Q & A with Silver Spring, Maryland-based Medifocus:
1. When was Medifocus founded, and how was it funded?
Medifocus was founded in 1996. It was funded by the principals and a group of private investors.
2. What was the impetus to start Medifocus?
The impetus to start Medifocus was the death of a small child who was being treated for an unusual medical condition at the National Institutes of Health. It became clear that had the boy's parents known the full range of available medical treatments a year before he was brought to the NIH his life may have been saved. We realized then and there that a major service could be provided to fill two critical needs - to identify available treatment options, and to locate the leading centers of knowledge for treating specific medical conditions.
3. What problem does Medifocus solve?
Medifocus solves the problem faced by every individual who is struck with a chronic or life threatening medical condition - what are all my treatment options and where do I turn for help? Consumers can easily access the "level I" information available on the Internet at general health sites such as WebMD and EverdayHealth, but then they want to find deeper information - information about all the treatment options in the medical literature that their doctor should be reading. They also want to know the leading medical centers of clinical research, and who are the doctors that are most involved with their medical condition worldwide. The Medifocus Guidebook provides this information for them.
4. Is Medifocus a print publishing/ecommerce play, an online publishing play, or both?
Medifocus is both. Our customers have the option of purchasing an "electronic" (PDF) Guidebook, available immediately, or a printed Guidebook which is sent by mail within 24-48 hours. The printed Guidebook costs a bit more in order to cover printing costs and there is a shipping cost that varies depending on shipping method chosen by the customer. Customers who purchase the printed Guidebook automatically receive instant access to the electronic Guidebook. Additionally, we update each Guidebook 3-4 times per year, a big point of differentiation for us, and all consumers receive these updates free for the first year.
5. What can you tell us about the Medifocus audience?Since inception Medifocus has sold over 130,000 guidebooks worldwide with a 99% customer satisfaction rating. Our audience has provided us with hundreds of testimonials thanking us for providing them with unique information that made a meaningful difference in their care. And while our privacy policy does not allow us to share specific audience data we do know from our own surveying that the Medifocus customer is among the most targeted, educated, and influential health consumer anywhere online.
6. What is the firm's partnering strategy?
Medifocus partners with other leading health sites using two marketing strategies:
(1) Lead generation - Medifocus provides in-depth Guidebooks for free to consumers who opt into various marketing programs, offers, subscriptions, etc. The partner typically provides the traffic and negotiates the lead-gen deal with Pharma. Pharma in turn receives leads of the highest quality from engaged consumers seeking action. The Medifocus Guidebooks have achieved 10%-22% conversion rates depending on the condition.
(2) Guidebook sales – We engage in revenue sharing relationships with leading health sites in two ways: (i) the partner promotes the Medifocus Guidebooks on its website using a combination of “editorial area" promotion in the relevant channels of the website and (or) text and graphic banners (ROS and targeted), (ii) the partner promotes the Medifocus Guidebooks by sending targeted messages to its database of relevant emails.
7. What firms are in Medifocus' competitive set and how is Medifocus different?
Our competitive set is limited to publishers of higher level consumer medical information. Two examples include Medizine (via its "John Hopkins white papers" product), and MedlinePlus from the NIH.
The Medifocus differentiation:
- Medifocus covers over 70 medical conditions from broad to niche unique in-depth (our guides are typically 100 – 120 pages including medical abstracts and links).
- The Medifocus Guidebooks are updated every 3-4 months via email updates sent to consumers (a great CRM vehicle for us).
- All available treatment options are discussed. We do not promote any drugs or specific procedures.
- The Medifocus Guidebooks identify all the centers of knowledge and top researchers/experts worldwide for over 70 medical conditions including contact information.
- The Medifocus Guidebooks link its customers to the abstracts of relevant medical journal articles which are carefully selected and organized.
- Prompt service, fair pricing, and expert created / high quality / timely content are Medifocus' key success factors.
8. What's next for Medifocus?
In 2009 we are focused on four specific goals:
1. Expanding our network of partner sites.
2. Expanding the number of medical conditions covered in the Medifocus library of Guidebooks
3. Launching a new product called Medifocus Digest Alerts - a free monthly newsletter that offers hand selected links to the latest medical journal information on selected medical conditions. This newsletter will be available to both Guidebook subscribers and non-subscribers.
4. Continuing to optimize the Medifocus.com website.
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