By Nick Ising
As COVID-19 continues to upend nearly every aspect of our personal and professional lives, many people are searching online to learn what they can do to protect themselves, their families, and co-workers. As a full-service advertising and digital marketing agency, being able to deliver high-quality content that matches what they are searching for is crucial. Equally important is the ability to deliver this content in a highly accelerated time frame.
Because many consumers are turning to healthcare providers for trusted information on COVID-19, Baptist Health needed a lot of content in a short amount of time. During six weeks from mid-March to the end of April of this year, Current360 created more than 50 COVID-related blogs and a series of videos that focused on telehealth and navigating their robust patient portal. This work was done while working remotely, including video production.
With people being encouraged to shelter in place, and healthcare providers being overwhelmed dealing with COVID-19 infections on top of treating other medical conditions, telehealth is recommended for regular checkups and non-emergency medical treatment. The animated video we created for Baptist Health demonstrated the ease and accessibility of telehealth for both doctors and patients.
Making Adjustments
Like everything else, our video production process had to be adjusted to accommodate the current Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines. We’re currently in the process of creating a commercial and other video assets for Trilogy Health Services that highlights the steps they’re taking to keep the residents and staff in their senior living communities safe during COVID-19. For safety reasons, the video will be shot at a new campus with a minimum of actors, no residents or staff on set, and the recommended social distancing guidelines in place.
COVID-19 has also changed the way we plan and buy media for all our clients. With fewer people on the road and more people working from home, we’re giving less consideration to tactics like outdoor and radio traffic sponsorships and more to Connected TV and streaming radio, which reaches our respective target audiences where they are: on their computers working, listening to streaming radio, and binge-watching programs on streaming services.
Another early-stage fallout from COVID-19 was the surplus of unsold or canceled advertising inventory, both locally and nationally. Knowing this, we were able to help one of our non-healthcare clients, a major player in the QSR category, use this lower-cost inventory to promote contact-free delivery and to help them recruit drivers and staff to accommodate the sharp rise in home-delivery business due to the pandemic.
For our healthcare clients, more COVID-related marketing challenges will undoubtedly arise until the pandemic is behind us. As marketers, helping them navigate these challenges and keeping them connected with their patients will be our focus.
– Nick Ising is the Big Picture Guy at Current360 in Louisville, Kentucky.
