University of Maryland School of Medicine
Background
The University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) was chartered in 1807 as the first public medical school in the United States. Today, UMSOM is one of the fastest growing, top-tier biomedical research enterprises in the world with 43 departments, facilities, and programs and more than 3,000 faculty, including members of the National Academy of Medicine and a distinguished recipient of the Albert E. Lasker Award in Medical Research.
UMSOM partnered with Mindgrub to measure and increase brand awareness among local residents, donors, and patient populations, as well as national leaders. Mindgrub designed, deployed, and analyzed a digital marketing campaign that elevated UMSOM’s groundbreaking achievements and drove a high level of engagement from target audiences.
Our Approach
As part of our discovery process to learn more about UMSOM and their target audiences, we conducted stakeholder interviews and market research, reviewed all UMSOM-provided documentation, and completed a technical assessment to inform landing page development. We used this information to produce strategy documentation, create personas, and develop and implement a marketing campaign.
Once the campaign launched, we utilized data dashboards and analytics tools to regularly monitor and report on user behavior. These findings helped our team make adjustments and optimize for performance throughout the campaign.
Balancing unique messaging with audience expectations drives brand recognition.
An Effective Strategy
Leveraging the agreed upon “First, Best, Most” campaign approach, we created an impactful anchor statement that encompassed what our target audiences would see as being “on brand” for UMSOM. The campaign highlighted UMSOM’s numerous achievements, including that they:
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Invented the field of Shock Trauma
and are global leaders in trauma treatment
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Were the first medical school
to discover the relationship between insects and disease
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Co-discovered HIV as the cause of AIDS
and have treated more than a million HIV patients around the world
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Are world-class innovators in surgery and organ transplantation
We paired eye-catching design work with an interesting fact about UMSOM for each advertisement. When clicked, the ads took users to the UMSOM-branded landing page where they could learn more about the organization and how to take action in support of UMSOM’s efforts.
Content that Resonates
Our team designed, developed, and launched a campaign landing page and five distinct thematic sets of ads. We deployed static News Feed ads on Facebook as well as static and HTML5 rich media banner ads that were used for both prospecting and retargeting efforts. The content focused on the following medical categories:
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Vaccine Development
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Surgery/Transplantation
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Emergency Medicine/Shock Trauma
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Complex Diseases (HIV/AIDS, Cancer, Brain Disorders)
During the course of the campaign, SARS-CoV-2 became a global health crisis, and UMSOM was one of the first establishments to begin vaccine research and development. While it was too early to discuss their progress at the time, we found that engagement with the “global epidemic” themed ad skyrocketed, with a clickthrough rate of over 5 times the industry benchmark. In this way, raising awareness of UMSOM’s role in the fight against the novel coronavirus served as a point of interest and pride among potential recruits, partners, and donors.
Mindgrub’s team is an energetic and talented group of professionals who understand and execute every phase of a marketing campaign, and then modify based on relevant and insightful analytics to ensure the greatest possible impact. We would highly recommend them!
Chris Hardwick, Assistant Dean for Public Affairs, University of Maryland School of Medicine