Where do you go when you want to expand your highly successful Internet brand? If you’re WebMD, you take that success and transfer it into print. The company broadened its reach in April with the launch of WebMD the Magazine, a bimonthly publication mailed to physicians’ waiting rooms for distribution to patients. The goal is to broaden the reach of its brand, while complementing the webmd.com Web site and establishing a new source of advertising revenue.

WebMD uses common direct mail techniques to increase engagement and impact.

“Our magazine extends the WebMD brand beyond the Internet and increases distribution for the trusted, credible and objective health information we offer online,” says Nan Forte, WebMD the Magazine editor in chief and executive vice president of consumer services for WebMD.

The New York-based company, which launched on the Internet in 1998, provides health information services to consumers, physicians, health care professionals, employers and health plans through public and private online portals and, now, health-focused publications.

WebMD the Magazine is completely designed around the “reader experience” of a physician’s waiting room vs. an individual seeking health information online.

Because the idea is to help patients make the most of their visit with their doctor, the magazine includes tear-outs that advise readers to tell their doctor about changes in diet, stress, mood, sleep, alcohol intake, smoking or libido. Each issue includes a short test regarding common health issues. Readers are encouraged to take the test, tear it out and take it in with them when they see their doctor. These interactive features, whether in the form of surveys, tests or stickers, are techniques familiar to direct marketing experts who use them to increase the time readers spend with their message.

“The publication is designed to entertain and educate patients in waiting rooms, and gain the respect of physicians, nurses and other health professionals seeing those patients,” Forte says. “We believe more educated patients will have a more productive visit with their doctor. We’re receiving large numbers of requests for a home edition of the magazine, so we set up a request form on our Web site to help us gauge level of interest.”

The number of ad pages continues to rise with each issue of the magazine. According to the company’s quarterly earnings report released Nov. 1, publishing services revenue was $5.9 million for the third quarter compared with $5.4 million in the third quarter of 2004, driven by the launch of WebMD the Magazine.

HOT TOPICS

WebMD the Magazine highlights hot health topics such as postpartum depression, healthy aging and sleep disorders. A recent issue featured actress Susan Sarandon on the cover and a story about her health regimen. Borrowing a direct marketing rule, the magazine encourages response in regular monthly sections such as “Ask the Experts,” where health professionals answer readers’ questions; “WebMD Wired,” a health news beat; “Exam Room,” which explains equipment patients see in examination rooms; and “Worked for Me,” a column in which readers offer home remedy health solutions. WebMD staff physicians review and approve editorial content.