Medical center redoubles efforts to attract expectant mothers

Things weren’t looking good for the future of maternity in the market served by Penn Medicine Princeton Medical Center (PMC), where competitors have been shutting their doors and projections show a decline in the number of women of childbearing age. In partnership with Princeton Health and Penn Medicine in 2018, PMC set out to create a campaign to market its Center for Maternal and Newborn Care. The marketing campaign that resulted has won first place in the “Marketing Campaign” category of Ragan’s 2019 Health Care PR and Marketing Awards.

Weekly meetings commenced between Princeton Health marketing and community education staff, an advertising agency and a media agency to review the maternity brand structure, key messages, goals and objectives. They also reviewed previous focus group results and analyzed the competitive landscape, demographic and geographic data, and media consumption.

After testing a variety of images and messages, the team landed on a theme that captured new parents’ feelings about their new babies: “Life is Full of Wonder.” The tactics employed included elevator wraps inside PMC, a banner on the organization’s website, maternity topics published in a local weekly newspaper chain, posters at community events and in doctors’ offices, a livestreamed video, 60-second radio spots, bus wraps, email blasts and ongoing Facebook and Twitter content.

The team supported digital content with paid search tactics that included a call to action to reach out to PNC to find a physician or midwife, and encouraged people to take a tour of PMC’s maternity unit.

The campaign paid off, with more than 3,000 physician searches (a more than 17% increase over the previous year), nearly 1,000 physician profile views and much-improved attendance at community women’s programs.

Congratulations to the Princeton Health marketing and community wellness staff.