Effectively Reach Medicare Advantage or Supplemental Health Insurance Buyers Through Newspaper Inserts

By Brian Hitchings
Senior Director of Multimedia Sales

Adults 65 and older have the opportunity each year to select a Medicare Advantage or supplemental health insurance provider. The annual enrollment period, or AEP, begins in the fourth quarter and runs Oct. 1 to mid-December.

The advertising cycle typically starts a few weeks earlier, but in the past few years, we at MANSI Media have seen the marketing efforts begin as much as six months or more ahead of this period.

Insurance providers utilize various forms of advertising to reach this target audience. One of the most popular is free-standing inserts, or FSIs, which are also called circulars or preprints. These products are inserted into print newspapers across the country. Newspapers attract a reading audience of all ages but do particularly well reaching the 65-plus age group.

Inserts are typically 8.5×11-inch, two-sided, glossy, full-color pieces that are printed on 70-pound paper stock or higher but can be any size depending on the needs of the advertiser. This large amount of space allows for extensive messaging, eye-catching images, and the utilization of a larger font size that is easier to read.   Adding a perforated business reply card to an insert allows readers to connect directly with the client, which in turn allows your client to track responses via print.

Historically, inserts have been used to promote educational seminars to learn about Medicare and how to choose an insurance provider. With the onset of COVID-19, the call to action was changed to dialing a toll-free phone number, or visiting a website, to learn more. This continues today.

Relatively inexpensive to print and deliver, circulars have staying power because they can be easily removed from the newspaper and retained for future reference.

We have also helped insurance providers reach 60-plus audience through run-of-newspaper ads, high-impact units such as front-page Post-it ads, front-page strip ads and front-section spadeas. Please let us know how we can assist you and your clients reach their target audience through newspaper products.