
To build a superior clinic, brand, and reputation, you must clearly articulate your core purpose through advertising techniques with the right attitude
What if every time you sent a promotional piece to your patients, it was received and opened with great excitement? In fact, every successful and predictable marketing campaign features one essential element — a receptive audience.
But what do you say, and how do you create that? Begin with why you do what you do — communicate your purpose, your beliefs, why your practice exists. To build a superior clinic, brand, and reputation, you must clearly articulate your core purpose.
Lead with the ‘why’
Universally, every company can quickly state what they do and how they do it; and, for 99% of the businesses, that’s considered acceptable. These companies begin their conversations with, for example, ‘I sell cars, and my latest model has tinted windows, power steering, and excellent gas mileage. Do you want to buy one?’
The only external difference from most companies is price. However, price points are often manipulated to attract new business; like two-for-one sales, frequent user discounts, and interest rate discounts. Actually, there’s nothing wrong with price manipulations; they work, companies have used them for millennia. But, price never builds loyalty, and the most successful advertising techniques thrive on loyalty!
If you sincerely want to reap advertising victories, build a superior reputation; lead with inspiration, which engenders trust. Author and motivational speaker, Simon Sinek, says leaders inspire people to follow them. Leaders like John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Apple computers and Harley-Davidson deliver clear and resonating messages as to why they do what they do. Their communication is so specific; they touch their recipients’ core; they arouse the senses and create camaraderie, a feeling of “they’re one of me!”
Apple doesn’t say “We make great computers; do you want to buy one?” Instead, they lead with their “why.” They say something like: “We believe in challenging the status quo. We challenge the status quo is by making our products beautifully designed, simple to use, and user-friendly. We just happen to make great computers. Want to buy one?” It’s an entirely different dialogue, which excludes all price manipulation, and builds brand loyalty.
Harley-Davidson also leads with their purpose statement which defiantly declares that they are more about lifestyle than transportation. Their brand clearly speaks to their customers’ inner-selves; so much so that people are walking around with Harley-Davidson tattoos, and many don’t even own the product.
Whatever your purpose or motivation, you must deliver your message clearly and succinctly; transcending the impersonal mediums of printed pages or computer screens, actually connect with and inspire your audience based on shared values and principles.
How do people see you?
Long before you provide a promotional piece, you must consider your reputation and brand. How do people see you? What does your website project; how about your promotional pieces, your books and special reports, your commitment to your core values? Next step, identify your patient-base and increase your return on investment (ROI). Do an inventory of your patients and get a crystal clear idea of their needs. Example: if the bulk of your practice involves caring for senior patients, and they see you to relieve acute or chronic pain, pinched nerves, lack of flexibility, etc.
From there, your message needs to come from the perspective of “Your patients have a problem they don’t want, and there’s a solution they want but don’t have.” Hence, the first thing your viewers should see is your core message; it must be front-and-center, and a solution to their specific ailment must be forthcoming.
Further, all successful ads and advertising techniques exude solutions through headlines, sub-headline, specific benefits, offers, testimonials and calls to actions! Your highest priority, a compelling headline; decades of marketing studies demonstrate that 80% of all potential patients only read headlines. Therefore, your headline must address the problem your patients have that they don’t want.
For example, “Are you sick and tired of arthritis pain in your neck, low back, and hips?”
Your sub-headline must address the result your patient wants but doesn’t have.
For example: “I use gentle techniques to relieve painful tension, stiffness, pain and improve range of movement!”
Additional advertising techniques
People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it. Therefore, showcase your purpose for doing what you do, and how you fulfill your mission. Provide quantitative evidence why you are the superior health care alternative in town. Offer incentives as a value-added component rather than a price manipulation.
- Offer specific benefits: Tell them what’s in it for them. Patients want to know how they will benefit from using your services.
- Have an offer: These same marketing studies prove that making a compelling offer can increase your response up to 400%. The offers you provide set you/your clinic apart from your competition.
- Provide incentives: Create motivational goodwill, present free booklets, recorded messages, or gifts. The idea is that you want to make it irresistible for prospective patients to select your clinic.
- Testimonials: What satisfied patients say about your practice is more important than what you say about yourself. In your ad, invite viewers to your site, consider a landing page with a series of short videos (also include on front page of your website), highlight what others say about you. Also, according to wordstream.com regarding the statistical benefits of video marketing:
- 51% of marketing professionals worldwide name video as the type of content with the best ROI.
- Marketers who use video grow revenue 49% faster than non-video users.
- 64% of consumers make a purchase after watching branded social videos (per Tubularinsights.com).
- Additionally, testimonials are a well-kept secret resulting in enormous profits for advertisers who use their endorsements.
- Call-to-action (CTA): The CTA typically appears at the end of an advertisement; they’re used to compel readers to act immediately. CTAs instruct patients what steps they should take to purchase your service.
To continuously create winning ads, you must stand out from the crowd by inspiring. The goal of these advertising techniques is not to do business with everyone who needs your service; the goal is to do business with those people who believe what you believe. Clearly communicate and articulate what they believe, and go dominate your marketplace.
Steve Cox and Claudio Gormaz have worked with the chiropractic community for over 20 years. They can be contacted through 530-492-9971, stevenvonloren.com, or stevenvonloren@yahoo.com.