Reach the Hispanic Market With Multiple Approaches
MIAMI - One-size-fits-all marketing strategies are futile when trying to reach the $6 billion-plus Hispanic market in Miami. This was the umbrella message at a "Healthcare Marketing to Hispanics" conference here earlier this month. In this market there are essentially two core Hispanic healthcare markets - those who live in Miami-Dade County and visitors from the Caribbean and Latin America, says Elena del Valle, president of LNA World Communications in Miami and one of the featured speakers at the conference.
Hispanics comprise nearly 60 percent of Miami's population.
Targeting this group requires doing your homework. del Valle offers this insight into the marketplace:
- There is a distinction between the Hispanic local and international markets.
- When you're trying to reach local groups, look for differences among various Hispanic communities and focus on commonalities for countywide efforts.
- To market specific services like diabetes care narrow your scope to address cultural issues for key communities.
- Wealthy Latin Americans seek actual or perceived superior quality and they are likely to want a higher degree of attention and supplemental services.
(LNA Communications, Elena del Valle, 305/270-6309)
PSA Campaign Shatters Ultra-Healthy Myth
Many view California as the mecca of hardbodies dedicated to intense exercise and nutrition routines. The California Department of Health Services is shattering that myth with a public service announcement (PSA) campaign to boost fruit and vegetable consumption.
The health department's campaign promotes simple ways for improving health and nutrition using 15- and 30-second spots that target the African American and Hispanic communities, where the lack of healthy eating habits is most alarming.
The PSAs, developed by Lawrence, Mayo & Ponder of Newport Beach, Calif., aired in April and May and feature:
- An engaging, elderly, African American man on his porch addressing simple ways to improve and health nutrition.
- An upbeat Latino mother espousing the benefits of good nutrition from her kitchen.
The campaign also will address nutrition issues with a seasonal twist.
(Lawrence, Mayo & Ponder, Rob Goraieb, 949/955-9200)
Ask-A-Nurse Program Promotes 24-Hour Healthy Image
Anne Arundel Medical Center in Annapolis, Md., is positioning itself as a 24-hour-health resource with its Ask-A-Nurse hotline. The service fields a wide assortment of healthcare calls from the serious to the unusual.
For instance, a bride called on her honeymoon to get practical information about the "birds and the bees" and a woman called to resolve an argument with her husband about where her appendix is located.
The hotline is a big hit among working parents who use the service in the evening hours, according to Joanne Richardson, the hotline's program manager. The hotline, staffed by 24 registered nurses, averaged 8,000 calls per month last quarter.
The service has also attracted participation from more than 100 doctors.
(Anne Arundel Medical Center, Mary Lou Baker, 410/267-1373)
Alternative Medicine Report Offers Benchmarking Data
Hospitals are scrambling to figure out how best to integrate alternative services into their traditional care environment (this represents a multi-billion dollar consumer out-of-pocket market).
The trend toward launching "integrative" services is picking up momentum but there is very little benchmarking information available for hospitals to research best practices.
A new report provides useful market research on 14 clinics that provide this hybrid care.
The Integrative Clinic Benchmarking Survey, published by Integration Strategies for Natural Healthcare in Seattle, highlights clinic-specific data on the size, healthcare services, marketing focus and startup costs for launching alternative services as a traditional provider.
Eight of the clinics described in the report are health system-based and six are backed by venture capital firms or physicians.
The report is free to subscribers of The Integrator, a monthly alternative medicine newsletter. The costs is $100 for non-subscribers.
(Integration Strategies for Natural Healthcare, Cheryl Robinson, 206/933-7983)