• Client
    The Emergency Center
  • Year
    2020
  • Role
    Creative and Media Campaign
  • Schedule a Chat

For the bumps along the way

In the midst of a pandemic, we increased our client’s patient traffic by 45%.

A little background. The Emergency Center is a freestanding emergency room in Texas with a unique advantage. TEC offers exactly the same services as a hospital ER, including everything from lab resources and diagnostic scanning, to board-certified doctors and an on-site pharmacy. They’re open 24/7 with no waiting, and patients can call ahead to reserve a time.

Lots of competition. However, as unique as TEC is, there are more than 200 independent 24/7 emergency facilities looking for business in the same area. So, they turned to DECODE to help increase market awareness and rise above the competition.

The goal: During a year of national and local crisis, we needed to build not only a name in the community but credible trust. On a parallel path, we needed to increase patient volumes and do it quickly.

An exterior photo of The Emergency Center located in San Antonio.

Our message was relevant, the creative was impactful, and the growth was quick.

Our solution was the creation of a three-pronged campaign.

SEARCH: We started with an audit of TEC’s search campaign — identifying key areas that would result in search improvement. Based on our findings, we shifted the geographic focus. Then, using performance data, we were able to do two things: adjust the campaign to maximize the audience impact and track results precisely.

SOCIAL: We reached out to TEC’s target audience with our primary creative campaign. It included a message reassuring the community that our client had the ability to provide COVID-19 testing in all of their locations.

OUTDOOR: We suggested moving away from small double-sided boards on low-traffic streets to large, highly visible outdoor boards located on routes leading directly to their key locations.

A mock-up of an outdoor board that reads “For the bumps along the way.”

We followed the patient journey, but we led the new patient audience.

Typically, people only search for urgent or emergency care facilities when they need immediate medical help. This can be due to a life-threatening emergency, or in the case of urgent care, an after-hours ailment that can’t wait until a primary care office opens.

We also had to consider that most people experiencing severe medical emergencies, like heart attacks or strokes, call 911 or seek care at a hospital ER. We wanted to reach people with urgent, but typically minor, emergencies.

And finally, we wanted our messaging to convey that there would be little to no wait time, a hallmark of the TEC brand and an essential service when someone is concerned about their health.

A social ad highlights The Emergency Center’s COVID-19 services, including rapid testing.

We turned browsers into patients.

There’s only one word for these kinds of results: Awesome.
Over an eight-month period, we registered:

  • %

    increase in average patient traffic

  • %

    decrease in cost per acquisition in less than 8 months

  • %

    decrease in cost per click

  • outdoor boards placed

Recognition

Marketing Association Houston 2021 Crystal Awards - Paid Search Campaign: Large (over $10,000)