The Business
An established, female-led, healthcare marketing agency with a strong portfolio of health systems clients.
The Challenge
The agency realized that the path to growth was through the diversification of their customer base beyond health systems clients. They needed to get the attention of health-related brands that were drawn to a different set of marketing solutions.
The Solution
Offer research-based, intellectual property insights that bring value to health industry prospects and drive agency engagement.
The Plan
Lean into end-user decision making: Though public and private organizations spend millions to educate American’s about heart health, diabetes, obesity, and more, those numbers continue to climb. The team wanted to learn more about that disparity and what drives health-related purchase decisions. They had a hunch that emotional-based marketing stories would resonate more with audiences over educational messaging at the point of purchase.
Conduct primary research: Together with a researcher from IDEO, the team fielded an ethnographic study of women, who are the primary health decision makers in households (80% + of US HH). Researchers joined moms in their kitchens and in grocery aisles, and they hosted family interviews to dive into the why behind the choices they make.
Leverage intellectual property for engagement: Research revealed that current health messages were not falling on deaf ears, rather they were drowned out by instinct, habit and loud marketing from less healthy brands. The agency created a report and a robust presentation that featured the implications of these findings on sales and marketing for health-related brands. The report showed agency prospects how they could “nudge” customers, and the general population, towards making healthier choices.
Results: Over the course of 6 months the agency report generated a 38% positive response rate in the way of qualified first meetings with brands from sectors across the health eco system, including supplements, protein bars, drinks, gyms, and outpatient services such as dialysis centers. These were brands who had never heard of the agency and would not otherwise have engaged with them. The first meetings led to proposals and ultimately several new clients that achieved the goal of growing the business through diversifying the segments that the agency serves.
