How We Work
Is Talstone the Right Fit For You?
Because healthcare is all we focus our efforts on, it makes the expertise and experience we’ve acquired very valuable to our clients. We are always looking to expand that knowledge. Whether you serve patients, physicians, practices, professionals, or health systems – if you touch healthcare in any way, we need to talk.
Strategic Capabilities
- Strategic Planning and Positioning
- Marketing Plan Development
- Corporate and Provider Branding
- Target Research and Surveys
- Competitive Intelligence and Analysis
- Patient Education and Outreach
- Healthcare Promotional Marketing
How It Happens
After an initial discovery meeting where you outline your parameters and goals, you will receive a written proposal about what to expect from our strategic and creative process, as well as budgets and timelines. The proposal ensures everyone understands what falls under the scope of the strategic objectives.
After proposal approval, we dive into the strategic process. Effective, results-driven strategy requires a lot of innovation, research, and creativity. Our goal is to connect your target audience with your solutions and services. To do this, we start by looking at your target – identifying their frustrations, needs, hopes, and desires.
Next, we take your goal – what you want your audience to do – and see where it fits with your target’s needs. Putting the two together is where Talstone’s strategic experience and creativity come together. When the three are combined, it creates a highly effective sweet spot that is primed for results. We call it the Talstone Apex.
Our process involves in-depth research and solution analysis, competitive intelligence, and needs assessment. Combined with Talstone’s experience and knowledge of the healthcare industry, you can be certain that everything Talstone Group develops for your strategy is backed by a solid reason and process to deliver the results that you need.
About the Principals
Principals Tim Smith and D.J. Smith work together with a full-time staff of designers, developers, and copywriters who have extensive experience in developing healthcare marketing strategies for effective results.
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Tim Smith, Principal
Tim brings nearly 20 years of healthcare experience to Talstone's clients. His long tenure at AmSurg Corp., the nation's largest ambulatory surgery center company, has given him involvement with all sides of the healthcare experience and has helped him develop expertise in business-to-business and direct-to-consumer marketing approaches in the healthcare industry.
Tim began his career at AmSurg by marketing AmSurg partnerships in local markets to referral sources, managed care organizations, employer groups, and community organizations. His position evolved into managing multi-facility operations regionally, where he helped develop and implement a more comprehensive regional and national strategy as the need arose. Tim spent his last five years with AmSurg as a Vice President of Development, establishing partnerships with physician groups across the country. In this role, his understanding about the needs of physicians, their patients, and the healthcare environment provided a strong linkage for the delivery of healthcare. His background is a vital component in developing marketing strategies for Talstone's healthcare clients.
Before joining AmSurg, Tim was a Marketing Director for American Optical where he assisted in the development of corporate sales and marketing strategies implemented internationally. As well, he conducted seminars throughout the United States and Canada to educate eye care providers on strategies to market optical lens options to consumers.
In his spare time, Tim enjoys being one-fourth of a singing group – The Tennessee Four. He and his wife, Kim, have two children, Clay and Parker.
D.J. Smith, Principal
D.J. brings to Talstone clients invaluable strategic expertise by constantly studying and applying successful healthcare marketing principles and tactics. He is known for doing whatever it takes to get into the mind of the target audience – from flying to medical call centers to see firsthand how patient-to-physician calls to touring healthcare facilities.
D.J. focuses on a direct, common sense approach to marketing strategy. He often asks our healthcare clients, “If you could only say one thing about your organization to your target audience, what would it be?” He believes that once the client can answer that question, it serves as a tipping point that allows Talstone Group to effectively develop a fully integrated plan of print, interactive, and social media components to reach the toughest of healthcare targets.
He combines his hands-on approach to gathering information with project and technical savvy, which comes from a more than decade-long tenure in the design industry. Talstone clients benefit from concepts that transcend the merely acceptable to become truly visionary.
D.J.’s talents also extend to singing, where he is part of The Tennessee Four. D.J. and his wife, Kathy, have two sons, Matthan and Kealan.