Small Budget, Big Clout: OB/GYN Group Enters the Advertising Fray with Narrow Targeting and Mixed Media Branding To Grow Their Business
Advertising Worth Noting
By Peter Hochstein
Peter Hochstein
You could argue that there’s nothing new about doctors running ads. In New York, one maverick dermatologist has been the star of his own earthy subway car posters for decades. They are busy horizontal spaces that simultaneously display his photograph and such things as rhyming headlines, before-and-after acne treatment comparisons, offers of easy payment plans, starburst graphics, and once even a sidebar that began, “Tired of that tattoo?”
But now, considerably more decorous advertising campaigns, designed to inspire trust while helping to enhance and grow group practice brands, may become a trend. You can thank economic forces that spawn the mergers of small medical groups into larger ones that can negotiate effectively with insurance companies. More and more of these groups may discover they really do need to advertise.
Such was the case in and around Phoenix, Arizona, where Arizona OBGYN Affiliates or AOA, now the largest OB/GYN practice in Arizona, consolidated from several smaller practices in 2007. AOA soon found its future growth and prosperity depended partly on effective branding.