How Cleveland Clinic Uses AI in Content Marketing Without Sacrificing Trust

Large healthcare organizations can use AI in content marketing without sacrificing trust or accuracy by restricting AI to iteration, analysis, and summarization — never to original clinical content creation — while maintaining physician-led medical review and a formal governance structure. That is the framework Cleveland Clinic has built under Amanda Todorovich, Executive Director of Digital Marketing, who oversees a 300-person marketing communications division and has spent over a decade transforming the organization into one of the most-cited health content publishers in the world. This episode of Content Disrupted unpacks her approach.

A Content Disrupted podcast with Amanda Todorovich, Executive Director of Digital Marketing at Cleveland Clinic.

Cleveland Clinic’s Pioneering Approach to Content Marketing + AI with Amanda Todorovich from Skyword on Vimeo.

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Join us for an in-depth conversation with Amanda Todorovich, the driving force behind Cleveland Clinic's digital marketing success. As Executive Director, Amanda has spearheaded the transformation of Cleveland Clinic's online presence, turning it into a global leader in health content. In this episode, she shares her expertise on creating data-driven, empathetic content that builds trust and engages audiences. Amanda discusses the challenges of navigating an ever-expanding digital landscape, offering practical advice on channel selection and content optimization. She also provides valuable insights into the responsible integration of AI in healthcare marketing, providing a framework for responsible implementation and governance. With practical advice on navigating budget pressures and demonstrating ROI, this episode is a goldmine of information for marketing professionals seeking to elevate their digital presence and scale content marketing successfully.

Episode Highlights:

[04:22] How Cleveland Clinic Grew from a Small Blog to a Global Health Content Powerhouse

Amanda chronicles Cleveland Clinic's remarkable journey from a small blog to a global health content powerhouse. When she joined in 2013, the blog was a hodgepodge of topics driven by internal stakeholders. Amanda's approach was transformative: she scrapped underperforming content and refocused on audience needs. Recognizing that people don't typically engage with hospitals unless necessary, she aimed to make Cleveland Clinic relevant in everyday life. The strategy evolved to encompass a comprehensive health library, addressing the complete patient journey from symptom searches to treatment information. This approach led to dramatic growth in brand awareness and trust.

Amanda emphasizes the importance of being a trusted, credible source of information, especially in an era of rampant health misinformation. The content strategy expanded beyond SEO, focusing on meeting people where they seek answers and providing credible, understandable information. This consistent, user-centric approach has not only strengthened Cleveland Clinic's brand presence but also helped achieve aggressive goals cost-effectively. The evolution from a simple blog to a comprehensive digital health resource underscores the power of content marketing in healthcare, demonstrating how a strategic, audience-focused approach can transform a brand's digital presence and impact.

[09:36] How Cleveland Clinic Uses Data to Decide What to Publish Each Day

Cleveland Clinic's content team does not follow a year-long editorial calendar. Instead, they huddle daily to determine what to publish, drawing from four distinct data inputs: search volume trends, site search analytics, social media conversations, and current health news. This approach keeps content hyper-relevant and timely — a capability that proved critical during the COVID-19 pandemic, when health guidance changed rapidly and the team needed to react within hours, not weeks.

The content creation process involves multiple specialized teams: SEO experts monitor search trends, social media specialists track platform discussions, and the newsroom keeps tabs on current events. All these inputs converge to inform daily publishing decisions. Amanda highlights the importance of this collaborative, data-informed approach in maintaining relevance and trust with their audience. She notes that while organic search drives most of their traffic, the strategy goes beyond SEO, focusing on providing credible, timely answers wherever people are looking for health information. This approach has enabled Cleveland Clinic to build a strong, trusted brand presence in the digital health space.

[16:54] Why Cleveland Clinic Says No to Most New Channels — and How They Decide

Amanda's answer to the constant pressure to expand to new platforms is blunt: don't unless you can maintain an authentic presence that actually serves your audience there. Cleveland Clinic uses a cross-functional committee to vet every request for a new channel, evaluating whether the target audience is genuinely active on the platform and whether the team has the resources to sustain quality content there.

She cautions against forcing content onto platforms where it doesn't naturally fit, as audiences can easily detect inauthentic or sales-pitched content. The committee process ensures that any new platform addition aligns with the overall strategy and can be properly resourced. Amanda stresses the importance of adaptability, noting that their channel strategy has evolved over time, with some platforms being added and others discontinued based on audience behavior changes. Amanda also touches on the differences between organic content marketing and advertising on social media, emphasizing the need for clarity in these distinctions. Overall, her advice centers on making informed, data-driven decisions about channel expansion, always prioritizing the ability to serve the audience meaningfully over simply having a presence everywhere.

[25:45] Where AI Helps — and Where It Doesn't — in Healthcare Content Marketing

Cleveland Clinic does not use AI to write health library articles. Those articles require physician authorship, medical review, and fact-checking processes that AI cannot replicate without introducing unacceptable accuracy risk. Where AI does add value: content iteration, data analysis, summarization, reporting, and creative assists like generating new analogies for explaining medical concepts to patients.

Amanda describes their "pilot and scale" methodology: small, targeted pilots are conducted with a focus on measurement and benchmarking. This includes evaluating the pre-AI process against the AI-assisted process to ensure genuine improvements in efficiency. She cautions against the misconception that AI tools are always free or cheap, especially in regulated industries with cybersecurity requirements — enterprise-grade AI tools carry licensing, security, and compliance costs that organizations routinely underestimate.

Amanda stresses the importance of maintaining a balance between AI assistance and human expertise, particularly in healthcare, where accuracy and trust are paramount. Overall, Amanda's approach to AI in marketing is characterized by careful evaluation, targeted implementation, and a focus on enhancing rather than replacing human capabilities.

[31:12] Cleveland Clinic's Three-Part AI Governance Framework: Education, Council, Policy

Cleveland Clinic's AI governance for marketing rests on three pillars:

1. Baseline education across all 300 marketing communications team members — covering AI terminology, capabilities, limitations, and risks so that every team member can participate in informed decisions about where AI fits.
2. A Marketing AI Council with representatives from every department — meeting monthly to review pilot projects, surface new use cases, and enforce policies. This council develops and maintains the division's terms of use for AI in marketing.
3. Formal AI usage policies aligned with enterprise-wide legal and compliance guidelines — addressing intellectual property, content monetization, disclosure requirements, and transparency standards. When AI touches content, Cleveland Clinic discloses it.

Amanda emphasizes that these governance structures exist to protect the organization's most valuable asset in healthcare content: credibility. She also touches on the challenge of balancing innovation with employee concerns about job displacement, advocating for a mindset of AI as a tool for enhancement rather than replacement. Overall, her approach focuses on creating a structured, informed, and ethical framework for AI adoption, ensuring it aligns with Cleveland Clinic's commitment to providing trustworthy health information.

[38:57] How Amanda Proves Content Marketing ROI Without Waiting for Annual Reports

Amanda does not rely on annual metric decks to justify her team's existence. Instead, she sends weekly emails to stakeholders that highlight successes, acknowledge failures, and share specific performance metrics. This regular communication builds a drumbeat of visibility that keeps leadership aware of content marketing's impact without requiring them to ask for it.

She describes her practice of recognizing partnerships and expressing gratitude, which helps build internal support for content marketing initiatives. Amanda notes that this consistent communication and demonstrated success have been crucial in securing resources and expanding the team. She advises against relying solely on annual metric reports, instead emphasizing the power of visible, day-to-day impact, such as Cleveland Clinic's prominent presence in Google search results for health topics. She highlights how this approach has led to leadership proactively asking about resources needed for further growth, rather than her having to make the case for expansion. Amanda's strategy for proving ROI centers on delivering consistent value, communicating that value effectively, and building trust with leadership over time.

Key Takeaways

• Cleveland Clinic restricts AI to content iteration, analysis, summarization, and reporting — never to writing original health library articles that require physician authorship and medical review, preserving the clinical accuracy that underpins audience trust.
• Cleveland Clinic's Marketing AI Council, with representation from every department, meets monthly to vet pilot projects, develop AI terms of use, and align marketing AI policies with enterprise-wide legal and compliance guidelines.
• All 300 members of Cleveland Clinic's marketing communications division receive baseline AI education covering terminology, capabilities, limitations, and risks — ensuring governance starts with shared understanding, not top-down mandates.
• AI tools in regulated industries are not free or cheap: enterprise-grade AI carries licensing, cybersecurity, and compliance costs that organizations routinely underestimate when projecting ROI from AI adoption.
• Cleveland Clinic's content team publishes based on daily data huddles, not annual editorial calendars, drawing from search trends, site search analytics, social media conversations, and current health news to maintain relevance and timeliness.
• Weekly stakeholder emails — highlighting wins, acknowledging failures, and sharing specific metrics — are more effective for proving content marketing ROI than annual reports, because they build a continuous drumbeat of visibility with leadership.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How does Cleveland Clinic decide where AI should and shouldn't be used in content marketing?

A: Cleveland Clinic uses a "pilot and scale" approach. They start with small, targeted pilots that benchmark the AI-assisted process against the pre-AI process, measuring whether genuine efficiency improvements result. AI is used for content iteration, data analysis, summarization, and reporting. It is not used for writing original health library articles, which require physician authorship, medical review, and fact-checking — processes where AI introduces unacceptable accuracy risk in a healthcare context.

Q: What governance structure does Cleveland Clinic use for AI in marketing?

A: Cleveland Clinic built a three-part governance framework: baseline AI education for all 300 members of the marketing communications division; a Marketing AI Council with departmental representatives that meets monthly to review pilots and enforce policies; and formal AI usage policies aligned with enterprise legal guidelines covering intellectual property, content monetization, and disclosure. When AI touches content, Cleveland Clinic discloses it.

Q: How does Cleveland Clinic's content team decide what to publish each day?

A: Rather than following a year-long editorial calendar, the team huddles daily to set publishing priorities using four data inputs: search volume trends, site search analytics, social media conversations, and current health news. They plan seasonally for predictable health topics but maintain flexibility for real-time adjustments — a capability that proved essential during the COVID-19 pandemic when guidance changed rapidly.

Q: How does Cleveland Clinic prove content marketing ROI to leadership?

A: Amanda Todorovich sends weekly emails to stakeholders highlighting wins, acknowledging failures, and sharing specific performance metrics. This consistent visibility has shifted the dynamic from her requesting resources to leadership proactively asking what the team needs to grow further. She advises against relying solely on annual metric reports, emphasizing instead the power of visible, day-to-day impact.

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