In this episode of The Marketing Front Lines, we speak with Jen Bruursema, Senior Director of Marketing and PR at DELFI Diagnostics. DELFI is transforming early cancer detection through blood-based testing, using AI machine learning and whole genome sequencing to identify cancer signals before traditional screening methods. Their FirstLook Lung product represents a new paradigm in lung cancer screening—adding a simple blood test before CT scans to identify truly at-risk patients. Jen navigates one of healthcare's most complex marketing challenges: simultaneously educating health systems, providers, patients, payers, and regulatory bodies while building toward FDA approval in a heavily regulated space where clear, authentic communication can literally save lives.
Topics Discussed
Multi-stakeholder marketing in regulated healthcare environments Translating complex science into accessible patient and provider education Building credibility through scientific conference strategy Preparing for FDA submission through strategic content campaigns Leveraging LinkedIn for healthcare decision-maker engagement Context engineering and AI-powered audience segmentation Omnichannel approaches for time-constrained healthcare providers
Lessons For B2B Healthcare Marketers
- Write Like an Informed Friend, Not a Press Release: In heavily regulated, technical fields, marketers often hide behind jargon and corporate language. Jen's core philosophy rejects this approach—she writes as an informed friend who respects both the personal nature of health decisions and the expertise of healthcare providers. This means clear, direct, honest communication that makes complex science accessible without obscuring or oversimplifying it. For healthcare marketers, this approach builds trust faster than polished corporate messaging ever could.
- Earn Your Right to Sell Through Scientific Credibility: DELFI's go-to-market strategy begins not with marketing campaigns but with scientific conferences where they present clinical trial data, real-world evidence, and performance metrics. This creates the foundation for all downstream marketing activities. Only after establishing scientific credibility through peer-reviewed presentations can they amplify messages through webinars, advisory boards, and targeted content. For B2B healthcare marketers, conference presence isn't just awareness—it's the credential that unlocks conversations with VPs of oncology, Chief Innovation Officers, and other executive decision-makers.
- Map Your Funnel to Organizational Decision Layers: DELFI markets to health systems as the gateway, knowing that system-level partnerships unlock access to practices, providers, medical staff, and ultimately patients. Their strategy sequences engagement deliberately: first winning over system executives through scientific validation and regulatory progress, then educating providers and patients within those institutions through traditional omnichannel tactics. This layered approach recognizes that in healthcare, you're not selling to multiple stakeholders simultaneously—you're moving through organizational decision hierarchies strategically.
- Use Context Engineering to Find Audiences in Decision Moments: Rather than broad demographic targeting, Jen applies what she calls "context engineering"—understanding patient population subcohorts and provider segments well enough to intercept them at moments when they're ready to listen, consider, and act. This might mean reaching family practitioners on Facebook groups late at night when they're decompressing, or connecting with high-risk smoking populations at barbershops. For healthcare marketers, this requires deep behavioral understanding of when and where audiences are actually receptive to health information.
- Let Authentic Voices Carry Your Message: Jen explicitly avoids being "the perfect voice for a product"—instead, she finds people who authentically represent lung cancer screening, cervical cancer screening, or infectious disease and empowers them to tell stories in their own words. Her process starts small: identifying voices with gravitas, having them repeat key messages to receptive audiences, learning and iterating, then scaling successful approaches through larger channels. This builds resonance that automated bullet points never could.
- Prepare for Regulatory Milestones with Campaign Arcs: As DELFI approaches their FDA submission, 2025's marketing strategy centers on "big data, big campaign-worthy content" in a hub-and-spoke model around major clinical readouts. Each data announcement becomes the center of tactical campaigns building toward regulatory approval. For healthtech marketers navigating FDA or similar approval processes, this approach transforms regulatory milestones from constraints into strategic marketing moments that build momentum toward commercial launch.
- Build LinkedIn Presence as Long-Term Infrastructure: With limited access to time-constrained healthcare decision-makers, DELFI is doubling down on LinkedIn to build followership and test content formats—clinical data highlights, behind-the-scenes team work, and clinical leader advisement. They're not treating this as a short-term campaign but as foundational infrastructure for reaching diagnostic decision-makers. For B2B healthcare marketers, LinkedIn isn't about viral posts—it's about consistent presence that positions you as a credible resource when executives finally have time to engage with new solutions.
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