The brief
MPS is the world's leading medical defence organisation. They operate in an environment where consultants and GPs do not generally move between providers.
Our challenge was to help MPS build a database of prospective members, allowing MPS to communicate with them over time and recruit them to become members.
This presented a number of problems. Not only do medical professionals have very little spare time, they also receive lots of marketing communications. Any activity would have to demonstrate real benefits and value to persuade prospective members to consider MPS and encourage them to register their details.
The approach
Using a combination of direct mail, exposure through relevantly targeted emails and off and online advertising in key publications and websites, we developed an integrated campaign that ran during key membership renewal periods.
The hook was to create an interest in MPS among non-members by offering free MPS member publications, which are well-respected medical journals in the sector, in return for providing their professional details via the campaign microsite or in the post.
Taking a unique approach, we decided to focus on providing information rather than adopting a hard-sell marketing strategy, for instance, no leaflets or sales material were included within the direct mail activity.
The mail-out simply talked about how MPS benefits its members. This proved extremely effective, getting straight to the point and generating paper-based responses and driving traffic to the microsite.
The result
The activity, which has now run for a number of years, has been successful in building a large database of prospects.
This has enabled MPS to maintain contact and give potential members an understanding of what it's like to be part of the organisation, gradually change their perceptions and ultimately recruit them from the competition.
The online campaign, including banner advertising and content on targeted emails and websites, delivered high levels of visibility and web registrations, and achieved above industry average open rates on emails; whilst offline, direct mail activity successfully generated a significant number of paper and web registrations.