Launching a Small Healthcare Brand That Hit $20 Million in Revenue Within Two Years of Launch

Outcome:

A quickly launched but profitable healthcare operation has grown revenue by 300% and is a leader in the industry in only two short years.

Background:

I was contacted by past clients to handle the technology side of launching a new healthcare startup.

All of us had previous experience in the industry and were confident the business would be successful. The team was in place, they just needed an online presence and patients.

There was a major need to complete the work in 45 days or less due to the current financial situation at the new organization.

This case study will explain the initial work and the refined work that led to growth.

Process:

I knew we needed the following:

• Website
• Email system
• Patient database system
• Social sites
• Advertising programs

That's a lot to complete in 45 days.

Short mention: Minimum viable product (MVP) method

There's a saying out there:

You can have it fast, cheap, or good. Pick two.

We didn't have the luxury of time so we opted for a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) approach. This is my preferred way to approach most projects.

You build a barebones product and add more over time. Strip all the features out that aren't critical for launch, put them on the back burner. If the barebones product is successful, reinvest and complete the additional features.

Strategy

I knew that we'd generate the majority of our leads through:

• Paid advertising
• Landing pages
• Referrals
• Branded searches

Receiving meaningful visits through organic search for anything other than your brand is an unrealistic goal for most new websites. There's way too much competition and too few spots on Google.

Branded search was going to be very easy for us. This meant we didn't need to spend on search engine optimization (SEO). This saved us time and money that would have gone towards producing dozens of pieces of content and some misguided attempt to quickly rank well within 45 days.

Website

We used Wordpress to build out the MVP website. Wordpress is good enough. I contracted a designer to help with the site design and graphics. We created a super slim website. I knew we'd use landing pages for the majority of the visits that would convert to leads. So we didn't need to do much with the website other than establish credibility.

I worked with a designer to get a logo created and get all the file formats to the client for printing required collateral on their end.

Email system

I'm comfortable with email marketing but not setting up Outlook accounts. I needed basic email setup for about 30 individuals at my client's organization.

I connected my client with an IT consultant acquaintance of mine who has been in business for 20 years. His company handled all the email technology to power their startup.

Patient database system

The biggest hurdles when choosing a patient database system for my client were:

HIPAA compliance
Legally need to keep data private.

Customization
Heavy customization for fields, verbiage, layouts, workflows was required.

Automated notifications
Remind patients of milestones, appointments.

User access control
Limit access to patient information based on the user's role at the company.

Affordability
New company's without significant investment need to watch their spending at launch.

Age in business
Needed a stable platform that wasn't going to be acquired or closed in the near future as we'd be doing all this migrating and customization again.

I did a lot of research into to the healthcare CRM market and found Zoho CRM to be the best solution for our needs. It checked every box especially in the customization and affordability areas.

I focused on creating an MVP patient database for launch that included:

• Patient records
• Website forms synced to the database
• Reporting that allowed easy access to upcoming appointments
• Initial five-step email notifications
• Training videos

This took up a significant portion of the initial launch budget but allowed them to hit the ground running on day one.

Social sites

I claimed social sites in their name on major social networks. There was no plan to make use of them at launch but we knew they'd play a large role in the future of the company.

Advertising programs

I knew we'd be making full use of paid search ads and retargeting ads.

The general tactic here is to use paid search to drive qualified people to your website. If they "buy", great. If they don't, then use retargeting ads to stay "top of mind" while they browse the Internet.

I like to start with an MVP advertising campaign as well. Start small, invest in what works. These can be powerful levers for growth because once you dial in a profitable campaign, you simply increase the budget to generate more leads. Yes, there is some decrease in profitability but you can continue dialing the campaigns in over time to maintain a good rate of profitability.

For this client we saw a minimum 8x return on investment. For every dollar spent on marketing they got eight dollars back. That's a solid place to be.

Conclusion:

I am still working with this client on an ongoing basis functioning as a retained CMO / CTO / project manager to complete marketing and tech projects. There has been such amazing growth despite closing for several months during the worst of COVID-19.

Though the above work has been critical to their success, this client is the perfect combination of: right service, right time, right people.

They have an excellent service that offers a lot of value to customers, that became even more valuable during COVID-19 and they have a well trained team to handle the increase in business.

Given a solid foundation, a well functioning business like this can be set free to grow.