Advertising has become vital, especially in today’s scenario where brands fight for user attention with their competitors.
In such situations, even a dynamic industry like healthcare is not left behind.
The reason is- Healthcare advertising comes out as a slightly different genre where marketers rely heavily on testimonials and brand loyalty to promote a healthcare provider’s products or services.
From deploying paid advertising tactics to generate leads to educating patients through conceptual videos, the healthcare industry has come a long way.
Below, I’ve briefly discussed the meaning of advertising in healthcare, its future, preferred advertising types, video examples, etc.
What is Healthcare Advertising?
Healthcare Advertising – a part of healthcare marketing is a medium involving paid use of media to promote a health, medical, or pharmaceutical brand’s products to the desired users.
As per research, the US healthcare advertising market is projected to grow to $29.2 billion by 2028, witnessing a surge of almost 31.53% from 2022.
Big spikes, especially as they highlight the scope with which the industry is set to grow.
Generally, marketers deploy various media formats such as flyers, healthcare videos, influencer marketing, awareness-driven public workshops, seminars, email marketing campaigns, etc., to get their message across.
So the key agenda of healthcare advertisement is to attract the attention of prospective patients, instill trust, and encourage them to visit your website or platform.
Check out the various types and explore the benefits below:
4 Types of Healthcare Advertising
Depending on the desired objectives to be achieved, healthcare marketers adopt one or at times, multiple advertising formats to communicate their offerings.
Now this can be purely traditional or digital, or even a synchronized combination of both mediums for better brand awareness and visibility.
Here are the most common healthcare advertising types [mix of organic and paid] that you can leverage while planning your next marketing campaign:
1. Website
They serve as the initial entry point for visitors exploring healthcare options digitally.
Therefore, I believe that despite the product or service offering, healthcare, and medical organizations must maintain a steady and crisp website for better communication.
Doing so will allow visitors to navigate their requirements and instantly contact the authorities, thus generating quick leads.
Here’s how the Cairns Hospital’s website provides everything a visitor might be looking for, right from services offered to appointment scheduling:
2. Video Marketing
Video marketing is one of the most effective advertising techniques used by notable healthcare brands globally and is trusted by over 77% of marketers.
The biggest reason behind their widespread usage is the diversity these videos offer to healthcare brands and even pharmaceutical companies.
Here are 3 instances through which video marketing can be made possible:
- Brands can integrate corporate or service explainer videos on their website’s header or on any homepage section to demonstrate their offerings.
- Using quick animated ads, many healthcare startups advertise their special packages on their owned media platforms such as Instagram, YouTube, etc.
- Many medical brands prefer using videos to train their employees and also address customer grievances effectively.
Here’s how MetricAid is promoting its advanced scheduling software through an animated healthcare video:
3. Email Marketing
Email marketing in healthcare is an underrated advertising technique that not many marketers currently leverage.
This involves promoting your branded content and encouraging existing and potential customers to submit their details for future correspondence.
Once done, personalized emails & vmails consisting of promotional packages can be rolled out to customers to increase conversions and enable word-of-mouth publicity.
Plus, marketers can also leverage emails to enhance their patient’s user experience by automating appointment scheduling, conducting digital webinars, running surveys, etc.
4. Social Media Marketing
Super convenient and easily reachable to target audiences, social media is the most used healthcare advertising type preferred by marketers.
Apart from organically promoting and educating audiences with informative content just like how Mayo’s Clinic does, brands can also run awareness campaigns.
The reason is – Such campaigns can help grab the attention and instantly raise awareness around untouched topics, especially those which people avoid discussing at length.
3 Benefits of Advertising in Healthcare
1. Promotion of Preventive Care
Through healthcare advertising, brands can emphasize the importance of preventive care and encourage their target audience to undergo screenings, checkups, etc.
This will help them boost their brand’s awareness and reach a wider audience which can be further nurtured into becoming paying customers.
2. Reduced Stigma and Myths
From an educational perspective, healthcare marketing can be a sure-shot way of promoting understanding, acceptance, and support for individuals.
As a result, this can help healthcare professionals initiate patient-centric communication, normalize frequent health discussions, and promote patient well-being.
For the same, brands can choose educational videos to educate their customers and raise awareness/bust myths around common healthcare myths.
3. Enhanced Brand Awareness
Well, this is the biggest healthcare marketing benefit to brands advertising their products or services.
In a crowded market like today, marketers must constantly showcase their offerings to create brand recall and stay on the top of their target audience’s minds.
Thus, it allows greater exposure and leads to increased inquiries that can be nurtured and entertained to transform them into paying customers.
Check out a few of the best medical advertising examples that you can refer to while creating your next video:
4 Best Healthcare Advertising Examples
1. Health Equity Animated
If you’re skeptical about how integrating visual storytelling in a healthcare advertising campaign is possible, check out this awareness video by the Center for Prevention MN.
Through a strong story, crisp background setup, and explainer characters, the video sheds light on an important issue, i.e., how an individual’s race impacts their health-related treatment.
The protagonist who acts as the patient remains hopeful and soon expects a state of normalcy with which she will be treated just like her White fellows.
2. Engaging Healthcare Teams
This character-based animated infographic video by the Veteran Health Administration talks about how training your internal teams to deal better with health-based inequities is important.
Produced to train employees on how they can eliminate ethnicity barriers and adopt inclusive measures to provide a balanced sense to marginalized patients, this video serves as a perfect training module for front-line workers.
Blended with quick hospital scenes, characters, and timely infographics, it stands out as excellent training material and replaces lengthy instructional manuals.
3. Oscar Product Demo
Many healthcare brands have chosen the video marketing path to demonstrate their product’s functionality and increase brand awareness.
This quick video produced in a product demo style showcases how Oscar Health’s patients can locate nearby doctors and order medicines from a local pharmacy using their streamlined application.
Accompanied by a guiding voiceover, the video serves as a digital salesman and an excellent example of healthcare marketing.
4. Medtronic India
This brand journey video dominated by crisp icons and quick data of Medtronic India stands out from average healthcare videos.
It’s not a typical educational video – generally what most look like. Rather, it portrays the story behind how the world’s largest medical technology company was built and the vision with which the company abides.
Medtronic’s video fits perfectly as an excellent reference to healthcare or medical technology brands planning to get a similar animated healthcare video created.
Conclusion
Healthcare marketing is an interesting and evolving space – thanks to technological advancements and an increase in how healthcare marketers are switching to advertising full-fledged.
Now this comes out as an exciting opportunity for the new-age brands that are leveraging technology to create innovative products and provide speedy treatment.
Brands such as Pfizer, Zus Healthcare, Siemens Healthineers, Abbott, etc., are already using healthcare advertising mediums to reach their audiences and improve sales.
If you’re a health-tech brand planning to use storytelling-driven videos, contact our video marketing expert today by filling out the form below.
