A Roadmap for Successful Healthcare Marketing
Everyone in healthcare is talking about changes and the uncertainty that lies ahead. Unfortunately, as companies try to connect their products with those pain points, many are saying exactly the same things. Clients in this industry come to us to polish and promote their brands through bold statements – and that’s exactly what we did for Elsevier’s Revenue Cycle eLearning (RCE).
RCE asked us to promote their revenue cycle management training tools that support the ICD-10 changeover, due in 2013. Their educational products are numerous and complicated to describe, in an industry already buzzing with marketers, experts and lawmakers all fighting for attention in the space.
Here’s what we uncovered (Strategy):
RCE’s transition tools can be used at any time before 2013 – and it’s the company’s staged implementation strategy that truly sets it apart from the competition. Thus, it became critical to clearly present the individual tools and show visitors how to put them into action for maximum impact. The step-by-step nature of this approach became our central focus.
We chose the metaphor of a modern roadmap – the GPS – to tell the story of how the brand helps customers navigate modern healthcare standards with step-by-step guidance and expertise. After our discussions with RCE’s leadership, we believed this would both engage their customers and give their internal teams a powerful platform from which to sell.
We developed a content strategy for Facebook and Twitter centered on the GPS and aimed at connecting followers with helpful, relevant and unique information that stood apart from the noise that permeates the industry.
Here’s how we did it (Tactics):
We created an integrated promotional campaign that drew on navigational elements found on a GPS to guide visitors through the RCE experience, incorporating a landing page, a custom Facebook application and targeted pay-per-click ads.
The SEO-optimized landing page is an immersive, animated, yet Flash-free experience. Key navigation points move the users through time and across the products as they scroll toward the 2013 destination.
On Facebook, we embarked on a GPS giveaway promotion. Using elements from the landing page, we created a custom application that encouraged visitors to like our page and enter the contest.
At the same time, we leveraged the long-term nature of Facebook relationships, starting relevant conversations with fans, via regular content updates. We took the same approach on Twitter, driving interest both in our GPS giveaways but also the industry-related content that our audience can use to improve their journey to ICD-10 implementation.
Since Facebook allowed us to drive traffic directly to our GPS giveaway, in addition to targeting medical coding and billing professionals, we used our small paid advertising budget on Facebook ads, using strong calls to action to make new connections.
What happened (Results):
From mid-July through mid-November, RCE gained 715 likes on Facebook, 554 of which came from people who had been exposed to our pay-per-click ads. 236 people left direct feedback on our page, and 45 people took time to enter the GPS giveaway.
These don’t sound like huge numbers, but consider this: We are talking directly with our target audience through every message we send, with very little waste. In fact, 87% of the GPS giveaway entrants indicated that they worked in medical billing and coding. This shows the true power of a focused, integrated campaign that’s precisely aligned with company objectives.
All in all, the effort has made a bold, meaningful statement that is finally helping audiences get the guidance they need toward a very important change. In doing so, this central theme has given sales, marketing and product teams a vehicle they love and believe in.
Jesse McGowan is Account Director at Atomicdust and works with clients to develop marketing strategy.
