Radio offers affordable avenues to potential patients.
A small but growing number of physician groups are turning to radio advertising to promote their practices, build reputation and find new patients. Commercials, program sponsorships and other types of radio promotions often are more affordable than television advertising. The repetition of radio commercials can leave a stronger impression on consumers than newspaper or other printed advertising.
"We found radio ads reasonably effective because the drive-time news and sports talk shows on which we advertised pretty much hit the audience we wanted: insured people on their way to work," says Jay Pearce, executive director, Jewett Orthopaedic Clinic, Orlando, Fla.
Pearce says the practice spends about $32,000 annually on radio advertisements and related promotions, a small fraction of the group's $400,000 annual marketing program.
Jewett Orthopaedics 22 full-time quivalent physicians resisted radio promotions at first, Pearce says.
"The physicians went through an evolution," he says. "They realized it was more about describing services and establishing a brand than the 'feel sick, call quick' type of ads."
The group - the official team physicians to the National Basketball Association's Orlando Magic and several other professional and collegiate teams in the area - found radio advertising a good fit with its marketing goals, says Andrea Eliscu, president, Medical Marketing Inc., Orlando, Fla.
Weigh costs, strategies when seeking radio time.
Eliscu says that only one in eight of her marketing firm's medical practice and hospital clients opt for radio advertising. Radio time is more affordable in smaller markets, but buyers can find deals even in large metropolitan areas.
"Effective radio advertising builds name, product or service recognition by repetition," Eliscu says. "If you don't have enough money in the budget to build that frequencey, maybe radio isn't your thing."
Purchasing broadcast time is a trade-off: Either run a greater number of ads over a shorter period of time, or air fewer ads over a longer period of time. A knkowledgeable salesperson should explain the advertising packages that best meet your practice's marketing goals, says Jeanne Griswold, an account manager at WDBO-AM, Orlando, Fla.
Griswold warns against shopping for radio time purely on price.
"Look for the station with demographics that best match your practice's patient profile," she says. "Radio stations' demographics are detailed enough to tell you not only the age and gender of who's listening at any given time, but also their income, their education and even if they have insurance."
Obstetrical practices can find local radio stations that target women between the ages of 25 and 44, for example. Urology practices can reach male listeners in their 50s by advertising on talk shows, especially during morning and evening drive times. Griswold says that orthopedic practices in many markets can find stations that play music for listeners older than 50 or reach younger "weekend warriors" by advertising on sports-talk radio shows.
Negotiate for good rates.
Medical practices and hospitals remain rare but desirable clients for most radio stations. "They really, really want you and will work hard to get your business and keep it," Eliscu says.
"Even if you take a break from advertising, they want to make sure that you come back to them instead of to another station that competes for their audience. That gives you more power in negotiating a price," she says.
Although the return on investment for broadcast advertising is not always obvious, Pearce says his group's physicians believer their investment was justified to help build name recognition in a competitive market for orthopedic services.
"Physicians at Jewett feel that radio is a much better bargain than television because you can run so many more spots, reach more specific audiences and because most radio stations don't charge you to produce the ads," Pearce says.
By Robert Redling, MS
