MedStar Georgetown University Hospital decided to craft a multi-faceted media campaign to target patients with back pain and spread the word about their minimally invasive spine surgery services.
The campaign for a new minimally invasive spine surgery procedure — a non-fusion procedure — targeted patients with low back pain from March 24 to May 25, according to a Health Leaders Media report. The campaign covered a variety of media, including radio, digital and "out-of-home" elements.
Creating spine service marketing material is tough because back problems are so complex and vary from one person to the next. A hospital's marketing only has a short period of time to hold the audience's attention and impart its message. However, the campaign aimed to educate the community, spread awareness of fusion alternatives and "position MedStar Georgetown University Hospital as a destination for spine surgery," according to the report.
Key tenets of the campaign included:
• Showing active people as potential patients
• Consistent messaging—especially for people who had been previously told they weren't candidates for spine surgery
• Feature testimonials on active lifestyles after surgery
The hospital placed radio ads with popular stations as well as conducted web efforts and mobile efforts with CBS online and Pandora, a music platform. Finally, the hospital coordinated backlit mall posters and in-car posters for metro rail cars.
Since the campaign, three neurosurgeons at MGUH reported 40 percent higher new patient volume from the same time last year, and the neurosurgery department patient volume was up 18 percent overall.