How seasonality affects medical ads

As patients can attest, health issues often follow a seasonal cycle, with some ailments reappearing around the same time each year. Just as physicians prepare for an onslaught of allergy cases each spring, professionals in healthcare advertising must also structure campaigns according to seasonal trends.

Media planning and ad campaign creation can take months to fully work out, so ad firms often find themselves working ahead of an upcoming season. Although hay fever season doesn't typically start until May or June, advertisers of allergy relief medication need to buy their media well in advance.

The seasonality of medical advertising goes beyond ailments that are caused by weather changes, however. Here are a few ways medical advertisers can leverage a seasonal approach to their healthcare advertising strategy.

What kinds of events affect medical advertising?

In addition to seasonal allergies, there are a number of common ailments that appear cyclically throughout each year. Knowing this gives advertisers time to plan their campaigns, and it can give them a sales boost as well.

Med Ad News magazine reported that seasonality can positively influence point-of-contact advertising within a physician's office. It can also be a useful strategy when placing ads in peer-reviewed journals. The approach works with print ads as well as digital.

Here are a few examples of seasonal events and ailments that may impact advertising schedules:

• Seasonal allergies.
• Flu season.
• Breast cancer awareness month.
• Heart health month.
• Seasonal depression.
• Asthma.
• Arthritis/Joint pain.
• Skin cancer.

Even the frequency of doctor's visits changes with the seasons. Dental Economics reported that new dental patient visits tend to occur in late winter and early autumn. In other words, the school year affects when and how often younger patients see their physicians.

Advertising related to the above or similar conditions can benefit from placement within peer-reviewed medical journals because seasonality may also affect the topics of articles within these journals. In many cases, the media planner may obtain an editorial calendar for better planning. Outlining display ad campaigns around cyclical events ensures readers will already have some awareness of the related ailment.

Leveraging seasonality to the greatest benefit

Consider this: A doctor has spent all morning treating allergy cases. When he takes a midday break for lunch, he opens up a medical journal on his tablet and starts reading. Since he has allergies at top of mind, an advertisement for a new allergy treatment immediately catches his eye. At another time of the year, he may have passed over the ad without a second thought.

By knowing when to advertise in a peer-reviewed journal, media buyers can make the most of their investments. The strategy is more effective when used with a multi-channel approach.

"Seasonality may affect reader reception of an ad."

Utilizing print ads and digital ads simultaneously allows advertisers to reach a wider audience. Media buyers should pay close attention to what type of display advertisements they use, however. In a peer-reviewed journal, for example, media buyers have many print options, including cover wraps, inserts, outserts, bulletins and a run of book ads.

Trying each option during a seasonal campaign and then tracking the effectiveness of each asset is a great way to gather data to aid the planning of future campaigns.

These have been just a few ways advertisers can use seasonality to their own benefit. Medical advertisers may find many other advantages in looking at campaigns from a seasonal viewpoint. Even some medical device promoters may discover new ways to leverage seasonality.

When planning your next ad campaign, take the seasonal nature of ailments into account. Likewise, consider buying media in peer-reviewed journals, an optimal way to reach healthcare professionals across the country.