Reading time: 2 – 4 minutes
In a recent Wall Street Journal editorial titled “Postgame Evaluation of Super Bowl Advertisements”, two marketing lessons – both worthy of our discussion – were highlighted. They reaffirm something I’ve been teaching chiropractors for many years.
“In the annual discussions as to which Super Bowl ads are ‘liked’ best, the pundits all miss the point,” author Jeff Nelems, starts the editorial.
“The purpose of advertising is not, or should not be, to create an ad that consumers like. Rather the purpose of advertising should be, in the final analysis, to sell…”
And right there is your first lesson: marketing – specifically in your case, chiropractic marketing – is not about creating or using advertisements that you, your staff, your spouse, or your patients “like”. Frankly, likes and dislikes in marketing are irrelevant. As are opinions. The sole objective of all of your chiropractic marketing is to drive new patients into your practice. And that’s the only thing that counts.
What this means in reality is that the only thing you should consider when deciding if you’re going to continue using a particular chiropractic advertisement is whether or not it’s allowing you to break-even (at a bare minimum) in the acquisition of new patients. Your opinion of what looks best, what gives you the warm and fuzzies, or what gets patients talking is, again, irrelevant. Return on investment (ROI) should be the only deciding factor.
Which brings us to the second lesson from the WSJ piece:
“There is much, at least anecdotal evidence, that creating an ad that viewers dislike may be more effective than one they like. Viewers hated the Anacin “headache” commercial many years ago, but it the sold the product. And consumers really hated the Wisk “ring around the collar” commercial, but the Wisk advertiser like it because it sold the product.”
Now, let me just say – this article is, obviously, referring to big brands using television commercials. And, of course, what applies to big company “brand building” doesn’t always apply to chiropractors or small business operators. But, there’s a valuable point being made here. And here it is.
Often, a pure text, black and white advertisement that doesn’t look pretty, doesn’t have all of the typical “brand-building” bells and whistles, and won’t bring home any graphic artistry awards, will out-pull and outperform a pretty four-color, graphical ad.
Remember, the purpose of all of your new-patient-acquisition marketing is NOT to build a brand. It’s not to create an impression. And, it’s not to establish your professionalism. The purpose is to bring in new patients at a reasonable cost. Period.
And, therefore, whether a chiropractic advertisement looks nice or is “liked” by anyone should be inconsequential to you.
Again, in marketing, the only opinions that matter are the opinions being proved by people responding to your advertising and coming into your practice for chiropractic care.
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Todd, Thanks for a truly great article!!! We all get caught up sometimes in what “looks good”. Results – both INSIDE of our practice and with our marketing – is all that really matters.
Thanks again,
Dr. George Burroughs
Thanks for the comment Dr. George. And, you’re absolutely right… it’s so easy to get caught up in what we think looks good, instead of looking at what generates the greatest return on our marketing dollars.