We were lucky to catch up with Sarah McLeod recently and have shared our conversation below.
Sarah, looking forward to learning from your journey. You’ve got an amazing story and before we dive into that, let’s start with an important building block. Where do you get your work ethic from?
Growing up in the Midwest, my family instilled a diligent work ethic in me. It wasn’t an option—it was just a way of doing things. I was 10 years old with my own business cards for my babysitting services and doing whatever other job I could find. Having two brothers to keep up with was a motivating factor that didn’t hurt, either!
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
I’m CEO of Activate Health, a strategic marketing and public relations firm that’s dedicated solely to helping clients in the healthcare industry. The agency was founded in 2010 after we recognized a massive gap in communications, marketing and advertising support for business-to-business healthcare organizations. Some agencies may have understood patient marketing for hospitals or health systems, but don’t grasp the complexity around concepts like value-based care, financial risk, population health, and the like.
Originally, I started my career working in marketing roles for healthcare organizations. I saw how Fortune 500 companies and entrepreneurial startups operated, gained exposure to this vast and complicated industry and grew passionate about it. So, when my former boss offered me an opportunity to join her and help grow the firm, I took a leap of faith and said goodbye to the security of the corporate world.
Forming an agency that specialized in healthcare made perfect sense. The landscape is ever-evolving, and trends and forces shift regularly. It’s a full-time job to keep up with the intricacy and the industry effects on different healthcare entities, like payer and provider organizations, health tech vendors, specialty pharmacies and everything in between. And we built a team of people who understood just that, from our account teams to our creative folks.
Today, what we hear from our clients further reinforces that our healthcare specialization is what sets us apart. We know how to simplify the complexity of the industry into personal, compelling stories that resonate. It’s so important—on the B2B side especially—to influence individuals, not companies.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
First, having a willingness to learn. Second, maintaining flexibility to evolve and adapt. And finally, drilling down into my area of expertise.
These three qualities have characterized so much of my career and led to the success that Activate Health delivers for our clients today. Through different roles and joining new organizations, withstanding mergers and acquisitions, and cutting my teeth on such a variety of sectors in the healthcare industry, there was plenty of uncertainty. But my drive to get up to speed with the next subject and ride the tailwinds of change served me well.
The landscape for marketing and communications professionals has evolved so much since I first entered this field. Public relations is a totally different ballgame—the industry is consolidated, there are fewer reporters and outlets, and media pros have had to substantially step their game up from a decade ago. Fifteen years ago, I was tasked with leading a corporate website build. This was well before user-friendly platforms were so widely available and I had no experience in digital development. Social was barely a B2B strategy back then, and now it’s critical for organizations looking to build thought leadership.
Today, I lead our agency partners in comprehensive digital and social media strategy for our clients. I look back and see how all of those once-brand-new experiences and my own adaptability set me up for success today.
All of that’s to say that my yearning for knowledge paid off. I can say now that I’ve “seen it all”—from the payer (health insurer) side of the house and the value of relationships, to selling ideas to your boss or your team, understanding intricacies of my industry like claims and underwriting, and grasping the private equity space. All of that has proven so beneficial now that I’m leading a specialized marketing agency.
My advice to people who may be just starting out in their professional journey—or those who are entering a new industry or field—is to raise your hand as much as possible. Soaking in new skills, knowledge, and opening yourself up to new relationships becomes second nature when your inclination is to volunteer to jump in on a project or task. Even if it’s not your designated area. Your job can’t be all the things you may want or need it to be, so if you’re feeling dissatisfied, unfulfilled or unchallenged in a certain way, create opportunity for yourself by showing interest in and contributing to something new.
Who is your ideal client or what sort of characteristics would make someone an ideal client for you?
Having supported nearly every type of healthcare and healthcare-adjacent organization, at Activate Health, we’re always open to having a conversation about how we can help people—whether in-house marketing, sales, operations, strategy partners, or otherwise.
Over the years, we’ve supported specialty pharmacies in their multichannel, multi-audience outreach to patients, provider groups, payers and manufacturers. We’ve executed internal/corporate and external communications for long-term care insurance administrators. As clients hit the tradeshow and conference circuit, our team has handled everything from speaking engagements to talking points for salespeople. And on the health plan and health system side, we’ve over-delivered on hundreds of earned media placements, interviews, articles and even executive and company awards to raise brand visibility. Health technology is another of our specializations because of the deep B2B selling and messaging knowledge our team boasts. Some of our clients hired our firm with zero social media presence, and we’ve built ground-up strategies that allow them to engage and demonstrate thought leadership with their key audiences. We also pour our expertise in the healthcare space into intricate messaging platforms and branding concepts, informed by deep brand and industry research.
To put it simply, we truly live and breathe healthcare and know this space better than any other marketing or PR agency.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.activatehealth.com
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahmcleod/
