Don't give up on practice marketing plans

Article Outline

 

A less-than-perfect marketing campaign can be an important learning experience. Rather than abandoning the campaign, the practitioner should remember that, in many cases, the marketing effort may simply need to be tweaked to be successful.

If someone falls off a bike, that person can get back on and try again. However, some people might come to the conclusion that they are just not meant to ride a bicycle and choose to move on to something else.

Although the second option may sound ludicrous, that unfortunately is how some practitioners view marketing their practice or a specific offering. A mailing to prospects fails to bring any new patients into the fold. Ads that offer a discount on frames do not bring in the expected response. A newsletter offering information on a new contact lens falls flat on its face. As a result, the eye care practitioner “folds the cards,” deciding that marketing is a waste of time and money and, like eating a bad piece of sushi, refrains from ever trying it again. Case closed.

Or, the doctor decides that a certain offering just does not resonate with patients or prospects and so stops the effort, convinced that it is now a case of throwing good money after bad. Unfortunately, this too makes little sense because there is every reason to think that the failure of a marketing campaign may be extremely helpful in finding what went wrong so that the follow-up will be more successful. Testing, in fact, is an important part of the marketing process. It gives one the chance to analyze what went wrong and repair flaws the next time around.

Take, as an example, a doctor who wants to let patients and prospects know about orthokeratology. Information on how Ortho-K works and its benefits appears on the practice's Web site. Small ads placed in the local newspaper use the tease that “Ortho-K is coming to your neighborhood. Find out if you are a candidate” and mention the doctor's name and phone number as well as the Web site address where readers can find out more. When the phones never ring, the doctor assumes the marketing was a waste and decides that mentioning it to patients who qualify is the only way to go in the future.

Meanwhile, doing something as simple as tweaking the copy in the ad may have made a difference. Choosing to change the size or placement of the ad could have meant a more successful outcome. Pursuing another vehicle (such as an e-mail blast to residents of a certain age and income level) could have turned the marketing campaign into a resounding success.

Even the timing or frequency of an ad or a marketing piece may need to be examined as a reason for its lackluster rate of return. That same Ortho-K ad in the spring, when people may be more concerned about their ability to leave their glasses or contact lenses at home, may have received a far better reception than the same offering in the winter. Unfortunately, all too often, a practice runs an ad a couple of times, gets little response and decides, based on what pollsters call “an insignificant sample,” to call it quits.

Of course, there is nothing wrong with a practice taking a small step to test the waters before plunging in. Say a doctor wants to do a mailing that offers an incentive to buy eyeglasses. The practice can do a test mailing to 250 patients that offers a $40 discount and another mailing of 250 that offers a free antireflective (AR) coating. When the eyeglass discount gets a 5% response rate versus a 1% response for the AR coating, the doctor can confidently take that first offer and mail it to the practice's 2,500 remaining patients. If only the AR coating mailing had taken place, this opportunity never would have presented itself.

Marketing, of course, does not exist in a bubble. Other factors always come into play, which any marketer needs to acknowledge. For example, offering a 15% discount on sunglasses may fall flat if the competition down the street offers the same sunglasses at 20% off. Or, marketing a high-priced, out-of-pocket offering may not work well at a time when the economy has plunged the community into a recession.

Like everything else, marketing campaigns need to be viewed and analyzed carefully. Why did it work or fail? What can be done to improve it? If the offering is truly a dud, does that mean that another one might work better?

Just like one contact lens doesn't fit all patients, not every marketing idea will work for every practice. But, as with a contact lens, a successful fit can pay dividends in terms of happy patients, positive word-of-mouth, and increased revenues.