Total Access Urgent Care in Missouri promises to provide “fast, friendly, affordable care.” It’s a catchy enough phrase, but what’s most arresting about it is that potential patients aren’t hearing it in a traditional TV or radio ad, or reading it in a brochure; they’re absorbing it in a brief, 15-second clip that precedes a local sports story they clicked on while visiting the St. Louis Fox Television affiliate’s website. Total Access, which bills itself as “the solution to the ER,” sponsors Fox 2 Now’s Athlete of the Week reports, which highlight the accomplishments of students who excel in high school sports from season to season.
crolling through the station’s website, you’ll see a headline proclaiming the Total Access Urgent Care Athlete of the week; click on the link in the article and a video pop-up plays the 15-second ad described above, followed by a profile of the chosen athlete. Behind the sports anchor you see a colorful graphic that says Total Access Urgent Care Athlete of the Week.
The ad itself focuses exclusively—and briefly—on the key attributes of the urgent care center, voiced by a pair of Total Access physicians, while images of smiling staff doing their jobs on site fill the screen.
It’s a winning strategy because Total Access is piggybacking on a message that is inherently positive and local—support of student athletes—so it’s likely viewers will have a positive feeling about Total Access, and the Total Access name is repeated several times in several different ways (by the physicians in the ad, graphically on screen, and by the sportscaster presenting the piece). The last thing the viewer sees before the sports report starts is Total Access’s logo and web address.
Look for ways to reach prospective patients—especially families, where making a positive impression on one person will most likely result in the addition of multiple patients—that illustrate your business’s commitment to the community they live in. Partnering with other businesses that the community trusts (in this case, a local TV news department) will confer a certain degree of trust to your business, too.