Healthcare Advertising on Radio

Now that I work for a radio station I have been applying some time figuring out the feasibility of healthcare advertisements on Radio Stations.  In India the private FM radio stations are only allowed to play music and things like News, Sports, General Entertainment are not allowed. Most stations thus offer a mix of music interspersed with Jock Talk, audience bites, station sweepers, contest promos and of course advertising.    

Marketing of an Obesity Management Program

Obesity is fast becoming a global epidemic. While so far the disease has largely been limited to the developed world, it is now rapidly spreading its wings to countries like India, where increasing affluence and prosperity is driving huge lifestyle changes.

Obesity is a disease of the affluent. The link is easy to establish. The intake far exceeds the requirement. In Indians, latest research also indicates the presence of a gene, which converts excess food into fats and deposits it in the abdomen. Thus the normal paunchy Indian, (I dare say pretty much like me!) can blame his genes as well as his lifestyle for his ample girth.

Obesity has been recognised as the underlying cause of many a disease including diabetes, coronary heart disease, joint and spine related problems, and liver diseases. The fight against obesity is now becoming a huge challenge and is a great opportunity for healthcare services marketers.

Here is what they can do to win this battle.  

Should Doctors Advertise?

Advertising has traditionally been a strict no no amongst the medical fraternity. It has always been considered infra-dig. A doctor’s face peering down from a bill board or staring you in the face from the pages of your favourite magazine does make one feel a little uncomfortable. We have all been brought up to look on the medical profession as something noble and with a strong orientation towards service to humanity.

However in today’s times I am not sure this argument really holds. If a doctor chooses to advertise his skills and does it honestly without taking recourse to exaggeration and hyperbole, is there anything really wrong with it? If a doctor has unique skills and training, which helps him get better results, than isn’t advertising these, allow consumers of healthcare make better informed choices? Why do we have to look upon this particular doctor as ‘too commercial’?  

Hospital Advertising that Works

It is a myth to believe that hospitals do not need advertising.

Many a times I have come across the argument about hospitals wasting money on expensive advertising, which seldom works and puts off customers. In my earlier avtars as the Head of Marketing Communications in large hospitals I have been at loggerheads with my other colleagues, who have often voted against my advertising proposals. Here is why I believe they are wrong and advertising works in healthcare just as much as it does in any other service.

The caveat of course is that the hospital’s communication must be subtle, the message must be designed to ring a bell and should be done in a manner, which is consistent with the customer’s sensitivities. An over the top message, which is loud and persistant and tries to do too many things will certainly put off customers.

Advertising at the end of the day is a promise of service to a customer. This is true of all advertising and is just as much true for healthcare services advertising. There is no reason to believe that as a consumer of healthcare services I wouldn’t want to know what the hospital next door really stands for?   

The Marketing of a Hospital

Before I get into the business of writing about the Marketing of a Hospital in India I must establish my credentials.

I have been working in the arena of Marketing of Heathcare Services for the last 8 years or so. I have been involved with Apollo Health and Lifestyle Ltd., which is the franchisor of Apollo Clinics part of the Apollo Hospitals Group, headed the Marketing and later the Corporate and International Sales for Max Healthcare a large healthcare services company based in Delhi and for the last two years have been heading the Sales and Marketing function at Artemis Health Institute, a tertiary care hospital based in Gurgaon and promoted by the Apollo Tyres group.

When I started working for Apollo Hospitals as the Marketing Manager for The Apollo Clinics and later at Max Healthcare I was often asked the question as to what really a Marketing person did in a hospital. Marketing of hospitals was understood to be a big no no. If you had a good hospital infrastructure and some well known doctors working for you the conventional wisdom dictated that the patients will follow.