About Air MethodsAir Methods is the leading air medical service, delivering lifesaving care to more than 70,000 people every year. With nearly 40 years of air medical experience, Air Methods is the preferred partner for hospitals and one of the largest community-based providers of air medical services. United Rotorcraft is the Company’s products division specializing in the design and manufacture of aeromedical and aerospace technology. Air Methods’ fleet of owned, leased or maintained aircraft features more than 450 helicopters and fixed wing aircraft.
|
ChallengeFor decades, air medical companies had sold memberships to help lower costs for patients. They targeted rural communities whose only access to Level-2 and Level-1 trauma care was via emergency air medical transport. This service is extremely extensive due the costs of operating and maintaining helicopters, and training and staffing elite-level pilots, flight nurses, and flight paramedics. These memberships were sold as a way for patients to reduce the amount they would be financially responsible for if they needed emergency air medical transport.
However, the companies selling memberships cannot guarantee they will be the ones to transport patients in a serious medical emergency. Air medical companies do not self-dispatch, so neither the patient nor the air medical company can control which provider will be called for transport. When life-saving air medical support is needed, the provider that is closest and available is dispatched whether the patient has a membership with that provider or not. Furthermore, the likelihood of needing air medical transport is very low, so these memberships are even more unnecessary. Air Methods had ceased its membership sales and began working with health insurance companies to go in network, covering air medical transport. This would make memberships even more unnecessary and dramatically decreasing the amount a patient could be financially responsible for if transported. Air Methods’ competitors continued to sell memberships that were essentially useless. Air Methods needed to spread the word to potential patients and dispatching authorities that air medical transport required no membership with a particular provider. |
SolutionAir Methods decided to launch a national marketing campaign called, No Membership Required. As the Marketing & Communications Manager, I led the effort which began with determining the key target areas. My team and I worked with sales and our marketing analysts to determine areas where Air Methods’ competitors were aggressively selling memberships and where Air Methods had an opportunity for growth in the market. Based on the data and anecdotal information from the sales team, we chose five target locations. We then developed the messaging and designed the campaign creative, which included an educational website that informed patients about unnecessary memberships, combatting the myth that they were a required safety net. Additionally, the site shared information about Air Methods’ work to go in network with major health insurance companies.
Finally, we implemented a multi-channel campaign that included radio, billboards and other out-of-home ads, programmatic digital ads, and social media ads. We worked with a media buying agency to place the radio and billboard/out-of-home campaigns. We worked with a digital advertising agency to run the programmatic and social media ads, which included video and display campaigns. ResultsThe data-driven strategy resulted in an increase in digital ad impressions by 330% and an increase in website visits by 46%. Air Methods established itself as a patient partner, helping to decrease patient costs by going in-network and informing them that costly memberships were a thing of the past.
|