Healthcare PR and Marketing Agency | Zilker Media for Medical & Wellness Brands
Zilker Media is a healthcare PR and marketing agency based in Austin, Texas. We help physicians, healthcare executives, medical practices, and wellness organizations build the authority and visibility that drives patient trust, media recognition, and AI discoverability. Dr. Alan Rozanski, MD – Professor of Medicine at Mount Sinai and one of the world’s leading voices in preventive cardiology – has been quoted in TIME and featured in Parade, Newsweek, Medical News Today, and more than a dozen national health publications through his Zilker Media campaign, collectively reaching hundreds of millions of readers.
Patients Don’t Just Search. They Choose.
Healthcare decisions are personal, and patients treat them that way. Before they book an appointment, they’re reading reviews, checking credentials, and increasingly asking AI tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews which providers they should trust. Your reputation is still earned in the exam room, though today it’s often shaped long before a patient walks through the door.
Zilker Media helps healthcare brands cut through the noise with authority marketing that centers on trust, discoverability, credibility, and storytelling.
We Help Healthcare Organizations:
- Build a personal brand as a physician, executive, or healthcare leader
- Get featured in national health publications patients and journalists trust
- Appear in AI search results when patients look for experts in your specialty
- Attract patients through content and thought leadership rather than paid advertising
- Earn speaking opportunities, podcast bookings, and industry recognition
- Turn visibility into measurable practice growth and inbound inquiries
Our Authority-Driven Approach to Healthcare PR and Marketing
We don’t believe in one-size-fits-all campaigns. We build human-centered strategies that amplify expertise and deliver results.
Public Relations for Healthcare Brands
Earn meaningful media coverage that builds trust and credibility. From national interviews to podcasts to trade media, we help your story land where your audience is listening.
Personal Branding for Providers & Executives
Position your team as thought leaders in the healthcare space. We craft digital footprints and strategic visibility plans that support both individual and organizational growth.
LinkedIn Marketing that Connects
Position yourself as the trusted voice your community turns to with strategic LinkedIn content that reflects your expertise and values. We create thought leadership posts, articles, and engagement strategies that build professional authority and patient trust — establishing your credibility long before patients need your care.
Lead Generation Strategy
From awareness to conversion, we help you build patient pipelines through GEO/SEO-informed content, lead magnets, and email marketing campaigns built for growth.
Creative Branding & Design
Patients form an impression of your practice before they ever meet you. Your website, logo, and visual identity are often the first signals they use to decide whether you feel credible, approachable, and right for them. We create branding for providers and practices that reflects your expertise and your approach to care, helping you stand out in a crowded market and feel familiar before the first visit.
Email Marketing That Nurtures
Build direct relationships with patients and referral sources through strategic email campaigns that educate, inform, and maintain top-of-mind awareness. From patient newsletters to provider updates, we create email marketing that fosters trust and drives meaningful engagement with your healthcare expertise.
PR and Brand Marketing for Healthcare Brands
No two practices, specialties, or patient communities are alike, so we don’t treat them that way. Rather than running templated campaigns, we work alongside healthcare leaders to understand what makes their care different and how to communicate it clearly.
Together, we shape stories rooted in your real expertise and patient experience, then place them where they build lasting trust: earned media, podcasts, speaking stages, and the sources AI tools draw from when answering health questions. The goal is simple. We help you become the voice your community turns to when they have questions about their health.
Trust in healthcare isn’t built overnight, and the visibility that comes with it shouldn’t disappear after a single campaign. We focus on sustained brand-building that compounds over time, positioning you as the go-to expert in your field for patients, referral partners, journalists, and the AI platforms they increasingly rely on.
Why Healthcare Leaders Choose Zilker Media
- Deep experience working with physicians, medical practices, health systems, wellness brands, and healthcare authors and speakers
- Strategies built around how patients and journalists actually search – including AI platforms like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Google AI Overviews
- Compliance-conscious content that meets HIPAA standards without sacrificing personality or impact
- A boutique team that functions as a true partner – some healthcare clients have worked with us for multiple years
- Measurable results tied to patient growth, media placements, and AI visibility, not just impressions
The Power of Authority in Action
- Dr. Alan Rozanski, MD – Professor of Medicine at Mount Sinai, preventive cardiologist – quoted in TIME and featured in Parade, Newsweek, Medical News Today, Health, Fox News Digital, and more than a dozen national health publications, reaching hundreds of millions of readers
- 20+ podcast appearances including The Broken Brain, Live Happy Now, and Healthy Wealthy & Smart
- Northern Virginia Family Practice: 50 major consumer health stories in 12 months, reaching over 3 billion people
- 9 of Northern Virginia Family Practice’s top 10 highest-authority website links came directly from PR placements in health publications
- 3x newsletter subscriber growth in a wellness organization
- 30% increase in patient engagement through a content series
Case studies
Dr. Mona Delahooke
Marsha Stone
Let’s Elevate Your Healthcare Brand
Whether you’re a solo practitioner or part of a large network, we’re ready to help you lead with authority.
Healthcare PR and Marketing FAQs
How do I build a personal brand as a physician?
Building a personal brand as a physician means establishing a visible, credible professional identity beyond your patient roster – one that positions you as a recognized expert in your specialty. The foundation is a clear articulation of your expertise, your clinical perspective, and the audience you serve. From there, the most effective channels are a well-optimized LinkedIn presence, earned media placements in health publications, and consistent thought leadership content. Zilker Media specializes in personal brand development for physicians and healthcare executives, combining PR, LinkedIn strategy, and content to build authority that AI platforms, journalists, and patients can find and trust.
How do physicians build credibility outside their practice?
Physicians build credibility outside their practice by becoming visible in places beyond their clinic walls – publications, podcasts, conferences, and online platforms where their audience looks for guidance. The most impactful signals include earned media coverage in recognized health outlets, bylined articles in trade or consumer publications, speaking at conferences, and an active LinkedIn presence with original clinical insights. The physicians who build the strongest external reputations do it across both traditional channels – peer-reviewed journals, grand rounds, national conference podiums – and newer ones like podcasts, LinkedIn, and Substack, where the barrier to entry is lower but the audience reach is often broader. Specificity matters significantly: a physician known as the leading voice on a specific condition, patient population, or clinical challenge attracts far more media attention, speaking invitations, and referral recognition than one who positions broadly as a general health expert.
How can a doctor become a thought leader in their specialty?
A physician becomes a thought leader by consistently sharing a distinct, well-informed perspective on the issues their specialty faces – in public forums where decision-makers, patients, journalists, and peers are paying attention. Thought leadership is built through original content (LinkedIn articles, newsletters, or blog posts), earned media (being quoted or featured in health publications), speaking engagements, and participation in industry conversations. The key differentiator is a clear point of view – not just clinical facts, but a perspective on trends, debates, or patient experiences that others haven’t framed as clearly.
Should physicians be on LinkedIn?
Yes. LinkedIn is the most professionally valuable social platform for physicians who want to build credibility, referral relationships, and media or speaking opportunities. Most physicians have a profile but few use it actively for thought leadership – which means the competition for attention from referring physicians, journalists, podcast hosts, and prospective patients is remarkably low relative to the opportunity. Physicians who publish consistently with genuine clinical insight become the names that other providers recognize and refer to, that journalists call when they need an expert source, and that conference organizers invite to speak. LinkedIn content is also increasingly indexed by AI platforms, so a well-structured profile and regularly published articles contribute directly to whether a physician surfaces in AI-generated answers about their specialty. Two to three posts per week with substantive clinical perspective is a sufficient starting point.
How do I get featured in health publications as a doctor?
Physicians get featured in health publications by positioning themselves as accessible, credible expert sources journalists can call on for commentary, quotes, and perspectives. The most direct path is proactive media pitching: identifying journalists who cover your specialty, developing a clear angle or story idea, and reaching out with a concise, newsworthy pitch. Publications like TIME, Parade, Newsweek, Healthline, and major newspapers regularly quote physicians as expert sources. Working with a PR firm that has existing journalist relationships accelerates this significantly.
What is earned media and why does it matter for healthcare providers?
Earned media is coverage you receive through journalistic merit – being quoted in an article, featured in a podcast, interviewed on television, or profiled in a publication – as opposed to paid advertising. For healthcare providers, earned media matters for three reasons: it builds patient trust, it drives AI visibility (AI platforms prioritize sources they recognize as authoritative, and earned media in recognized outlets is one of the strongest authority signals available), and it creates durable credibility that remains findable for years.
How do I get my medical practice to show up in AI search results?
Medical practices appear in AI search results – including Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, and Gemini – when they demonstrate strong authority signals: earned media coverage in recognized health publications, a website with clear expert content and FAQ sections that directly answer patient questions, consistent thought leadership from named providers, and a complete presence in directories like Google Business Profile, Healthgrades, and Zocdoc. Practices and providers that appear regularly in media, publish educational content, and have structured websites with question-and-answer formats are significantly more likely to surface in AI-generated answers.
How do I attract patients through content and thought leadership?
Physicians attract patients through content by consistently publishing educational material that answers the questions patients are already asking – before they’ve booked an appointment. This includes blog posts addressing common conditions and treatment questions, LinkedIn content demonstrating clinical expertise, email newsletters, and educational video. The most effective approach combines owned content (your website and LinkedIn) with earned media (being featured in publications patients trust). Content works for patient acquisition because it surfaces in search results and AI answers when patients research symptoms, treatments, or providers.
How do I get speaking opportunities as a physician?
Physicians get speaking opportunities by building a visible track record of expertise – through published content, media appearances, and a clear professional positioning that conference organizers can evaluate. Most speaking opportunities come from your professional network, your media presence, or direct outreach to conference organizers with a well-crafted pitch. A 2021 JAMA Network Open survey found that a significant share of physicians reported that social media use directly resulted in a speaking engagement – with men more likely to report this benefit than women, suggesting that women physicians may need to pursue speaking opportunities more proactively. A strong LinkedIn profile, bylined articles in relevant publications, and documented media coverage all serve as the portfolio that makes a speaking pitch credible.
Do you work with individual healthcare providers or full organizations?
Both. Zilker Media works with individual physicians, group practices, hospitals, health systems, and wellness brands. We also work with healthcare speakers, and executives building personal brands. Strategies are tailored to each client’s goals, whether that’s building a provider’s personal brand, earning media coverage for a practice, or increasing AI visibility for a health system.
How does Zilker Media handle HIPAA compliance in healthcare marketing?
Zilker Media builds all content and campaigns to be HIPAA-conscious. We do not use protected health information (PHI) in any marketing materials. Strategies focus on authority marketing, education, and ethical storytelling that is compliant with healthcare advertising standards.