How can health care consumers be encouraged to compare their options when choosing providers? To test some possibilities, CHCF conducted an online marketing project focused on maternity services in three California regions. The targeted ads encouraged pregnant women to use the CalHospitalCompare.org website to assess maternity care at local hospitals. Ad placements included news publication websites, community participation sites (such as Yelp and Citysearch), and ad networks (Google and Yahoo).

During the campaign, traffic to CalHospitalCompare.org increased dramatically. The results suggested that it is important to:

• Identify and understand the target market
• Offer a range of ads to broaden the appeal
• Find out where people are seeking information and go there
• Use targeted keywords and search engine optimization
• Assess the cost-effectiveness of each approach
• Continuously realign tactics along the way
• Consider an ongoing investment to avoid response drop-off

The complete issue brief is available under Document Downloads.