If your business is involved in the medical field, whether it be a hospital or a company that makes nutritional supplements, you may want to go with a health care ad agency instead of a generic one. Using health care advertising agencies can save you time and money since the employees will already have knowledge and expertise needed for your project.

However, not all medical advertising companies are the same. They, like you, have their specialties. As you decide which one is right for your business, ask yourself these questions:

1. Does the health care marketing firm have experience in my area of business?

2. Can the health care ad agency serve the audience I'm looking to target with my marketing?

3. Do other medical advertising companies offer better perceived results or return on investment (ROI)?

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Look for medical advertising agencies that cater to your field

There are tons of different advertising agencies for the health care field. If your business is in natural healing, you don't want an agency that focuses on, say, dentistry.

I recommend: Visit the American Association of Advertising Agencies' website and use its search function to compile a list of interactive health care ad agencies that you can use as a jumping off point. Then read Inc. Magazine's list of what to look for in an ad agency to help you narrow your list to a more manageable number of companies.

Consider the audience for your health care advertising

The next thing you need to think about is whether the health care marketing campaign you'd like to develop caters to consumers or medical professionals. That will help you decide if you need a business-to-business focused agency or one that targets the general public.

I recommend: Check out Mc | K Healthcare or OnMessageThrive if you're looking to market medical supplies to a consumer audience. Alternately, consider Healthcare Success Strategies if your plan focuses on marketing directly to doctors and nurses.

Ask each health care ad agency to provide you with a cost and ROI estimate

There's no point of spending money on health care advertising if it doesn't give you results. Before you hire an agency and spend your hard-earned cash, you want to know that the employees have a time-tested strategy for success.

I recommend: Do your homework before you talk to agency representatives so you know what to expect. Read up on ROI by visiting Mediaconnection. Don't rely on them to explain it to you, since some may skew the facts to make their company appear more favorable. Then go to Marketing Today's ROI calculator so you can tell each representative what kind of results you'd like to see without simply taking a wild guess.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Remember, you're not bound to one health care ad agency. You can work with two or more. It's recommended if you plan to focus on a variety of audiences or just want to score the best deal.

Advertising agencies aren't just for selling beer and dishwashing liquid. There are specialized healthcare advertising agencies and medical advertising agencies that deal specifically with promoting healthcare products and services.

Individuals with expertise in healthcare marketing usually have a strong working knowledge of the science behind the products they promote and the diseases or other disorders those products treat—so if you're looking to promote medical products, healthcare ad agencies are the way to go.

Some healthcare advertising agencies specialize their campaigns even further by promoting to doctors and other healthcare professionals, while other healthcare ad agencies sell directly to consumers. You can also consult a list of interactive healthcare ad agencies for Internet-specific healthcare advertising agencies.

When choosing a health care advertising agency, important things to consider are:

1. Other clients the healthcare advertising agency has represented.

2. Whether the healthcare ad agency specializes in patient or medical professional marketing.

3. The type of healthcare advertising you want the agency to create.

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Find healthcare advertising agencies whose work you admire

If you respect a particular health care advertising campaign, find out which medical advertising agencies were involved--and specifically which agency associates developed the health care advertising. You're most likely to be happy with the healthcare ad agency's work if you respect the people assigned to your campaign

I recommend: The Grey Group is a leader in the healthcare advertising industry. Digitas Health is also a highly respected healthcare ad agency.

Consider who you're marketing to when choosing a healthcare ad agency

Some health care advertising agencies specialize in direct to consumer marketing, while others are medical advertising companies who market to doctors and other medical experts.

I recommend: For a list of healthcare ad agencies, visit Healthcare Advertising Agencies. DTC Catalyst is a well-respected source of direct-to-consumer healthcare marketing.

Work with your health care advertising team to develop a marketing campaign

Depending on what products you want to promote and who you're marketing to, consider a print, TV, radio or Internet campaign, giving out samples, sponsoring medical continuing education, sponsoring medical research or a combination approach.

I recommend: Consider different strategies offered by healthcare ad agencies listed at SK&A Healthcare Information Solutions. Healthcare Success Strategies (HSS) specializes in doctor to patient marketing. Request a free assessment for your practice.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Consider hiring a small team of in-house healthcare advertising experts depending on your budget and how frequently you intend to launch marketing campaigns.

With the abundance of television and print ads highlighting the latest in medical or pharmaceutical advances, healthcare ad agencies are constantly having to find new ways to keep their customers' products on the front line. Along the same lines, customers are also keeping an eye on their medical advertising agencies to make sure that the services they are paying for are increasing their profits.

Whether you own or run a large or small pharmaceutical or medical supply company, to stay competitive in the ever-growing market, you will need to set aside money in the budget for healthcare advertising. If you are running a healthcare advertising agency, you need to keep up with your competition to make sure that your company is always a step ahead. In order to be up on the latest news and trends, consider doing the following:

1. Find a list of interactive healthcare ad agencies

2. Subscribe to healthcare marketing company publications

3. Participate in alerts by email from healthcare advertising agencies

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Get a sense of who the healthcare advertising players are

If you want to make sure that the choice of healthcare advertising agency you have is right for your product, or if you want to just see how many medical advertising companies there are, find a list of advertising agencies for the healthcare industry. Every sports team uses a roster to keep track of players, and the same advice should apply to you.

I recommend: Pharma Marketing Network provides a free list of healthcare advertising agencies, that includes websites for each. In addition, they also have a section on the website that highlights new medical marketing news. Health Care Advertising Agencies.com also has a free list of companies dedicated to healthcare advertising and marketing.

Keep current on healthcare marketing newsletters

The information you will need to stay competitive and current with your campaigns isn't found in encyclopedias or even in the daily digest. You need to have a specialized source of information that is directly relevant to healthcare and can provide the latest news and trends.

I recommend: HCPro publishes a monthly newsletter that highlights the latest in healthcare campaigns and advertising. For full content on healthcare marketing, subscribe to The Business Word newsletter.

Receive healthcare advertising email alerts in your inbox

If subscribing to a newsletter is not feasable due to budgetary restraints, you still need to keep on the information. Many healthcare advertising agences offer free email news alerts or smaller versions of newsletters for less money that provide some useful information.

I recommend: Medical Marketing & Media has a Consumer News Brief that is a companion to their website and also a White Paper that is free and highlights opinions from respected people in the healthcare marketing field. Healthcare Success Strategies has a free email newsletter that showcases the latest in private practice marketing.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Keep employees in the know. Make the information you acquire available to all interested parties and encourage them to seek out newsletters, message boards and other information themselves to help everyone stay current with healthcare advertising agencies news and trends.

Health care advertising is similar to advertising and marketing for consumer products. As health care has many offerings from many different providers, it helps to know the terminology when working with these specialized agencies. Learning the key terms associated with health care advertising will help you become a more informed business owner and knowledgeable buyer of marketing services for your health care organization.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Medical device marketing and promotion

Manufacturers of medical devices call upon health care advertising agencies to assist in the development of campaigns and materials to educate potential buyers about their offerings. Health care advertising agencies help these manufacturers reach their audiences and achieve their goals of getting their products to market.

I recommend: Dynamic Digital Advertising has a new division dedicated to marketing and promotion of medical devices.

Customer relationship management

Health care organizations use many tools to manage the process of keeping track of client history and how to plan future care based on past and current medical history. Advertising agencies in the industry assist in this process by managing the task with software solutions and processes tailored to the health care industry.

I recommend: Customer Potential Management marketing group provides its clients a database of information that streamlines business operations and assists the agency in preparing marketing campaigns.

Product marketing

One of the most important elements of health care advertising is product marketing. With the prevalence of medications available to cure most any ailment, agencies that specialize in health care marketing often create the image and message that help sell a particular health care organization's products to the public.

I recommend: Feinstein Kean Healthcare is one agency that assists health care organization in every phase of product marketing.

Direct to consumer advertising

U.S. health care organizations can and often do promote the latest prescription medication to consumers via television or print advertisements. Health care advertising agencies refer to this as direct to consumer advertising, and it is illegal in some countries.

I recommend: Glaxo Smith Kline provides a description of direct to consumer advertising in its annual report focused on ethical conduct in marketing.

Disease awareness ads

One of the many campaigns that health care advertising agencies develop for their clients are disease awareness ads. These advertisements typically include a description of an ailment and a brief promotion of a prescription medication that may help along with advice to speak with a doctor.

I recommend: Pharmalive features an article explaining how many health care advertising agencies have begun to do more disease awareness ads as opposed to direct to consumer advertising.

Custom referral generation assistance

Some health care advertising agencies not only help clients create campaigns that market their services, they also assist in the generation of doctor referrals. Developing referral relationships with various practices is essential to health care organizations' success. Partnering with an agency that can handle these matters may prove worthwhile.

I recommend: Healthcare Success Strategies details the benefits of its services as an agency that assists with the custom referral generation process.