Launching & growing a new medical care model
Direct Primary Care (DPC) is a new and revolutionary healthcare model, but because it is not a well-known healthcare product, potential patients are not looking for this service to solve their healthcare needs .
A DPC practice contacted MVotion looking for help growing practice memberships. To help expand the practice, we needed to develop a combination of marketing and educational outreach campaigns to engage potential patients.
Leveraging marketing tools to grow a new model of medical care
Helping a new medical model practice grow
Summary
A solo practitioner started a Direct Primary Care practice. As it was a new business model for medicine, patients needed to understand how to engage with the practice. Our work was focused in helping them grow. To do this, we built marketing campaigns that promoted the practice and also educated patients on the value and opportunity of DPC.
The Challenges
DPC is a new and revolutionary healthcare model. Because it is not a well-known healthcare product, potential patients are not yet looking for this service to solve their healthcare needs. DPC providers do not accept health insurance because they do not submit services to insurance companies for reimbursement. The cost savings are passed directly to patients. Patients needed to understand how DPC could complement traditional healthcare products. They also needed to understand that the DPC physician was accomplished, competent, and caring.
The Solution
MVotion' s marketing approach was to place ads in front of potential patients and channel partners searching for more well-known healthcare products like urgent care centers, general practice physicians, and concierge physicians. The messaging in ads and on landing pages positioned DPC as a quality, affordable, and personalized healthcare solution.
Website
The practice's website was well-designed and the layout was logical. Our work focused primarily on promoting the website. Through audience discovery, we learned that Spanish-speaking patients were part of the target audience. Therefore, we worked with a certified translator to help create a secondary Spanish version of the website.
Organic Social Media
We also translated social media posts and blog articles in Spanish. The office also had a social media presence on Facebook and Instagram.
We created customized, 30-day, organic social media calendars that balanced education, promotion, and community events. We used relevant hashtags and engaged with the users liking and commenting on posts. All social content calendars were submitted to the managing physician for approval 15 days before the calendar went live.
Email Marketing
We created a MailChimp account to curate branded emails with links directly to the website and blogs. We learned that DPC is an ideal healthcare product for businesses looking for affordable employee benefits. We re-published the emails on the local business listserve to employers.
Facebook & Google Ads
While Google Ads are critical in most major markets (even towns of 50,000 people or more), through the audience discovery process, we identified Facebook Business Manager as a better place for digital advertising because the target audience engaged with Facebook and Instagram more frequently than search engines.
News/Blogs
We used the website blog feature to write educational articles that could also serve as landing pages for digital ads. Topics included: How to Use a DPC Membership, DPC Cost Breakdown, DPC Myth-Busting, and DPC for Preventative Health Care.
Reporting and Client Communication
We monitored activities daily, and were in communications with the managing physician for content and messaging approval. MVotion also sent monthly data reports with analytics from email marketing, social, and digital platforms.
WE ARE ALWAYS THINKING ABOUT THE CORE AUDIENCE
WHO ARE THEY?
WHERE ARE THEY?
WHAT MESSAGE WILL DRIVE THEM TO ACTION?
The Challenges
- New healthcare product; unfamiliar to patients
- Physician was a new provider in the region
-Limited public sources for general DPC education and accreditation
- Core audience is unfamiliar with the product so ads need to educate and convert in seconds
RESULTS
Membership increased by 50% in 8 months
Success required continuous monitoring and adjustments. Some of our campaigns generated results quickly, while others needed to be modified.
At all times, however, we kept the focus on the target audience. We overcame challenges by testing and monitoring messaging and the platforms we were using. Within 45 days, engagement numbers were up on social media. Within three months, the managing physician was getting inquiry calls regularly.
By October 2019, the physician/owner was pleased to find that our efforts helped to grow his practice by 50% in just under 12 months.
Continuous engagement and attention to ads helped drive awareness and eventually turned our intended core audience into happy and healthy members of the DPC practice.
360 Marketing
Brand Development
Website Design
Social Media Marketing
Email Marketing
Website Content Creation - Blogs & Articles
Print Marketing
Website Management