Media Planning Final Project Client: Smith Allergy & Asthma Specialists of Central New York Team: Chau Nguyen, Cynthia Hopkins, Diana Cirullo, Will Kogel
Ithaca College April 29, 2013
I. Situation & Objectives 1. History of Business/Background Smith Allergy & Asthma Specialists of Central NY is founded and owned by Dr. Christopher Smith, a pediatrician with special advanced training in allergy and immunology. Dr. Smith is nationally recognized as both an author and researcher, with unique experience treating patients with rare and complicated immune deficiencies, as well as more common ailments such as nasal allergies, allergic eye disorders, food allergies, eczema, sinusitis, hives, and asthma. He prides himself on prompt appointment scheduling, and being readily accessible to address any question or concern. To date he has conducted over 100 clinical trials in allergies, asthma, sinusitis, COPD, eczema, and new vaccine development, and has helped bring several new drug therapies to market. He has offices in three different locations: Corning, Ithaca, and Cortland. Dr. Smith’s strong interest in new drug therapies led him to establish the Corning Center for Clinical Research, as an affiliate of Smith Allergy & Asthma Specialists of Central NY. The Center assists with the evaluation of new investigational medications, treatments and protocols for pulmonary diseases and other medical conditions. 2. Product + Services Overview • Smith Allergy & Asthma Specialists of Central NY features cutting edge equipment that has medical record and follows FDA approved protocols which are designed to safeguard patient’s health; it also provides latest technology and drug development to patients. • Dr. Smith’s level of expertise and experience as a pediatrician and an allergist is exceptional. He trained with some of the world’s most prominent allergy and immunology experts at the prestigious Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. While he was there, he conducted the hospital’s largest pediatric asthma research study. He is the author of five chapters on allergic and immunologic diseases in “The 5-‐Minute Pediatric Consult,” a clinical resource widely used by pediatricians, as well as several medical articles on asthma and allergy topics. To date, he has conducted over 100 clinical trials in allergies, asthma, sinusitis, COPD, eczema, and new vaccine development, and has helped bring several new drug therapies to market. • All nursing staff in Dr. Smith’s office has at least 10 years of experience, and have been working with Dr. Smith for a long time, forming strong and close relationships with the patients. • Dr. Smith’s clinics accept all types of insurance, which made it convenient for the clients, especially college students. • Convenient Stop-‐In Shots: Dr. Smith’s clinics offer lunch hour allergy shots for patients who have ongoing series of allergy shots for their treatment plan. Patients can just come in without making an appointment, which is convenient for many patients. • Dr. Smith’s clinics offer screening tests, which are advantageous for the patients because they can learn about their allergies, treatments, and what to avoid. • Information regarding how to contact Dr. Smith and the clinics, as well as scheduling is readily available on the website. 3. Consumer Profile Smith Allergy & Asthma serves clients within the central New York regions, mostly in Corning, Ithaca, and Cortland market. His clients include both adults and children suffering from allergy 2
and/or rare and complicated immune deficiencies. Many of them have been using his services for a long time, and established a good relationship with Dr. Smith. According to Dr. Smith, 50% of his patients’ visits resulted from referrals by physicians or existing patients. 4. Competitive Insights Dr. Smith’s major competitors are Asthma & Allergy Associates and Guthrie. About Asthma & Allergy Associates: Asthma & Allergy Associates conducts diagnosis and treatment in the diseases of allergy and asthma, which has been serving the Central New York areas for over 25 years. Asthma & Allergy Associates has 5 locations: Ithaca, Cortland, Fayetteville, Elmira, and Vestal. Their team includes of 5 doctors, each received 2 or more years of specialized training in asthma and allergy, subsequent to receiving their medical degrees and initial training in pediatrics or internal medicine. Their practice offers medical education conference to all healthcare providers in the community. About Guthrie: Guthrie Health is a not-‐for-‐profit healthcare organization that includes primary care and specialty physicians, community hospitals, a tertiary trauma center, and a research institute as well as home care. Guthrie Health offers a wide range of services and programs designed to enhance the health and well-‐being of those it serves, not just asthma and allergy in specific. Guthrie has 23 regional offices throughout New York and Pennsylvania areas, with more than 400 physicians participate in its healthcare system. 5. Opportunity & Issue Analysis Having established 15 years of practice in these areas, and being a local resident, Dr. Smith has created strong relationships with most primary care doctors in Ithaca and Cortland, which helps increase the number of referrals he receives. He has also formed close, long-‐term relationships with many patients. 50% of his patients’ visits resulted from referrals by physicians or existing patients. Dr. Smith has advertised his business on several media such as print, radio, banner ad, SEO. He has also generated publicity for his business by appearing on some media coverage or by press releases. Additionally, he has several promotional materials such as magnets, business cards, nice bags with samples & brochures for referring parties, and he has an open house event for physicians in Cortland and Tompkins County. However, Dr. Smith is the only doctor of the three offices in Corning, Ithaca and Cortland, which makes it difficult to manage his schedules and availability to patients in those geographical areas. His business doesn’t have any established public relations campaigns or promotional activities directly towards the patients yet. In addition, his business doesn’t have any presence on social media, which is widely used by college students and young adults -‐ the market that he want to see growing for his business. These issues while remain weaknesses could be turned into opportunities for Dr. Smith to grow his business. There are room for Dr. Smith to connect more directly with the patients, and especially female heads of household, who mostly are the decision maker for healthcare related issues. While having established a strong presence in the Corning market, he can enhance his presence in the Cortland and Ithaca market by organizing or participating in healthcare oriented events/projects in the areas to generate more publicity and interests in his 3
clinics and services. Besides, Dr. Smith can increase his business’ presence online, especially on social media. 6. Marketing Objectives • Increase awareness about Smith Allergy & Asthma Specialists of Central NY’s in the Ithaca and Cortland community, while remaining a strong presence in the Corning market, during high allergy seasons. • Capture new patients, especially the teenagers and adults market segment, as well as retaining existing patients. • Increase referral rate from local physicians and patients. II. Media Objectives 1. Target Audience We decided that it was the most important to bring awareness of Smith Allergy & Asthma Specialists to both the Cortland and Ithaca markets. Therefore, our target audience mainly consists of adults residing in both of these places. They have seasonal (or other) allergies and are looking to find a specialist they can trust. We didn’t want to limit our media plan to a specific demographic because Dr. Smith’s patients fall all along the spectrum in terms of age, gender, race, etc. However, we did identify female heads of household, especially mothers as an audience we’d like to especially reach. This is an important segment to reach because women traditionally make decisions regarding medicine and health in the family. Another audience that we felt was important is other general physicians because they have the opportunity to refer Dr. Smith to their patients. Our media campaign also took into account current and past patients of Dr. Smith. Because allergies are often seasonal, we thought it was important for our media to remind patients to return for their yearly allergy consultation. 2. Media Coverage and Delivery There are many media vehicles available for Dr. Smith to utilize. However, our proposed media mix encompasses the ones that we feel work best to his full advantage. We have chosen a combination of print, radio, television, digital, and outdoor advertising to best represent this campaign. With these media vehicles, we have selected local spots in order to best deliver our message in the Ithaca and Cortland markets. 3. Timing Because many allergies are seasonal, Dr. Smith has observed that more patients schedule appointments during certain time frames. While we plan to have continuous media throughout the year, we will heavy up on media during those time frames: April-‐June and August-‐October (excluding July). July is excluded because it is considered a dead month for allergists. Additionally, the media placements we have planned during other times of the year serve the purpose of creating brand awareness and reinforcing our call to action. We have chosen this particular timing so that Dr. Smith can best maximize his media budget to its full potential. III. Media Strategies 1. Media Selection 4
The media mix we have put together for this campaign covers all grounds of media. We plan on blanketing our target market with quality information on Dr. Smith that would create a call-‐to-‐ action when allergy season rolls around. We have found through our interview with Dr. Smith that the most influential market base within his clients are female heads of household, who make most of the healthcare related decisions. With that being the case, we plan on pinpointing when this target market is exposed to certain medias so we can effectively leave an impression. We plan on reaching our target audience (female heads of household) on their way to and from work/school and during their everyday life. To capture the younger demographic in our target audience (college students and young professionals), we plan to increase Smith Allergy & Asthma Specialists of Central NY presence on internet, including search engine optimization (SEO) and social media, together with expanding Dr. Smith’s word of mouth through memorabilia and referrals from primary care doctors. As far as traditional media goes, we will be focusing on newspaper ads and radio ads, straying away from television ads for several reasons. We felt that newspaper and radio suited our client better than television because of its simplistic format and low costs. We are representing an allergist and felt that a television ad would not be in the best taste. As a group, we felt that a television advertisement would give off a vibe of desperation, as if Dr. Smith is trying to sell himself, rather than simply raise awareness about his services. Secondly television ads are expensive and for our budget, even if we poured the majority of our resources into the TV ad, it would still come across as a cheesy local television ad. Perhaps this would work for a car dealership or Mark’s Pizzeria, but not for a medical doctor like Dr. Smith. Radio Advertising Radio ads, if played in the right time slot, can be very effective. We chose to target radio stations that have a listener base that mirrors our target market. In order to reach women on their way to dropping off/ picking up the kids from school, or driving to/from work, we selected the time frame of Monday-‐Friday 6am-‐10am and 3pm-‐7pm. This time period falls in the “rush hour” time slots when people are commuting to work and are most likely to listen to the radio. Our radio spots within these time frames will be selectively played from March 1st all the way through October 31st. This 8 month stretch covers “Allergy Season” and a few months prior to the season which will help get women in the mindset to schedule an appointment. We have chosen two radio stations within the Cayuga Radio Group that will best reach our target market. Using a market coverage matrix, Lite Rock 97.3 and Q103.7 country has a 50-‐75% market coverage of females in their early 30s to their late 40s within Tompkins and Cortland county. We believe that with the time slots that we’ve selected, along with the right radio stations, we can make an effective market impact and increase Dr. Smith’s client base in Cortland and Ithaca. Print Advertising Placing advertisements in local newspapers and magazines will help us reach local residents of Ithaca and Cortland best beside radio ads. Ithaca Journal (and Cortland’s equivalent newspaper) is widely read by local residents, and is run daily, which will result in a lot of impressions for Dr. Smith. Different from newspaper, magazine’s advertisements are not run daily, however, can give a better effect to the viewers since the ad is in color and bigger size. We chose to run the ads on Ithaca Times (and Cortland’s equivalent magazine), a locally well-‐read magazine with special issues target healthcare orientation, which we believe matches the interest of our target 5
audience. Since the majority of our target audience is mothers who actively look for quality healthcare service for their children and families, we believe Ithaca Child, and its extension issue Ithaca Parents & Teens, is a perfect medium to reach our target audience effectively with our colored advertisements. Transit Advertising In order to increase the amount of impressions that Smith Allergy & Asthma Specialists leaves on the target market in Ithaca, we have decided to buy advertising space on the local busses. The TCAT runs all throughout the greater Ithaca area and frequently runs through “The Commons” and College Town, the most heavily populated areas in the city. We felt that by utilizing TCAT advertising our consumer base along with our target market will have a greater chance of seeing a Smith Allergy & Asthma Specialists advertisement, further reinforcing a call-‐ to-‐action for Dr. Smith’s services. Transit advertising is like owning a moving billboard, which will allow for Dr. Smith’s face and practice to be seen all throughout the most populated parts of Ithaca. The boards we have chosen to purchase are the “King”, “Tail”, and “interior”. The King is the largest and most prominent ad that dominates the entire side of a bus. The “Tail” ad sits on the back of a bus and is perfect for reaching those driving behind the bus, particularly when sitting at red lights and stop signs. The “Interior” ad will reach all those who ride the bus and will help reinforce a call-‐to-‐action because those exposed to the ad will have the time to thoroughly read the information located on the ad. Internet Advertising We have chosen to purchase the majority of our internet ads on Ithaca.com and Cortland’s equivalent website. These websites serve as an online community center providing articles and information that local residents frequently utilize. We will only be using pencil banner ads which are elaborate, colorful, and located directly at the top of the page. Pencil banner ads are the most expensive form of banner ads but they are prominent and look the most professional. Pencil banner ads will assure that our client’s services will be seen by all who view the page the banner appears on. Public Appearances Health & Wellness Fair, hosted by The Shops at Ithaca Mall, is an annual health fair attracting numerous parents and elderly people who look for the best healthcare services for themselves and their family. The fair is taking place on Saturday, September 21 2013. Dr. Smith’s presence at the fair will help capture potential clients for his business and establish his presence in the Ithaca market. The fair also takes place during the second allergy season of the year (August to October) so Dr. Smith can potentially capture consumers who are looking for allergist. Promotional Items In an attempt to achieve an increase in “Word-‐of-‐Mouth” advertising we chose a less traditional form of advertising. We plan on launching a series of items that include the Dr. Smith “brand” labeled on them. These items will include pens, mugs, cups, measuring spoons, coasters, etc. These items will be given out to clients during appointments and will help increase awareness towards Dr. Smith’s services. We believe that if mugs and cups are used within a client’s home by friends and family, Dr. Smith may come up in a conversation and in turn lead to a direct increase in “Word-‐of-‐Mouth”. 6
Email & Text Messaging Additional digital mediums that Dr. Smith should tap into are email and text messaging. These mediums are efficient because they hold little to no cost, will most likely be opened by receivers, and work to reinforce Dr. Smith’s brand. We only recommend that he use these mediums to reach current patients that already exist in his database. He can send SMS / Text Message and/or email reminder a few months before allergy season to remind to patients to schedule an appointment with him. Follow-‐up emails after appointments might also be a successful tactic. These emails could include satisfaction surveys and also encourage patients to schedule their next appointment in advance. Search Engine Optimization Behind referrals from other Doctors, most of Dr. Smith’s clients hear of his services through simply googling “allergist ithaca/cortland”. When “Allergist” is googled in Ithaca, Dr. Smith is found on the second page. That is absolutely unacceptable and needs to be changed. In order to increase his client base in Cortland and Ithaca we have to expand his presence in keywords on search engines. Because the Internet is one of the biggest ways that potential patients find any type of specialist, we think it’s important that Smith Allergy & Asthma utilize keywords in these markets. Social Media Many medical professionals steer clear of social media for legal and privacy issues. However, research and various case studies reveal that this is a major marketing mistake. Many people expressed that they felt social media wasn’t being utilized to its full potential in the medical world. Therefore, Dr. Smith should consider establish a presence on Facebook, Twitter, as well as any blog site that he deems necessary (Wordpress, Blogspot, etc). The content posted to all of these social media platforms must support professional medical conduct. To help Dr. Smith on how to use social media appropriately with his practice, we have put together several reference links, which he can find in the Recommendation section. 2. Scheduling Print Advertising We have chosen to go with a flighting pattern of media selection using periods of heavy print advertising in combinations of periods of no advertising at all. We have chosen this technique to save advertising money for issues of our selected magazines and newspapers that would most likely reach our target market. For the Ithaca Journal and its Cortland equivalent we have chosen to highlight the months of April-‐June and August-‐October, leaving out July which is known to allergist as a “dead” month. Using the “13-‐week merchandising package” we will be spend a total of $360 a week which adds up to be $4,680 to buy advertising space in these two journals. The Ithaca Times and its Cortland counterpart cost $502 per insertion. We are sticking to the flighting pattern of media selection and will be advertising in several non-‐consecutive issues. We have chosen certain issues over others because the themes and content of the issues chosen coincide with our client and target market’s interests. All together for the months of March, April, May, and August we will be spending $8,032 to advertise in these magazines. The Ithaca Child and its Cortland sister-‐magazine will cost us $180 per display classified ad. We are advertising in these two magazines for a combined total of 4 non-‐consecutive issues that 7
highlight themes and stories that people in need of an allergist may relate to. This should cost our client a total of $720. Same rates apply to the Ithaca Parents & Teens magazine, which cost our client an additional $720. Internet Advertising We have chosen to use pencil banner ads on Ithaca.com and the Cortland equivalent. Pencil banner ads are professional and do not give off the same “spam” feeling as most banner ads. We would be purchasing pencil banner ads for March through October on two websites. It would wind up costing us $9,520 to advertise at a rate of $1,190 per month for two websites. We have chosen to use the continuity style of media selection and pour the majority of our resources into the “allergy season” time period which is completely covered by our media plan. Radio Advertising We plan on allowing an advertisement for Smith Allergy & Asthma Specialists to run from March 1st to October 31st in an attempt to create a continuous media pattern. By starting the radio advertisements a month prior to what is considered the “busy season” and keeping the coverage solid all the way through the end of allergy season, we will create a continuous media plan that will reach our target market and reinforce the Smith Allergy & Asthma Specialists brand. Lite Rock 97.3 and Q103.7 country are the radio stations that we have chosen and plan on running ads from Monday-‐Friday 6am-‐10am and 3pm-‐7pm. To advertise on two stations for such a long period of time (35 weeks), we have allocated that it would cost $240-‐$180 per week which adds up to be around $8,400-‐$6,300 for the entire media plan. Transit Advertising Between the months of March through October we plan on having a continuous media selection in order to maximize impressions and create a serious word-‐of-‐mouth influence for Smith Allergy & Asthma Specialists brand. With a $13,000 budget, we feel that we can adequately advertise Dr. Smith and his practice within the Cortland and Ithaca area. We would be purchasing a total of 4 “King” Boards ($225/month) within Cortland and Ithaca between the months of March and October. This would cost $7,200 and would account for the majority of our allocated Transit ad resources. We would purchase 4 “Tail” boards ($200/month) within Cortland and Ithaca between the months of March and October as well. This would cost $4,800, leaving the remaining $1000 to be spent on “Interior” Boards ($15/month). We would purchase 15 “Tail” boards between Cortland and Ithaca between the months of March and October which would total at $960 leaving a surplus of $40 saved. Public Appearance The Health & Wellness Fair happens on September 21, 2013 at The Shops at Ithaca Mall, and costs $175 per booth. Email & Text Messaging Dr. Smith can send SMS / Text Message and/or email reminder a few months before allergy season (February-‐March, July) to remind to patients to schedule an appointment with him, in addition with follow-‐up emails after appointments. 8
Social Media Since social media is used as a medium to raise awareness about Dr. Smith’s business, we will post content on social media sites throughout the year, however focus more heavily prior to and during the allergy season, which is April-‐June and August-‐October. In conjunction with other media outlets, we hope to bring Dr. Smith at the forefront of people’s mind when they search for a trustworthy and quality allergist. Search Engine Optimization We allocated 20% of our media budget ($130,000 per year) to digital media (more specifically paid search and keywords). With a yearly budget of $26,000 and a maximum daily budget of $71.00, we factored in the below keywords in our search campaign. We suggest using the below ten keyword combinations in order to reach the Ithaca and Cortland market via search engines. The total cost for these keywords falls between $63.90 and $78.10 per day, which adds up to a yearly total between $23,323 and $28,506.
IV. Tactical Plans (flow chart)
9
V. Budget Recaps Total budget: $130,000 Total budget allocated: $80,213 • Search Engine Optimization: $23,323 -‐ $28,506. • Transit Advertising: $12,960 • Radio Advertising: $6,300 -‐ $8,400 • Internet Advertising: $9,520 • Print Advertising: $14,152 o Newspaper: $4,680 o Magazines: $9,472 • Public Appearance: $175 • Promotional Items: $6,500 o Promotional Materials $2,000 o Memorabilia $4,500
10
VI. Recommendations We suggest Dr. Smith presents lectures at universities and hospitals as a form of publicized philanthropy. We feel the timing would be most appropriate during July, since July is the “dead month”, and this month wedges into the middle of allergy relevance season. Dr. Smith is a notable scholar figure in this area. His presence radiates intelligence and compassion. Exposure will only bolster his reputation and clientele. Experiencing a live presentation on an allergy specialist is going to have a positive impact on the audience because it is a mutually beneficial method of advertising. Every speech, whether to college students or local citizens, will cause a ripple effect by “word-‐of-‐mouth”. These speeches may even have potential to encourage a press release. Social media: Below are a few of our brief suggestions for Dr. Smith to best approach establishing a social media presence.
Guides to using social media as a medical professional: “Social Media for the Practicing Allergist”: http://allergynotes.blogspot.com/2012/03/social-‐media-‐for-‐practicing-‐allergist.html “Allergists Find Value in Social Media to Educate and Connect”: http://www.acaai.org/allergist/news/New/Pages/AllergistsFindValueinSocialMediatoEducatean dConnect.aspx World Allergy Organization (WAO) on Social Media: http://www.worldallergy.org/members/index.php?contentid=594 “Four Reasons Doctors Worry About Social Media”: http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidshaywitz/2013/04/14/four-‐reasons-‐doctors-‐worry-‐about-‐ social-‐media-‐getoverit/ “Doctors told to precede with extreme caution on social media”: http://www.cbsnews. 11