Anika Gardenhire, Chief Digital and Information Officer at Ardent Health, shared some tough love with Swaay.Health at ViVE2025. She burst the bubble on three of the go-to marketing tactics: email outreach, exhibiting at conferences, and relying on your brand’s legacy.

Key Takeaways

1. 
   
2. Cold Emails Don’t Work. Gardenhire doesn’t respond to unsolicited sales emails or calls. Vendors need a different approach to get on her radar.
   
3. CIOs Aren’t Wandering the Exhibit Hall. Gardenhire rarely goes into the exhibit hall, unless it is to have a pre-arragned meeting with a vendor already under consideration.
   
4. Established Brands Don’t Automatically Win. Ardent Health chooses solutions based on fit, not brand recognition. Startups have a chance if they can prove long-term value.
   
5. Decisions Are Made as a Team. Vendor selection involves input from operations, finance, and clinical teams—not just the CIO.
   
6. Peer Recommendations Matter. Gardenhire and her team prioritize referrals from trusted industry connections and trusted research firms.
   
7. …too many more. You will just have to watch the video
   

“I don’t think I’ve ever responded to a cold email or a cold call,” Gardenhire said bluntly.

Marketers take heed. If you are banking on unsolicited emails to get on someone’s radar in healthcare, don’t hold your breath. Healthcare people are too busy to read emails from companies or people they do not know or have a relationship with. This means anyone who put their name in for your draw or  attended your in-person session is not likely to respond to your emails.

Stop wasting their time and yours.

Email works when you have established trust. Trust takes time and multiple touchpoints. Once you have trust, carefully crafted email messages that offer value can be a very effective way to reach out.

“It’s going to be rare that I would actually wander the exhibit hall,” Gardenhire shared.

Although she acknowledged that some members of her team may browse for new teach in an exhibit hall, her meetings are all pre-planned with vendors that have already been vetted through Ardent’s internal research process. If you’re not on the schedule, she is not stopping at your booth.

The key message for vendors: do the work ahead of conferences to arrange meetings ahead of time. Don’t invest in a booth expecting your target audience to “stumble in”.

Brand name alone won’t win the deal according to Gardenhire: “We make sure we’re getting the right solution, not just the biggest one.”

While reputation matters, Ardent Health is not swayed by recognizable logos on a company’s customer roster. Nor are they tied to choosing solutions from vendors they already do business with. Instead, Ardent Health evaluate whether a solution fits into existing workflows, integrates seamlessly, and actually moves the needle on patient care.

Startups have a shot—if they can prove long-term viability. “If you’re a standalone solution, that’s tough,” Gardenhire admitted. “But if the impact is big enough, we’ll pay attention.”

“We make purchasing decisions in tight alignment with operations, finance, and our clinical teams,” Gardenhire confirmed.

Gardenhire and her team do not think about vendors until a problem has been identified by operational and clinical staff. Once a problem has been crystalized, then they being looking for partners who have solutions.

Where do they for partners? Gardenhire points to two main sources: referrals from peers and trusted research organizations like Gartner and KLAS Research. “We turn to our personal and professional networks,” said Gardenhire. “Sometimes a member of our board will know someone who worked with a particular vendor to solve a similar problem, or one of our clinicians will have a peer at a different organization that has had success with a solution.”

What do Gardenhire’s comments mean for healthcare marketers?

She is reminding us that successful marketing (and sales) is all about relationships and trust. You must establish BOTH before you will get an opportunity to pitch your solution. Cold emails and exhibit halls are no longer effective ways to build trust or start a relationship.

Instead, marketers should focus on capturing case studies, helping customers get speaking opportunities at conferences, getting on the radar of research organizations, and creating opportunities for your executives, sales team, and product team to meet + get to know prospects.

Above all, Gardenhire makes it clear that vendors who focus on solving real problems and proving their staying power have a far better chance than those relying on cold outreach and brand recognition.

Learn more about Ardent Health at https://ardenthealth.com/