Thompson Cancer Survival Center did very little marketing, but relied on outstanding quality of care to build awareness, preference and patient volumes. As a result, although their awareness was reasonably high, Thompson's primary market preference was only 6%, and they experienced significant patient revenue shortfalls.
We developed a communication plan and marketing communications program that improved Thompson's preference and patient volumes dramatically and quickly.
A television, newspaper, magazine and direct mail campaign and a new web site positioned Thompson as a world-class facility by focusing on treatments and technologies available only there, or at Thompson and only five or six other facilities in the world. The communications program more than doubled Thompson's consumer preference immediately, and eventually took it to 49%, more than triple that of the next highest-scoring facility in a highly competitive oncology services market.
The business results have been impressive: physicians have reported patient volume increases of up to 300% in some service lines.