Word of mouth had been the primary means of advertising for Knoxville Comprehensive Breast Center during its earlier years, and that method had worked out pretty well for the free-standing facility that opened its doors in 1983 in Knoxville, Tenn. Women raved about their experiences to mothers, daughters, sisters, aunts, and friends, and the center established a rapport with referring physicians.
'That was how our practice was built, on word of mouth,' recalled Andrew Gitschlag, practice administrator. But times change, and so do marketing methods.
More than a decade later, the center was ready for an expansion, and in 1997, the center added a dedicated breast surgeon, medical oncologist, radiation oncologist, plastic reconstructive surgeons, and a high-risk assessment coordinator. With a commitment to utilizing the latest advancements in technology, the center acquired an Aurora 1.5T Dedicated Breast MRI System with SpiralRODEO in 2002, which presented clinicians with increased image quality in less scan time. Most importantly, Knoxville Comprehensive Breast Center continued its quest to educate not only its current and prospective patients, but also referring doctors, on its personal mission to provide the best quality care.
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Gitschlag explained that the center has vested much time in community outreach, sending the message out to women that they have a choice in selecting their imaging center, and that they don't need referrals to make an appointment. The facility also has honed in on two other areas: building even stronger relationships with referring physicians through regular meetings, and constantly improving the practice by conducting surveys and listening to patient feedback. For example, the Breast Center brought in ultrasound gel warmers after patients indicated that the gel was too cold. It's the little things that add up, Gitschlag noted, and the small enhancements all help to assuage the fears of women getting mammograms.
The center is also known in the neighborhood for two yearly community service events it hosts in October. In one, Knoxville Comprehensive Breast Center sponsors a salon day for cancer survivors, and in the other, the center teams up with a local radio station to offer free mammogram screenings. This year, the center's physicians performed 107 screenings, many of them for those without health insurance. In addition to events, the center has received success from its radio promos and print ads and, recently, television commercials. An ad that might run in a local newspaper would feature a woman consulting with a physician or in a comforting pose. This is a powerful message, Gitschlag said, because for many women, it's really about the compassionate care they receive.
'We've done such a good job that we're looking for one or two more breast radiologists to accommodate all the women who come here,' Gitschlag said, adding that the center averages 175 to 200 patients a month.
Like Knoxville Comprehensive Breast Center, Radiology Ltd, of Tucson, Ariz, was built on a solid foundation, but looked to embark on an overall branding campaign.
'With more than 70 years in Tucson, we had a very good reputation within the medical community, but we had no face or name for the general public or the patients we were seeing on a daily basis,' said Stephanie Boreale, director of professional relations. 'It was first necessary to start with a larger, more generic campaign that addressed who we are and why we are here and then from there expand on the details of the company.'
In lifestyle magazines and playbills, the practice ran a number of print ads that had been designed in-house. Not only was the campaign effective, it also led to accolades from the Radiology Business Management Association, which honored the practice with a gold Quest marketing award for advertising.
With regard to women's services, Boreale said the practice had to approach its marketing in an entirely different way than the strategies used toward marketing diagnostic imaging. The focus was on educating a patient population who has control over the choice to get a mammogram in the first place, she continued.
'Women are the decision makers in most households and in most cases are the ones initiating a screening exam,' Boreale explained. 'With that said, it is important for women to understand the benefits of one imaging center over another.'
Radiology Ltd has seen success from its marketing efforts. 'With short runs of our women's services campaign in print, we see immediate spikes in our centralized scheduling queue to schedule mammograms,' Boreale said. 'There is a definite correlation between our advertising and the number of scheduled exams.' In fact, the combination of Breast Cancer Awareness Month and advertising had created backlogs in November and December, Boreale said, adding the practice plans to revive its marketing efforts through a direct mail campaign this month.
