At Lure, we send monthly reports to our retainer clients so they can see how their marketing dollars are being spent: what marketing activities were performed, what the results were and ongoing recommendations to achieve the best ROI possible. This month, when analyzing the data in the monthly reports for our urology and oncology group, we saw a large increase in leads this year over last. But interestingly, in the mix of total leads, direct leads went up 15% since last year while organic leads went down 20%. To clarify, organic leads mean someone typed in a search for urology or oncology in the area versus a direct lead which means someone typed in the specific website address or they had previously bookmarked the site/site pages. So we then asked ourselves, why the change in types of leads?
Gaining Awareness for Healthcare Clients
We can hypothesize that we are seeing growth in direct leads because the brand is gaining traction and people are becoming familiar and typing them in by name when searching. As a brand becomes more familiar, prospective patients will search specifically for them either because they have remembered or perhaps bookmarked the URL for future reference. Either way, this means that they have moved from the awareness stage of the buyer’s journey to the consideration stage, or even perhaps the decision stage depending on what action they took once they were on the website.
Customized Marketing Plans Get Results
This is exactly what we want to see happen. And it is the result of a fully integrated multi-channel marketing plan we customized for this client. We combined digital marketing (new website, SEO, social media, and paid ads) with traditional marketing (radio and print) to create a synergistic effect that allowed us to crush their yearly lead goal target last year (leads rose by 450%!) while simultaneously increasing website visits and awareness. Now, that brand awareness – the long game, if you will – is starting to pay off as well, because prospective patients are becoming familiar with the brand and trust is being built.
Monthly Reports Build Trust
Every client is unique in terms of their objectives, goals, and budgets and deserves a custom marketing plan to make the most of their investment. That’s what we do with our healthcare clients. We create a short-term and a long-term strategy designed to build upon the progress we make each month. As we build their online presence, we also build a relationship of trust. Our monthly reports keep them abreast of their marketing plan and instill confidence. It’s no wonder that most of our monthly retainer clients have been with us for 10+ years.