Building a Solutions-driven Messaging System for Healthcare

HIMSS is a global healthcare organization that helps health systems and healthcare leaders use information and technology to improve care. Its portfolio spans digital products, education, professional development, events, maturity models, accreditation, advisory services, and other offerings tied to healthcare transformation. Most people know HIMSS for its annual global conference.

I joined on contract as Director of Product Marketing to help the CMO build product marketing discipline from the ground up. The goal was not simply to rewrite copy. It was to create a repeatable messaging and positioning process that the organization could sustain after my engagement.

HIMSS had deep credibility and expertise, but its portfolio story was fragmented. Customers understood that HIMSS was credible; they had a harder time understanding which solution was right for them, where to start, and how the offerings fit together.

Internally, there was no established PMM function. Go-to-market work was largely ad hoc and campaign-driven, messaging inputs changed from one initiative to the next, and teams lacked a shared ICP and persona framework. Different business areas described similar offerings in different ways, sometimes creating competing narratives instead of a clear cross-sell or bundling path.

My task was to standardize messaging across the portfolio, align leadership, subject-matter experts, Marketing, Sales, and Product around shared language, and turn messaging from a late-stage campaign input into a strategic foundation.

I started by assessing stakeholder readiness. Before asking people to adopt a messaging framework, I clarified the difference between positioning, messaging, and copy, and helped teams see messaging as strategy on a page.

Next, I grounded the work in voice-of-customer evidence. I sat in on customer calls, reviewed CRM notes from won and lost opportunities, studied product and beta documentation, interviewed internal experts, and pulled insight from HIMSS healthcare advisory boards. I synthesized those inputs into a centralized VOC artifact that gave the organization a shared source of truth.

I then brought senior leadership together for an onsite messaging and positioning workshop using a pains, gains, and jobs framework. We mapped stakeholder assumptions against the VOC. I followed with smaller workshops for subject-matter experts and portfolio teams. Leadership sharpened the business strategy; SMEs ensured the language was precise and credible to expert healthcare buyers.

From there, I built structured messaging frameworks across the portfolio. Key value propositions included supporting statements and a one-layer-deeper explanation so sellers could adapt the message without memorizing a script. Important word choices were documented and tied back to customer evidence, reducing subjective wordsmithing by committee.

Finally, I led a cross-functional rollout through training for Sales, Marketing, Product, and SMEs. The messaging was integrated into the website, sales enablement, inbound and lifecycle campaigns, and a refreshed ICP and persona system. I also left behind a feedback and iteration process so future teams could update the messaging as market signals changed.

I leveraged CRM data from Salesforce, structuring and reviewing unstructured data including notes from won and lost opportunities, to identify recurring customer needs, objections, and language patterns. I combined this with customer calls, product and beta documentation, internal SME interviews, and insight from healthcare advisory boards to create a centralized voice-of-customer artifact.

For the collaborative work, I used a pains, gains, and jobs framework, supported by onsite whiteboarding and sticky-note exercises, to compare stakeholder assumptions with customer evidence. I then translated the findings into reusable messaging and positioning frameworks, supporting statements, persona guidance, and sales-ready explanations.

To operationalize the work, I ran training sessions with Sales, Marketing, Product, and subject-matter experts and helped teams apply the messaging across the website, enablement materials, campaigns, and lifecycle programs.

The work gave HIMSS a shared language for explaining a complex portfolio and a repeatable process for evolving that language over time. Teams could differentiate related offerings more clearly, connect solutions into stronger cross-sell and upsell motions, and build more targeted lifecycle campaigns from a common ICP, persona, and messaging foundation.

Just as importantly, HIMSS was left with a messaging operating process that Marketing, Sales, Product, and subject-matter experts could continue to use and improve.