The mass media lure
In medicine, when is advertising a good idea for a specialty medical practice? Good question. Easy answer. Too easy: Just about never.
Beware the advertising sirens. They’re youthful, they’re lithesome, they’re gorgeous, and they sing alluringly. They’re also seducers/seductresses who lure innocents to financial waste.
In referring to advertising, I’m talking about paying for space or time in traditional media such as newspapers, radio and TV. The lure of mass media is strong. It’s human nature to revel at the sight of your own name in lights.
For this reason alone, physicians are often easy prey to the sellers of ad space. Time and time again, we see doctors drift almost helplessly toward the purchase of some public exposure on billboards, television, and in magazines and newspapers.
This temptation becomes even stronger when a competitor suddenly appears in any of these media. By nature, physicians are hyper competitive. They have to be in order to pass all the pressure-intensive auditions of a medical education and professional training.
Advertising’s mathematical follies
Similarly, discovering a cross-town rival’s ad on TV or in the local newspaper trips a doctor’s competitive alarm. “I’d better respond,” is his or her gut instinct. “I need an ad, too. A bigger, better ad!”
Resist the sirens’ call. Here are two good reasons:
Mathematics – The idea of advertising for a specialty medical practice reminds me of the bumper sticker, “Gambling is for people who failed math in school.” When you buy advertising in public places, you’re paying to talk to the public. All of them. Or at least the ones in those public places.
How many motorists passing a billboard every day are contemplating fertility treatments or a hip replacement? How many TV viewers are suffering from kidney stones or prostate cancer?
A tiny percentage, that’s how many. One in 20 would be a surprisingly high number. At this rate, you the advertiser are throwing away 95 cents of every dollar you spent on your ad to talk to otherwise healthy people reaching for the radio dial or the mute button.
Yes, in most cases so many people see a billboard or TV commercial that you will indeed reach some people who fit the very narrow demographics of your next patient – if you spend enough money to own the best advertising time and space. But there are way better, cheaper ways to find them.
Intrusion – Consumers run away from advertising. They regard it as annoying interruptions. Why do you think people pay for Tivo machines and high-speed Internet connections?
Wait, the math gets even worse. A recent survey by Adweek Media/Harris Poll found that only one in five Americas believe advertising is honest in its claims most or all of the time.
So even if you’re okay with a 5-percent efficiency in reaching your target audience (see above), of that five percent, four percentage points of that audience still may not believe your paid message. So now we’re down to one percent return on investment. Ugh.
The Internet – If you buy a billboard or three for a month or even six months, what’s the odds of your next patient driving by it? Modest at best. And the odds of your next patient (or a loved one acting in his or behalf) going on the Internet? Virtually certain.
You simply cannot under-estimate the power of pull communications versus intrusion advertising. People who need a medical specialist WILL go online at one point or another – usually to look for health information first and then a health provider second.
Pull, not push, new patients
Of course, there are always exceptions to any rule of thumb. In certain circumstances for some medical specialties, community sponsorships are a good idea. Examples include support for relevant community events, public radio and TV, and sports teams (appropriate for orthopedists).
But reasonable returns on investments are rare. Meanwhile, the Internet remains the physician’s best bet for marketing.
Consider: As of 2006, seven in ten Americans with household incomes of at least $75,000 annually had high speed Internet access at home, according to the Pew Research Center. And the percentage of those who look for health information online? About nine in ten. Those portions have no doubt increased in the five years since.
Do the math again. You’ll see that about four out of five of the best patients – the ones with the education and the means to seek medical treatment and have the best outcomes – are online. Period. Enough said.
The next time you hear the sirens’ song, resist with mathematical logic. As lovely as the sound may be, the sirens’ sonorous tune will only siphon time, energy and dollars far better spent elsewhere.
About Vanguard Communications
Since 1994, Vanguard Communications has provided specialty healthcare marketing with a strategy focused on patient education guaranteed to bring new patients to specialist physicians, physician assistants, nurses and therapists in private, university and hospital practices. Through its MedMarketLink program, Vanguard combines the disciplines of online and offline PR, strategic marketing and information technology for healthcare providers coast to coast.