Feasibility Study

A mid-sized hospital from the south recently considered the creation of a new health care facility in Tennessee, and commissioned WPA to survey local residents to determine the perceived need, the best methods to attract interest and gain support, and the best strategy to eventually attract customers to increase market share.

In 2010, WPA conducted a telephone survey of adults in the hospital’s service area in order to evaluate the creation of a neurological institute in the region, in essence marketing a combination of services, many of which were already provided by the health care provider.  First, WPA assessed how the hospital’s brand was perceived by adults in the marketplace.  WPA then evaluated the general public’s understanding of neuroscience in order to determine the level of public education necessary to market the new institute and determined the public’s greatest neuroscience needs and the perception of the marketplace.

Through this research, WPA identified the unfamiliarity of neurosciences in the marketplace and uncovered that combining stroke and neurosciences in the minds of potential customers would be particularly important and useful to bridge the gap of familiarity with neuroscience, especially among younger adults.  With WPA’s proprietary Message Mapping™ tool, a variety of messages were tested to determine which messages were most effective to persuade potential patients to utilize the proposed institute.  The post-messaging analysis uncovered how the strength of hospital’s brand combined with simple and frequent broad reaching awareness messages will return the greatest rewards for the institute.

The hospital has been success at utilizing the results from WPA to develop a communication and marketing strategy to increase awareness and appeal of the hospital and the neuroscience institute.  The hospital has incorporated the strength of the hospital’s brand into the marketing of the institute, and continues to gain support for the development of the new neuroscience institute, which is expected to begin construction in 2014.  Utilizing messaging that the hospital provides quality care to all regardless of race, religion, age, or health has increased the hospital’s market share in the marketplace.

Share/Save