Johns Hopkins Digital Strategy Targets Patients from Afar

To increase awareness of Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins as an accessible medical destination, its marketing executives have used search engine and social marketing tactics, digital pre-roll and display, print, airport, physician office advertising, and outreach.

Big-name medical centers, such as Johns Hopkins Hospital, care for a fair amount of patients who have traveled across state lines, country borders, and even oceans to receive the best care. But many potential patients are unaware that they can be treated at a hospital far from home, and others struggle with uncertainty before deciding if it's prudent to travel for their healthcare.

Johns Hopkin's "How Far Would You Go" campaign addresses both kinds of patients by highlighting the organization's brand position and promoting its medical tourism services.

"Johns Hopkins continues to be recognized as one of the world's premier academic medical centers, but sometimes people do not know what that means for them in terms of accessibility of care," says Kathy Smith, vice president of marketing and communications for The Johns Hopkins Hospital and senior director of strategic marketing for Johns Hopkins Medicine.

"We wanted people who might be facing complex medical conditions to understand that they can benefit from the research, discovery, and innovation that takes place at Johns Hopkins, right now. And we wanted them to know that we have a complimentary concierge service for patients and their families traveling to Baltimore that can ease their journey with appointment coordination and travel guidance."

Targeting a Niche Audience via SEM

"We've used a variety of mediums for the 'How Far' campaign to reach primarily audiences who are seeking healthcare services now, and where possible, those who would have a propensity to travel," says Keith Langrehr, senior director of institutional and service line marketing for Johns Hopkins Medicine. "Overall, these are smaller portions of the population, so we've needed to be extremely targeted to be most efficient with our resources."

As a result, search engine marketing (SEM) and social marketing make up a significant portion of the campaign. And since increasing awareness of Johns Hopkins as an accessible medical destination has also been a key goal, marketers have also used digital pre-roll, and display, print, airport, and physician office advertising and outreach.

"SEM is like a dating service. It matches what you're looking for with the people who are looking for you, and perhaps didn't know it," Smith says.

"In the case of patients facing complex and difficult-to-treat conditions, most will likely search online for answers and options. Appearing in their search results reminds them that Johns Hopkins can offer them the hope they are looking for, and we can make it easy for them to travel to us. And, they can quickly find the phone number or web form they need to put their journey in motion."

Measuring Results
The "How Far" campaign has been received well by internal and external audiences since it launched.

"We tested our campaign at many stages of development and execution and were pleased to always find that our audiences, including past patients, potential patients, and internal audiences found the 'How Far' campaign be a compelling, differentiating, and genuine message for Johns Hopkins Medicine, along with the overall 'Promise of Medicine' positioning," Langrehr says.

"It helps to define who we are, and our colleagues feel good knowing that we're reaching out to find and assist those who want and need the expertise our physicians, nurses, scientists, and staff."

Marketers measure campaign ROI in a number of ways and are satisfied with its results.

"We constantly analyze our SEM performance, such as click-through rate, which for most of the medical conditions we've marketed through this medium, has always beat industry averages," Langrehr says. "Phone calls and web form fills for appointments are also a key measure. We've been able to track increases in inquiries to our medical concierge services year after year, in the areas that we've been marketing, and overall, and they've added staff to accommodate increased demand. And, traffic to our website has grown exponentially over the past three years, putting us among the nation's top three hospital websites."

And while Smith and Langrehr plan to continue the campaign for years to come, they aren't going to rest on their laurels.

"We refine it each year based on what our market research tells us about changing consumer behaviors and opinions, and to ensure we're tapping the best channels to reach our targeted audiences with the message that Johns Hopkins offers hope, innovation and treatment options that are worth the trip," Smith says.