At HMPS 2026, I had the opportunity to partner with Ashley Boggs, Marketing Director at Roper St. Francis Healthcare, to share how our teams worked together to rethink women’s health engagement and build a more sustainable pipeline for patient growth.

Building Lifelong Relationships Through Women's Health Services

Like many health systems, Roper St. Francis Healthcare faced growing pressure to drive measurable growth in an increasingly competitive environment. While Charleston’s population continued to rise, national birth rates were declining, creating additional urgency around attracting and retaining new patients.

The team wasn’t only trying to increase deliveries. They wanted to build earlier relationships with women before maternity care became an immediate need.

Women’s health represented an opportunity to build long-term relationships with patients and their families while strengthening loyalty across the health system. Instead of focusing solely on short-term obstetrics promotion, we built a digitally driven engagement strategy designed to influence patient decisions earlier in the journey.

Aligning Digital Marketing Strategies to Patient Journey Realities

The strategy centered on a key insight: delivery decisions often begin long before pregnancy.

Rather than treating obstetrics as a standalone campaign, the team focused on building a women’s health pipeline, using gynecology as an entry point for future maternity care and lifelong engagement.

Audience understanding became critical to the approach:

• Women seeking gynecologic care required different messaging than those actively planning for pregnancy
• Media investments needed to align with patient intent and provider access
• Creative needed to reflect what women value most throughout the care journey

“This pipeline approach required discipline and patience as we built a foundation that would yield results not overnight, but over time. Our strategy allowed Roper to immediately stand out among competitors while building deep relationships with women that would last into the future.”

To reach women effectively, the strategy focused on the digital channels where audiences were already spending time, including search, social, and mobile video platforms.

Gynecology messaging emphasized lifelong wellness and access to exceptional care, while obstetrics creative focused on compassionate, personalized support throughout pregnancy. Campaign creative also highlighted nursing staff, recognizing the important role they play in a woman’s birth experience.

Reducing Friction in the Patient Experience

The initiative extended beyond media and messaging. A seamless patient experience became a central part of the growth strategy.

Patients moved through a connected journey:

• Digital engagement
• Dedicated landing pages
• Scheduling options
• Coordination through the Engagement Center
• Appointment placement aligned to patient needs and provider access

This operational alignment helped support both employed and affiliated OB/GYN providers while reducing friction in the path to care.

Campaign Success Informs Broader Service Line Marketing Strategy

The strategy delivered measurable growth across both marketing and operational metrics:

• 570 OB/GYN appointments generated
• 27% increase in OB/GYN new patient visits
• 3% increase in deliveries across Berkeley Hospital and St. Francis Hospital

The success of the initiative also created momentum beyond women’s health. Roper St. Francis Healthcare has continued expanding its digitally driven engagement strategy across additional channels and service lines, applying the same pipeline mindset to create sustainable growth across the business.

Key Takeaways

• Build service-line pipelines, not isolated campaigns
• Align marketing strategy with operational realities and patient access
• Use digital engagement to strengthen long-term patient relationships
• Connect patient experience, provider coordination, and marketing performance

Download the Presentation Deck

Explore the full strategy, creative examples, and patient journey framework behind Roper St. Francis Healthcare’s women’s health initiative. Download now.

Another HMPS Conversation Worth Exploring

If you attended HMPS, you may have also caught Stacy Compty from IQVIA and John Berg from UF Health discussing how health systems can rethink physician engagement to drive referral growth.

Their presentation examined how intent-based physician marketing can help health systems reduce referral leakage, strengthen provider relationships, and engage physicians at critical moments in clinical decision-making.

Read more: From Broadcast to Intent: What HMPS 2026 Reinforced About the Future of Physician Engagement.