The Importance of Diversity in Digital Advertising for Healthcare

Medicine is a big business in the United States. Healthcare organizations have to compete for customers like any other for-profit company, using smart marketing strategies. This is especially true in areas with lots of choices.

Doctors and hospitals don’t have to worry as much about advertising when they’re the only game in town. In a big city, however, there might be lots of options, especially when it comes to elective procedures.

One topic that rarely comes up in medical marketing is the importance of diversity. The United States has an extremely diverse population, yet many healthcare marketing professionals use only a narrow range of models in their advertising and target their messaging toward white patients.

Here’s why diversity in digital advertising is so important for healthcare.

Representing the Diverse Patient Experience

The United States is getting more and more diverse all the time. By featuring people who are mostly white, able-bodied, thin, and gender-conforming, healthcare marketing isn’t reflecting the experiences of a huge number of Americans.

Diversity in marketing provides important representation for people who are normal Americans, yet rarely see people like themselves and their stories featured in advertising. Increasing diversity in healthcare marketing helps people feel seen.

Making Healthcare Facilities More Welcoming

Another reason to increase diversity in digital healthcare advertising is to make facilities more welcoming for historically marginalized groups, such as people of color, LGBTQIA+, and people living with disabilities. Healthcare is something that everyone needs, but it’s much harder for some groups to access.

By increasing diversity in advertising and changing their messaging to be more welcoming, healthcare organizations can show that they respect patients from all kinds of backgrounds and believe in quality care for all.

Helping to Promote Equity and Reduce Health Disparities

Health disparities are a huge problem in the United States. The definition of a health disparity is a preventable difference in the health of a group of people. Some groups face higher rates of issues like chronic disease, obesity, and premature death due to preventable forces that haven’t been addressed.

Many groups of people have been ignored, harmed, or dismissed by the medical community, which has caused a lack of trust in medical providers and healthcare organizations. Although achieving health equity will not be a simple process, advertising will play an important role. By prioritizing diversity and health equity when creating their advertising campaigns, health organizations can start to build trust in the healthcare system for underserved populations.

Increasing Revenue for Businesses in Healthcare

In addition to its role in tackling healthcare inequality, diversity in advertising is simply good business. 61% of Americans think that diversity in advertising is important and they’re willing to support organizations that can get it right. Prioritizing diversity is an investment that pays off with increased revenue.

How Healthcare Organizations Can Increase Diversity in Digital Advertising

When it comes to diversity in digital advertising, it’s easy to misstep. Creating thoughtful campaigns that send the right message is challenging, but extremely worthwhile. Companies that have been successful in this goal know how important it is to truly tell the stories of a wide range of people, rather than just using diverse people as “tokens” for a pat on the back.

Healthcare organizations can learn from these kinds of campaigns and make changes that will increase diversity in their advertising and marketing. Some of these changes might include:

• Assessing current deficiencies and opportunities for the purpose of creating a new advertising plan.
• Hiring diverse marketing and advertising team members to bring in new perspectives.
• Educating employees on topics like implicit bias and cultural competency to increase awareness and understanding.
• Using images and stories of a diverse range of people.
• Changing standard terms in the organization’s style guide to use more inclusive language.

Improving diversity in advertising should be an ongoing project. Over time, marketing teams will adjust and start to naturally build campaigns with greater diversity in mind.

Change can be difficult, but adding diversity to an organization’s advertising plan doesn’t have to be expensive. Simply making a few changes to protocols and procedures can make a big difference.

The Future of Diversity in Advertising

Although most stock photos and other assets currently used in healthcare modeling depict white people who conform to society’s expectations of a “typical American,” the population of the United States is much more vibrant and varied than this narrow view. In fact, with national diversity quickly increasing, this stereotypical American will soon be in the minority. Healthcare organizations that fail to recognize this and update their approach to marketing will ultimately lose business to their more progressive competitors.

Critical thinking about the messaging of advertising is and will continue to be important. We all need representation, especially in a field as universal as healthcare. Everyone deserves dignity, respect, and excellent healthcare when they need it—and reaching that goal will involve building diversity in digital advertising across the industry.