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.