BY Kathy Crosett
How much do health care services spend on local advertising in the U.S? BIA Advisory Services reports that spending levels are now at $12.2B. Some sectors are growing their spending faster than others. Our State of Media Sales Survey reveals that over 11% of media sales managers are very optimistic for health care advertising revenue this year.
How are health care services marketers allocating media budgets?
The largest budget allocation goes to direct mail. But TV and newspapers, including over-the-air (OTA) and digital, account for a good portion of spending.
Health care services marketing is continuing the general shift to digital. Total digital allocations account for about 42% of total spend this year.
Which health care services sectors spend the most on local TV advertising?
BIA points to pharma companies, medical offices such as physicians and dentists, and hospitals as three of the biggest spenders in the local market.
Hospitals, in particular, are allocating a significant portion of their TV ad spending to CTV/OTT.
What are the digital trends for health care advertising?
Across the U.S., BIA estimates that dentists, along with physicians and chiropractors, spend close to $600K on paid search advertising. For now, this group of medical professionals spends about 43% of their total advertising on digital.
But that could be changing. As consumers change how they search and turn to popular AI platforms, your health care services accounts should plan ahead. You can see how your accounts fare when consumers search through an AI platform. Check out the AI Search Visibility tool in AdMall. There, you’ll find a list of likely queries posted by online searchers. And you’ll find recommendations on how to help accounts have better visibility in an AI-based search.
When should health care accounts advertise?
To reach patients who are suffering from seasonal flu and viruses, substantial health care advertising should take place between December and March. Service providers can also promote vaccines available during this time.
Audience targeting
When targeting audiences, media sellers should access the health care needs data available in AdMall. With this information, sellers can help marketers find zip codes in the local market with children who have specific medical conditions such as asthma. This condition makes children more susceptible to winter viruses. Parents of these children make a great audience for vaccine promotions.
Other seasonal promotions
In the late summer and early fall, remind your health care services accounts to advertise to families with school-age children. At this time of year, the need for sports and other physicals drives appointments. And with AdMall’s demographic data, you can show your accounts where families with kids live, down to the zip code level.
Providing this information ensures that your accounts target their audiences with minimal waste on ad spending.
Audience targeting beyond seasons
Prospective patients respond to health care advertising when they need a specific service. Whether they’re seeking a cardiologist or an orthopedic specialist, patients use similar criteria for selecting a health care professional:
- Reviews/recommendations
- Insurance coverage
- Extended hours on weekends and evenings
- Convenient location
- Experience treating specific conditions
You can assist your health care accounts in developing content that answers common questions people ask about their service. Including this information on websites and in social posts increases the chance that it will be displayed in the AI overview following an online search.
When you combine the right pitch with data from AdMall, you can close health care services deals as this media sales rep did. And don’t forget that AudienceSCAN data reveals the percentage of consumers in the target audience who take action after seeing an ad in a specific format.
Health care advertising continues to grow. Use the best resources to help your accounts meet their goals.
Image by RDNE Stock project on Pexels.
