Well-digested digital marketing! Attracting customers at a specialty medicine clinic

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Summary

At the Copes Clinic, an organization specialized in Endoscopy and Colonoscopy – medical specialties that, using the endoscope, generate internal images of the patient – the setbacks have never stopped in its 14 years of operation. In addition to internal responsibilities, the clinic felt impacted by the competition in the Brasília region and was faced with the possibility of closure. After a bad experience with a contracted company, partners Pedro and Rafael wanted someone who would be able to help them with their challenges, learning from past experiences and ensuring a promising future for the clinic. For this, they had a new Marketing Advisory focused on the sales funnel and purchase journey. This case calls you to assume the position of decision-maker and help the partners to look critically at the strategies adopted!
Keywords: Digital Marketing, Consulting, Clinic, Sales Funnel, Buying Journey

Abstract

At Clínica Copes, an organization specialized in Endoscopy and Colonoscopy – medical specialties that, using the endoscope, generate internal images of the patient –, setbacks have never stopped in its 14 years of operation. In addition to internal responsibilities, the clinic felt impacted by competition in the Brasília region and was faced with the possibility of closure. After a bad experience with a contracted company, partners Pedro and Rafael wanted someone who would be able to help them with their challenges, learning from past experiences and ensuring a promising future for the clinic. For this, they had a new Marketing Assessory focused on the sales funnel and purchase journey. This case calls for you to assume the position of decision maker and help the partners to look critically at the adopted strategies!

Keywords : digital marketing, consulting, clinic, sales funnel, buying journey

Welcome to Copes Clinic!

Imagine yourself as responsible for a company. Think about the different areas of your organization. Now list the different challenges that each front can provide. It's quite a job, isn't it? In addition to these challenges, there is one more responsibility for any decision-maker: to convince potential customers to consume your services. And to ensure success in the sale, your organizational structure needs to be running smoothly.

Situations like this occur constantly with Pedro and Rafael. They are brothers and partners of the Copes Clinic, specialized in Endoscopy and Colonoscopy, medical specialties that, using the endoscope, generate internal images of the patient. The two are young adults aged 35 and 39, respectively. Out of interest in the health area and experiences lived in their families, they decided together to open the clinic. With more than 14 years of experience in the Brasilia market, the brothers have sought a prominent position to build profitable relationships between the clinic and its customers.

In its operations in the early years, the clinic provided services only to the private public. After a certain period, they saw the possibility of adding to their client portfolio the public that had their exams paid for in whole or in part by the insurance companies and the Copes Clinic would receive payments from these companies according to the demand met. The clinic still maintained a simple structure. At the top are Pedro and Rafael, coordinating three major areas: clinical staff, customer service and cleaning. The main attributions are:

• Managing Partners: Strategic decisions, financial control, employee payment, marketing, hiring and clinical inventory management.
• Clinical staff: performance of private and contracted care.
• Customer service: answer calls, receive customers, control attendance, schedule exams, schedule return and control customer payment.
• Cleaning: sanitization of the physical space, control of cleaning measures and management of chemical waste.
  

An indigestible experience

After 14 years, the business seemed not to prosper. Pedro and Rafael saw a well-prepared clinical staff, a care team that did its job well and safety and cleanliness standards followed to the letter. However, after years of experience and observation of the Brasilia market, they realized that the potential of their business was not being reached compared to other competing clinics. One day, Rafael pondered with his brother: "if they continued without clients and with unsatisfactory financial results, the clinic could face serious problems".

The partners were still unable to accurately identify the financial impact that the private and affiliated public generated. In addition, they did not know if their specialties alone were enough to improve the performance of the clinic. Pedro and Rafael did not have time to manage the company in the strategies that could enhance their business. But how to think strategically if they didn't know where it hurt?

Due to their knowledge of the market and observation of competing companies, they saw that many of them invested massively in marketing strategies. Although they were of lower quality than Clínica Copes, they were able to attract many customers and generate more financial results. Given this, they saw that it was necessary to increase brand visibility and reach new customers. Thus, they started to look for partners capable of carrying out marketing strategies for the clinic. In practice, they understood what Spozito (2020) says: within a scenario of strong competition, marketing strategies for customer search and conversion have been necessary, as they allow "to publicize and enhance the strengths of a brand, contributing positively to its reputation and credibility".

In this scenario, the Rocks Company was hired to manage Instagram. In this contract, only posts were made on the Instagram feed for six months (IMAGE 1).

In addition, the contracted company brought a report to the partners with the performance of the publications made in the month. In each document, quantitative data were presented on the likes on each post, the comments made, how many people saved the publication, the number of shares, the visits to the clinic's official page resulting from the publication, and the reach of the publications (number of people who saw the publication in the period evaluated). (IMAGE 2).

Although they found it interesting to enter the digital marketing universe, the brothers could not know for sure the standard adopted by Rocks on the days when publications occurred or what made a particular post perform differently from the others. In this scenario, it was not possible to identify whether this digital marketing strategy was being effective so that more private and affiliated customers could reach the Copes Clinic.

The attempts with Rocks did not bring clear strategic directions and the partners were increasingly frustrated. The number of customers always remained the same, or smaller, in times of low demand. Stagnant revenues could not keep up with the market's standard inflation costs. Pedro and Rafael knew that if the next attempt did not bring new customers, the risk of closing the deal could come to light. Thus, the brothers decided to take one last risk and hire AD&M Consultoria, a junior company (EJ) of the Administration course at the University of Brasília (UnB). When presenting the problems to EJ, the partners wanted ads to be made on the Google search network, given some recommendations that market colleagues gave; and posts on Instagram.

Pedro made it clear at the meeting what his and his brother's goal was: they wanted more patients to call the Copes Clinic. The difficulty was not having customers, whether private or contracted, to serve. Observing the pains presented and the desires of the partners, the AD&M team saw that the challenge was in the consumption journey of potential customers.

A well-done marketing

Based on the problems evidenced, AD&M carried out the diagnosis, made with the SPIN Selling methodology. This technique makes use of questions so that the salesperson can identify the Situation (S) that the customer is in, the Problem (P) to be solved, the Implication (I) of this problem in the company's reality and the Need (N) that meets that demand.

One of the points raised by EJ is that, as Philip Kotler and Gary Armstrong (2007) address, there is a buyer's decision process, with subsequent steps that indicate the relationship of a particular consumer with a brand. These steps identify the journey taken by the consumer, including the identification of the need for a product/service; search for it in the market; informing themselves and comparing offers; deciding your final purchase; and evaluating their satisfaction, or not, with the purchase made. In addition, it was pointed out by the AD&M team that the means we use will describe how a given company will communicate to reach the segments in which its target audiences fit (OSTERWALDER, 2010).

One of the consultants clarified to the distressed partners that "to determine a channel for the clinic, it is important to consider in which part of the sales funnel the private and affiliated audiences are and their relationships with the purchase journey". He presented the following Image to make his idea more understandable:

From this perception, the junior consultant concluded, we can determine your goal(s) with your client:

• Visitors: attract them, making them aware that your brand exists and the needs met by the business;
• Leads: show why they will need your product/service and how it works;
• Opportunities: The potential customer will evaluate your product/service and compare it in the market with the existing options while you work to make the purchase happen;  and/or
• Customers: The sale is made and your customer evaluates your product/service considering the possibility of demanding it again.

Once the objective(s) have been identified, different strategies can be adopted in the most varied communication channels. Pires, Taborianski and Neves (2003, p.53) make it clear that it is extremely important that the professionals responsible for marketing strategies provide "[...] customer satisfaction, which will be obtained when he realizes that the values he gains buying and using a product, outweigh the costs to obtain that product".

Another important point is to also think about the appropriate marketing strategies adapted to the moment of the journey. There are authors, such as Bilgihan et al. (2016), who highlight the relevance of personalization and adaptation in order to meet the demands of a given individual user, contributing to a positive experience. This view is also reflected when one enters the context of the strategies defined for the context of the Copes Clinic. Based on an objective, different strategies can be used to achieve it, and routes can be changed according to the moment of the customer's journey. These routes allow both switching between channels and adjustments within the same channel. In either case, whether done separately or integrated, they aim to achieve the objective initially defined.

From this notion, the main needs raised by AD&M were:

• Effectiveness of the business in the services;
• Need to identify the target audience in the social media of the Copes Clinic;
• Results of centralized/transparent marketing strategies for partners; and
• Increase in the number of calls to the company.

AD&M indicated a digital marketing strategy on Instagram and Google Ads. The project contracted by the partners involved two main parts: Initial Planning, an internal study stage of the Copes Clinic to provide inputs and preparation of the AD&M Team; and Advisory, a moment of creation and management of social media.

The health of the clinic cannot wait

Starting the project, the Initial Planning sought to understand the reality of the company, the market and the desires of the customers. It structured:

• The objectives of the project, decided according to the will of the clients;
• Evaluation of the sales channels of the Copes Clinic, for better perceptions of regions of strategic operation;
• Construction of Personas, with the objective of identifying the clinic's target audience;
• Identification of the most requested services for the company;
• Construction of the editorial calendar of posts, to prepare the next steps of the project;
• Identification of the types of paid ads on the Google search network for the company, in order to see the best options according to the clients' objectives; and
• Indicators and metrics for monitoring the Project.

However, even though the partners were level on the importance of the stage, it did not take long for the insecurities based on previous experiences to be manifested and the team's search and demand for results to be initiated.

After executing the Initial Planning, the team began the second stage. The Advisory Board comprised the creation and management of social media. Once the forms of execution in the previous phase were defined, the mission was to make the initial planning be put into practice and adapt according to the lessons learned in the subsequent months to achieve the clients' objectives. For this, the works on Google Ads and Instagram of the Copes Clinic were applied.

At the beginning of the Advisory, a Google Ads campaign was built with the main objective of generating a greater number of calls to the Copes Clinic. This strategy aims to build ads on the Google search network so that potential customers find the company when they search for keywords that refer to their interest in endoscopy and colonoscopy services. At the same time, publications on Instagram have already started according to the project's editorial calendar, and this first month is a test to evaluate the best days and times for posting. Regarding the content of the publications, Pedro and Rafael did not worry so much about what was published on the Instagram account, they would just like the themes made until then by the Rocks company to be maintained.

During the development of this stage, the project team made several calls to competing clinics in the region and observed a competitive advantage of the Copes Clinic: its prices were about 30% cheaper than any other company in the field.

In addition, the AD&M consultant realized when calling as a mystery shopper at the Copes Clinic itself that the explanation of the payment methods was too confusing for anyone to understand. The attendants did not give clear values to those who had an agreement, as the price variation changed according to the partner company. To make this scenario worse, the information was not available on any platform for customers.

After these checks, monitoring of results and Instagram indicators, the project made it possible to observe two realities:

Instagram

• Among the Instagram followers, about 9000 had been brought in through an online raffle on the network made by the previous marketing company and did not reflect the target audience of the exams (people over 35 years old who need to undergo routine exams).

• Instagram's recommendation for the periodicity of posts, by the network's professional monitoring panel, was on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 6 pm. This periodicity indicates the best times that your audience accesses the platform.
  

Google Ads

• It was found that the number of calls at the Clinic had increased, which met the objective of the members, but many of them still did not schedule exams (IMAGE 5). The partners invested in paid ads, the calls went up, but at the time of service, the people who called, ended up not actually scheduling the exam.

New campaigns were made on Google Ads and differentiated publications on Instagram, and several questions arose. Pedro and Rafael could no longer digest so much information and wondered if it was possible to understand why the number of calls had increased, but the clinic continued to have few appointments. As decision-makers, they needed to determine the future of Copes based on the observed reality.

Discussion Questions

1. Regarding the data delivered by Rocks (Images 1 and 2), analyze the information in order to generate strategic inputs for the clinic.
2. Which stage of the sales funnel did the Copes Clinic partners want to attack to achieve their goals on Instagram and Google Ads channels?
3. Were the sales channels for the stage(s) of the shopping journey the best options for the target audience?
4. What marketing strategy(s) would you use to get effective calls to Copes Clinic on Instagram and Google Ads?
5. What to do in the identified bottleneck of price explanation at the time of service?
6. What is the best way to use the Clínica's competitive advantages to convert more customers?
   

References

Armstrong, G. (2007). Marketing Principles . Pearson Educación.

Bilgihan, A., Kandampully, J., & Zhang, T. C. (2016). Towards a unified customer experience in online shopping environments: Antecedents and outcomes. International Journal of Quality and Service Sciences .

De Vendas, R. R. E. (2020). Analysis of the Marketing Mix in a radiology office. https://admpg.com.br/2020/anais/arquivos/08302020_120800_5f4bc63436ee9.pdf

Marknet (2020, Jan 10). Learn how to build and optimize your sales funnel . https://marknet.com.br/blog/aprenda-a-construir-e-otimizar-seu-funil-de-vendas/ .

Osterwalder, A., & Pigneur, Y. (2010). Business model generation: a handbook for visionaries, game changers, and challengers (Vol. 1). John Wiley & Sons.

Pires, V. C., Taborianski, M. M., & Neves, M. R. (2003). o Development of the marketing mix in clinics and offices in the health area. Interdisciplinary Journal of Marketing , 2 (2), 50-64.

About The Authors

Ruan Vitório de Macêdo is a Business Administration student at the University of Brasília (UnB). Educational Project Consultant. Mentor at the U.S. Embassy in Brazil and at the Gloria Institute. Social Media Coordinator at Casoteca. Former Managing Director of AD&M Consultoria Empresarial (2021). Passionate about impacting the lives of others, delivering results and transforming the reality of Brazil and the World. Email: ruan.vitorio.macedo@gmail.com

Diana Sinclair Pereira Branisso holds a PhD in Business Administration from IAG/PUC-Rio. Master in Business Administration from FGV with extension in the International MBA of the Instituto de Empresas de Madrid; Administrator from the University of Brasília (UnB) with a specialization in Digital Marketing. Coordinator of the Executive MBA with emphasis on Marketing and Digital Media at FGV. Twenty years of executive experience in Marketing, Commercial Management, Strategy and interface with IT, working in the sectors of Consulting, Telecom, Tourism, Media and Startups. Main clients and projects: Souza Cruz, Votorantim, Accor, Sheraton, Ed. Record, Wizard, Esporte Interativo, Grupo O Dia. She is the author of articles in Marketing and Strategy, and a professor of Digital Marketing. Email: DIANA.BRANISSO@fgv.br

This case was written based on information provided by the company and based on other references cited. It is not the authors' intention to evaluate or judge the company in question. This text is intended exclusively for academic study and discussion, and its use or reproduction in any other form is prohibited. Copyright infringement will subject the offender to the penalties of Law No. 9,610/1998.