Jan. 15, 2010 at 4:13pm

Go ahead, spend your ad budget!

Posted by Shari Campbell in Advertising
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©iStockphoto.com/ayzek
 

As 2009 drew to a close, the phones were ringing and our email inboxes pinging. What was all the commotion about?

Advertising!

While many of our health care clients faced budget cuts in 2009 and 2010 looks flat or only slightly better than 2009, there are still a lot of questions out how much to spend on advertising this year.

Here are a few reasons I’d suggest you free up your purse strings:

Reason #1: The economy will get better. History has shown that businesses that continue to advertise and market products or services will weather the storm better and benefit from increased sales sooner than those that wait.

Reason #2: There are deals if you spend now. Whether you’re considering a simple ad campaign on the local newspaper’s Web site, a foray into Facebook ads or more traditional options such as outdoor and radio, the soft economy means you will get more for your dollars. As the economy improves and the fall political campaign season kicks into gear, you may find the cost of media spiking quickly.

And because fewer companies are spending money on advertising today, your ad is more likely to stand out.

Reason #3: It’s a good time to try non-traditional media. Forester Research’s Josh Bernoff blogged recently about how digital marketing and advertising is no longer experimental. The analytics are powerful. The ability to niche to the masses—or to the few—is amazing.

Dedicate a portion of your advertising budget to digital media. Take the time now to research which of these emerging options make sense for your hospital or health care organization. One option for experimentation may be to consider a niche service your organization offers — bariatrics and sports medicine are two that come to mind—and experiment with part of that ad budget.

There are many inexpensive options that may yield solid results.

Reason #4: Your customers’ behaviors are changing. Observing my daughter using social networking sites to get 20, 20-year-olds to a concert over winter break is proof that this is true. Watching a bunch of 70-year-olds Google and study online which flat screen television to buy is equally revealing.

Research about consumers’ online behaviors provides key insights. Forrester research reported in a 2009 study that consumers now spend nearly as much time online as they do watching TV. In August 2009, Razorfish surveyed 1,000 “connected” consumers and discovered:

• 97 percent had researched a brand online
• 75 percent had posted a product or brand review
• On average, these connected consumers had spent $150 online in the past 6 months
• Nearly all had visited a community site such as Facebook, Yelp or Linkedin

So as you consider advertising in 2010, think about how your target audiences are changing—and how your advertising may need to change, too.

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