Open AccessMarketing to increase participation in a Web‐based continuing medical education cultural competence curriculum
Author(s) -
Estrada Carlos A.,
Krishnamoorthy Periyakaruppan,
Smith Ann,
Staton Lisa,
Korf Michele J.,
Allison Jeroan J.,
Houston Thomas K.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
journal of continuing education in the health professions
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.547
H-Index - 56
eISSN - 1554-558X
pISSN - 0894-1912
DOI - 10.1002/chp.20097
Subject(s) - continuing medical education , the internet , curriculum , competence (human resources) , medicine , context (archaeology) , control (management) , advertising , medical education , psychology , business , continuing education , world wide web , social psychology , management , pedagogy , paleontology , computer science , economics , biology
CME providers may be interested in identifying effective marketing strategies to direct users to specific content. Online advertisements for recruiting participants into activities such as clinical trials, public health programs, and continuing medical education (CME) have been effective in some but not all studies. The purpose of this study was to compare the impact of 2 marketing strategies in the context of an online CME cultural competence curriculum ( www.c‐comp.org ). Methods In an interrupted time‐series quasi‐experimental design, 2 marketing strategies were tested: (1) wide dissemination to relevant organizations over a period of approximately 4 months, and (2) Internet paid search using Google Ads (5 consecutive 8‐week periods—control 1, cultural/CME advertisement, control 2, hypertension/ content advertisement, control 3). Outcome measures were CME credit requests, Web traffic (visits per day, page views, pages viewed per visit), and cost. Results Overall, the site was visited 19,156 times and 78,160 pages were viewed. During the wide dissemination phase, the proportion of visits requesting CME credit decreased between the first (5.3%) and second (3.3%) halves of this phase ( p = .04). During the Internet paid search phase, the proportion of visits requesting CME credit was highest during the cultural/CME advertisement period (control 1, 1.4%; cultural/CME ad, 4.3%; control 2, 1.5%; hypertension/content ad, 0.6%; control 3, 0.8%; p < .001). All measures of Web traffic changed during the Internet paid search phase ( p < .01); however, changes were independent of the advertisement periods. The incremental cost for the cultural advertisement per CME credit requested was US $0.64. Discussion Internet advertisement focusing on cultural competence and CME was associated with about a threefold increase in requests for CME credit at an incremental cost of under US $1; however, Web traffic changes were independent of the advertisement strategy.