Issue 1 - January 2005

Your ad — on cable
By Marc Arturi

Picture this. You’re watching “American Chopper” on the Discovery Channel, or the “O’Reilly Factor” on Fox News or “Nip/Tuck” on FX. The program cuts to a commercial. To your surprise, the commercial advertises a local business around the corner from your practice.

And then it dawns on you: That business could be yours; that commercial could be yours.

What you just experienced is a result of cable TV advertising, a healthy marketing tool used by thousands of growing businesses for more than 25 years.

Thanks to technology, cable television can connect your advertising to viewers in as few as one zone up to 38 zones, to reach more than 2.5 million households.

And larger cable companies can offer more than 30 networks, such as the established networks of CNN, USA and Lifetime, as well as emerging channels such as TV Land, Food Network, Oxygen, Court TV, HGTV, TLC and more.

These networks are important in advertising, because each network has its own demographic appeal, which can be matched to your chiropractic specialty and the type of patients you would like to attract. The right match can greatly increase the successful delivery of your messages.

Advertising on cable is a two-step process. The first step is to contact your cable service. The second step is to develop a commercial.

Although getting in contact with your cable service would seem easy, it may not be. The ad sales department is a separate entity of your cable company. To find an advertising contact, either call a business you see advertising on cable and ask for its contact at the cable company or call the number on your cable bill and ask for advertising sales — specifically, the local sales manager (LSM) or area sales manager (ASM).

Before you call, gather basic marketing information on your practice. This information will act as the cornerstone to putting together the best possible advertising plan based on your specific needs. The information you need includes answers to these questions:

• What does your typical patient “look” like?
• Are your patients male or female?
• What is their average income?
• What is their ethnicity?
• How old are they?
• How far away from your office do they live?
• What motivates them to use chiropractic?
• Why do they choose your practice and not your competitor’s?
• Which networks do you think your patients (or potential patients) watch? (Ask them. Sometimes your instincts are more accurate than sophisticated research.)
• What is your budget for an advertising project? (Develop a realistic budget. Many marketing experts say you should devote up to 12 percent of gross sales into marketing.)

When you meet with your marketing representative, ask:

• “What type of research can your company provide to help match demographics?”
• “Do you have research data that reflects the local market and demographics that I want to target?”
• “Does your company have a minimum monthly spending level?”
• “How much of an investment in advertising is needed to drive results in this zone/city/region?”

Achieving maximum results through cable TV advertising requires a long-term commitment and an acceptance that you will not be able to track results as easily as in some other media, such as newspaper advertising.

While “call to action” messages can be effectively communicated through a television campaign, the medium is more suited to image advertising. This style of advertising builds brand awareness and forward equity in the minds of prospects and clients who will use your services when the need arises, but aren’t as likely to tell you what drove them to your door.

Cable TV advertising works. But if you doubt the effectiveness of on-air advertising, think about the ads you remember best, such as Wendy’s “Where’s the beef?” or the Energizer Bunny’s “It keeps on going.” Who would deny that the messages from these ads are indelibly etched in your mind? Your message can be etched just as keenly, too.