Genea is a leading fertility treatment organisation, with clinics all over Australia. Its branded podcast, Modern Babies, has received significant media coverage.
The Challenge
Genea has always used a breadth of different marketing channels to promote its brand. Podcasting was presented as an opportunity to provide a unique voice for the company and as an educational tool for couples to learn about the process of IVF and fertility treatments.
Genea has used – and will continue to use – other media to get its message across, including video. But, unlike video, podcasting allows Genea to talk about the issues of fertility in a more intimate way.
“If you’re sitting on a bus watching a video it’s very obvious what you’re looking at or getting information on. So podcasting allows people to do that in their car for instance or on a bus or on public transport or even in the office at the gym. It just feels so much more versatile and that’s why we were drawn to it as well because you know it all comes down to what your objective here audience is and we know that’s how they want to consume this type of information.” – Nicole Papoutsis, Genea
The Audience
Genea’s primary market is women, generally in the age bracket of between 28 to 40 years old. Men are important, but it’s women who tend to drive the conversation around fertility, which makes them the main target for Genea’s marketing.
Key Insights
Genea has several strategic methods to increase the awareness of its brand in the market. They include:
– Orthodox advertising and marketing in the digital space, social media and radio.
– Partnerships with the likes of Netball New South Wales and Business Chicks, for instance.
– Referrals from GPs.
“Podcasting really did feel like right fit for our message. It’s very much about education. You know that’s a really big element of fertility. I mean you’d be surprised about some of the things that people don’t know about their own bodies.” — Nicole Papoutsis, Genea
The Format
Modern Babies is the only podcast of its type to examine fertility and IVF treatments by using real-life stories. Fertility is such a private topic, podcasting was seen as the perfect medium to capture the stories of couples who have gone through the journey — both heart-wrenching and joyful — of trying to conceive.
Hosted by Jess Hamilton and Josh Butt, Season 1 with 10 episodes, is more documentary/narration-style, talking with clinicians and experts as well couples. While 6-episode Season 2, captures the responses of protagonists who have gone through the journey. Each episode is around 15 minutes, long enough to capture the essence of the story, short enough to keep the listener’s attention.
Distribution & Amplification
<a href=”https://soundcartel.com.au/”>Produced</a> by Nova Entertainment, it was an integrated marketing effort, promoting the <a href=”https://soundcartel.com.au/”>podcast</a> on radio as well as social media. The fact that it was a new concept — a podcast series on IVF and fertility treatment — garnered its own PR, which helped spread the word.
“We had a very concerted effort in promoting the podcast and it being in market for a considerable amount of time last year. So I have no doubt that that has played a part in the increase in inquiry rate for sure.” — Nicole Papoutsis, Genea
The Results
Genea was so happy with Season 1 of Modern Babies, it commissioned a second series. Success doesn’t happen overnight; issues relating to fertility occur over months and years, and so a utility-based podcast like this helps educate couples who are seeking information on IVF and fertility treatment. Modern Babies provides a safe, guiding hand, while fostering a certain personality to generate trust with those looking for guidance.
“We’ve seen a significant uplift in inquiry activity. We’ve actually got a lag time as you can imagine with people starting treatment and then going through the process….we’re probably waiting six to 10 months before we see an outcome on the bottom line business-wise.” — Nicole Papoutsis, Genea
Lessons Learned
A podcast series takes time, effort and considerable skill to create and assemble. The topic of IVF treatment is particularly delicate that it requires a deft hand to record and tell that story. Using a professional media production house has allowed Genea to concentrate on what it does – providing world class fertility treatment. A high quality podcast series reflects the quality of the service Genea seeks to provide.
“You know it is one of those sort of content marketing pieces that is more about brand awareness and of that long tail opportunity that you get from that type of material.” — Nicole Papoutsis, Genea.
We interviewed Nicole Papoutsis, Genea’s Head of Brand and Marketing on BE Podcasting. Listen here
