Stewart Gandolf: Why Most Healthcare CEOs Still Don’t Get Marketing

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E-Coffee with Experts

Business


In this episode of E-Coffee with Experts, host Ranmay Rathod sits down with Stewart Gandolf, CEO at Healthcare Success Agency, a top marketing agency serving hospitals, providers, SaaS, and healthtech companies, to unpack his 20+ year journey in healthcare marketing.


Stewart shares how he accidentally fell into marketing after starting as an engineering student, and how he went on to dominate the healthcare niche long before SEO and Google Ads were mainstream. He reveals the early mistakes that almost crushed the agency, like hiring based on friendship, scaling with freelancers, and ignoring operations.


You’ll also hear Stewart’s honest take on where AI fits into healthcare marketing, why podcasting is a powerful trust builder, and what most healthcare CEOs still misunderstand about investing in growth.


He breaks down the shift toward brand authority, reputation, and digital PR as key SEO strategies in a world ruled by zero-click search and Google’s AI overviews.


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In this episode, we discuss:


00:00 - 02:00: From engineer to agency CEO

02:00 - 03:15: Why he chose healthcare marketing

03:15 - 04:50: How Healthcare Success got started

04:50 - 06:20: Winning early with SEO and Google Ads

06:20 - 07:30: Life before “digital marketing” was mainstream

07:30 - 08:50: Scaling with freelancers, no office, no systems

08:50 - 10:10: First big mistakes and learning operations the hard way

10:10 - 11:40: The power of niching down in healthcare

11:40 - 13:00: What healthcare CEOs still misunderstand about marketing

13:00 - 14:10: The HIPAA and compliance marketing challenge

14:10 - 15:20: Why healthcare is afraid of real marketing investment

15:20 - 16:30: Using podcasting to build brand trust

16:30 - 17:45: Turning relationships into real business through content

17:45 - 19:10: How AI is changing healthcare marketing today

19:10 - 20:25: Google AI Overviews and the future of SEO

20:25 - 21:30: Why brand-building matters more than ever

21:30 - 22:30: Advice for new agency owners

22:30 - 23:14: Final thoughts


 Connect with Stewart Gandolf

 https://www.linkedin.com/in/stewartgandolf/

 healthcaresuccess.com


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