What Causes Prospects To Believe Or Disbelieve Your Ads?

There are a number of factors.

According to a Roper survey, here are three ...

1-- 60% of consumers believe ads that promise a money-back guarantee.

2-- 57% believe ads which say the product or service is approved by some health or medical group like the American Dental Association (third party endorsements). And ...

3-- 46% believe ads making claims based upon user survey results.

What does this mean to you?

It suggests that you are likely to get a better response to your dental ads if you include a mention of your guarantee ... if you are able to get and use an endorsement from a well known and trusted third party (ideally a dental or health organization, but a trusted and respected individual will also work ) ... and if you can back up your benefit claims with user surveys.

You control all three. You can create surveys to send to your patients (it's important that you ask the right questions, of course). You can develop a patient guarantee of satisfaction. And you can seek testimonials (endorsement) from key patients and organizations.

I'll be covering surveys, testimonials and guarantees in future briefs.

Copyright 2007 by Galen Stilson

P.S. I Love You

Every promotional/marketing letter you send to potential patients -- and current patients -- should include a postscript.

Why? Because they virtually always get read ... and often before the main body of the letter.

When people open a letter their normal reading progression is to look at the letterhead (who is the letter from), then the salutation (to whom is it addressed), then they go to the end of the letter to see who signed it (they want to know who is *talking* to them).

While they're looking at the signature, they take note of whether there's a P.S. or not. If there is, they'll normally read it. Thus, you should include a P.S. in your promotional/marketing letters and use it to highlight a key offer/benefit/theme the letter talks about. This will usually spur the interest of the reader which usually results in their reading the letter. If they read they letter, you've got a chance.

You can also use the postscript to compliment the reader. People love to be loved.

The reading progression noted above might be altered if the prospect notices something interesting while dropping down from the salutation to the signature. That something interesting might be a subhead promising a specific benefit or any body copy that you highlighted.

Copyright 2007 by Galen Stilson

Who Was That Masked Man?

The Lone Ranger didn't want people to know his name ... but you do.

If you run an ad that has a coupon or certificate that the prospect is to cut out and bring with him, be sure to print your contact information and the offer inside AND outside the coupon or certificate.

If you only print your contact/offer info on the inside of the coupon or certificate, you're limited to a single respondent. Once someone removes it, the ad identification is gone. If someone else ends up reading that magazine or newspaper, they won't have any idea who you are or how to contact you.

If you don't print your offer and contact info inside and outside of the coupon/certificate, who knows, you may end up missing out on the full restorative case worth $20,000 or more.

Copyright 2007 by Galen Stilson

Stay Out Of The Gutter ...

If at all possible, avoid the gutter of newspapers and magazines when running display ads.

Numerous studies have shown that ads located in the gutter of a publication get noticed and responded to less (by up to 50% according to one test) than other ad placement locations. Therefore, if you're running fractional ads, especially one column ads, try to get a commitment from the publication that your ad will not adjoin the gutter.

Where is the gutter? It's the innermost column of each page, next to the fold/spine. On even numbered pages it would be the column furthermost to the right. On odd numbered pages it would be the column furthermost to the left.

Your newspaper or magazine rep may not be able to promise a location away from the gutter, but it never hurts to ask.

Copyright 2007 by Galen Stilson

Think Inside Out, Not Outside In

Dentists often view marketing from an outside-in perspective ... you place an ad, send a letter, run a radio spot, mail off a press release, or a patient refers a friend ... and from that outside activity you draw in new patients.

While the outside-in approach is important and helps a practice grow, it's not where your dental marketing should start. Instead, think inside-out.

Dental marketing should start with you and your staff and how you interact with prospects and patients.

It's a nice fantasy to believe that people choose you as their dentist because of your skill and education. We've always been told that if we do something better than someone else we will be rewarded for it. But that really only applies if people are able to readily recognize and understand what *better* is.

Unfortunately, the overwhelming majority of people can't begin to recognize a great dentist from a not-so-good one. To most people a crown is a crown ... regardless of which dentist and lab are responsible for it.

Thus, in people's minds, most dentists are pretty much lumped together ... all capable of providing the dental services needed or wanted without any real difference in quality. So, they choose their dentist primarily on how they like him or her and the staff.

If your practice is not patient-focused, patient-oriented, relationship-centered, that's where you need to start the marketing process.

For more, see: Dental Marketing -- Think Inside Out, Not Outside In

Does Your Ad Stand Out?

To find out ...

Take the ad you have created -- or the ad you intend to use -- and overlay it on the various pages of the newspaper/magazine where you intend to run it. Then ask yourself ...

"Does this stand out?"

"Does it attract the eye?"

If it looks like all the other ads (size, layout, type style, format etc.), make some changes. Be bold. Be different. Be successful.

How can you make it stand out?

Here are a few tips ...

Copyright 2007 by Galen Stilson