Understanding Audience Intent as the First Step to Driving Partner Impact

Our organization’s approach to understanding audiences matters.?

Product marketing plays a critical role in ensuring that our offerings deliver value—both to the people who rely on our content and to the partners who support our mission. Erin Cross , VP of Product Marketing at Healthline Media, leads this effort, bringing together teams across the organization to leverage consumer insights and bring impactful products to market.?

Q: How do you use data and insights to better understand and serve our audiences?

A: When are we not analyzing data and insights?! Understanding behavior is central to our work, and it happens across multiple levels:

• Onsite behavioral data: We constantly analyze how users, especially our known users, engage with our content—tracking patterns to identify needs and gaps we can fill.
• Consumer research: Surveys and interviews provide deeper insights, particularly in areas like Rx savings and wellness solutions. Monitoring real conversations through social listening can help us stay attuned to evolving interests and concerns.
• Industry analysis: We assess shifts in healthcare and media consumption to anticipate changing needs.
• Market analysis: Vetted market research reports and analyzing our own in-market data help us stay ahead of what our partners need from us.?

One key focus in recent years has been healthy actions—understanding what users do before or after engaging with or as a result of certain experiences. These behavioral insights help shape our strategy and ensure we’re meeting audiences where they are with an actionable next step. Considering how our media partners can both integrate into these action-oriented experiences and see impact from them remains central to our focus.

Q: How do you track and optimize the real-world impact of your work?

A: We’re lucky to have a strong feedback loop—both through consumer engagement data and through our media partners, who measure the impact of our products and programs on their brands and businesses.

Recently, we ran an audience targeting strategy that wasn’t delivering as expected. Instead of sticking with the original approach, the team dug into the data, analyzed the inputs, and adjusted the targeting parameters and model to be more precise. The result? Significant performance improvements.

This kind of iterative process is how we continue to refine our work—ensuring that we’re not just executing strategies, but optimizing them for real impact.

Q: What are some key trends and shifts you’re seeing in health??

A: Health consumption habits have evolved rapidly, with people today seeking advice, information, and recommendations from countless sources—sometimes from a healthcare provider, but not always.?

In many ways, health in the hands of the consumer is a good thing—people have more access to data and information than before and can track and manage their health and wellness. Conversations around health are more open than ever.

But with more access comes more complexity. Consumers are now responsible for navigating an overwhelming amount of information—far more than they can reasonably process. Trust is a major issue, and without a clear, credible source to guide them, even small health decisions can feel daunting.?

In this landscape, I’m seeing a few key trends emerge:?

• AI is making health more personal and accessible, but it also risks creating echo chambers, making trust harder to establish.
• Prevention and condition management are becoming more available, though cost barriers still exist. Wearables and remote monitoring tools enable real-time health tracking and early intervention, while GLP-1s are blurring the lines between prevention, treatment, and management.?
• AI is transforming healthcare for providers, improving efficiency and diagnostics while reshaping patient interactions.
• Privacy regulations around sensitive health data are tightening, forcing a balance between personalization and protection.?

By staying ahead of these shifts, we help people cut through the noise and make informed health decisions with confidence.

Q: What does it take to build trust—with our audiences, within our team, and as an organization?

A: Trust isn’t given—it’s earned. Just as you wouldn’t expect someone to trust you just because you ask, we have to demonstrate why audiences should believe in us. That applies to our work internally, too. A few principles I rely on:

• Empathy: Always consider different perspectives—not just your own.
• Credibility: Enlist experts in the field, especially in health, to create, collaborate, and validate information.
• Clarity and consistency: Trust grows when people know what to expect.
• Accountability: If something isn’t working, acknowledge it and course-correct.

Stay tuned for more insights from diverse perspectives across our organization. We’re eager to share, educate, and connect.?