Here we share a secret to having more successful advertising campaigns and to getting more out of them. In our current culture of on-demand gratification, small businesses hurriedly study their numbers from click reports and “how did you hear about us” surveys. Managers unconsciously cling to notions of advertising effectiveness that follow the model of “see ad; call; start service.” For community-based and outpatient healthcare providers, there are a few advertising options that work this way (example: Brazzell’s Search Results Now). However, executives who measure advertising with an overemphasis on immediacy often prove dissatisfied with most of their advertising efforts. They jump from one marketing campaign to the next – all the while optimistically searching for that magic bullet campaign that can cause a business boom. 

Knowing the immediate and direct effects of advertising helps, but it’s also only part of the picture. By understanding the larger picture, we can craft more effective advertising campaigns. The part of the equation neglected by click-rates and “how did you hear about us” surveys is that consistent advertising builds brands. Imagine that two car insurance salesmen visit your home. One quotes a policy from Progressive and gives you a brochure featuring a photo of Flo. The other quotes a policy from a company you don’t know, but it’s $100 cheaper per year. Instantly, people want to stick with the brand they know. But what do you really know about Progressive? For most people the answer is nothing, other than familiarity with the brand. Most of the Progressive Insurance ads you see do very little to generate immediate phone calls. Instead, they build the brand. So that when you get that quote from an insurance agent or see a list of responses on that search engine page, you want to give Progressive and the ever-effervescent Flo a chance. If Progressive’s marketing department followed the small-business-minded concept of evaluating ads based only on their calls and clicks, Progressive would not be the company it is today. Similarly, when community-based and outpatient healthcare providers advertise correctly, they get more than the results that can be measured with the most basic measuring techniques. When a company builds a brand, everything else becomes easier or more effective. Doctors become more receptive to appointment requests. Clients become easier to close. Click rates go up. Even your Google SEO values improve.  

But there is a secret to achieving this reputation effect and getting long-term benefit out of ads. The secret is advertising with enough consistency that you stake out a position in the minds of your target audience. One or two advertising exposures will not create a brand in the minds of your customers. If managers advertise sporadically, across various media, with little regard for consistency of the audience, they fail to achieve the repetition necessary to build a brand in the minds of that audience. All they achieve is the calls generated in that moment. Advertising with an eye toward building a brand does not mean abandoning accountability. It means advancing your measurement techniques to fully account for the true models of consumer behavior. Building a brand does not even require a major marketing budget, as long as managers use strategic targeting techniques. 

Contact Brazzell Marketing Agency, if you want elaboration on any of these concepts.