Election Proof Your AEP Strategy
Navigating the Annual Enrollment Period (AEP) during an election season can be scary for Medicare marketers. As healthcare providers and insurers compete for mindshare and market share, beneficiaries often find themselves overwhelmed by uncertainty. The idea of exploring new coverage options can be intimidating, especially when combined with anxieties surrounding potential policy changes.
Medicare marketers are left asking these questions –
- What impact will political spending have on ad inventory and pricing?
- How do we get beneficiaries’ attention in a crowded marketplace overrun with election noise?
- How do we instill confidence amidst so much uncertainty?
In this blog, we’ll cover what to expect this election season as well as practical tips to help you make the most of your Medicare strategy.
Election Season Challenges
Navigating the advertising landscape during an election season presents unique challenges for marketers across platforms.
- Limited Inventory: Reuters reports that political ad spending is projected to hit a record $12.3 billion this year, with the majority allocated to linear TV platforms.1 Increased demand means limited availability for non-political advertisers during peak election periods.
- Surging Air-Time Costs: With increased demand and limited inventory, advertisers may experience higher-than-normal prices, particularly for prime-time coverage slots.
- More Expensive Clicks and Impressions: While much of the impact can be felt across TV, advertisers can also expect increased CPMs and CPCs across digital channels, including CTV, paid social, display and YouTube.That means advertisers may have to spend more to maintain their usual results during a non-election season.
- Delayed Mail Delivery: The influx of political mail may cause operational challenges, leading to congestion at USPS sorting centers and potentially delaying mail delivery, as seen in previous years.
- Ad Fatigue: As discussed in our blog “The Power of Hypersegmentation & Personalization,” the average person is exposed to around 5,000 ads daily. This number significantly increases during election seasons. The influx of political ads can exacerbate ad fatigue, diminishing the impact of non-political messaging as audiences become desensitized.
Adapting Your Marketing Strategy
In order to navigate these political challenges, it’s critical to level-up your AEP marketing strategy. Consider these tips:
- Expand Your CTV Presence: TV remains one of the most influential marketing channels when it comes to motivating beneficiaries to shop their plan options. With broadcast inventory surging in price, consider supplementing your strategy with CTV, which is typically a more cost-effective solution.
- Test Direct Mail Formats: Given the influx of political mail, it’s crucial to test different mail packages to understand which will yield the strongest response.
- Optimize Mail Drops: Expect delays and plan accordingly. Drop your earlier mail in waves and track timing to delivery. Pay close attention to those living in more rural areas where timing to delivery may be longer. Monitor and adjust future drops based on delivery times.
- Increased Digital Spending: Anticipate that political competition will drive up digital inventory costs. To maintain or improve your year-over-year cost-per-lead, consider increasing your digital budget.
- Use Exclusions Lists: Specify web addresses where you prefer your ads do not appear, especially on controversial or politically-sensitive websites.
Plan Ahead and Prepare
Navigating AEP during an election season demands foresight and planning. It is important to understand these political pitfalls and create targeted adjustments to your AEP plan. With proactive thinking and a little ingenuity, Medicare marketers can maximize your response in spite of the political noise. If you’re concerned your plan isn’t quite election-proof, contact us today for a strategy consultation.
1 Reuters. (n.d.). US political ad spending to soar in 2024 with TV media the biggest winner – report | reuters.
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-political-ad-spending-soar-2024-with-tv-media-biggest-winner-report-2024-01-11/
