Identifying the Marketing Gap

Leading the marketing efforts for 94 locations, Tyler Calvi needed to find a way to help each practice grow in their unique areas. Tyler has been serving Proliance Surgeons as the Digital Marketing Manager for the past three years. When he first joined the team, “There was no way of communicating with patients or tracking them,” shares Tyler. 

As he searched for a solution, Tyler came across various companies that offered reputation management, a service that he knew was key to building patient relationships. However, Tyler’s interest in an additional solution was piqued when he heard how SocialClimb clients were using the Predictive Patient Targeting tool for direct mail campaigns. “At first my thought was, ‘Well that medium is dead,” says Tyler. But then he learned the primary purpose behind this tool — targeting specific audiences with HIPAA-compliant data modeling. “It wasn’t just shooting postcards out at random and hoping somebody gets it,” Tyler noted. “It was very specific based on data. That really spoke to me!” Tyler decided to try out Predictive Patient Targeting.

Test Marketing 

Proliance Surgeons operates with a unique corporate structure where Tyler is able to share insights and suggestions with each care center, and they determine how to take action. Tyler wanted to start small to find out what the Predictive Patient Targeting tool could do. Two care centers were selected and their campaign goals were identified. One care center faced an especially large challenge. This care center set the goal of promoting their total joint replacement services to patients who would need to make a six-hour drive for care. 

Tyler was apprehensive about connecting with a distant audience, but knew he needed to start testing solutions. “Half of marketing is making educated guesses and seeing what works, and then just being willing to say ‘That avenue didn’t work for us,’” explains Tyler. “That doesn’t mean it was a waste of time because now we know it doesn’t work.” Nonetheless, Tyler worked with the SocialClimb team to build a total joint targeting option and created a two-touch postcard campaign. 

As QR code scans and calls began to come in through Tyler’s SocialClimb dashboard, his excitement increased. Throughout the campaign, he was able to sit back while his marketing report began generating data, including a list of names of individuals who scanned the postcards. “It’s so cool that you guys offer this list!” Tyler exclaimed. As of the date this case study was published, his campaign utilizing the Predictive Patient Targeting tool yielded three total joint replacement surgeries. This is especially significant considering one total joint replacement alone paid for the care center’s entire campaign, resulting in a 336% Return on Ad Spend. In total, it generated 18 new appointments, 10 of which were new patients, and earned Proliance Surgeons $32,843 in collected revenue (so far!). As an added bonus, the campaign also proved to re-engage previous patients. 

The Proof is in the Pudding

As Tyler continues to create positive interactions with new and existing patients, he knows he can prove the value of his efforts along the way. “The ROI tools associated with this are unlike any other,” emphasizes Tyler. “I can instantly tell if this will work after one campaign because it tells me the exact patient name of who interacted with the message. I don’t know of any other tool that does that!” 

The ability to track each action taken by patients as a result of the campaign enabled Tyler to close the gap in his marketing funnel and report the exact ROI, a number which holds a lot of value for healthcare marketers and their leadership teams. “That alone is really huge in our industry where they want to know exactly what they get for every dollar,” he explains. Tyler is now testing two more campaigns with a different targeted audience. Although it’s too early to share the complete campaign metrics, they have already resulted in 44 new patients. Needless to say Tyler is optimistic about the future.