The mommy blogger trend is continuing to catch on at hospitals around the country and is proving to be a success strategy to reach moms and moms-to-be. While many parenting blogs feature local parents sharing their views, Seattle Children's Hospital's Seattle Mama Doc blog features a pediatrician mom that writes about the best ways to keep kids healthy. The 250-bed hospital launched an online ad campaign in October to drive more traffic to the site.
"Two creative executions were developed, one with animation and one static to place on two different parenting sites," says Katharine Fitzgerald, director of marketing and health promotion for the hospital.
Working with Seattle agency Copacino + Fujikado, Fitzgerald and her team placed banner ads on national site Parenting.com and local site Red Tricycle. One ad features a photo of mommy blogger Dr. Wendy Sue Swanson and the other promotes the blog by stating "Health and parenting advice gets real."
After four weeks of targeted placement, the campaign achieved significant results. The number of unique visitors to the site increased from 3,857 at end of September to 5,584 by end of October, a 44% increase in over a 4 week period. Additionally, the Parenting and Red Tricycle banner ads received 1,109,406 and 426 total clicks, resulting in 6, 493 total conversions and a 0.59% total conversion rate.
Based on results, the hospital plans to extend the campaign through December 2010, Fitzgerald says.
Marianne Aiello is a contributing writer at HealthLeaders Media.