A Prescription for Effective TV Advertising for Pharma & Health Marketers

The 2020 pandemic sparked heightened engagement between consumers and pharmaceutical companies, many of whom became household names during a global wave of health anxiety that fueled healthcare-related spending. As regulatory restrictions and other barriers loosened in response to increased demand, a swath of new products became available: Over-the-counter (OTC) categories like sleep-aids and wellness supplements took precedence; providers began offering services over Zoom; and digital marketplaces replaced in-person pharmacies, all as healthcare trends shifted to meet the needs of customers in a COVID-conscious environment.

With competition fierce, marketers can’t afford complacency. As an IQVIA consumer health study explained it: “Brands that want to maintain a connection to these consumers need to be strategic in how they present their products, and how they differentiate them to an online consumer. That includes using digital automation and machine learning to analyze shopper behavior and delivering targeted advertising and product recommendations based on past purchases, similar consumer trends, and online shopping behavior.”

Another key to success for the major healthcare players that are now thriving? Effective, targeted ad strategies. A study by data analytics company EDO found a distinct uptick in monthly TV ad impressions for OTC pharma advertisers: “From June 2021 on, monthly impression levels were anywhere between 9% and 24% higher as compared to the previous year.” And those that made a name for themselves during the pandemic are still reaping the rewards of that brand awareness year over year.

While pandemic disruptions have eased, demand for healthcare services and supplements is still driving massive industry-wide growth. With the right tools, marketers can capitalize on these high levels of interest and engagement with smart, data-driven TV campaigns across both linear and connected TV (CTV) that produce reach as well as generate real results.

Stay a Step Ahead With a Nimble Advertising Solution

As competition intensifies, healthcare marketers need to be more proactive, dynamic and flexible in their strategies. That requires an advertising partner that allows them to plan, buy, activate and traffic campaigns in a matter of days – or even hours – across the complex cross-channel ecosystem. When the market changes, or much-needed new pharmaceuticals are approved for over-the-counter sale, pharma brands can respond quickly with the assurance that they’ll be able to reach their target consumers no matter where they're watching or streaming. Depending on the brand's objectives, that may necessitate a partner that can enable bespoke scenarios, whether that means mixing audience-based targeting with high-impact content-based buys, or producing incremental reach to unduplicated audiences via CTV.

Target The Right Audiences With Laser-Like Precision

A rise of virtual OTC approvals, purchases and deliveries, virtual healthcare services, and a growing ecommerce pharma market means that consumers are more comfortable than ever interacting with health brands digitally. This is an opportunity for marketers to create campaigns that drive site traffic as their main performance measurement. With partners equipped with granular targeting technologies, it’s now possible for marketers to focus on a concentrated segment of people who have previously engaged with a brand’s content – and find lookalike audiences to these proven brand loyalists. The typical parameters for targeting may not be sufficient enough to deduce who needs which specific health information – but with a partner that can track proven interest and past behavior, pharma brands can build out similar audiences that are exponentially more cost-efficient and valuable for their ad budgets, as noted by Adweek.

Build Brand Loyalty With Effective Messaging And Strategy

Now more than ever, customer loyalty can be earned and retained. In this competitive healthcare climate, marketers can’t afford to alienate audiences by prioritizing TV advertising frequency over reach, hitting audiences over and over with the same creative. Overexposure to the same ad creative can often have an adverse effect and  reduces loyalty and turns customers away. The right ad platform or partner can help brands identify audience overlap – which is crucial considering that 60 million U.S. households regularly view both linear and streaming – and avoid wasteful, expensive duplication.This is extremely difficult to achieve without a holistic cross-channel plan and access to premium inventory across both linear and CTV.

A Healthy Prognosis

This is a boom period for the pharmaceutical industry. Services are in demand, audiences are engaged and competition abounds. Healthcare marketers can readily expect that consumers will engage and transact with their brands, leading to measurable returns on their ad investments – if activated properly.

Simulmedia’s unique cross-channel TV+® platform, for example, uses patented forecasting technology to guarantee marketers full audience reach, measurement and results across over 250 linear networks and CTV partnerships, which translates to access to 300 million viewers in the U.S. across 120 million households. No other solution can deliver such strong – or effective – medicine to pharmaceutical and healthcare advertisers.

Download our free Pharma & Healthcare Marketing: How Cross-Channel TV Delivers Strong Medicine playbook for a complete look at the state of the healthcare industry today, and to learn how you can maximize your cross-channel TV advertising campaign.

Want to learn more about cross-channel TV advertising? Contact us or email us at advertise@simulmedia.com to see how our unique TV+® platform for planning, buying, activation and measurement guarantees full audience reach across both linear and CTV.