What does your ideal patient look like? I’d bet influence is an attribute you value highly.

Influential healthcare consumers have value beyond the potential to become patients. They’re those who make decisions for their families, or whose recommendations are trusted by their friends and loved ones. Their knowledge and experience make them a reliable source of information. The benefits of reaching them are multiplied because every one of them could mean multiple new patients for your hospital or health system.

But how do you reach these ideal consumers? Online targeting is powerful, but there’s no “influential” check box in Facebook’s ad manager or Google Adwords.

The answer is simpler than you may think: To reach super influential healthcare consumers, you need to invest in print.

Research by GfK MRI, published in the Associate of Magazine Media, compared the percentage of influential consumers among magazine readers to that of internet users, TV viewers, radio listeners, and newspaper readers. The results: Magazine readers featured the highest percentage, topping the internet even when you include digital magazines with the latter.

From Magazine Media Factbook 2015

Another graph shows the percentage of users of each media type who say they’ve recommended products or services in the last 12 months, and magazine readers come out on top again. (The lines are, as above, print magazines, the internet, TV, radio, and newspapers.)

From Magazine Media Factbook 2015

You can try to reach these influential consumers online, where you have to compete with other healthcare providers in your region as well as national leaders, or you can expand your print outreach and go after them with targeted media in a format they embrace.

Option 1: Print advertising

Print advertising has been moved to the back burner by many marketers, but it’s still highly effective at driving consumer action in healthcare.

Whether you want readers to make an appointment, talk to friends or family members, visit your website, call a toll-free number for more information, or even follow your blog or social media accounts, print ads put your brand in front of a large number of consumers in a favorable environment in which ads are accepted, not blocked.

Option 2: Custom print marketing

A custom magazine is the ultimate vehicle for your hospital’s advertising, surrounding it with content tailored for your audience. Custom magazines tell your stories, showcase your capabilities, and engage your readers—all while reaching 100 percent of your target list.

If you want to educate healthcare influencers about your brand and increase the chances of turning those they influence into patients, a custom magazine is your best bet.

Looking for more ways to put your hospital marketing in front of influential consumers? Download our free ebook, 13 Imperatives for Hospital Marketers from 13 Top Experts.