How Josh Byrd Uses Songwriting Experience to Tell the Patient Story
Like most marketers, Josh Byrd, VP of Marketing at Relatient, has many passions. Outside of his marketing work with Relatient, Byrd is a professional country music songwriter. And it’s this ability to tell a story in song that strengthens Byrd’s abilities as a marketer. Byrd joined David Kemp on the Highway to Health to talk about his love for marketing and how merging passions is a recipe for success.
“Good marketing is about connection,” Byrd said. “Whether you’re writing a song or a blog, or a podcast, or a white paper, or anything, you’re really searching for that emotional connection.”
Byrd began his journey by mixing his dream of country music fame with some paying marketing gigs. And never one to pass down an opportunity when it came his way, Bryd soon found marketing an offer he couldn’t refuse. New passions emerged, and he discovered working for startups was an exciting area to practice his marketing abilities. Articulating a startup’s story happened to be up Byrd’s ally. “It wasn’t all too different from a music journey, right? It’s helping somebody tell their story.”
Eventually, Byrd worked for a healthcare startup, helping patients understand the payment process better. And now, working at Relatient, Byrd gets to focus on patient engagement at an even deeper level. “We’re working on the scheduling and messaging side of things to make sure that patients are involved in their care from the get-go.”
There is no end to challenges in healthcare, but success is always a corner away with the right tools and guidance. Patient engagement is an area ripe for improvement, and it’s a rewarding challenge that Byrd said brings purpose and meaning to his work. “Last year, Relatient engaged with we 50 million patients. That’s 50 million opportunities to make someone’s life better.”
