Call Now! What Medical Marketing can learn from Direct Response.
We live in a world of flabby impotent medical marketing, where healthcare systems and hospitals beat their chests over the latest gee-whiz device or treatment. A world where TV stations and billboard companies are happy to drain your budget to run ineffectual medical marketing that leaves ordinary people (you know, those people you’re trying to get as new patients) unconvinced. Or even worse, unaware.
Are you searching for new ways to take your medical marketing materials to a new level? Maybe even prove to your administration that advertising really works? Incorporating a few ideas from late night infomercials might be just what you need. I’m not suggesting your healthcare system or medical practice start making commercials with giant flashing phone numbers and an announcer shouting “Call collect! Call direct!”. But if you want your next healthcare organization marketing plan to deliver results, it won’t hurt to take a few hints from marketers who live and die by results.
Time for a little truth telling: none of these tips are the holy grail of marketing. If you’re a student of marketing, it’s certain you’re aware of most, and maybe all of them. They are fundamental in many ways. But that’s what you do when your game is off — you go back and study the fundamentals. Take a look at these tips, and think about how you could use them to make your medical marketing more effective.
To begin with, the new patients you’re trying to get only listen to one station: WIIFM. If you want people to pay attention and respond to your message, you’ve got to play it on WIIFM – What’s In It For Me. You’ve got to highlight the main advantage of your medical practice or healthcare system as quickly as possible, and just as quickly explain what difference it makes to them.
More You, Less We. Reduce the ‘WE’ (as in “WE now offer Cyborg Knife Gamma-Ray Surgery, the most cutting-edge surgery known to modern man.”) and replace it with more ‘YOU’ (as in “YOU will have a smaller incision, less pain, and a speedier recovery with Advanced Cyborg Knife Gamma-Ray Surgery.”). When you get people to picture how your health care system will make their life better, you’re well on your way to having a patient for life.
Words Matter. Keep your unique selling point short and powerful, use words that are easy for ordinary people to swallow. Then repeat as much as necessary for maximum results. This tip by itself will help you stand out from other health care marketers.
Harness the Unbeatable Power of a Dramatic Demonstration. You will never see an effective infomercial or DR TV commercial that doesn’t put this to use – whether it’s a man soaking up a liter of cola with a a high tech cloth, a duffer who can now smash a golf ball straight up the fairway, or the before and after pictures for weight loss products. The sheer power of a dramatic demonstration can’t be overstated, or underestimated.
If the advantage of the Amazing New Cyborg Knife Gamma-Ray Surgery is a smaller incision and a virtually unnoticeable scar – show us how insignificant the scar will be. If it helps people recover more quickly so they can get back to their normal life, show a patient bowling only a few days after surgery. Every successful Direct Marketer understands this simple fact: In the battle for mindshare, a dramatic demonstration is the ultimate weapon. In this case, seeing really is believing.
In future articles I’ll share more Direct Response tips you can use to beef up your healthcare organization marketing plan. Right now I’ll leave you with a critical one: Don’t forget to tell people how you want them to respond – they’re going to want to respond, and you need to make it easy for them. If you want them to call and sign up for a free guide, or a no obligation health screening, tell them, and make sure they can read your phone number! Don’t try and hide it – make it easy to read, and leave it on screen long enough for Grandpa to walk to his desk, get a pencil and write it down. You know how you want people to respond to your advertising – make sure you they know. You’ve worked hard to make medical marketing materials with real impact, don’t lose it in the inches here.
