Cardinal Digital Marketing’s Alex Membrillo on Why Healthcare Marketers Need This Event Now More Than Ever
Cardinal Digital Marketing is once again shaking up the healthcare marketing world with the return of Scaling Up: The Healthcare Performance Marketing Summit, scheduled to take place virtually on October 28–29, 2025. The event, now in its third year, remains the only national summit dedicated entirely to healthcare performance marketing. And according to Cardinal CEO Alex Membrillo, the timing couldn’t be more critical.
“Healthcare marketers are facing more hurdles than ever before,” says Membrillo. “Scaling Up is where the industry’s top leaders come together to share how they’re navigating this moment—and finding ways to grow smarter.”
With more than 2,000 attendees expected, Scaling Up 2025 promises two days of strategy-rich sessions led by over 35 senior marketing leaders from some of the largest healthcare provider groups in the U.S., including Heartland Dental, AEG Vision, Action Behavior Centers, and Confluent Health. The virtual format and free registration help lower barriers for participation, ensuring a broad and diverse pool of healthcare professionals.
Why This Summit—and Why Now?
Membrillo explains that the original inspiration for Scaling Up was simple: nothing else like it existed.
“Working in the healthcare performance marketing space, we were inspired to create the Scaling Up: Healthcare Performance Marketing Summit because nothing else like it existed,” he says. “We knew there would be a benefit to getting healthcare marketers together to solve real growth challenges.”
Those challenges have only intensified in today’s climate of inflation, shrinking budgets, and growing regulatory scrutiny. The summit is designed to address these head-on, with sessions focused on patient acquisition, optimizing media spend, improving ROI, and aligning marketing with operations, all within the complexities of a HIPAA-compliant framework.
Built for Healthcare Marketers, by Healthcare Marketers
Unlike broader healthcare conferences, Scaling Up is laser-focused on multi-site healthcare provider groups and performance-driven strategies. That niche approach is a major draw, especially in a virtual world full of webinars that often fall short of the mark.
“Scaling Up stands out because it’s the only conference built exclusively for multi-site healthcare provider groups and performance marketing,” Membrillo explains. “While many events cover healthcare broadly, Scaling Up is uniquely focused on the real-world challenges of driving patient acquisition, scaling across hundreds of locations, and proving ROI in a high-pressure environment.”
Attendees will hear from executives who tackle the same problems they face—from building marketing plans during economic uncertainty to tracking and reporting ROI across complex organizational structures.
AI and Budget Pressures: Top of Mind
Two major concerns among attendees this year, Membrillo says, are the responsible adoption of AI and effective budget management.
“AI is generating huge interest, but marketers are cautious. They’re worried about compliance, protecting brand credibility and patient trust, and whether new applications actually improve efficiency and outcomes,” he says. “At the same time, budgets are under pressure, and leaders need to prove that every dollar spent drives measurable impact.”
Sessions will address how to evaluate and test AI tools responsibly, align media spend with patient capacity, and implement advanced measurement models, such as MMM (media mix modeling) and incremental testing, to forecast ROI.
“The goal is to equip marketers with practical strategies to stretch budgets further while confidently adopting innovations that deliver real results,” Membrillo says.
Making Virtual Feel Personal
While virtual, Scaling Up is far from passive. This year’s format aims to foster meaningful connections between peers and provide actionable insights for every participant.
“Attendees can engage with speakers through live Q&A, polls, and real-time chat, but the peer-to-peer connections are just as important,” says Membrillo.
A new feature this year includes networking rooms sorted by healthcare specialty and job function. For example, a behavioral health marketer can connect with others in the same field, or CMOs can swap ideas with fellow executives.
“These rooms give people the chance to swap ideas, share what’s working, and build real relationships,” he adds.
What’s Trending: Predictive Modeling and Smarter Budgeting
One hot topic Membrillo expects to dominate conversation is predictive modeling as a tool for smarter budget planning.
“With Q4 underway, many marketers are in planning mode for 2026, and budgeting is always one of the toughest challenges,” he says. “Forecasting spend and expected outcomes across hundreds of locations and service lines has historically been more guesswork than science.”
Sessions will showcase how organizations can use modeling tools to estimate ROI and lead volume by location and channel, and how marginal CPA (cost per acquisition) can help guide investments with more confidence.
“We expect this to spark meaningful discussion because it gives healthcare leaders a way to defend budgets, allocate dollars with confidence, and enter the new year in a stronger position,” he says.
Introducing the Flockie Awards
For the first time, Scaling Up will also include the debut of the Flockie Awards, a new recognition program that celebrates innovation and impact in healthcare marketing. According to Membrillo, these awards go beyond theory to honor execution.
“The Flockie Awards will be celebrating bold breakthroughs in healthcare marketing. This means we won’t just be talking about strategies but celebrating them,” he explains. “As a healthcare marketer, whether you scaled performance, launched a standout campaign, or broke through with big results on a lean budget, Flockie Awards are for the change-makers, innovators, and rising stars of our industry.”
And why the name “Flockies”?
“At Cardinal, we believe growth doesn’t happen alone—it takes a flock,” Membrillo says. “These awards honor the individuals and teams who flew farther, together.”
Submissions for the Flockies are open through October 15, 2025. Entry is free and open to both self-nominations and peer nominations.
Data Over Hype
As the marketing landscape continues to evolve, Membrillo emphasizes the need for a fundamental mindset shift among healthcare marketers: adopt data-first decision-making.
“Relying on data to make decisions is a mindset that we believe healthcare marketers should be adopting if they aren’t already,” he says. “This means focusing on measurable marketing that is performing to meet your goals.”
He’s also candid about what’s overhyped: social media, at least when it’s done wrong.
“Now, this isn’t to say that a healthcare organization shouldn’t be on social media,” Membrillo clarifies. “However, they should steer clear of broad targeting campaigns or overly focus on social channels that the target market isn’t readily using.”
He suggests doubling down on platforms that matter to your demographic, such as Facebook for older patient groups, and skipping influencer campaigns that don’t drive results.
Instead, marketers should give more attention to two channels that are underutilized but highly effective: video and text.
“Video content isn’t going anywhere,” says Membrillo. “Patients like to view videos that detail procedures, hear from the doctor, or highlight real-patient experiences.”
Text messaging is another tool he believes should be prioritized.
“Patients are beginning to expect more and more from their healthcare providers. They want to be able to book via text, ask questions via text, and get updates via text,” he adds.
Avoiding Common Pitfalls
Cardinal Digital Marketing works with some of the nation’s largest healthcare provider groups, giving the agency a unique perspective on what’s holding many of them back.
“A common challenge is getting marketing departments to work cross-functionally with operations and finance,” Membrillo says. “The departments often work independently from one another and don’t share data or insights. This can result in ineffective digital strategies and wasted marketing spending.”
He adds that this is especially prevalent among large hospital systems or organizations tied to universities or medical schools.
At Scaling Up 2025, Cardinal will present solutions that help align digital strategies with operational realities, bridging the gap between marketing and the rest of the organization.
Looking Ahead to Smarter Growth
Scaling Up 2025 isn’t just another industry conference. It’s a working summit designed to address the current challenges faced by healthcare marketers. From rising costs to AI integration and performance measurement, every session is crafted with one goal in mind: helping healthcare organizations grow smarter, faster, and more efficiently.
As Membrillo puts it, “Whether you’re optimizing media investments, aligning with operations, or proving ROI to the C-suite, you’ll walk away with the playbooks, tactics, and data strategies that actually drive impact.”
Registration for Scaling Up 2025 is now open and free for healthcare marketers and executives.
Daniel Casciato is a seasoned healthcare writer, publisher, and product reviewer with two decades of experience. He founded Healthcare Business Today to deliver timely insights on healthcare trends, technology, and innovation. His bylines have appeared in outlets such as Cleveland Clinic’s Health Essentials, MedEsthetics Magazine, EMS World, Pittsburgh Business Times, Post-Gazette, Providence Journal, Western PA Healthcare News, and he has written for clients like the American Heart Association, Google Earth, and Southwest Airlines. Through Healthcare Business Today, Daniel continues to inform and inspire professionals across the healthcare landscape.
