Expanding a PE-owned, nationwide women’s healthcare network from strong Fla. roots

Situation

Women’s Care, a women’s healthcare network with 100+ locations and 400+ OB/GYNs nationwide, expanded into the Phoenix-market by buying six practices and 30 providers. Adding to its Florida stronghold presence of 25 years, it chose Ballast Group to help increase visibility and credibility with earned media (news) to enhance its patient base and reputation. 

 

Complication

Women’s Care’s desire to be seen as a national expert and its plans to grow nationwide required the development of a PR playbook for opening new markets. Ballast was challenged with finding the right media outlets, identifying and training spokespersons and refining messaging in the wake of the #MeToo movement and the company’s preference to not comment on the most monumental challenge to women’s reproductive rights with the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Further complicating the process of securing local news, the company preferred not to highlight its private equity ownership. All of these nuances challenged the garnering of media attention.

 

Solution

We developed an earned media approach that focused on identifying relevant reporters and grabbing attention with a press release announcing six Phoenix-area practices’ new ownership and nationwide network of experts. We: 

  • Identified trends and data for women’s health coming out of the lockdown. Since March 2020, 38% of women skipped preventative health services (annual exams) and 23% of women skipped a recommended medical test or treatment
  • Researched the media landscape for relevant and influential stations and publications with broad readership to gain new patients; developed a targeted media list from this research 
  • Crafted a pitch that highlighted the expertise of Women’s Care in the Phoenix market, nationwide and a list of trained OB/GYN experts as sources for reporters
  • Trained spokespeople for interviews including at the corporate level (Chief Medical Officer and Chief Marketing Officer) and local experts Miles Howard, MD, Gregory Layton, MD, and Janna Stults, Advanced Practice Nurse Practitioner, Certified Nurse Midwife
  • Daily scanned new media inquiry databases that sought experts on a variety of women’s health issues nationwide

 

Results

Our strategy for gaining credibility and positioning Women’s Care as a national expert lead a Parents feature, “Can You Dye Your Hair While Pregnant?” quoting Janna Stults, APRN, CNM. 

  • With 2.2M readers per month, it carried a $55,000 ROI and highlighted Women’s Care’s national expertise to increase credibility and visibility and with a link to its website (rare) allowed them to amplify the article in other social channels and to enhance SEO.