The Healthtech Marketing Show

Something fundamental has changed in how health tech buyers do research — and if you're watching your website traffic decline, you might be misreading what it actually means.
In this episode, I sit down with Suyog Deshpande, Founder and CEO of Webless AI, to dig into one of the most consequential shifts in B2B buyer behavior in a generation.
Will websites die?
Probably not but something big is happening.
Here's what's actually happening: your buyers haven't stopped doing research. They've moved it upstream — to ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Gemini. They're building their shortlists there, forming their preferences there, all before they ever land on your website. By the time they show up, they're not browsing. They're validating.
Suyog calls this the low volume, high intent era, and it completely reframes the traffic problem.
This matters enormously for health tech vendors. Healthcare buying cycles run nine months or more, and around 75% of buyers go with the first vendor they contact after that research phase. If you're not on the shortlist before the process starts, your odds of winning are close to zero. The battle is won long before sales gets involved.
We also get into something I find genuinely underused: the first-party intent data sitting on your own website. The queries visitors type into your site search aren't keywords anymore — they're prompts, often 100 to 200 words long, and they tell you exactly what content to create to get cited by AI engines.
Full disclosure: we use Webless at healthlaunchpad.com and it's one of the most useful things we've implemented in the past year. We've lived the traffic dip, made the pivot, and we're now seeing inbound opportunities increase even as overall volume has flattened out.
If you're wrestling with declining traffic or trying to figure out what AEO actually means in practice, this episode will give you a clear framework for what your website is really for in the age of AI search.
Key Topics:
"(00:00:00)" Introduction
"(00:05:30)" Why Websites Were Built for Google, Not Buyers
"(00:07:00)" Will Websites Go Away?
"(00:09:00)" AI Search Engines as the New Top of Funnel
"(00:10:30)" Unpacking Low Volume, High Intent
"(00:12:00)" The Shortlist Problem in Healthcare Buying
"(00:15:30)" How Webless Helps Brands Surface in AI Search
"(00:18:00)" Sponsor Break: Health Launchpad AIO Audit
"(00:19:30)" Prompts, Not Keywords: The New Content Challenge
"(00:21:00)" What Webless Actually Is on Your Website
"(00:23:00)" Content Strategy vs. Measurement for AEO
"(00:24:30)" Real Results: Traffic Down, Inbound Opportunities Up
"(00:26:00)" Where to Find Webless AI and Closing
"(00:27:00)" Four Takeaways

If you are interested in discussing this or any other topic, let's have a chat.  Reach out to me directly to schedule a no-obligation discussion. This isn't a sales call, but rather an opportunity to talk through your questions and challenges.
Follow me on LinkedIn.
Subscribe to The Healthtech Marketing Show on Spotify or watch us on YouTube for more insights into marketing, AI, ABM, buyer journeys, and beyond!
Thank you to our presenting sponsor, HealthcareNOW, 24/7 expert shows, interviews, and podcasts, powering healthcare leaders with innovation, policy, and strategy insights.

One of the most common and costly mistakes in medtech commercialization is confusing clinical buy-in with commercial buy-in. 
A surgeon who loves your device, peer-reviewed data supporting it, and a field rep with a 20-year relationship can all be in place, and the deal can still stall out completely. Why? Because the doctor is not the buyer.
I sit down with Todd Laderach, a medtech commercial strategy veteran with over two decades of experience across sales, marketing, and go-to-market leadership. Todd now runs his own firm helping device companies get life-saving products off the shelf and into the hands of clinicians, and he brings a clarity to the commercial realities of medical device selling that I think will resonate well beyond the device world.
We dig into why clinical validation is necessary but not sufficient, how to map a hospital buying committee and figure out who actually holds the yes, and how to arm your clinical champion to sell internally to stakeholders you will likely never get in front of directly. We also get into where commercial revenue gets stuck in mid to large device companies, how ABM applies in a world of complex IDN accounts, and where AI is genuinely moving the needle on account prioritization versus where it is mostly hype.
If you work in medtech or want to better understand the device commercial landscape, this one is worth your time.
Key Topics:
"(00:00:00)" Introduction
"(00:03:00)" Todd's background
"(00:04:00)" The biggest shift in go-to-market
"(00:05:00)" Why "the doctor said he'd use it tomorrow" is one of the most dangerous things to hear
"(00:06:00)" Linking clinical benefit to economic outcome
"(00:07:00)" Following the money
"(00:08:00)" Arming the clinical champion
"(00:09:00)" Anatomy of a hospital buying committee
"(00:10:00)" Journey mapping stakeholders
"(00:11:00)" Best practices for gathering actionable insights from sales teams and market research
"(00:12:00)" ABM in med devices
"(00:13:00)" The critical role of sales and marketing alignment
"(00:15:00)" Is the field-rep-dominant model still fit for purpose?
"(00:17:00)" Where commercial revenue actually gets stuck
"(00:18:00)" Account prioritization
"(00:19:00)" Breadth versus depth
"(00:21:00)" AI in medtech commercialization
"(00:22:00)" Using AI to make existing data actionable
"(00:24:00)" Unlocking non-traditional data sources
"(00:25:00)" What separates companies getting commercial strategy right
"(00:26:00)" Four key takeaways from the conversation
If you are interested in discussing this or any other topic, let's have a chat.  Reach out to me directly to schedule a no-obligation discussion. This isn't a sales call, but rather an opportunity to talk through your questions and challenges.
Follow me on LinkedIn.
Subscribe to The Healthtech Marketing Show on Spotify or watch us on YouTube for more insights into marketing, AI, ABM, buyer journeys, and beyond!
Thank you to our presenting sponsor, HealthcareNOW, 24/7 expert shows, interviews, and podcasts, powering healthcare leaders with innovation, policy, and strategy insights.

There is a version of the marketing leader's job that looks great on a slide deck, and then there is the real thing. In this episode, I wanted to get at the real thing.
I sat down with two marketing leaders who are currently in the middle of major company transformations, Erik Johnson, VP of Marketing at Harmony Healthcare IT, and Steffany Whiting, EVP of Marketing at iMethods. We are talking rebrands, ABM programs built from scratch, website overhauls, and bold calls about where to focus and where to pull back. The stakes are real for both of them.
What I really wanted to explore was the human side of leading marketing at this level. The doubt. The pressure. The moments of second-guessing when you have convinced leadership to make a big bet, and you start wondering whether you went too far. 
What came out of this conversation was candid in a way I did not fully anticipate. Erik and Steff talked openly about how they build alignment before launching major initiatives, how they manage the ongoing pressure to show ROI from programs that take time to prove out, and what they do when the inner voice starts asking hard questions. They also went back into their careers to talk about the moments they were genuinely in over their heads, and what those experiences taught them.
If you are a healthtech marketing leader carrying the weight of a big program right now, this episode is for you. And honestly, if you are early in your career and wondering what it actually looks like to lead at this level, this is worth your time too.
Key Topics Covered
“(00:00:00)” - Introduction
"(00:01:00)" - What It Really Means to Lead Marketing in Healthtech
"(00:03:00)" - Guest Introductions: Steffany Whiting and Erik Johnson
"(00:06:00)" - Risk-Taking in a Fast-Moving Environment
"(00:08:00)" - iMethods' Bold Call to Step Back from Events in 2026
"(00:10:00)" - Building and Sustaining ABM Programs: The Long Game
"(00:16:00)" - Why ABM Is Poorly Named (and What It Actually Is)
"(00:20:00)" - Leading a Rebrand: Conviction, Expectation-Setting, and Founder Dynamics
"(00:23:00)" - The Website Overhaul at iMethods
"(00:25:00)" - Moments of Self-Doubt and What Brings You Back
"(00:28:00)" - Have You Ever Genuinely Wondered If You Were the Right Person for the Job?
"(00:32:00)" - Where Resilience Comes From in Healthcare Marketing
"(00:34:00)" - Advice to a Younger Self
"(00:39:00)" - Five Key Lessons From the Conversation
If you are interested in discussing this or any other topic, let's have a chat.  Reach out to me directly to schedule a no-obligation discussion. This isn't a sales call, but rather an opportunity to talk through your questions and challenges.
Follow me on LinkedIn.
Subscribe to The Healthtech Marketing Show on Spotify or watch us on YouTube for more insights into marketing, AI, ABM, buyer journeys, and beyond!
Thank you to our presenting sponsor, HealthcareNOW, 24/7 expert shows, interviews, and podcasts, powering healthcare leaders with innovation, policy, and strategy insights.

In this episode, I sit down with Larry Kaiser, Chief Marketing Officer at Optimum Healthcare IT, for a candid conversation about what it really takes to build a marketing team that lasts. 
Larry has spent nearly a decade growing the marketing function at Optimum from a logo and an outdated Drupal website into a tight, high-performing team. The lessons he has picked up along the way are ones that any marketing leader in healthtech will recognize.
The heart of this conversation is about people. Larry talks openly about the discipline of hiring for culture fit, not just qualifications, the difference between department culture and company culture, and why he deliberately builds teams where every member knows more about their domain than he does. He also shares what it means when a former team member calls and says they would come back and work for him again.
If you are a marketing leader thinking about how to build something that compounds over time, this one is worth your full attention.
Key Topics Covered
"(00:00:00)" Introduction
"(00:03:30)" Larry's background and Optimum Healthcare IT
"(00:05:30)" Building a content and thought leadership engine from scratch
"(00:08:30)" Using AI in content creation without losing quality
"(00:11:30)" Optimum's podcast strategy
"(00:18:30)" Building the team: structure, culture, and hiring
"(00:22:30)" The difference between management and leadership
"(00:26:00)" Relationships as the competitive advantage in healthcare
"(00:28:00)" Four takeaways
If you are interested in discussing this or any other topic, let's have a chat.  Reach out to me directly to schedule a no-obligation discussion. This isn't a sales call, but rather an opportunity to talk through your questions and challenges.
Follow me on LinkedIn.
Subscribe to The Healthtech Marketing Show on Spotify or watch us on YouTube for more insights into marketing, AI, ABM, buyer journeys, and beyond!
Thank you to our presenting sponsor, HealthcareNOW, 24/7 expert shows, interviews, and podcasts, powering healthcare leaders with innovation, policy, and strategy insights.

This episode is the final installment in a three-part miniseries on ABM and go-to-market strategy, and it is extremely practical. 
My guest is Rehan Mirza, Chief Growth Officer at Verifiable, a credentialing automation platform that has lived through every stage of the ABM journey, from cold outbound blasting to sophisticated, intent-driven orchestration across a complex enterprise sales motion.
Rehan tells the story of how Verifiable evolved its ICP from fast-moving digital health startups to regional health plans with hundreds of thousands of providers, and why that shift forced a complete rethink of how marketing, BDR, and alliances teams operate together. He talks candidly about the early lesson that volume-based outbound erodes trust, especially in healthcare, and how that shaped a completely different philosophy built around delivering value before making an ask.
If you are a healthcare technology marketer working through how to make ABM actually function inside your organization, this episode gives you a clear, honest view of what it takes. Rehan has the scars to prove it.
Key Topics: 
"(00:00:00)" Introduction and the Sway Health Podcast of the Year Award
"(00:03:00)" Bridging the gap between AI activity and revenue results
"(00:05:00)" Defining credentialing and Verifiable's origin story
"(00:07:00)" Transitioning from a free proof of concept to a Salesforce-integrated platform
"(00:09:00)" Shifting from cold outbound to intent-based lead orchestration
"(00:10:00)" Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) evolution: From digital health to major payers
"(00:14:00)" Moving up-market and the role of hyper-focus in ABM
"(00:15:00)" Rethinking attribution: Why 70 to 80 percent overlap is the goal
"(00:18:00)" Moving from pipeline generation to pipeline acceleration
"(00:22:00)" The CORE framework: Conversion, Orchestration, Resonance, and Ecosystems
"(00:23:00)" Using AI SDRs as a channel rather than a replacement for humans
"(00:25:00)" Lessons learned: Why volume-based "spamming" erodes trust in healthcare
"(00:28:00)" Closing summary and key takeaways for ABM success
If you are interested in discussing this or any other topic, let's have a chat.  Reach out to me directly to schedule a no-obligation discussion. This isn't a sales call, but rather an opportunity to talk through your questions and challenges.
Follow me on LinkedIn.
Subscribe to The Healthtech Marketing Show on Spotify or watch us on YouTube for more insights into marketing, AI, ABM, buyer journeys, and beyond!
Thank you to our presenting sponsor, HealthcareNOW, 24/7 expert shows, interviews, and podcasts, powering healthcare leaders with innovation, policy, and strategy insights.