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.