"Their coordination, attention to detail, and
creative execution have really had an impact."
—VICTORIA FOLEY, DIRECTOR OF MARKETING, NEW ENGLAND CANCER SPECIALISTS
We're helping this independent medical practice remain the region’s leader against corporate health competitors.
The Situation
Maine is one of the few states in the country where cancer is the number one killer. For most other states, it is heart disease. The competition for the cancer patient market share has increased significantly in recent years as other cancer treatment centers began to ramp up marketing and media efforts. Although New England Cancer Specialists’ (NECS) media plans evolved over the course of our seven-year engagement, we found it was time to become more forward-leaning in our media placements to combat the shift to a more highly competitive marketplace.
Our Strategy
We first took a fresh look at the Cancer Patient Journey to better understand how both undiagnosed and diagnosed patients may interact and consume media at different stages of their journey, taking into account changes in media consumption habits during and after the pandemic. We use the Patient Journey to drive our media strategy as well as the annual media plans, which include a variety of different mediums, to deliver at all stages of the journey. We employ media tactics such as TV, OTT, radio, print, community sponsorships and social media to reach the undiagnosed population, raising awareness and creating a positive image of New England Cancer Specialists’ top-notch approach to care and treatment. We strategically allocate more dollars to media tactics that help create an emotional connection with the brand and relay its patient-focused and support-driven approach. Specific programming, dayparts and content are chosen to reach those most likely to be diagnosed with cancer.
For those recently diagnosed, while broad media tactics still reach this audience, we complement these tactics with a robust digital plan to identify newly diagnosed patients at the critical stage of choosing a cancer treatment provider. By using HIPAA-compliant cancer data, we are able to identify those newly diagnosed. We then layer on browse, search and share data to reach those recently diagnosed who are searching online for a cancer treatment provider in their area.
Results
Awareness, interest in, and understanding of New England Cancer Specialists continues to grow as a result of our marketing efforts. Our media plans have increased website traffic by 15%-30% year-over-year and pageviews by 12-24% year-over-year for 4+ years. Engagement on the website has improved as we saw 10% growth in actions taken on the site in 2022.