Is there a set of reasons why some practices are highly successful, while others are just plain mediocre? In my opinion, there are. I would go as far as to say the incorrect use of marketing and advertising is the key reason why many practices fall far short of their potential.

Marketing is not advertising. According to Webster’s online dictionary, advertising is the “the action of calling something to the attention of the public, especially by paid announcements.”

Marketing is an overall process of deciding who is in your target market, what their needs are, how your service fulfills those needs and how to best orchestrate the process.

Ads send a specific message. Marketing calibrates the message and delivers it to the intended target. Said differently, the way your receptionist answers the phone is not necessarily part of your advertising, but it is part of your marketing.

But advertising isn’t bad, if it is done strategically and in the context of a larger marketing plan. So why does advertising frequently fail?

Reason #1: People don’t want to be sold.
Patients (and referring doctors) are inundated with advertising messages. The average consumer is estimated to receive 3000 sales messages in a day. Physicians get more than that. As an adaptive response our brains have increased in the ability to discriminate among these messages. The typical patient weeds out the sales messages and instantly discounts them as being “just advertising.”

Reason #2: Being boring.
Perceptual studies have been done on the behavior of reading the newspaper. You have a brief window of time to get your prospect’s attention. In the newspaper, you are competing with a lot of other printed material just to get 4 seconds or less of your prospect’s time.

The message has to be interesting to the prospect, not necessarily what interests you. One of the easiest ways to be boring is to be egocentric. The “I’m the biggest, I’m the best” message convinces no one and often has a negative effect when broadcasted to your market. These ads might actually drive patients away from your practice.

Reason #3: Lacking credibility
I’ve always maintained that the best advertising for a physician is a full waiting room. The public tends to ignore claims that we make about ourselves and looks to the opinion of other people like themselves as validation of their opinion.

Consider the difference between these two headlines: (1) “ABC Physician Clinic”, and (2) “73% of patients with severe pain get complete relief using new treatment”. The second headline paves the way to discuss something of relevance to the target market, patients with severe pain. The use of a specific measure—73% of patients get relief—increases credibility and believability.

Testimonials, third party and celebrity endorsements, and guarantees all greatly increase credibility. An enormous amount of credibility is implied if you are the official physician for a local sports team, for example.

Reason #4: The ‘Me-Too’ Approach.
Marketing guru Dan Kennedy refers to this as “marketing incest.” Simply copying the other yellow pages or print ads, with the same copy, graphics and message accomplishes nothing. Yet that is what 98% of practices do. Mr Kennedy says that the more marketing incest is practiced, the dumber the ads tend to get.

Reason #5: Being tacky.
Marketing professional services is different from marketing new cars or soft drinks. The tone and voice of your ads must walk a fine line. Your ads must be professional and dignified without being boring. They must speak to the needs, wants, and concerns of your target market. Ideally, your ads position you as an expert, not as a salesperson of your services.

Admittedly, very few medical professionals are guilty of being too tacky in their advertisements. More often the fear of seeming too tacky or salesy pushes the ads into a boring monotonous gravitas.

Reason #6: Not Keeping Track of Your Success
There are two main types of advertising—image and direct response. Image advertising is designed to repetitively ingrain a product or service into your consciousness. Direct response advertising identifies a patient need or want, offers a low risk way to get the need or want satisfied, and asks for an immediate response.

When Goodyear flies a blimp over a sporting event, they don’t expect everyone to run out of the stadium at halftime and buy tires for their car. But Goodyear knows that fans at a sporting event are usually excited and happy and Goodyear wants to be associated with those positive feelings.

Image advertising is expensive. Fortune 500 companies budget between $50 million and $100 million and about 5 years to build their brand via image ads. As private practitioners, we can’t afford that and we shouldn’t try to copy the image advertising formula, yet so many physicians do. Direct response advertising is a better way to go.

A direct response ad might feature a headline like, “Simple Blood Test Reveals the 47% of Diabetics Who Are Likely To Have a Heart Attack Within a Year.” That headline garners interest, which is all that the headline is supposed to do. The body of the ad explains a recent study that identifies a high incidence of unaddressed hyperlipidemia in diabetic patients. Then it offers a free report (on paper, website, CD, or DVD) that explains the problem and its solution in more depth. That report offers a free or low cost in-person interaction. The offer is limited in quantity or time.
This is a trackable, scaleable program. You can track the response almost immediately and test one ad against another to measure performance. You can also measure your return on investment (ROI).

Reason #7: Expecting Too Much From Your Ads
This could be reason #1. Some physicians place one ad, receive no calls and then falsely conclude that advertising doesn’t work. Your prospective patients need to be warmed up to you, a step at a time. They go through a progression from “Who the heck is that?” all the way to “He/she’s my physician.”

I would rather help you send a targeted repetitive message to a much smaller group than a one-shot, undifferentiated message to the masses.

Reason #8: Not Segmenting Your Market
Experts say that there are four categories of patients/customers: your current patients; your past patients; the friends, family, and coworkers of your current patients; and everyone else who has never heard of you.

If you ask your current patients to come in for a checkup, most will without complaining about it. They already trust you. Ask the same of people who don’t know and trust you and see how much more noncompliance, no-show visits, and fee resistance you encounter.

It’s no coincidence that the Fortune 500 spends about 85% of their marketing budget on the first three groups. Consider apportioning your marketing budget accordingly.

Reason #9: Being Tactical vs. Strategic
Running an ad is a tactic. The process of becoming the pre-eminent physician practice in your community is a strategy. Tactics, on their own, don’t lead to major change unless they are aligned with the correct overall business strategy.

Strategic practice thinking challenges most clinicians because we’re focused on patient care. But we all need it, whether we recognize that or not. If you get help in only one area of your practice, this would be the area I would most recommend. A practice that does not know where it is going will never get there.

Reason #10: Taking Your Eye Off The Ball
There are two key revenue statistics: patient encounters per month and average revenue per encounter. Your focus in growing your practice must come back to two overriding questions:

1. How can I/we see more patients?

2. How can I/we collect more revenue per encounter?

Marketing works when it supports these two aims, it fails when it doesn’t. Every practice should have a marketing plan that describes measurable outcome(s) to be achieved within a realistic time frame.

Failing to develop and follow through on a practice-building plan prevents a lot of physicians from having the successful practice that they truly deserve. Practice building is as logical and tangible as any other scientific study. It is only a mystery to those who don’t understand its principles and practice.

David Zahaluk, MD, is a DCMS member, practicing physician, and founder of “Maximum Income for Physicians,” a coaching and consulting group for physicians only, offering innovative solutions to practice marketing and staff development. Visit the MIP website at www.UltimatePracticeBuilder.com for free practice-building tips, a free practice diagnostic and a free “Make My Practice Work Harder Than I Do” individual practice consultation. Look for Dr Zahaluk’s new book, “The Ultimate Practice Building Book” on Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com and Borders.com.