Healthcare marketers and PR professionals have come to realize that in today's quickly changing environment solid audience research is an invaluable tool - both in developing
effective marketing campaigns and in managing reputations and issues.
Research provides essential insights into what consumers know and how they think and feel about local hospitals, managed care or a specific HMO. These insights can help
marketers and PR professionals understand what motivates physicians, what mobilizes voters or what moves expectant mothers to choose an obstetrician.
Smart marketers know that solid audience research can help avoid doing an ad campaign that doesn't appeal to the audience - thus wasting budget resources and time. Equally
smart PR directors know that ongoing community research can help identify problem issues that can be addressed before they become crises.
The challenging aspect of market research, however, is a fundamental one: finding the money to pay for the research. Getting management, CEO or Board approval for research
remains a difficult process according to several marketers in the trenches I've spoken with. In some organizations, it's a matter of budget. "I have enough money to either do the
research or run the ads," said one marketing director. In other settings, it's a more a matter of misplaced confidence. "We already KNOW what the consumers want."
Fortunately, there are ways to obtain the needed audience insights without blowing half your budget.
WARNING: Research purists should stop reading this column at this point. You may be horrified at some of the tips that will be offered. The author's disclaimer is that if
organizations truly cannot or will not spend money to do research in the traditional way, it's better to cut some corners and abandon a bit of the tradition, rather than fly blind
and proceed with no research at all.
That said, here are some practical ways to save money on audience research and still get the data and feedback you need to develop messages that will resonate with your target
audience
Cheap Secondary Sources
Secondary research is better than nothing. Consider using online research firms. If you can't hire a service like FIND/SVP or HCAB, find a college research student who needs
some extra money, or put your 16-year old to work. In addition, try:
- emailing 30 of your colleagues in the industry - their markets may be different from yours but you'll still get some ideas about trends.
- grabbing every piece of existing research, from state hospital or HMO associations to healthcare foundations. If your state trade association is doing a statewide survey, see
if the sample size can be large enough to pull out regional, country or metro area data. - using existing groups - volunteer or Auxiliary boards, board of trustees, etc. - as ongoing advisory boards who can provide perspective into what's being heard in the
community.
Affordable Primary Research
Take advantage of existing sources that can provide useful insights, like patient advocate encounter reports, calls and letters of complaint and praise, and patients and
families themselves. The 30-second elevator survey: "Hi, what's the best thing you've encountered here at Hospital X?" can yield great information, as can the cafeteria line
contact: "Hi, any problems as a visitor here?"
The bottom line of research on the cheap is the bottom line. Conducting marketing campaigns or managing issues without any audience research is a huge risk. Even a small
investment can make the difference between a message and a method that works and those that miss the mark altogether.
Here are some ways to keep qualitative research costs down:
- Hire a grad student or professor as a consultant for questionnaire design and methodology
- Check out your internal resources - many medical professionals have done audience research during their training
- Find a free-lance researcher ask colleagues at ad or PR agencies
- Check out small local research firms (you don't need a major "known name" company for basic projects)
- Contact every university or college in a 50-mile radius and find out if they have a consulting service or center within their business school
- Borrow a questionnaire that's already been used by a trade association or a colleague, and adapt it
- See if any of your board members can provide support pro bono through their in-house research or IT departments
One last tip from a healthcare PR veteran. Recommend that costs for research be built into the marketing communications or PR program rather than separated out as a line item.
This is the best way to approach it because the research should truly be an integral part of the communications program.
Kathy Lewton is director of the National Health Care Practice at Porter-Novelli in Chicago. She is author of Public Relations in Health Care: A Guide For Professionals. She can
be reached at 312/856-8888.
Smart marketers know that solid audience research can help avoid doing an ad campaign that doesn't appeal to the audience - thus wasting budget resources and time.