Introducing The GUIDE Framework

A blueprint for launching Orthopedic Mid-Funnel Offers

Last week, we discussed the Mid-Funnel Gap that most healthcare organizations battle.

Without a way to engage and provide value to consumers earlier in their healthcare journey (for Orthopedic groups, this is 91% of their market in a given year), practices are left fighting over the 9%.

Of course, to fill the gap, you need an offer. We covered several types of Mid-Funnel Offers ranging from HRAs, Free Chat Consultations (Go Hatch!), to classes, events, and workshops.

Recognizing the need for mid-funnel efforts from a strategy and marketing perspective is one thing, but how do you do it?

How do you successfully launch an Orthopedic Mid-Funnel Offer?

This edition of Ortho111 explores that question. Offering a new framework to follow and over come the most common obstacles and mistakes you’ll encounter when launching a new Mid-Funnel Offer.

I’ve seen my share of lackluster launches

Having spent my career on the vendor side of digital health, I’ve had the pleasure of helping hundreds of healthcare organizations launch new capabilities - both to internal and external audiences.

Whether launching advanced data models to guide market expansion efforts or digital patient access initiatives, common patterns emerge that can stall or kill a launch:

Poor Executive & Team Alignment

Without executive buy-in and a clear understanding of the strategic importance of a launch, efforts can become disjointed. Misalignment often leads to resource allocation issues and diluted messaging, hindering the launch's impact and effectiveness. It’s never great when a key team member weeks into a project asks, “Why are we doing this again?”

Experience Gaps

I can’t understate the importance of looking at your consumer journey from an outside perspective. You’ll discover low-hanging fruit and other ways to integrate your offer into your broader experience ecosystem more deeply. Launches orphaned from your existing marketing and strategic efforts can struggle to get the adoption you’re after.

Ship and Sit

The launch is only a step in bringing an offer to market. As time passes, you’ll learn more. Having a feedback loop in place to improve the offer adds up. For example, imagine you launch a health risk assessment. If you get 1,000 people to use it and achieve a meaningful health outcome months down the road, wouldn’t it be awesome to capture that story and share it with your community? More awareness, more adoption, more affinity.

These are a few patterns I’ve seen before, and my experience at Hatch is no different.

Orthopedic groups are working to expand their funnel - going beyond basic access optimization to reach new patient populations earlier in their MSK journey.

So, in an effort to help Orthos avoid these launch killers, we created a framework to guide you to a successful launch of your own Mid-Funnel Offers.

Introducing The GUIDE Framework

The GUIDE Framework (Goals, Unify, Implement, Drive, Enhance) provides a strategic roadmap for launching orthopedic mid-funnel offers, facilitating a seamless journey from consumer awareness to decision-making.

Core Principles of the GUIDE Framework:

• A phased-launch approach
• Cross-departmental collaboration
• Digital & people-powered clinical workflows

Following each step in GUIDE will allow you to smooth out any operational or brand experience kinks early to ensure an excellent patient experience from patient number 1 to 1,000.

Let’s dive in!

Step 1: Goals

Align your team with the vision and what success looks like.

Giving this step the time it needs means you’ll exit with a team that understands why this launch is relevant for business and personal goals. According to Teamstage, a project management company, 37% of failed projects result from a lack of clear goals.

• Key questions:
• What strategic goals does this offer support?
• Who needs to be involved in this launch?
• How will we define and track success?

Step 2: Unify

Create cohesive branding, positioning, and messaging.

This step is critical for building recognition and trust with your consumers. Oberlo reports that two-thirds of businesses say brand consistency has contributed to revenue growths of at least 10%.

• Key questions:
• What emotion do we want to evoke with the creative surrounding this offer?
• How do we position this offer to our target audience so they understand its value?
• What internal documents do we need to create to ensure everyone’s on the same page?

Step 3: Integrate

Build key assets and establish your digital foundation.

This step is critical for closing any experience gaps. As you start to scale target marketing efforts later in the launch process, you need to ensure you’re ready to convert that traffic with a seamless experience.

• Key questions:
• What assets do we need to build to support this offer (How-Tos, landing pages, brochures, etc.)?
• How will we integrate this offer into our existing website and digital properties?
• What is the digital process for someone to engage with this offer?

Step 4: Drive

Generate traffic through targeted marketing efforts.

At this step, we are ready to tell our market about the offer. Think community outreach, social posting cadences, paid ads, etc. For a phased-launch approach, you can choose to “soft launch” after step three.

• Key questions:
• What channels should we use to reach our target audience?
• What specific assets will be needed to support a channel/campaign?
• How will we track and measure if it’s working?

Step 5: Enhance

Ongoing optimization to increase awareness and engagement.

This step is all about keeping the momentum going.

• Key questions:
• How can we continue optimizing our digital presence and marketing to improve conversion rates?
• What processes are in place to monitor user feedback and make ongoing improvements?
• How will we share success stories and new use cases to build further awareness?

Use the GUIDE Framework Canvas to sketch out a strategy before diving into specifics

To help you visualize what some of the high-level outputs of this framework might be, we created a canvas-style worksheet.

Get the GUIDE Framework Canvas here.

Orthos are building their demand engines

If you’re familiar with the diffusion of innovation model, you’ll recognize Orthos are in the innovation to early adopter phase when it comes to Mid-Funnel Offers.

OrthoForum data backs this up. This week I saw they reported:

• Consumers demand price transparency, but 69% of its members do not have surgical bundle pricing.
• Consumers demand 24/7/365 access, and only 53% of its members allow online scheduling.
• Consumers are injured outside of traditional business hours, and less than 28% of its members have 7 day a week urgent care and/or extended virtual care access.

We’re in a new era of orthopedic growth.

It requires new mindsets from executive teams and new skillsets from operational teams. Moving up the funnel means competing on experience against a new class of competitors.

I see success in these endeavors as multifaceted. Ortho leaders will ask new questions:

• How do we provide value and eventually convert a new pool of engaged patients from our Mid-Funnel Offers?
• How will we build brand affinity with a patient who has never stepped foot in our clinic?
• What new business measures will we need to know its all worth it?
  
  

Our community is starting to answer these questions, and I’ll continue to share what we’re learning.