Take the fear out of marketing
Introduction
Burning your logo onto your posterior is a bit of a drastic marketing strategy – but it can work. However it’s probably more effective (and less painful) to understand your marketplace first.
Who would have thought that 175 years ago a Texas cattle ranch called Lone Star would create a household business term that is used day in day out by businesses large and small throughout the world? That term is branding. The Lone Star ranch was locally acclaimed for its quality of canned beef. However other farms, with less favourable cattle, started cashing in on Lone Star’s success by canning their beef in the same looking cans quickly confusing the stores and consumer’s alike. A think ahead Lone Star employee decided to apply the branding iron design, used on the cattle, to their cans of beef – literally a “brand” had been marketed. Confidence and loyalty from the consumer followed, leading to Lone Star charging a premium for the product which customers were happy to pay for.
There is no doubt that as the medical market place evolves, where Patient Choice is the new buzz word even in the public sector, how you sell yourself is becoming a major issue for Doctors, Consultants and even Hospitals. For whatever reason promotion and marketing seem to be unclean words in the medical fraternity - but why should they be? Does it really break traditional ethics if all you are doing is giving referrers and indeed patients information on who you are , what you do and how to contact you?
Selling your service to others – no let’s use the “m” word - Marketing your service to others shouldn’t be confined to the perceived big industry spenders such as BUPA or Nuffield. An individual consultant has every need to market their business as much as the mega corporation – some would say his or her need is in fact even greater. However, too often, marketing is perceived as a cost when it should in fact be viewed as an investment. It only becomes a cost when it’s not producing tangible results which, simply stated, is increased business or dare we say … “sales”.
So how do you begin the process of marketing….?
Type in “marketing” on Google and it will tell you there are 1.7 billion pages with marketing mentioned - just in Google alone. Yikes! But what is marketing? In fact it’s probably better to tell you what it isn’t. Realistically it’s just not the fun bit that everyone associates it with: trendy adverts, logos, fancy promotions and creative communication.
In reality, marketing is about understanding your business and the marketplace. Do a quick audit of your business: what business are you in, where and what is the marketplace, who are your customers and are you satisfying their needs at a profit to you? This is a process of analysis not trendy creativity. Of course you don’t want to paralyse your business through over analysis. But do your homework, get it mostly right (there’s never the perfect information for the perfect answer) and you’ll understand the needs of your business far better than others and your competitors.
With this knowledge, marketing, from your humble headed note paper to your full blown website (in other words your advertising and promotion) need not be feared but embraced as part of your every day business.
Case Study
A recent professional client engaged us to run an audit on their business to see where and how they could develop their turnover and especially margins.
Our client had a turnover of approximately £500k per annum showing an adequate profit but it was obvious he wasn’t satisfied. The first part of the process was to analyse the history and profile of sales: number of clients, sales per client, profit per client, where the client was based and how they found out about the business service.
The research was revealing, not just to us, but especially to our client. Out of an average 100 clients per year 12 were generating 87% of the income and were by far the most profitable. The other 88 smaller clients were frankly a hindrance to the business and in reality not receiving an optimum service anyway. A telephone interview of selected clients endorsed these findings. Not everyone was happy – which is bad marketing.
The answer (or strategy in business parlance):
Service the smaller clientele through an outsourced sub-contractor who was glad to pick up this very kind of business with an eventual aim to hand it over completely in 12 months time. But frankly withdraw from this sector of the market.
Set a target of bringing in six new commercial clients in the year. This goal in the eyes of our client is achievable, specific and more cost effective to aim for. From a marketing perspective the commercial sector was easier to target than trying to be all things to all men in a huge and varied marketplace.
It’s early days yet in terms of results, but the first quarter results are heading in the right direction and yes the marketing budget (they’ve now got one !) has increased from previous years but the tangible benefits are there to be measured.
The fifth P
Marketing gurus talk about the Four P’s of marketing. A quick synopses of these are:
Product: What is it you’re selling? Try and think of the benefits of buying your service rather than just the features.
Price: not always as simple as it sounds. Where are you positioned against your competitors? Is there extra value that you can add in?
Place: How and where do you get your service to the market? Is it effective, customer/patient friendly? How flexible is it?
Promotion: what compels or attracts your patients or referrers to use your service.
Obviously the 4 Ps don’t happen in isolation of each other and are closely interlinked. In our business jargon this is known as the marketing mix. But before you embark upon your own P analysis look at one other P word. P for people.
The best and cheapest form of marketing is word of mouth communication. If a patient or referrer rates you and your business highly and tells someone else about their favourable experience and they tell someone else this becomes an advertising chain that no marketing budget can ever match.
The people part of your client/patient experience begins at their first phone call to your rooms/clinic, their first visit with your receptionist and yes with their first handshake with the professional who is going to hopefully solve their problem. Imagine you’re a specialist in a certain field with brilliant skills and alongside you is another specialist with seemingly equal skills. One has squalid rooms, an inadequate answering service, tardy administration and above all a professional manner that intimidates the patient into silence and unquestioning obedience. The other has warm welcoming rooms, a cheery confident receptionist and above all a “listen to that feeling” consultant at the end of the desk. Who would you chose and recommend? In medical speak one assumes this is called “bedside manner” - in our terms it’s just an essential component of marketing.
Posted on Thursday, 02 October 2008