What makes marketing in the health IT space unique? Who are the movers and shakers? What’s working, what’s trending? Where can you learn more? This monthly roundup post will focus in on all things health IT when it comes to marketing.
To Listen
ICYMI – On this episode, we close out 2025 and welcome in 2026 with a discussion on short form video for B2B healthcare marketing. My guest is Jared Johnson, founder of the popular podcast, Healthcare Rap. Jared has been leveraging short form video for both his show and his clients and he joins me to talk about his experience as well as share some stats that will help paint the picture for why short form video is a content play must for 2026.
To Read
Matter Communications
From Search to Answers: How AI Search Will Reshape Brand Discovery & Visibility in 2026 – Paul Witham at Matter Communications says, For years, online brand discovery has worked the same way: you’d type your search terms, scroll through blue links, and click the one that caught your eye. That’s changing, and fast. The rise of AI-driven assistants like Gemini, ChatGPT, and Perplexity is reshaping how people find direct answers and recommendations. Instead of searching for a list of options, they’re asking questions like, “What’s the top choice for ___?” or “Which ___ company has the best reviews?” expecting a clear, confident response. This shift marks the rise of Generative Engine Optimization (GEO): a new approach to visibility that focuses on helping brands appear inside AI-generated answers, rather than simply ranking on a traditional search results page.
Brafton
How AI Is Transforming Market Research — and What Marketers Should Know – Chad Hetherington, Writer & Content Marketing Specialist at Brafton writes, Market research can be intense. Deadlines shrink, data volumes explode and competitive pressures always grow. Marketers’ ability to uncover meaningful insights quickly can be the difference between leading the conversation and scrambling to keep up. AI-powered market research tools were built for that challenge. By applying machine learning, natural language processing and predictive analytics, these platforms can gather data at scale, surface patterns and package findings into decision-ready visualizations.
Swaay.Health
What do Healthcare Leaders Want to Leave Behind in 2025? – By Colin Hung – The start of a new year doesn’t always require a bold prediction. Sometimes we just need to let it go. We asked more than 30 healthcare leaders which words and phrases they’re ready to retire from 2025. Their answers are candid, familiar, and occasionally hilarious.
ClarityQuest
The 15 Best Healthcare Marketing & Advertising Agencies in 2026 – Brian Shilling, Executive VP of Client Operations at ClarityQuest says, Healthcare marketing is at an inflection point. The convergence of artificial intelligence, omnichannel personalization, and strict data privacy standards has fundamentally changed what it takes to launch and grow a brand in this sector. For marketing leaders in pharmaceutical, medtech, and healthcare organizations, the challenge is no longer just about “awareness.” It is about delivering hyper-relevant, evidence-based content to healthcare professionals (HCPs) and patients at speed, without compromising regulatory rigor.
KNB Communications
The most common B2B healthcare content marketing mistakes—and how to avoid them – Sarah Mattacola, Digital Marketing Specialist at KNB Communications writes, B2B healthcare content has a tough job. It needs to be credible enough for clinicians, strategic enough for executives, and engaging enough for the humans (yes, they’re humans) reading on the other side of the screen—including marketing managers, directors of marketing, CMOs, heads of growth, demand generation leaders, and brand strategists working across healthcare, health tech, biotech, and life sciences.
Amendola Communications
Transform Your LinkedIn Presence With These 4 Company Page Tips – Jodi Amendola, President at Amendola Communications says, For companies and business professionals seeking to see and be seen, LinkedIn is the place to be. The social platform has reached a count of 1.2 billion members across 200 countries and regions, with more than 243 million in the U.S. Somewhat surprisingly, more members hail from Europe and the Asia-Pacific region than North America. Every minute on LinkedIn, more than 9,500 members apply for jobs, 17,000 connections are made, and 148 hours of learning content is consumed, according to the company.
News
For behavioral health pros, Dazos’ new iCampaign software automates email, SMS marketing programs to boost revenue
Dazos has launched its iCampaign software to help treatment centers and behavioral health facilities automate marketing programs that focus on high-performing referral sources, engage alumni, and pinpoint the number of admissions and amount of revenue stemming from email and SMS campaigns.
Marketing Hires & Now Hiring
Please join us in welcoming Joe Morgan to the KNB Communications team! An experienced media relations and PR leader with a strong journalism background, Joe knows how to help brands tell stories that resonate and drive results. 👏#HealthcarePR #PRstrategy pic.twitter.com/x3hFDkZwhl
— KNB Communications (@KNBComm) January 5, 2026
FINN Partners Hires Andrea Delafield as Head of Digital & Data Strategy
FINN Partners announced that Andrea Delafield has joined the agency as Senior Partner, Head of Digital & Data Strategy. Delafield reports to Alexis Pratsides, Global Head of Digital. In her new role, Delafield will lead FINN’s core technical disciplines: SEO, UX, Development, Martech, and Data Science, while supporting AI Innovation initiatives.
Agency News
Vereigen Media Releases New Insights on How B2B Buying Groups Are Reshaping Demand Generation
Vereigen Media, a B2B demand generation company specializing in verified engagement, first-party data intelligence, and human-verified lead delivery, announced the release of new insights on how modern B2B buying groups are reshaping demand generation, changing buyer behavior, redefining engagement, and raising the bar for what marketing teams must prove to drive pipeline.
MERGE has been honored again on @BuiltIn‘s Best Place to Work for 2026 list!
This win is for our team, who strive to create an environment where mental, physical, & professional well-being are all connected.
See what makes us Built Different: https://t.co/yS0JgdtpgU#BPTW2026 pic.twitter.com/GfHG1cNZP9
— wearemerge (@weareMERGE) January 6, 2026
More Listening
The Healthtech Marketing Show
Marketing to healthcare is hard. We can all use a little help. Join host Adam Turinas for the Healthtech Marketing Show to learn from the experts. Each episode features an experienced healthcare technology marketing leader, who shares tips, insights, and how to’s on a specific topic. Episodes include B2B marketing, HIT Marketing trends, ABM, brand strategy, digital, and content marketing and more.
Resources
Elevate Your Rare Disease Marketing – MERGE life science industry experts created this guide to provide a new perspective towards three tried-and-true tenets of rare disease marketing. You can expect to learn how modern solutions to age-old challenges can make a real difference for your company and the community.
Urgent Care Marketing 101 – free, online marketing eBook from Experity (@ExperityHealth)
An urgent care clinic, like any business, is only profitable if patients continue to use its services over time. Unfortunately, many urgent care facilities have a restricted marketing budget, which can severely limit new business volume and community engagement. According to Andrew Ibbotson, Vice President of the National Research Corp. in Nebraska, “Urgent care traffic is driven more by online search results, geography, wait times, and availability than traditional healthcare delivery.” These added complications make identifying the most effective marketing strategies for your walk-in clinic even more essential to success.
