BUSINESS

  BUSINESS STRATEGIES

TIMING IS EVERYTHING

SCHEDULE YOUR MARKETING MESSAGE WHEN PATIENTS ARE MOST RECEPTIVE

GARY GERBER, O.D.

AMERICANS BUY a new car every 57 months, according to 2012 R.L. Polk & Company data. (R.L. Polk & Company, now IHS, provides automotive data and marketing solutions for related businesses.) Yet, car commercials are always on TV. I bet you first started paying attention to those commercials when you finally admitted that the car noise you were hearing was more than just a faulty muffler. The same goes for washing machines and weight loss ads. If your machine works just fine and you’re a nutritionally observant gym rat, neither of those ads will appeal to you. Guess what? Your patients are no different.

WHEN IS THE BEST TIME?

So, when, exactly, should you post on Facebook, Tweet, run that newspaper ad, drop that letter in the mail or send that email blast to get the greatest return on your marketing efforts?

There are two prevalent concepts regarding timing. One is to use your marketing efforts on an exact date or range of dates, and the other is to “always” market.

Specific dates usually work for specific items or promotions. For example, advertising UV protection at the beginning of summer or the peak of ski season, dry eye disease treatment in the dead of winter and allergy relief during your locale’s peak season are effective.

“Always” is another matter and usually applies to building a brand or supporting an existing brand. For example, why does McDonald’s have to advertise or do any marketing at all? After all, we all know they exist! The answer is that the fast food chain provides advertising to continually remind us that they exist and to keep awareness in our psyche. Brand awareness can only be achieved by consistency and repetition. In fact, a famous short advertising guide by Thomas Smith, written in 1885, states an ad won’t create a sale until the 20th exposure! (Email me if you’d like me to send it to you. It’s a great read.)

GOT MARKETING GOALS?

The answer to “when should you market your practice?” is contingent on your marketing goals. If they are to achieve a short-term blip in revenues, then a focused effort with a discrete start and stop date are best. If, instead, the goal is to “keep your name out there,” then you need to actually do that!

CASE STUDY

The essence of this concept came to light recently when a client asked how best to market the upcoming move of her established practice. She said she was going to do all the usual (and advisable) things, such as snail mail, email, robocall, newspaper ads and social media channel posts. But with the new facility opening in roughly 10 months, she wasn’t promoting the move in her physical practice. This is important because when patients are in her office, they are most steeped in the “eye zone,” and, thus, most likely to retain related information. Certainly, much more so than when they get home and see a “We’ve moved!” postcard.

The timing for your marketing message is when your patients are most receptive. And for much of that, it’s when they are in your practice! OM

DR. GERBER is the president of the Power Practice, a company specializing in making optometrists more profitable. Learn more at www.powerpractice.com, or call Dr. Gerber at (888) 356-4447.