Radio - TV’s Step Child: Unglamorous - yes, but it gets the job done.

It’s true, radio is often viewed as the step child of broadcast marketing. It takes a second seat next to TV. However it’s also true that radio gets results and is much cheaper to produce and air than TV. Radio commercials can substantially stretch a practitioner’s ad budget, and when produced right, put extra mileage in his message. We recommend a three point strategy to use radio; plan well, spend wisely, get results. And a three step creative process to insure success.

Step #1 - The script, service, and audience.
Focus on a specific service or procedure and take extra time to carefully write a positive script about it. For example a urologist may wish to promote services or surgery for incontinence. This otherwise hush-hush subject is best served with a script that targets a core audience of adult women.

Step #2 - Who talks to the audience - and how.
To record a radio commercial targeting women needing relief from incontinent problems it is intelligent - in fact a no-brainer - to hire a woman to be the voice behind the script. A female voice with the right sound and tone can add a measure comfort and credibility to the script’s content making it particularly meaningful to a female listener. In addition to quality of vocal presentation it is also very important to included ample address and phone information so a listener can easily reach the office. Remember radio spots are only one minute long - no a lot of time to cover a lot of ground.

Step #3 - Spend wisely on media.
Spending wisely means choosing the right station with the right programming and the right ad placement within that programming. To get premium placement and therefore better listener attention it’s advisable to purchase single sponsor spots instead of random run of station spots. Sponsored spots may include specific coverage such as the news, weather, education, medical commentary, etc. They cost more but do provide some exclusivity which can result in higher listener recall and therefore a better response to the ad message.

Image Building: It puts muscle in your marketing message.

It’s safe to say that almost all marketing, by design or accident, contains image building content. And since people see your ads before they see you they get an image of your practice from your marketing content along with your actual ad message. Having an image and message working in concert with each other will add power to your marketing efforts and move your practice in the direction you choose.

Examples:
Memorial Sloan Kettering
Ad message
“Cancer, where you are treated first makes a difference.”
Image content
Memorial Sloan Kettering is the best cancer treatment facility.

Impath Inc.
Ad message
“The right cancer diagnosis gets patients the right treatment.”
Image content
Impath Inc. is the best cancer diagnostic specialty lab.

NJ Spine Group
Ad message
“Life is a lot better without back and neck pain.”
Image content
NJ Spine relives orthopedic problems and pain to return patients to more normal lifestyle.

What people perceive is what they believe. How you present your practice, the image you create, is therefore just as important as what you say about your specific services. Correct presentation adds muscle to your marketing program, makes it easier for patients to remember you rather than the competition and drives their business to your office.

Practice Enhancement Through Marketing: Why one campaign works better than another.

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again, and again, and again. One campaign works better than another because of basics.The basics make a difference every time. Understand them, embrace them, use them, apply them, follow them and you will have the inside track to achieving positive and responsive results from your marketing materials. And it doesn’t matter what you’re doing; an office brochure, newspaper or magazine ad, bio card, radio or TV spot, direct mail or anything else. The key to success is the same for each. Follow the basics and win. Know the basics and win. Apply the basics and win. Use the basics and win. It’s easy. The basics themselves are basic. Here they are and here’s what they do.

Headlines
Headlines get 5 times more readers than ad text. So make sure you have a compelling headline that describes “at a glance” the benefits of your practice, procedures or services.

Ad Text
Only about 5% percent of readers actually read the text in an ad. And if you don’t capture a reader in the headline as describe above you will never get them in the text. But since all readers are prospective patients it’s important to make every effort to get them in the headline and hope they will read the text. Text should be factual, easy to follow and newsworthy in order to help generate positive responses.

Layout and Design
Use subheads in your the text portion of an ad. It breaks up long copy which is hard to read. Subheads also are necessary when introducing new ideas or making a changes.

Captions
More readers read captions rather than the text in an ad. Captions, when used in conjunction with photos, function like mini ads and are a superior way to get and hold a readers attention.

Photography or illustrations
The right picture is worth a thousand words. Need we say more.

Color Printing
It costs than black and white more but attracts a higher percentage of readers. It reflects quality and has become a standard element for the intelligent presentation of ad materials. Black and white can be used only if it serves some greater visual or creative purpose. If not then it should be avoided.

How To Market A Practice: Test, consult, diagnose, treat, follow-up

Think of a marketing program as if it were a patient. With patients you take a history, gather information, ask question, run tests, consult with colleagues, make a diagnosis and then proceed to treatment and subsequent follow-ups to achieve healthy outcomes.

The same approach works when planning a marketing program for any practice of any size or specialty. For history look at current marketing initiatives from other practices and within the profession itself. Review what other physicians in your specialty are doing and the level of competition they pose for similar services. Ask yourself how you might best promote your practice and its services in today’s new competitive medical reality. Is your specialty effected by seasonal changes, like allergy and immunology, or does your service remain constant, like surgery. Are your services in or out of the insurance loop? Do they apply to a specific gender or age group, or not? Will you target patients locally or attract from a larger geographic region? Once these types of questions are answered you will have an accurate marketing diagnosis and be better equipped to move forward with treatment; the actual creation and placement of ad materials in the marketplace. Next comes the follow-up. Measure results and change what’s indicated to achieve the best outcomes possible.

Internal Marketing: The secrets of an office brochure

Creating a brochure for a medical practice is more difficult than creating one for a business. Yet each needs to do the same thing, namely promote products and services. Business brochures follow a time tested rule for success. They give the reader information, news, helpful hints, and a description of product benefits. They compare price and performance to show customers that their company’s goods and services are better than the competition. They target their audience as specifically as possible and often include testimonials and demonstrations in support of product claims. They do this to get a competitive edge. And it works.

Practice brochures can do the same. They can use the same techniques as business brochures to achieve a competitive edge. However, to do this, to be the same but different, they must be changed in content and context from their counterparts in business and, more importantly, also reflect medicine’s ethical standards. Creating them to achieve a competitive edge for your practice will be helped by:

• Substituting successful outcomes and cure rates for product reliability.
• Substituting experience and number of procedures performed for product acceptance.
• Substituting before and after facts for product demonstrations and testimonials.
• Substituting specific, new medical technologies for industry news and information.
• Substituting women, who are responsible for making upwards of 70% percent of all health care decisions as the right demographic for any industry or business specific demographic.
  

Brochures techniques such as these will keep your internal marketing lively, interesting, informative and well focused - and give you the edge you want.