Sadie Phillips

Marketing is rarely low-hanging fruit. But out-of-home (OOH) advertising has a history of effortlessly grabbing attention. Think about the last time you were stuck in traffic. After finding the perfect song to put on, your eyes can’t help but look for a worthwhile distraction, usually in the form of the highway billboard.

While what makes an ad ‘worthy’ is debatable, you’ve got to appreciate that OOH advertising handled well could help drive traffic for healthcare brands. The Entrepreneur found OOH delivers four times more online activity per dollar spent than TV, radio, and print.  

Plus, the post-pandemic era is fanning a bigger appetite for the outdoors. In a recent study, 58% of Americans said they enjoy being outside, and experts believe there couldn’t be a better time for brands to engage in captivating OOH advertising. 

Does OOH Work for the Healthcare Industry?

You may argue that a clinic ad differs from a retail brand ad. While both sectors strive for brand awareness, healthcare practitioners stand more scrutiny for advertising their services. But recent healthcare OOH statistics from the Harris Poll prove OOH can help you achieve your healthcare marketing goals. Take a look:

• Overall, 58% of survey responders recently noticed healthcare OOH ads
• 78% of Gen Zers, 74% of millennials, 57% of Gen X, and 40% of boomers have noticed healthcare OOH ads.
• 76% of those who saw an OOH healthcare ad engaged in follow-up action.

These stats prove that OOH advertising is an excellent avenue to improve your patient outreach initiatives in these ways:

• Driving brand awareness. There’s a 58% chance that someone will know about your brand.
• Driving action and boosting traffic. 37% out of the 76% of people who took action looked for the brand online, 21% followed the brand on social, and 19% took a picture to share on social media.
• Driving visitation rates. A further 30% visited the brand in person, while 28% asked their doctor about the service or product they saw in the ad.

Out-of-home advertising has also evolved from paper to digital technologies, which have zero ability to be pushy and repulsive and are more captivating.

How to Hack OOH Advertising for Healthcare Brands

Here’s another top advantage OOH has over online advertising. There are tons of ads in the online arena competing for a single user’s attention, and the chances of it being noticed are limited if it isn’t highly visible, preferably at the top of a webpage or SERP results.

An OOH ad is ‘unblockable’. It catches the viewer’s attention without fighting for it. Here’s how to maximize their benefits:

• Be Creative

It’s not so simple, right? Healthcare marketing can be like walking a tightrope because you don’t want to send the message that you’re taking advantage of people’s health conditions.

Still, you can’t miss out on the unique advantage of OOH ads, and neither can you afford to have your message drowned out in the thousands of others. Creativity gives you a chance to stand out.

Suppose you’re advertising in California. In that case, adding nuances of Cali’s beaches, skyline, and palm trees can help you add the sights and sounds of the region into your ad. You’d do well to find an expert design company to help you strike a balance between advertising for health and being creative.

• Get the Placement Right

You need to place your ad in the right location to reach your target audience. To do this, you need to consider the nature of the market.

For example, a highway billboard might be ideal if your clinic is located in a motorist’s market. On the other hand, a clinic in a metro market such as Pershing Square in NYC would benefit from street-level messages easily seen by pedestrians, cyclists, and slow-moving cars.

Consider the cost of the space you choose as well. Areas such as Times Square demand more money and are harder to acquire than spaces in Manhattan.

• Identify What your Audiences Want

Play on your audience’s needs to create an ad that shows them you have the solution. The same Harris Poll study showed these reasons drive audiences to OOH healthcare ads:

• 37% are looking for local facilities.
• 36% are driven by the need to know how much you charge or are looking for a price cut.
• 30% need healthcare updates.
• 29% are seeking education on preventive measures.
• 20% are curious about new products.
• 18% are searching for insurance opportunities.
• 17% want to find online services.
• 17% are searching for a downloadable app.
• 16% are keen to find out about new healthcare brands, programs, or groups.
• 11% want information on business hours.

Of course, these needs are further divided into demographic types. For example, people from Gen Z and Millennials are more likely to look for apps to download.

• Study your Audiences Behaviors

Understanding your primary audience’s behavioral tendencies and travel patterns will help you reach more of them. Think of this factor as your way of laser targeting.

Find out about their daily journey to and from work, and remember to look into how those behaviors change by age. For instance, with fewer people commuting to work, and more spending their time in local neighborhoods, what would be more effective: an ad on the city’s subway, or on vehicles local to a specific suburb?

This information is a sure way to align audience parameters and behavioral tendencies with the market’s nature, enabling you to discover market hotspots.

• Look for the Perfect Timing

The demand for Turkey goes up during thanksgiving just like the demand for sunscreen increases when summer kicks in. It’s all about understanding the season and then finding out how you fit into your audience’s needs so you can sell healthcare brands as a problem solver.

If you offer allergy relief services, the transition between seasons is a prime time to tell your audiences about them.

Also, consider your audience’s stage in the purchase journey. An audience in the consideration phase requires a visibility-driven campaign –large images and catchy phrases. These messages are straightforward and don’t confuse the viewer with too many details.

On the flip side, an audience ready to spend their money –purchase stage –requires more specific, instructional messaging, including web address, coupon or discount information, and info on how to complete the purchase.

• Use CTAs

Lastly, include a call-to-action (CTA) to tell people what you’d like them to do. You can add a CTA in many ways:

• QR code that passersby can scan and access your website.
• Phone number to dial for consultations.
• Discount offers that promote in-person consultations.

Ensure the CTA is visible and attractive too.  The messaging could be great but also wasteful because the viewers don’t know what you want them to do. 

The Wrap-Up

The power of OOH advertising is undisputable, but it takes careful strategizing to leverage its capabilities so that it works for your brand.

That implies going beyond booking a space because the deal is attractive and retrofitting your messaging from competitors. Instead, find an expert with pricing that gives value for money, always centering the message on your target audience, the market, and your brand’s positioning.

Want to see your OOH ads reach farther than just where you place them? Wrapify can do just that. We’re an ad tech platform that wraps delivery vehicles in different OOH messages, helping brands be seen by far more people than possible with a stationary billboard. Schedule a demo.