There has been some talk about how to increase (insurance having) patients at our ER; that is, without spending a ton of money. Marketing came up with a health fair to accomplish this.
Our recent weekend health fair (Mandatory Participation, haha!) took place on a beautiful Saturday; all of the components were in place. There were bike helmet fittings and $10 bike helmets available for purchase, what a deal. The usual giveaways that people love. Fingerprinting. Free bike inspections. Free car seat inspections. Drawings for free stuff. A farm stand with awesome looking fresh veggies for sale. Free vision checks and BP checks. FREE healthy turkey hotdog (Jennie-O, DELISH) and veggie burger lunch with all the fixin's, and a CRAZY rock climbing wall that was a useful babysitting device for one of the marketing divas. And the face painting was very popular with the little ones.
All of this good stuff in place right next to a playground where kids were involved in soccer and baseball. Yet, we had basically nobody attend. Why?
1. Poor advertising.
2. It was held IN BACK of the building where nobody goes. NOBODY. EVER.
The rock climbing wall was a crazy hit among the kids who did attend. I managed to sell 10 bike helmets. The bike inspection guy only did one bike inspection, and I think that was for one of the marketing people who felt bad and went home for her own bike.
Not one person from marketing asked those of us who lived and worked in the community for input on what might work to get people to attend. I just don't understand that.
You can bet that the first thing on the list for next year is have it OUT FRONT where people can see it.
Oh, and balloons. That was my idea. Balloons and much bigger writing on the sandwich boards that can be seen while driving.
