Before social media and online platforms took off, medical and healthcare advertising were more straightforward in their approach, although less effective than today’s advertising. Billboards, magazine ads, TV campaigns and direct mail were the usual tools of an advertiser.

Today, advertising requires a largely digital approach. Google Ads and paid search often have an ROI of $2 for every $1 spent, while social ads give practices the chance to reach those on Facebook or other platforms. With a record number of users on smartphones and connected via the internet, digital advertising isn’t a convenience, it’s necessary. The healthcare advertising rules have changed, and you need to follow them to stay afloat.

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It’s not uncommon for potential patients to take their searches to Google before contacting a doctor. In fact, one in 20 searches on Google are healthcare related. Digital advertising gives practices the opportunity to capture this audience using a number of tools at their disposal.

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Paid search or Google Ads (formerly AdWords)

A paid search campaign, usually handled using Google Ads, is one of the most popular forms of digital advertising. In a paid search campaign, a company or practice can bid on select keywords they would like to capture. They then set a budget, which will last varying amounts of time as the cost-per-click shifts. Although there are some restrictions on the medical and healthcare industries, Google ads can still be very effective.

Targeting the right terms gives practices the opportunity to capture audiences searching for those terms. In this case, a dental practice could bid on words pertaining to various conditions. Using advanced targeting, Google ads would be shown to those searching, increasing your chances of that person seeing your ad and discovering your practice.

Google ads can also take advantage of retargeting, allowing various versions of an ad to be shown to a specific user as they frequent different websites. This can result in your ads targeting users at different stages of the funnel, and increase the chances of them clicking.

It’s important to keep in mind that, for privacy reasons, Google does have restrictions pertaining to remarketing certain medical products and services.

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Paid Social Ads

Similar to paid search, paid social ads are targeted ads that run for a specific period on different social media platforms. Social ads have several strengths that differentiate them from search ads:

• They allow you to target your audience in a more passive way
• They offer network-based targeting that goes beyond traditional targeting
• They’re often more affordable than paid search ads
• Their click-through rate is much higher than normal display ads
• Social ads are generally easier to use than paid search campaigns

With nearly 1.5 billion people on Facebook every day, social ads are a great way to ensure your ads are getting in front of people on the go. Not only this, social ads can be great for testing different demographics, as they’re more affordable than PPC in many cases.

Keep up-to-date with Facebook’s ad guidelines and restrictions here.

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Attract more patients online

Before the digital revolution reached advertising, ads were very much a “fire and forget” approach. With digital advertising, analytics are readily available, allowing you to hone your targeting and reach the right audience. This is only scratching the surface of digital advertising’s many strengths.

• Social ads can go viral: Unlike a billboard or magazine clipping, a digital ad has the potential to go viral and be shared across social media, giving you free exposure.
• Insights and analytics: Tracking analytics on physical ads is incredibly difficult, while digital ads have numerous analytics and reporting features built in.
• Advanced targeting: Rather than doing extensive research through costly test groups, you can easily experiment with targeting using digital ads. Not only this, retargeting lets you make up for missed opportunities by showing various versions of an ad across numerous sites.
• They’re adaptable: If you realize an ad isn’t performing well enough or if the market quickly shifts, digital advertising is far easier and faster to change to meet the demands of your audience. It’s also easier to completely halt an ad if it’s not performing or resonating.

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