification clock starts when an outage occurs, so it’s important to clearly document the timeline of events

Creating a Disaster Plan and Crisis Communication Strategy: The necessity of defining roles and establishing a communication plan for an inevitable failure

Documenting Dependencies: Steps to list and track all dependencies so that you can quickly assess if an outage impacts your website

Marketing's Role in Security: Why outage communication falls to the marketing team and the need for close alignment with IT on the disaster plan

Connect with Jenny:

Email: [email protected]

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennybristow/

Connect with Suzie:

Email: [email protected]

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/suzie-schmitt/ 

If you enjoyed this episode, we’d love to hear your feedback! Please consider leaving us a review on your preferred listening platform and sharing it with others.

Hedy & Hopp CEO & Founder Jenny Bristow, Director of Growth Marissa Gurrister, Senior Account Manager Shelby Auer, and Growth & Operations Manager - Practice Division Abby Davis recap the key trends, popular sessions, and main takeaways from The Healthcare Interactive Conference (HCIC) 2025 in Las Vegas.

HCIC 2025 was full of energy and innovative content, with a major buzz surrounding Jenny’s Learning Lab covering marketing and ROI tracking tools available within Epic. Several sessions stood out, including the CMO panel that included Stuart Dill from Vanderbilt. He spoke about brand preference, awareness, and consideration, emphasizing that marketers need to position campaigns differently for each phase. The Mount Sinai social media team, including manager Brian Crowley and coordinator Suzy Qiu, presented a highly praised, interactive session titled "The Camera-Ready Physician" that detailed their boot camp method for coaching physicians to create unscripted, organic short-form video content. Vanessa Hill from Beth Israel Lahey Health and Reba Thompson from WG Content shared their story of replatforming 17 websites, which they creatively framed as a "choose your own adventure" for the audience. Another speaker who creatively presented was Kevin Snyder, CMO at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital, who showed up to his Automation Meets Empathy session in a superhero cape.Beyond the sessions, key industry challenges discussed on the conference floor included the complexity of navigating patient privacy and compliance when teams are siloed, and the urgent need for new strategies in content optimization to rank highly in the difficult landscape of SEO, GEO, and zero-click search results.Looking ahead, the biggest takeaway overall from attendees, as noted by Jenny, is that healthcare marketers are being continuously asked to do more with smaller budgets, requiring teams to develop creative solutions and maximize assets as they look ahead to 2026.For those who missed it, Hedy & Hopp’s popular Learning Lab "Epic for Marketers" will be presented as a webinar on November 20. 

Connect with Jenny:

Email: [email protected]

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennybristow/

Connect with Marissa:

Email: [email protected] 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marissa-gurrister/ 

Connect with Shelby:

Email: [email protected]  

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shelby-wanne/ 

Connect with Abby:

Email: [email protected] 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adavis513/ 

Register to attend “Unlocking Epic for Marketers,” a free webinar on November 20 hosted by Jenny: https://hedyandhopp.com/Epicwebinar/ Purchase a hand painted sweatshirt created by our former Artist in Residence Lauren Younge: https://www.laurenyounge.com/store-lauren-younge-art/painted-crewnecks 

Follow floral artist Annie Kuhn with Verde Designs: https://www.instagram.com/verdestl/ 

If you enjoyed this episode, we’d love to hear your feedback! Please consider leaving us a review on your preferred listening platform and sharing it with others.

Hedy & Hopp CEO & Founder Jenny Bristow and Director of Digital Activation Lindsey Brown talk about recent changes to paid media restrictions in healthcare marketing (for example, Google now allows limited non-promotional prescription term use) and how healthcare marketers can stay effective as restrictions evolve.Three big hurdles that healthcare marketers need to understand and navigate include Google Ads, Meta Ads, and privacy and HIPAA.

Marketers can work around these hurdles by balancing compliance, creativity, and results. Focus paid media messaging around education—not medical claims. Lean in to intent-based keywords and compliant storytelling.

In the future, healthcare marketers can anticipate privacy-first platforms with AI-driven targeting, access to less data and a focus on effective creative, and using compliance as a key advantage.

As a healthcare marketer, you don’t need to fear restrictions—once you understand the guardrails, you can creatively work within them.

Connect with Jenny:

Email: [email protected]

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennybristow/

Connect with Lindsey:

Email: [email protected] 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindseycbrown/ 

Further your understanding of what compliance means for healthcare marketing and get certified for it here: https://wearehipaasmart.com/. 

If you enjoyed this episode, we’d love to hear your feedback! Please consider leaving us a review on your preferred listening platform and sharing it with others.

Hedy & Hopp CEO & Founder Jenny Bristow, Marketing Manager Brenda Cross, and Director of Growth Marissa Gurrister recap SHSMD Connections 2025, sharing key takeaways and memorable sessions.Brenda highlights the agency's standout conference booth, featuring art prints by Hedy & Hopp’s 2025 Artist in Residence H. Ward Miles, fresh florals by Annie Kuhn with Verde Designs, and custom painted sweatshirts for the team by Lauren Younge.Marissa discusses common challenges in healthcare marketing, like measuring performance and fostering innovation, drawing insights from Tucker Bryant's keynote on the power of erasure poetry. Jenny praises Washington University’s session on integrated data, led by Verna Ehlen and Molly Bailey, for its practical approach. Brenda's favorite session "Beyond the Campaign Launch: Why Your Experience IS Your Marketing” emphasized the crucial relationship between marketing, clinical leadership, and operations, stressing that the patient experience dictates your brand. Key strategies included journey mapping and unbiased mystery shopping.The Hedy & Hopp team also led a pre-conference workshop on advanced patient privacy.The overarching theme from SHSMD 2025 was the power in prioritization, focusing on initiatives that truly drive progress for healthcare organizations.

Connect with Jenny:

Email: [email protected]

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennybristow/

Connect with Brenda:

Email: [email protected] 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendaecross/ 

Connect with Marissa:

Email: [email protected] 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marissa-gurrister/ 

Further your understanding of what compliance means for healthcare marketing and get certified for it here: https://wearehipaasmart.com/. 

If you enjoyed this episode, we’d love to hear your feedback! Please consider leaving us a review on your preferred listening platform and sharing it with others.

Hedy & Hopp CEO & Founder Jenny Bristow, Copywriter and Content Editor Sarah Zajicek, and SEO Marketing Specialist Yenny Rojas discuss AI and personas in healthcare marketing, focusing on AI's impact on search and the importance of writing tailored content for your website. They highlight that with nearly half of all searches now being questions directed at AI, marketers need to optimize content to answer these queries, adapting it for various practice sizes. Key strategies include prioritizing readability for both users and AI by incorporating bulleted summaries, FAQs, and FAQ schemas. Sarah notes that while AI tools can be incredibly useful in the content creation process, human oversight is necessary to ensure that the writing has a natural voice and that the content is medically accurate. Yenny emphasizes the importance of persona-based marketing, where content is customized to specific audiences and formats, facilitating AI's ability to recommend relevant information. Integrating personas into your content can look like including targeted examples, localized details, customer-focused calls to action, and using insights from Google Search Console.

Connect with Jenny:

Email: [email protected]

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennybristow/

If you enjoyed this episode, we’d love to hear your feedback! Please consider leaving us a review on your preferred listening platform and sharing it with others.

Hedy & Hopp CEO & Founder Jenny Bristow, along with Director of Data & Technology Mark Brandes, Director of Activation Lindsey Brown, and Marketing Analyst Cassie Haxton, discuss Hedy & Hopp’s experience becoming the first marketing agency with team members certified in various Epic marketing and analytics tools. They share opportunities for healthcare marketers to leverage Epic tools in their daily work.Our four-year relationship with Epic led to the opportunity for Hedy & Hopp team members to get certified in various Epic marketing and analytics tools. Epic recognizes the importance of marketers in the patient experience and client demand for certified partners. Marketers can effectively use Epic tools to enhance patient experience and communication strategies, with messaging capabilities that engage both current and prospective patients. Epic offers a wealth of data for demonstrating ROI, tracking patient acquisition, and showing the impact of marketing campaigns. While the platform itself has a visually-outdated interface, its structure and depth is highly sophisticated. Implementing features in Epic is not an easy undertaking, but having an overall understanding of the system has the potential to be extremely valuable to healthcare marketers.If you are interested in learning more about using Epic for your marketing, we are hosting an in-person Learning Lab on Epic and marketing analytics at The Healthcare Interactive Conference (HCIC), with registration opening soon. We are also offering a free virtual session covering the same content from HCIC shortly after the conference. Sign up at HedyandHopp.com/EpicWebinar.
Connect with Jenny:

Email: [email protected]

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennybristow/

If you enjoyed this episode, we’d love to hear your feedback! Please consider leaving us a review on your preferred listening platform and sharing it with others.

Hedy & Hopp CEO & Founder Jenny Bristow chats with Hedy & Hopp’s new Director of Growth Marissa Gurrister about how to strategically implement influencer marketing as a tactic in your campaigns, offering insights into case studies, challenges, and best practices. 

The discussion covers understanding various types of influencers in healthcare marketing, exploring how it differs from traditional social media influencing, and discovering the power of patient advocates (parents/family), physicians, and micro-influencers in healthcare campaigns. Marissa and Jenny highlight campaign successes, including case studies that humanized care and built community trust through patient and patient advocate stories, drove engagement with preventative services using traditional social influencers, and addressed public perception to increase appointment bookings through physician-led content. The conversation also delves into navigating challenges and risks, including HIPAA compliance and best practices for paying influencers. Finally, Marissa and Jenny share best practices for campaign development, emphasizing the importance of vetting influencers, balancing brand messaging with authenticity, and diversifying influencer voices.

Connect with Jenny:

Email: [email protected]

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennybristow/

Further your understanding of what compliance means for healthcare marketing and get certified for it here: https://wearehipaasmart.com/ 

If you enjoyed this episode, we’d love to hear your feedback! Please consider leaving us a review on your preferred listening platform and sharing it with others.

Jenny Bristow of Hedy & Hopp offers practical tips for healthcare marketers to enhance their professional presence and credibility by enhancing their setup and background for video conference calls on Zoom, Google Meet, and other platforms. Learn ways to optimize your video background, lighting, and camera setup to best represent the brand and the personality that you want people to remember. 

There are many simple, cost-effective ways to improve your video call background, no matter how small or large your space. Try creating visual depth with plants or frames of varied heights, or even try adding peel-and-stick wallpaper. Play with your lighting—experiment with natural light, lamps, and even a second monitor displaying a white screen to achieve the best lighting setup. Always ensure your camera is at eye level and that you're looking directly into it for a more engaging interaction, and make sure your camera lens is clean. To avoid a monochrome look, try incorporating art, photos, or even sophisticated posters to add visual interest and personality. For back-to-back professional meetings, it’s helpful to keep a jacket or blazer within reach for quick changes or to add layers to your look.

Connect with Jenny:

Email: [email protected]

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennybristow/

Further your understanding of what compliance means for healthcare marketing and get certified for it here: https://wearehipaasmart.com/ 

If you enjoyed this episode, we’d love to hear your feedback! Please consider leaving us a review on your preferred listening platform and sharing it with others.

In this episode of We Are, Marketing Happy, Jenny and Nicole Knight, Marketing and Communications Manager at Virginia Heart, discuss why and how to build your personal brand on LinkedIn as a healthcare marketer. Learn how to overcome the discomfort of self-promotion and leverage LinkedIn for professional networking, career advancement, and lifelong learning.

Using LinkedIn in today’s dynamic job market is a smart long-term investment in your career that gives you control over your personal and professional reputation and brand. You can easily create LinkedIn content by drawing inspiration from your daily work and personal passions and curate your LinkedIn feed to create a space for learning and connecting with like-minded professionals.

Connect with Nicole:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicole-knight-5b90ba73/ 

Connect with Jenny:

Email: [email protected]

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennybristow/

Further your understanding of what compliance means for healthcare marketing and get certified for it here: https://wearehipaasmart.com/ 

If you enjoyed this episode, we’d love to hear your feedback! Please consider leaving us a review on your preferred listening platform and sharing it with others.

It’s been one year since Hedy & Hopp acquired iHealthSpot, and in this episode, we’re celebrating the milestone by diving into how the practice marketing team has evolved. Jenny is joined by Kristin Wiedman (Project Management Lead), Phil Terry (Account Manager), and Yenny Rojas (SEO Marketing Specialist) to share what’s changed and what’s working.

They discuss how renaming packages around goals like patient volume and brand reputation has made services easier to navigate, and how the new Foundation Package brings strategic, data-driven support to smaller practices. They also talk about how account management has become more proactive and flexible, and how SEO efforts have shifted toward AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) to increase visibility in AI-generated summaries and voice tools.

Connect with Kristin:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristinweidman/ 

Connect with Phil:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/thephilipterry/ 

Connect with Yenny:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/yennyrojas/ 

Connect with Jenny:

Email: [email protected]

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennybristow/

Further your understanding of what compliance means for healthcare marketing and get certified for it here: https://wearehipaasmart.com/ 

If you enjoyed this episode, we’d love to hear your feedback! Please consider leaving us a review on your preferred listening platform and sharing it with others.