Episode 17 · United Kingdom

Healthtech comms. Communicate your impact

James Somauroo · Co-founder and CEO, SomX

Jul 2025

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Healthtech comms. Communicate your impact

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About this episode

Your metrics don't matter if no one gets the message. James Somauroo has hosted over 400 podcasts and built one of the most influential media and comms agencies in healthtech. We cover why so many well-intentioned digital health projects fail to scale - not because the tech or evidence isn't good enough, but because the story isn't being told in a way people understand or care about.

Communications Storytelling Fundraising Digital Health

“If you give without the expectation of receiving, everything will get better.”
James Somauroo

What we cover

01Why comms is a massive unlock - from policy to implementation to on-the-ground innovation
02The evolution: from Health IT → mHealth → digital health → healthtech, and why words matter
03Democratisation of audience-building: the PESO model (Paid, Earned, Shared, Owned)
04The algorithm is just human behavior - focus on giving value, not gaming the system
05Authenticity and differentiation in the attention economy: document what you've actually done
06Storytelling for pitch decks: forget the template, tell your story in the optimal order
07Psychology of decision-making (Rory Sutherland): emotion over logic, second and third-order effects
08How to communicate evidence: know your audience, find their metric, lead with it
09Why sharing failures resonates - and the role of psychological safety and community
10Quick-fire tips: the biggest comms anti-patterns, how to find your UVP, and what to do when it's not working

About the guest

James Somauroo

Co-founder and CEO, SomX

James Somauroo is the co-founder and CEO of SomX, a communications and creative agency for healthcare companies. He hosts The Healthtech Podcast (400+ episodes) and is Editor-in-Chief of Healthtech Pigeon. An anaesthetics and ICU doctor by training, he has held leadership and innovation roles at NHS England, Health Education England, and the BMJ, directed two healthtech startup accelerators, and is a guest lecturer on healthtech entrepreneurship at institutions around the world.

Chapters

00:00Introduction to James and SomX

07:51The evolution of health communications

13:12State of comms in digital health

18:20Navigating the attention economy

21:00The importance of authenticity in content

23:41Psychology in marketing and communication

31:11The role of emotion in decision making

32:48Transforming scientific communication through storytelling

37:09Crafting compelling narratives for impact

43:59Communicating evidence effectively

48:28The importance of sharing failures

52:10James' quick-fire tips

Transcript

Working in digital health?

Heard something relevant to your work?

Shubs consults on clinical leadership, evidence strategy, and digital health market access. If this conversation sparked something, it is worth a conversation.

Shubs takes on consulting work with startups, investors, and global organisations across digital health.

Working on something in digital health?

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Caroline Perrin · Executive Director, Geneva Digital Health Hub

The Geneva Digital Health Hub's Caroline Perrin on what it takes to implement digital health well in LMICs - why most failures are predictable, the role of community health workers, and how the Implementome community is building a global learning culture around implementation.

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#20·

Oct 2025

Social impact in a time of scarcity, and the power of community

Nick Martin · Founder and CEO, TechChange

Nick Martin is one of the biggest voices in social impact - a connector, builder, and community organiser who has spent two decades training Ministry of Health officials and bringing global digital health people together. We talk about the USAID funding crisis: what happened, what it revealed, and what the sector needs to do differently. Plus: the Global Digital Health Forum, fail festivals, and how to navigate a career and an organisation in a world of scarcity.