Market static or market tuned?
Boost the clarity of your marketing message
By Alexis Parian, DC

When you think about it, audio technology and marketing have a lot in common. The quality of both sound equipment and marketing methods can be measured by how clearly they transmit their intended "sounds."

Both aim for sounds that are pure and clean, free of background noise and added distractions.

Your ability to concentrate on the music, movie — or the marketing message coming your way — has a lot to do with how well the right signals reach you. But sometimes erroneous sounds find their way into the original production, making them even more difficult to eliminate. The intended sound is inherently flawed before it ever gets a chance to be heard.

Your practice's marketing message is much like this audio signal. How clearly is it reaching your audience? What are you doing to reduce the "noise" that can degrade it? And is it the message you should be sending at all? (See sidebar "Noise makers and noise breakers" on page 46 to discover which one you are.)

Thankfully, a little fine-tuning on your marketing dial can get your message to broadcast noise-free.

Here's a quick guide to amping up the clarity of the signals you're sending.

YOUR MARKETING MESSAGE

Your marketing message is what you communicate to the public, in all forms, about your business with the intent of selling your products or services.

Usually applied in multiples, marketing messages can communicate on all sensory levels, so it is wise to consider the impact of all of these messaging opportunities in your practice. Ideally, you want to choose only a few primary marketing messages that correlate with the practice's business identity and image, and selected market or intended patient population.

Consequently, it's absolutely essential to first know who you are and who you wish to serve.

Core marketing planning must include target market identification and research, as well as corresponding practice identity, image, and brand strategies. These plans create the foundation for all additional marketing and promotional planning and, especially, the creation of clear and effective marketing messages.

When you bring all messaging into congruence with your brand strategies, and the needs and desires of your intended patients, you generate a powerful synergy.

You've probably visited a retail store or boutique with effective messaging that quickly communicated that store's identity as a retailer — what they were selling and to whom, and their products' quality, pricing, or other unique features.

You can achieve the same result through a continuity of marketing messaging that utilizes everything from location to storefront signage, visual presentation and displays, product mix, lighting and decorating, advertising, printed materials, employee wardrobes, background music, and so on.

This is the power of marketing messaging — it can be as direct as your advertising text or as subtle as the scent you choose for your reception area. And the power is additive, as you bring more and more aspects of your practice into agreement with your intended messages.

For example: If you serve the daytime business population downtown, you'll want to offer and promote what that target population finds appealing, such as a more professional dŽcor, soothing music, an efficient and low-stress environment, expedited services, early opening hours, more staffing during the mid-day, and worker-friendly systems in general.

And you would probably be wise to skip the cartoon or teddy bear literature and mailers for these customers.

At every opportunity, send clear, consistent, and repetitive messages to the target market that their needs will be met when they arrive at your door, and be careful not to wander off-channel with faltering or insincere efforts. Send the right signals, and keep them clear and strong.

FIND YOUR NICHE

You've no doubt heard the advice: Find a need and fill it. A major determinant of your success is finding that niche where you can thrive — and it's usually a strategic convergence of local opportunities, who you are within the business of chiropractic, and who it is you wish to serve.

Your comfort and proficiency with these business concepts will not only influence your bottom line, but also the efficiency of marketing and promoting your practice.

You might build your business identity, brand, and service model on your own core values and personal practice objectives, or you might create those features to meet the population needs of a community where you wish to locate. Either way, once you study, research, and plan your practice niche, you will need to strategize and execute your marketing.

The marketing methods you choose will differ depending on your target market and intended patient population.

For example: An athletics and sports rehab practice would exhibit at a different mix of off-site events than the maternity and pediatrics-focused practice. And messaging would be designed to appeal to their different target markets — nurturing, warm, and calming for the pediatrics and women's practice; open, active, and fast-paced for the sports/rehab office. Keep the synergy high for maximum practice-building impact.

NIX THE NOISE

Marketing noise results from weak, fragmented, confused, or misdirected efforts. These interferences prevent clear and effective marketing messages from ever reaching the right audience for a particular practice.

Misplaced or inconsistent advertising, along with poorly chosen ad copy and failures to promote the practice altogether, are like turning down the volume on your visibility — and your business.

Creating conflict between market needs or expectations and what you offer is another dangerous disconnect — resulting in reduced retention as inappropriate patients are attracted to the practice and then discontinue care.

Conversely, well-constructed and intentional marketing messages can achieve a great deal in selling that office's services to the intended patient population — and often much more affordably because of the inherent efficiency of their cumulative effect.

Consistent messaging also reminds your existing patients why they are there, and it serves to continue meeting their specific needs.

Reinforcing your marketing messaging accurately on all practice levels increases the likelihood of patient satisfaction and retention by reducing the "static" that can degrade the patient experience, and erode their confidence.

SIDEBARS:
Noise makers and noise breakers
Tune in your marketing

Alexis Parian, DC, is principal of The Parian Company: Communication and Marketing Consulting, in Seattle, Wash. For more information, visit www.pariancompany.com, e-mail info@pariancompany.com, or call 650-557-0071.