In this episode of The Future of Consumer Marketing, host Brett Stapper interviews Jacqueline Parisi, Head of Marketing at Elektra Health. Elektra Health is revolutionizing women’s healthcare by providing comprehensive menopause care through telemedicine, combining clinical treatment with wraparound support services like menopause doulas, education, and community. Operating primarily in New York and Connecticut, they’re tackling the massive gap in menopause care where only one specialist exists for every 26,000 U.S. women, and 70% of women seeking care don’t receive treatment. Through strategic insurance partnerships and localized marketing, Elektra Health has achieved network coverage for four out of every five New York women while becoming the first virtual menopause provider to accept Medicaid and Medicare.

Topics Discussed:

• Building a data-driven marketing culture in healthcare

• Navigating complex insurance partnerships and state-by-state expansion

• Marketing in emotionally charged healthcare categories

• Balancing consumer acquisition with B2B health plan relationships

• Scaling localized marketing strategies

• Differentiating in a crowded emerging market

• Managing information overload in newly destigmatized health categories

Lessons For Consumer Marketers:

Treat Every Marketing Initiative Like a Measurable Experiment

Drawing from her HelloFresh experience, Jacqueline emphasizes backing every creative decision with metrics, even seemingly unmeasurable brand plays. For print magazines in meal kits, they used QR codes with UTM parameters and gamified content with answers in following weeks’ boxes to track retention impact. The key isn’t perfect measurement—it’s having some signal to guide decisions and build internal buy-in for brand work.

Operate Marketing Teams Like Internal Creative Agencies

At HelloFresh, the brand team functioned as an in-house agency, receiving briefs from growth teams and pitching competing campaign concepts. They’d split into competing sub-teams to develop different creative approaches for the same brief, forcing excellence through internal competition while maintaining collaborative goals. This structure bridges the gap between data-driven growth teams and creative brand work.

Avoid the Brand Copycat Trap Through Adjacent Industry Inspiration

While maintaining competitive awareness is important, over-indexing on direct competitors leads to derivative messaging and creative. Jacqueline advocates for studying brands targeting similar demographics in different categories—following companies like Bobbi (selling to moms) or Strava (community-focused platforms) rather than just other healthcare providers. This prevents the echo chamber effect where all competitors end up saying the same things.

Use Localized Marketing to Build Insurance Partnership Leverage

Rather than spreading marketing spend nationally, Elektra Health focuses on deep penetration in core markets where they have strong insurance coverage. This creates a concentrated customer base that demonstrates clear ROI to health plans, making expansion conversations more compelling. The strategy: establish an “anchor partner” health plan in each state before scaling marketing efforts there.

Position Your Brand During Cultural Pendulum Swings

Elektra Health navigated the shift from menopause being taboo to being mainstream conversation. When Oprah and celebrities started discussing menopause openly, it created awareness but also information overwhelm. They repositioned from “smashing the menopause taboo” to “walking the walk” by providing accessible, insurance-covered care when celebrity endorsements weren’t translating to better health outcomes for average women.

Leverage Comment Sections as Market Research Gold Mines

Jacqueline personally responds to Facebook ad comments to understand customer psychology, concerns, and language. These insights directly inform future ad creative, email campaigns, and product positioning. The comments reveal real customer questions and objections that focus groups might miss, providing authentic voice-of-customer data for messaging optimization.

Build Differentiation Through Business Model, Not Just Marketing

In crowded markets, sustainable competitive advantages come from structural differences. Elektra Health differentiates through comprehensive care (clinicians + menopause doulas), refusing to monetize supplement sales (removing conflicts of interest), and broad insurance acceptance including Medicaid/Medicare. These operational choices become powerful marketing messages that competitors can’t easily replicate.

Apply Rigorous Content Standards in Regulated Industries

For healthcare marketing, Elektra Health maintains strict policies against AI-generated content, requiring comprehensive medical vetting, citations, and reviews. This builds trust and SEO authority in YMYL (Your Money Your Life) categories where credibility is paramount. The extra effort in content creation becomes a competitive moat that builds long-term organic visibility and customer trust.