Mental Health Academy
Continuing Education Provider Partners with UPG for US Market Entry and Development
Who: Mental Health Academy, Australia (MHAA), Australia's leading provider of Continuing Education courses for Counselors, Social Workers, Psychologists, and other behavioral health specialists. Through subscriptions to MHA's library of specialty content, professionals gain the CE credits needed to meet licensure requirements and keep up with the latest theories and practices in their field.
Opportunity: The US and Canada had many times more licensed behavioral health professionals than Australia, but MHAA had very little knowledge or presence in these markets. MHAA partnered with us to provide both strategy and implementation in these markets.
Strategy:
•Develop an ideal content mix of new and existing content that would appeal to the North American market
•Identify key US and Canadian regulatory boards and licensure requirements
•Create financial forecasts, Minimum Viable Product specs, and pricing strategies
Implementation:
•Form a US corporation to ensure compliance with North American industry and government regulations
•Create high-quality video training content at a minimal cost and develop a sustainable content pipeline
•Secure partnerships with major state, provincial, and national mental health associations
•Establish and maintain the MHA brand in North America, and develop a prospect database through special events, partnerships, social media, and other avenues
•Manage marketing campaigns and generate paid subscriptions/renewals.
Neurosurgical Atlas
New Product Viability
Challenge: The Neurosurgical Atlas had established itself as an invaluable reference resource for the neurosurgery community and had begun developing an industry-focused social network dubbed Atlas Link. The NA board wanted to know the business case/plan/model for this new venture in order to allocate resources, prioritize features, and better plan for future capital needs. And they needed all of this within 90 days.
Strategy: UPG conducted extensive research on this new venture, including in-depth market and competitor analysis, polling, and face-to-face interviews with surgeons, students, and industry representatives. Regular meetings with the client enabled us to adapt the research goals as we learned and ensured that both parties were aligned throughout the process.
Implementation: UPG synthesized the research into an extensive report with recommended features, selling points, pricing, and marketing strategies. Unlike most consulting companies, we also provided detailed cost and revenue forecasts and an interactive model designed to adapt to inevitable changes in assumptions and variables associated with new product launches.
Response Marketing Group
Data Management and Delivery System Development
Challenge: RMG, a national marketing analytics company, had recently begun offering advanced data collection & analysis services to its clients, and the demand for these new services was quickly overwhelming their existing data management and analytical structures.
They needed a way to both process and present large, constantly evolving data sets, but the proposals they had received from large data management companies were high on cost, heavy on jargon, and didn’t speak to the unique needs of RMG’s customers and employees.
Strategy: Rather than look at the situation in the abstract, we got our hands dirty, diving into the raw data to understand RMG’s current processes, identify exactly where the problems lie, and define the Minimum Viable Product that met internal and external needs.
Implementation: We built a data analysis and visualization tool utilizing free and low-cost cloud-based services in a modular, adaptable design. After extensive testing and customer input, this tool is now being used by all of RMG’s customers across the US at a fraction of the cost quoted by large data companies.
NBCC Foundation
Virtual Event Development and Management
Challenge: The National Board for Certified Counselors Foundation (NBCCF)needed a way to generate funds to support their mission of “Bridging The Gap” in mental healthcare while providing increased training and support for counselors focused on underserved communities.
Strategy: We developed the idea of “Bridging the Gap Virtual Summit” with live and on-demand CE sessions featuring expert presenters from around the world and focused on counseling underserved communities.
Implementation: The first Virtual Summit occurred in 2017 and has now raised more than $1 million for NBCCF. Specifically, UPG provides the following services:
- Creating landing and registration pages
- Organizing and scheduling the speakers and presentations
- Handling all registrations, payments, and customer service
- Hosting the conference sessions on our dedicated platform
- Moderating the sessions (including introductions, Q&As, etc
- Managing on-demand access for registrants after the live event
- Providing CE certificates
