Media planning has long been one of the most valuable – and the most challenging – parts of a healthcare marketer's job. A well-thought-out media plan can help healthcare brands reach new markets, ultimately increasing brand awareness, generating valuable leads, and driving product adoption.On the other hand, the wrong approach to media planning and buying can be a costly mistake to correct. Particularly in the healthcare sector, the competition for audience attention, online and in person, is only growing. Now, the average cost per lead across healthcare categories is $47.69, and the healthcare advertising market is expected to reach $39 billion by 2029.

Aligning Targeting Across Media Formats and Channels

One of the biggest mistakes healthcare marketers can make when media planning is implementing a disjointed targeting strategy. Today, providers and patients are inundated with marketing and advertising content all day, every day.To ensure advertising messages resonate, healthcare marketers need to deliver consistent messaging that addresses your audience’s biggest problems and desires, whether they’re healthcare providers, patients, or both. An integrated media plan – one that blends the power of traditional and digital advertising channels – can help healthcare and pharmaceutical target their advertising spend strategically.For example, while word-of-mouth is still important in the industry, healthcare audiences are increasingly turning to digital content to educate themselves on healthcare topics. Today, consumers and doctors are using social media to exchange or share healthcare-related information, and every minute, search engines are seeing 70,000 health-related searches.That’s a wealth of opportunity for healthcare and pharmaceutical brands to take advantage of. How well they do so all depends on how well they can plan and execute an integrated media strategy.

Selecting the Right Mix of Media Channels Isn’t Easy

No matter who your target personas are, they likely engage with content across a range of channels, so your advertising strategy needs to match that journey as well. A single campaign should deliver creative assets, paid ads, and that convey the same messaging across channels, giving patients, providers, or others a consistent brand experience.Today’s marketers have more options than ever – from traditional channels like print, direct mail, and broadcasting to digital channels like paid social, native advertising, email marketing, and pre-roll video ads. In particular, healthcare advertising has become even more reliant on channels like search engine marketing (SEM) and paid social.At OpenHuddle, we recommend that every media plan includes:

While all these components are valuable for any integrated media plan, it’s still important to tailor your strategy to your unique brand and business goals. To see how OpenHuddle can help you unlock the value of integrated media planning, contact us.

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