In honor of Geonetric’s 25th anniversary, we’re sharing the stories and successes of just a few of our healthcare clients across the United States. Some have been with us for decades, others just a few years; some are major health systems, others just one standalone hospital. But one common thread ties them all together: Geonetric has helped them take their digital marketing programs to new heights.
St. Bernards Healthcare is a Jonesboro, AR-based health system that traces its roots back nearly 125 years to a six-bedroom house converted into a hospital during a local malaria fever epidemic. Today, St. Bernards has more than 100 locations and 4,200 employees serving 625,000 patients across Arkansas and Missouri.
The health system has partnered with Geonetric since 2022, when it dedicated the funding to prioritize its digital presence and reached out for help overhauling a website that was “a glorified Word document,” according to Mackenzie Thomason, Website & Digital Coordinator at St. Bernards.
Thomason’s team couldn’t customize their website much at the time and needed assistance completely rewriting its content, streamlining its search capabilities, optimizing content for search engines, and adding a design that fit their storied brand. They also felt their current site wasn’t genuinely representing who St. Bernards was and failed to provide a sophisticated experience that was impressive and useful for both internal and external audiences.
Geonetric’s mix of healthcare expertise and knowledge of healthcare marketing trends made the agency an easy choice for a partner who could take their website to the next level.
A caring content journey
One major goal of the website redesign was creating a digital home that met the needs of patients, employees, job seekers, and donors alike. Part of reaching that goal meant moving the St. Bernards site from Drupal to Geonetric’s proprietary VitalSite® content management system, which allowed for improved structure and organization.
St. Bernards previous website content had been described as a “rabbit hole” of unclear, outdated and hard-to-find information. Geonetric’s content team worked with dozens of St. Bernards stakeholders to rewrite or create new content for 175 pages, with an emphasis on writing in a way that was easy to understand for any users’ health literacy level and communicated how the system’s services could improve patients’ lives.
“We met with most of our main service line doctors in content planning meetings, and I felt like they appreciated their concerns being heard and then showing them the final product before we went live,” Thomason said.
One highlight of the new site includes revamped services pages, which showcase St. Bernards’ service lines in an easy-to-navigate menu so patients and their families can easily narrow in on the issue they’re seeking treatment for. On the individual pages, users can find information about specific conditions that fall under that service line, treatment options, answers to frequently asked questions like when to seek treatment and where treatment will occur, and profiles of the providers they’ll work with.
“A big piece of this was making sure our content truly reflected all of what our providers do,” explained Thomason. “It was a needed change within our organization, and we can tell the benefits of it today through our analytics across the board.”
Real-world results
In the first 30 days following the launch of the new St. Bernards website, views of the site jumped 55%, with a 25% increase in total users.
The new healthcare services pages saw views increase by 60%, with a 31% increase in total users. The time users spend engaged with these pages also increased by 49%.
Aside from the numbers, Thomason has also received fantastic feedback on the new site from team members, including the hospital administrator, who continues to highlight the new site in his public presentations.
“[We got] so much great feedback. Every single one of our internal stakeholders was very impressed,” Thomason said. “People within our organization have approached me and repeatedly said, ‘The new website looks so good’ or ‘It is so easy to find what I need!'”
Trust & teamwork
St. Bernards’ redesigned website content earned a MarCom Awards Honorable Mention for Web Content based on its quality, creativity, and excellence.
In the years since, Geonetric has also helped St. Bernards move their forms to Formulate, VitalSite’s self-service form creation feature, and create a timeline in celebration of the system’s upcoming 125th anniversary. Geonetric also helps keep the St. Bernards team up-to-date on the latest marketing trends and technology.
“Everyone I have had the chance to work with in our complete website redesign has been a top-tier communicator. Honest, timely, helpful. It makes my job so much easier knowing I have a few direct people I can contact no matter the question or situation,” Thomason said. “From a new website launch to post-launch, we have continued re-working and creating multiple projects together. Our goal is to always improve where we can. I see Geonetric as an extension of our team!”
Ready to experience the Geonetric difference?
If your organization could use a digital partner with 25 years of experience, a healthcare-specific content management system, and a team that’s always keeping tabs on the latest in healthcare digital marketing, let’s talk. Contact Geonetric today to learn more about how we can help your organization!