Ellie Mental Health started as a Minnesota based Mental Health Clinic in 2015. Ellie was founded on the principle of destigmatizing mental health. They made it their goal to fill the gap and find innovative ways to break down these barriers for the communities they serve. By late 2021, recognizing the need for Mental Health Services well beyond the Minnesota area and embracing the success of the growth to over 15 locations and the unique culture they had created- Ellie expanded their focus to a National Franchise Model.
The objective was clear: Communicate the Ellie brand and mission on a National Scale, support the new locations in growth, with digital and scalable marketing and developing Ellie as a national thought leader in the mental health space in America.
Our focus was to create and execute a comprehensive and strategic marketing plan by refining their brand and messaging into a clear story. We would then implement it across all platforms. This was critical to resonate with new audiences on a National Scale.
We knew that Ellie would be challenged to scale their brand from a local focus to a National Brand with impact. Fortunately, Ellie had already established a unique voice and culture that was resonating with therapists and clients alike. To emphasize Ellie’s important mission of making a difference our task was to refine the brand and messaging to tell a story that would impact on a National Level as well as elevate Ellie as the thought leader in the industry.
Our first step in developing the campaign strategy was to carry out a deep dive into the persona's that we were focusing on. This would allow us to nationally target both therapists and new clients. We created and developed a new website, campaign, content strategy, digital marketing strategy and overall tagline to highlight what differentiates Ellie Mental Health and how they were providing unique, needed solutions in changing the culture of mental health in America.
The “Changing the Culture of Mental Health” integrated campaign was launched in phases, starting in the second quarter of 2022.
We created visual assets and written content that were characteristically and unmistakably Ellie. Most importantly, we allowed for specificity across the new, national Ellie locations that were in the process of launching. Throughout the entire campaign and the website, authentic photos of Ellie Team members, were mixed with the Ellie branded messaging. This, combined with the visual assets, robustly engaged the target audiences.
The execution—We implemented a content strategy, based on: competitive data points, a new custom website, WordPress utilization, targeted social media, and search platforms integrated into multiple markets. The website was designed to remove barriers to mental health treatment and provide relevant "Ellie" branded information about current and trending topics. Content topics include relevant issues such as male mental health stigmas, LBGTQ mental health questions, and even specialized care such as EMDR.
Throughout the site, authentic photos of Ellie Team members were mixed with Ellie branded messaging and visual images to engage the target audiences.
The campaign highlights the unique and powerful messaging of the Ellie brand throughout all of the ads, organic content, and visual mediums. By using humor, irreverent language, and authentic content, Ellie's services are not just "Changing the Culture of Mental Health"
Their brand is doing it as well.
Ellie Mental Health is currently one of the fastest growing franchises in the United States. In 2022, They are slated to finish launching 60 franchises, with an additional 400 pre-sold to launch in 2023 and beyond. In the most important metric we were measuring, Ellie Mental Health has exceeded their growth goals for 2022 by over 450%.
When launching the new website, including the multilocation site, Ellie experienced an almost immediate increase in overall traffic, ranking, time on website and authroity score. Less than 5 months from launch, Ellie Mental Health's overall traffic to their website have increased 106% and their time on site has more than tripled, exceeding the national average by 4x.
Ellie Mental Heaths content is also ranking nationally, with relevant subjects such as Male Mental Health Stigma ranking on the first page of Google.
Lastly, Ellie's social campaign and digital marketing efforts have differentiated them in the market, with distinct Ellie Branding and messaging throughout the campaign. The campaign metrics speak for themselves. 3 times the national average of click throughs to the ads and 2x conversions from digital marketing efforts.
