Kang Castle International has developed easy-to-put-on and take-off functional nursing care apparel, but it is difficult to find a suitable digital sales channel. By cooperating with an online platform for assistive devices, Kang Castle International aims to target a precise customer group, not only to enhance brand visibility, but also to enable those in need to buy nursing care apparel and improve the quality of their lives and nursing care.

Not only is caregiving apparel not as popular as wheelchairs, air mattresses, and other aids, but consumers often purchase products through recommendations from patients or at medical stores near hospitals. For Kang Castle International, which develops and sells nursing care apparel, it is always the most difficult and important thing to connect the functional apparel developed with great efforts to the needy audience, so that consumers can recognize nursing care apparel and buy it.

Ms. Kok, Vice President of Kang Castle, said that she has been involved in the caregiving field for more than 30 years. She has seen many caregiving cases with catheters, and when family members are taking care of them, they struggle to do so because they are worried about the pain or the impact of the catheter; she has also seen the disabled and the elderly wearing diapers 24 hours a day, and they are deprived of the right to wear comfortable clothes. So she wanted to make comfortable underwear and functional clothing easy to care for, and in 2008, she won second place in the Silver Hair Innovation Competition. She took the design she drew to the Yongle Market to find fabric and asked her family's seamstress aunt to help her make samples. The aunt told her that you need to have a pattern, and she asked, “What is a pattern?

Going through the wrong path of digital marketing
Finding the right customer base through an accessory platform
Starting from scratch, it took five years for Guo Shihui's caregiving apparel to finally come to fruition. There were countless details, such as the use of the webbing press buttons used in babies' clothing instead of the thick and hard devil's dip for the shoulder openings, and the design of a fully-open zipper to make it easier for elders to put on and take off the garment. These delicate observations and meticulous designs come from Guo's experience in caregiving and her desire to do something for the elders.

However, what can be done to let those in need know that there are such comfortable caregiving clothes? E-commerce and digital marketing were the most important sales channels that Kang Castle wanted to open up, and Guo decided to set up an official website first. However, website development was not only costly, but also technically immature, so Guo spent a year constantly adjusting the website, but it still did not work smoothly, so she had to choose to change vendors.

“After doing a good job, I realized that the official website was not useful, so I had to think again and contact other advertising companies. Guo Shih-Huei tried various methods at the time, and once spent $90,000 a month on keyword advertisements in an effort to increase traffic to her website, but the results were not as effective as she had hoped. She realized that she did not understand the marketing concepts and business model well enough, and that she had spent the money, but the results were not as good as she had hoped.

After going down the wrong path, she decided to rethink her product positioning. With a specific audience and a specific product, Kang Castle's path must be different. 2019 Guo Shih-Huei met The Assistive Home at the Nangang Changzhao Aids Exhibition, and in 2021, she participated in the Digital Harmony Program. Aids Home is an online platform that integrates aids and related information, and almost all visitors to the site are potential clients with care needs. For Kang Castle International, which has been searching for the right door, it has finally knocked on the right door. As the products of Kang Cheng International are clearly categorized by Auxiliary Aid in the clothing category of auxiliary aids, Kang Castle International will not be drowned in a sea of keywords, and the demanders will not be able to find them anywhere.
In addition, the “60-second intelligent assessment” of the aids company also gives Kang Cheng more chances to be seen. After the assessment through the question and answer session, the caregiver can see various aids that meet the needs from the comprehensive analysis of the mobility level, and among them, Kang Castle's care clothing may appear. Through the proactive recommendation of the assistive device manufacturer, the demander can find a suitable assistive device, and then the demander can directly contact Kang Castle to further inquire about product information and purchasing channels. This kind of analysis and recommendation mode has helped Kang Castle, which has been searching for the right customer groups and the right channels, no longer need to be at a loss in the sea of digital marketing as in the past, and has not only effectively increased the visibility of the products, but has also further led the customers into the consultation and shopping process.

Digital Marketing as a Bridge
Provide detailed services to keep customers
But why don't we just set up a shopping cart so that those in need can buy quickly? Kuo explains that assistive devices are different from general merchandise in that they are more complex in terms of applicability and functionality, and require more explanation. Through the assistive devices' reservation mechanism, Kwok can communicate directly with clients and maintain their privacy.

For example, she once suggested that a client buy pants, but when the client asked why the clothes didn't work, Kwok was able to further explain that the elderly person's upper-body mobility was very good and they didn't need to wear a care garment.

“It's all about how we can use traditional marketing to bring the audience in front of us so that they can get the right idea about the product,” she says. She believes that digital marketing is a bridge that allows her to meet her customers, but how the caregiving apparel can bring convenience in the care process requires more detailed and personalized services. At the same time, the assistive device family will be able to introduce the precise customer base to theKang Castle official website, Rakuten market and other shopping platforms to buy products. Auxiliary aids are like opening a door for Kang Castle to be seen by those who need it.

By finding a channel to reach the right audience, more opportunities can be explored. For example, in 2021, during the online marketing campaign of Auxiliary Aid, 17 units took the initiative to contact Kang Castle, expressing their interest in Kang Castle's products, and then made reservations to purchase them later. Guo Shihui said it would have taken at least half a year to visit each unit, but through the Auxiliary Aid's connection, they saved at least $200,000 in marketing costs.

Aids Home also provides opportunities for professional organizations, such as home care clinics and home care service teams, to directly match brands with care-related organizations, expanding brand visibility and sales opportunities. Kang Castle International has also successfully connected with insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, and nursing care matchmaking platforms. Through the use of professional organizations, Kang Castle's products are able to build up word-of-mouth among the right audience, which is a difficult cooperation opportunity for Kang Cheng, which has fewer than 10 employees, to reach in the past.

Guo Shih-Huei stumbled along the way before finding the right channel for effective marketing. She suggests that before choosing digital marketing, a company must be clear about the positioning of its products in order to find the right way to let customers know where they can see and buy the products.

From conceptualization, design, layout, adjustment after clinical testing to production, it takes Kang Castle an average of one year before a product can be marketed, which is not a small burden for micro-enterprises. Is it worth the cost of investing R&D time in order to serve the minority? “The number of people we have been able to serve is perhaps 1% of the disabled population, but we will continue to do so in the future. We will continue to do this in the future, because every 1% in the long-term care stage is the heaviest burden for the families of the cases, and that's 100% of the existing problems that need to be taken care of.” Guo Shiwei supports the team with strong ideas.

The road to long-term care is a long one, and Kang Castle wants to accompany the people on the road along the way.