Shaking Hands and...um...delivering babies

CIMA is a local OB/GYN that serves the immigrant population in North Atlanta. They have five clinics and reach out to their communities, most of whom do not speak much English.

Their clientele ranges from poor and scared to middle class and planned. They serve first time moms and those with two or three children.

Maria Francis is an RN who is also in charge of marketing. Less than 10 years ago, she says, CIMA was delivering fewer than 13 babies per month. Two years ago, that number was up to 150 babies per month. So how did they build the business, from a single clinic with 13 babies to a string of 5 clinics with 150 babies per month each?

"We went out into the neighborhood and talked to people," Maria tells me. "We held 'well-baby' clinics, we joined other healthcare companies to provide free tests, we met with local church leaders and elders to build trust." Maria tells me all of this matter of factly, as thought there were no other way to do it. "We became part of the communities we served."

Bolstered by success, the managing physicians decided that doing health fairs and meeting with mothers in churches was productive enough. They hired a marketing director, gave him a budget of $120k, and told him to get the word out.

The new campaign? Full page ads where they used to do classifieds. No more yellow pages, no more health fairs. TV and Radio replaced community meetings.

The result? Eight months into the campaign the budget is gone and new customers per month have dropped from 150 to around 95. More than a 33% drop off with three times the budget.

Instead of a cost of $20 per new customer gained with Maria and her crew building trust, the group now spends $100 per new customer gained. And they don't gain as many.

When you care about the things the community cares about, they care about what you care about. Build trust. Shake some hands.