Advertising Amidst Adversity: Why Marketing Matters During Tough Times

The economic state of the United States has been up for debate since 2020. This past March the American Central Bank announced it does not predict a recession in 2024 or 2025 and other economists agree. With this said others like Forbes, Yahoo Finance and Business Insider still predict the possibility of a recession before the year’s end. Regardless, it is undeniable that FQHC’s and health clinics are in their own financial crisis. While the approval of a funding increase by the Senate passed in early March, it still seems so many organizations are running out of funding sources. During times of financial hardship, it feels like marketing is the first thing to get cut. However, history shows this is the most critical time to invest in patient outreach and education.

Case Studies

The 1990s recession is a perfect example of the importance of maintaining advertising during financial hardship. Fast food chains Taco Bell and Pizza Hut maintained marketing spend while McDonald’s cut ad spending.  As the economy stabilized again, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell both had substantial revenue increases. On the other hand, McDonald’s declined in revenue by 28%.

In the 1970s one key factor helped Toyota to overtake the Volkswagen and the Beetle in Market Share… Toyota resisted the urge to cut its advertising budget.  Similarly, Post and Kellogg’s were the first and leading cereal companies in the 1920s. During the Great Depression, Post cut its advertising spending while Kellogg’s doubled its ad spending. In the short term, Kellogg’s profits grew by 30% and today Kellogg’s is the industry leader and Post is below the top ten.

Healthcare Marketing

The same things are true in healthcare. Healthcare spending is so much greater than a click. Behind every click is a pain that won’t stop, a fever that isn’t breaking, a concerned mom, a thought that can’t be suppressed, a worried dad… Behind every click is a person calling for help. The stakes are high, so when times are hard it is all the more reason to be innovative, take charge of the conversation, and stay the course.

Be Innovative

Sustaining ad spend does not mean you cannot find other ways to spend smarter. Being innovative in your fund usage will allow you to build trust within your team and make your budget go further.

Hone in on campaign optimization. Making micro-adjustments to your keywords, bidding strategy and targeting tactics will help you to use your ad spend efficiently and effectively. Pay close attention and cycle your creatives when ad fatigue begins to occur. These small adjustments will go a long way in making the most of your budget.

Consider repurposing content and photos to minimize the expense of photoshoots and designing from scratch. Relying on user-generated content is cost-effective and helps your brand to maintain authenticity.

Additionally, suggest budgets to make funds go further. An advertising campaign does not need to be the marketing department’s full financial responsibility. Consider working with other departments and using a variety of grants and budgets to compose the marketing budget.

Take Charge of the Conversation

Take initiative within your organization to communicate your marketing goals and progress with your C-suite. Communicating the value of patient outreach and education is an important aspect of proving the correlation between marketing and patient counts.  Across over 850+ healthcare sites nationwide, we have seen this correlation time and time again.

Stay the Course

Buckle up and stay the course. Bruce Barton is considered one of the greatest American business leaders and once said, “When times are good, you should advertise. When times are bad, you must advertise.”  These times are undeniably intimidating, but history provides overwhelming evidence that marketing is most necessary during these times.  Setting SMART goals within your team will help you to measure your progress throughout this process.

 

At Target Continuum we are mission-driven and ready to come alongside health centers in these difficult times.

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