Inside Story: Healthcare Radio Ads Have Robust 2015 Pulse.

INSIDERADIO

Monday November 23, 2015

 

 Healthcare advertising, radio’s No. 3 category for the first half of 2015, is providing mighty muscle to the industry’s bottom line, according to the Radio Advertising Bureau. Tucked in right behind Automotive and Professional Services, healthcare spot radio spending was up 4% in FH 2015 over the same period in 2014. Even better, the sector offers opportunities for stations on both the national and local spending fronts. The healthcare category houses a wide swath of advertisers, featuring the likes of health insurance providers, Medicare and Medicaid services, medical facilities and hospitals, Lasik surgery providers, cancer treatment centers, plastic surgeons and those ubiquitous clinics providing assistance for men with Low-T. But in the RAB’s 2014 Finding Consumer Trends report, the largest slice of radio healthcare spending came from hospitals and clinics, accounting for 18% of the category. And well demonstrating healthcare’s growth, national optic treatment center LasikPlus, for example, increased its radio activity 65% in FH 2015, vs. 2014, while NuMale Medical Center provided radio with a 185% boost over the same six months in 2014. "If you have the right campaign and the right buy, radio can be particularly productive for healthcare businesses to break through the clutter," says Lonnie Hirsch, founder & CEO of Hirsch Healthcare Consulting, which assists providers with media ad buyers. "Radio is generally more affordable than television, offering more repetition and more bang for the buck."

 

Healthcare Ads Are a Boon for Local. Stations are likely to air ads for the major healthcare advertisers such as Pfizer, UnitedHealthcare and Bayer. But the backbone of the sector also includes the likes of Smith Vein Center, Jones Lasik Care or Brown Weight Loss Clinic. "Healthcare has been part of our advertising DNA for a good long time, with a preponderance of local," says Drew Horowitz, president & chief operating officer of Hubbard Radio, who oversees the group’s operations in Chicago, Washington, DC, Seattle, Phoenix, Minneapolis-St. Paul, St. Louis and Cincinnati. He sees consistent spot buys in those markets from such clients as vein clinics, Lasik centers, plastic surgeons, health clubs and weight loss clinics. "Many of the buys come directly from the owners and operators of clinics or facilities who have had enough success to open multiple locations within the market," he tells Inside Radio. Agreed, says Lonnie Hirsch, founder & CEO of Hirsch Healthcare Consulting. "Unless you have a huge enterprise all over the country, most healthcare marketing and advertising is going to be local—which is an advantage for terrestrial radio and a big targeting opportunity for stations. For the buyers who have multiple locations in the same market, radio is their primary means to reach a targeted audience." Hubbard’s Horowitz notes that there is also a seasonal bent to healthcare advertising. "Lasik is pretty much year-round, but in the spring and summer, when people are out in shorts and more revealing clothing, there is a definite emphasis from many of these advertisers." Hirsch concurs: "Spring is a pretty good time for a lot of the healthcare businesses, particularly those promoting aesthetics, plastic surgery, weight loss and skin treatments."

The Value of Using Stories To Sell Health. In the Radio Advertising Bureau’s Finding Consumer Trends report, consumers were asked which type of advertising most influenced their healthcare choices. The answer from its 2014 survey: 77% of respondents said radio, and some clients are happy to acknowledge how and why they think it works so well. Tried-and-true broadcast radio advertiser Sutter Health operates a healthcare network in 100 Northern California municipalities with some 50,000 employees. Chief marketing & branding officer Arra Yerganian tells Inside Radio, “I’m a big believer in any medium that allows us to tell our story in an unadulterated way, and I believe radio offers that. We have thousands of stories to tell every day about people whose lives we change. We’re a mission-based organization, so the opportunity to tell that contextually makes us that much more interesting and relevant to the audience we serve.” Sutter utilizes a mix of advertising mediums that also now includes digital. “The days of old where it was television, radio, billboards and print are gone,” he says. “The opportunity to connect one to one is absolutely apparent, so why shouldn’t we know as much about our patients and the people we serve as Amazon does?” But the message still begins with radio. “That’s where we define awareness and familiarity, and then follow it up with the big punctuation of digital engagement and the direct response world.”