The CMO’s Role in Leading Healthcare’s Next Era

The role of the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) is being redefined. In healthcare, we’re standing at a critical inflection point where the traditional view of marketing as a “demand generator” no longer fits. Patients don’t want more ads. They need better access, smarter digital experiences, and stronger relationships with the brands they trust most.

A recent McKinsey article and podcast underscore what many of us already know: CMOs are often excluded from the most important strategic conversations. Yet they are essential to creating sustainable, customer-centric growth. That disconnect is costing organizations — not just in performance, but in long-term relevance.

These insights echo what I’ve seen happen in many healthcare systems. If we don’t evolve how we view and use marketing, we risk missing one of the most powerful levers for transformation.

We Don’t Have a Demand Problem

Healthcare doesn’t struggle with demand. What we face are deeper, more complex challenges:

• A care navigation problem. Do patients know what level of care they need for the problem at hand to effectively use our services? Emergency, urgent, primary or specialty?
• An accessibility problem. Can patients actually get the care they need, when and how they need it?
• An experience problem. Is every touchpoint intuitive, unified, and empathetic?
• A loyalty problem. Are we building long-term trust or just enabling transactions?

Marketing must go beyond promotion. We need to help architect the end-to-end journey — across digital front doors, MyChart integration, AI-powered navigation, and personalized content. And to do that well, we must partner not only with CEOs and CFOs, but also with COOs, CDOs, AI, strategy and access leaders who shape how the system operates.

Redefining the Role of the Modern CMO

McKinsey’s research found that organizations see 2.3x higher growth when CMOs are integrated into strategic planning. Yet in too many healthcare organizations, marketing remains siloed — brought in at the end of the process to “communicate” a decision that’s already been made.

Even more concerning, some organizations are now considering removing the CMO from the C-suite entirely, folding the function under other roles or reducing its strategic voice. In a world where digital trust, consumer choice, and brand credibility have never mattered more, this move is not just shortsighted — it’s risky.

The CMO of the future must be:

• A general manager, fluent in financial and operational outcomes
• A consumer experience architect, collaborating with IT, access, and clinical teams
• A co-innovator, building the future of care alongside strategy, digital and operations
• A data and AI leader, driving personalization and intelligent engagement at scale
• A connector, uniting the organization around the voice and needs of the consumer

This isn’t about expanding scope. It’s about stepping up to lead where it matters most.

Marketing Is a Growth Engine — and an Experience Platform

Marketing can and does drive growth. But our value doesn’t end there. We can and do:

• Build trust through credible, brand-aligned health content
• Streamline digital experiences and remove friction
• Support loyalty and lifetime value through personalized outreach
• Elevate brand perception across every touchpoint
• Deliver speed and empathy through intelligent automation
• Partner with IT, access and many others to unify and scale innovation

We’re already doing this work. But to have maximum impact, we must be empowered as enterprise leaders — starting at the strategy table, not the finish line.

Aligning the Enterprise Around the Consumer

While McKinsey focused on the CMO–CEO–CFO axis, in healthcare we must think bigger. True alignment in healthcare includes CDOs, COOs, Chief Strategy Officers, access and PX leadership — the very people driving care model transformation, "digital front doors," and system-wide operational shifts.

Marketing belongs in those conversations.

We bring:

• Deep understanding of consumer behavior, trust, and brand
• Expertise in UX design, accessibility, and health literacy
• Real-time data on how people find, choose, and engage with care
• Tools and strategies that bridge digital with human connection
• Proven ability to scale messaging, content, and digital tools with precision

This is how we help create better systems — not just better stories.

What Happens Next Is Up to Us

This moment calls for more than reorganization. It calls for recommitment — to bold leadership, to the consumer experience, and to the unique power of marketing to shape the future of care.

Removing the CMO from the C-suite doesn't streamline decision-making. It fragments accountability for the brand experience and weakens an organization’s ability to grow, differentiate, and build trust at scale.

And I’ll be honest: yes, I have a personal stake in this conversation. But this isn’t just about ambition — it’s about conviction. Everything I’ve built, measured, and led has shown me the potential of marketing to drive meaningful change. That belief is grounded in facts, in lived experience, and in purpose.

The systems we’re building now will define how patients experience care for the next decade. Let’s make sure marketing is at the table — not just to say it well or promote it, but to help build it better.

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