Unlock Health Cofounders Release Blueprint for Reaching Patients in the Post-Truth Era

The new book titled Authentic Healthcare Marketing: Build Trust, Engage Patients, and Succeed in a Post-Truth Era is now available for purchase and download on Amazon

NASHVILLE, Tenn., July 7, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Unlock Health today announced the release of a powerful new book by Brandon Edwards, Cofounder and CEO, and Shannon McIntyre Hooper, Cofounder and President of the company. Titled Authentic Healthcare Marketing: Build Trust, Engage Patients, and Succeed in a Post-Truth Era, the book offers a practical roadmap for healthcare systems and provider organizations to effectively and meaningfully connect with patients amid today's challenging information landscape.

In this timely and insightful guide, Edwards and Hooper draw on over five decades of combined experience in healthcare marketing and consumer engagement to tackle one of the industry's most pressing challenges: how to reach and resonate with audiences who are increasingly influenced by social media, online personalities, and ideologically driven media. The post-truth era makes this challenge even more difficult.

In a survey commissioned by Unlock Health to help inform Edwards' and Hooper's recommendations, Klein & Partners found that 84% of consumers consider authenticity essential or very important when choosing a health system. When asked what authenticity in healthcare marketing looks like, consumers ranked patient-first care (38%), trust and transparency (28%), and excellence (20%) as top indicators. These findings underscore new expectations for human-centered, honest, and emotionally intelligent healthcare marketing.

"After three decades in healthcare marketing, I've witnessed a profound shift in how people consume information and make healthcare decisions," said Edwards. "We're now operating in a post-truth world where many people distrust traditional sources of expertise and authority, including their own healthcare providers. I wrote this book because healthcare organizations need a new approach to reach these audiences in a way that emphasizes their authentic brand and values."

The book offers a fresh, actionable framework for healthcare CEOs, CFOs, and Chief Marketing Officers, covering topics such as:

• Navigating skepticism and misinformation in the post-truth era
• Creating emotionally resonant, trust-based marketing strategies
• How to measure the authenticity of brands and campaigns
• The five essential mile markers for effective healthcare marketing today

"Marketing, when done authentically, is one of the most powerful expressions of curiosity and empathy," says Hooper. "In today's post-truth era, healthcare leaders must reach people with understanding, connect through shared humanity, and build trust across lines of belief and identity. This book helps healthcare organizations communicate in ways that are clear, credible, and deeply human."

Edwards is a nationally recognized healthcare marketing strategist and the cofounder and chief executive officer of Unlock Health, the single largest and most effective marketing agency serving healthcare providers in the country. Hooper is a growth expert and operational leader with two decades of healthcare marketing experience. Their latest book builds on a career devoted to helping healthcare organizations grow, innovate, and connect with the communities they serve.

Authentic Healthcare Marketing: Build Trust, Engage Patients, and Succeed in a Post-Truth Era is available for purchase or download on Amazon starting today. For a complimentary copy, contact Brandon Edwards at [email protected].  

Survey Methodology
The online survey was conducted by Klein & Partners between April 16-24, 2025, and reached a national random sample of 1,000 adult healthcare decision-makers.

About Unlock Health
Unlock Health is a full-service marketing and communications agency that helps healthcare organizations make authentic connections with patients and communities. As the largest agency in the nation serving healthcare providers, Unlock manages more than 3,000 patient acquisition campaigns every month, builds brands for the most prestigious health systems and provider groups, and handles nearly one dollar in every ten spent on media by hospitals and health systems. Every minute of every day of the year, a patient books an appointment for needed care as a result of Unlock's work.

Unusual for a marketing agency, Unlock Health also offers a full-stack managed care consultancy powered by unparalleled expertise, including a team that has led more than 2,100 provider negotiations across 49 states. Unlock handles everything from managed care strategy, negotiations, contract modeling and analytics, to strategic communications that get deployed when negotiations turn hostile or public.

Headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee, Unlock Health is the largest and most-awarded agency exclusively focused on U.S. healthcare providers and health services. Visit UnlockHealth.com to learn more.

SOURCE Unlock Health