Practice Enhancement Marketing Materials: How they’re created determines results.

One way to stack the deck in your favor when creating marketing materials is to use time tested techniques that have proven to be successful elsewhere - in both medical and non-medical fields. Proven techniques used in practice enhancement marketing programs will help achieve a decided edge over the competition. Here’s a short list of creative techniques that have proven to drive results in any medium - newspaper, magazine, office literature, radio, TV, direct mail, outdoor, transit, the Internet, or other. They can help any practice cut through the sea of marketing clutter that exists and favorably differentiate it from the competition.

• Avoid generalities. Specifics work better.
• Headlines offering benefits get highest rate of recall.
• The right visual (photo or illustration) can, as the saying goes, "can be worth a thousand words."
• Avoid superlatives. They're never believable.
• Don’t promise what you can’t deliver.
• Avoid illegible copy. Text in white letters on a black background is hard to read.
• Color costs more than black and white but it attracts more readers - so spend more to get more.
• Testimonials need special attention.
• Long copy sells better than short but first get the reader’s attention in the headline.
• Trust your instincts but stay flexible.
• Review your ad materials with a critical eye.

Testimonial Advertising: Is there a place for it in medical marketing?

Tread carefully here. Truth in advertising is paramount for any marketing effort, and truth plus believability is even more paramount. Without both the benefits you might expect to get from investing in a testimonial driven marketing program will do more than just fail - it will produce negative results.

However, on the upside of the limitations on testimonial ads is the fact that they can be effective when handled correctly. For example, ads that illustrate real outcomes for real patients meet the truth/believability criteria and work well. They work even better when they are based on third party certification. This is best seen in marketing campaigns by hospitals that use case histories to document actual success rates for particular procedures. Additionally, testimonials work well when they use favorable quotes by one qualified healthcare professional about another physician or practice. This was done exceptionally well by a plastic surgeon in New York City. His marketing materials contained favorable quotes from a book about plastic surgery for women which was written by another doctor. In it, the author documented favorable patient comments about his caring attitude and exceptional surgical outcomes. However a word of caution is advisable if testimonials are being considered for your marketing campaign. Please remember that you cannot - by law- say in a direct manner that you or your services are better than the competition - be it some other physician, medical group, or institution. You can, however, always point to improved outcomes as a valid, and believable indication of your professional expertise and capabilities.