The marketing department at General Hospital has developed a new approach they call “Billboards 2.0.” They developed the strategy after reviewing search terms people used to find the General Hospital website. When they discovered that visitors were using very specific terms, they realized it could help them target their billboard messages.

John Smith, VP of Marketing at General, explains:

“We used to have identical billboards that said “General Hospital Cancer Center – Because We Care.” But after reviewing our Google Analytics we realized that people want very specific information. For example, last year five people searched our site for ‘cerebral astrocytoma’ and another four looked for ‘laryngeal cancer symptoms.’ We have thousands of highly targeted search phrases at our fingertips.”

The strategy calls for hundreds of highly targeted billboards spread out in the region, each featuring photos of the appropriate specialist (sample billboard shown above).

According to Smith, “Our most important customers are our doctors, and they love to see themselves when they drive into work.” Asked if it might be cheaper to just buy placement on search engines, Smith responded:

“How would that help us? There’s no place to put the doctor’s photo in those ads. Also, billboard advertising has a proven hundred-year track record. The web has only been around for ten – it’s very risky.”