Healthcare’s newest content marketing approach
- Posted by Nigel Edelshain
- On December 1, 2015
- Print magazines

As marketing becomes more and more digital, a familiar print media type has been making a comeback. Major brands from Airbnb to Uber use print magazines filled with branded content to raise brand awareness, connect with customers and employees and build communities.
There are a number of reasons why companies that do most or all of their business online rely on print as a crucial marketing tool—and why print can be just as effective for your hospital or health system.
1. It’s hard to find good content online
There’s no shortage of content online, but a lot of it is “good enough” content, not good content. Even authoritative medical articles can falter if they’re not optimized for the web, and many consumers are hesitant to hand over their email addresses to read premium content because they already have too many messages in their inbox. You need to create top notch content online—then you need to sell your readers on it.
Print is a different story. It’s still seen as more trustworthy than digital content, so people are more likely to pick it up and read it. They don’t have to choose which article looks most credible on a search results page, and there are no forms restricting certain content.
2. Readers are more engaged with print
Getting the average person to stay on your website for more than a minute or two is close to impossible. But a high-quality print magazine? Association of Magazine Media research shows that the average consumer spends nearly forty minutes reading each issue.
More magazine readers say the content they read connects with them, provides them with valuable information and inspires them to share what they learned or take another action. Add in the fact that readers pass magazines on to their friends and family members—as many as 3.5 readers per copy—and the potential reach of a print magazine is several times its total circulation.
3. Digital activity makes it easier to target print pieces
Ad targeting in search results and on social media allows you to leverage all the data you have about your target readers in order to reach them, but you can use that same information to make your print mailing list better, too. It’s easier than ever to learn exactly who’s reading your magazine, allowing you to publish the best possible content and keeping readers engaged and looking forward to reading each issue.
4. Print is a less competitive space
The thing that makes getting found online so hard is that everyone’s trying to get found for the same keywords. A high Google ranking or a tweet that goes viral can disappear just as suddenly as they appeared when an algorithm changes or when something else comes along.
When it comes to print, though, a high-quality title can really stand out. A well-written, well-designed print magazine can corner the market, expanding your hospital’s influence and enhancing its brand, simply because no one else is doing it.
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