Two Types Of Dental Marketing Ads ...

There are two basic types of dental marketing print ads ... the presentation ad and the response ad.

PRESENTATION AD: The presentation ad simply presents you to the reader with basic information.

This is who I am.

This is what I do.

This is my address.

This is my phone number.

These are the dental services I offer.

The design of presentation ads can be starkly simple or regally elegant.

The primary purpose of the presentation ad is to get and keep your name in front of your prospects. If you consistently run this type of ad, it will build name recognition and, ideally, lead to a call from a prospect when that prospect is in need of a dentist. It is unlikely to produce an immediate response unless that prospect is actively looking for a dentist at the time he or she sees the ad.

RESPONSE AD: The response ad, conversely, is written and designed with the express purpose of producing an immediate response ... a phone call to make an appointment.

It too can lead to name recognition, if run consistently, but it's primary purpose is to generate new patient appointments ... now. Unlike the presentation ad, the response ad goes beyond the basics and utilizes a variety of tactics and techniques designed to assist the prospect in recognizing a dental need or want NOW ... and then persuading him to call to set up an appointment with you NOW.

Which type of ad should you use?

Obviously, as a direct response copywriter and consultant, I'm going to favor the response ad. There are a number of reasons for this beyond just immediate response, but I'll cover those reasons in a different brief.

There are times when the presentation ad makes sense. For example, if your practice is running pretty much at full capacity and you don't want many new patients, simply keeping your name in front of prospects will give you name recognition and the slower influx of new patients that you do need.

Remnant Newspaper Advertising ...

Remnant newspaper advertising (or *standby* as most newspapers call it) can produce ad savings of 50% or more.

What is *standby advertising?*

Probably the easiest way to explain it is to compare it to the well known airline practice of offering standby tickets. People who buy airline standby tickets must be at the airport and ready to board (standing by) in case a seat on the flight they want opens up. If no seats become available, they have to wait for another flight.

It's basically the same with newspaper standby advertising. You must have an ad prepared and ready to run ... waiting (standing by) for unused newspaper ad space to become available. That availability may be because the newspaper didn't sell all of the advertising space allotted ... or because someone pulled their ad at the last minute and a replacement -- at regular rates -- could not be found.

With standby ads you give the newspaper approval to run them when space opens (at a set price and possibly with some restrictions on days to run, etc.). So, when the newspaper faces a deadline with open ad space they can take a pre-approved standby ad and run it. Everyone wins. You get a lower price, the paper gets to fill the ad space and at least make a little money.

You wouldn't want to base your ad strategy on standby ads. It may be weeks or months that they'll just sit ... collecting dust. But, as an adjunct to your normal ad schedule, standby ads make a lot of sense.

Not all newspapers offer standby rates ... and many that do only accept larger ads. To find out if your paper offers them, give the Ad Director of your newspaper a call.

Copyright 2007 by Galen Stilson

Bigger Is Not Always Better ...

At least when it comes to newspaper ad size.

As I've suggested to clients and readers for more than 15 years, the bigger the newspaper ad the more noticeable it becomes ... which usually means more readership. More readership often results in increased response. However, that increase in response very often does not equal or exceed the extra cost of the larger ad. This is particularly true once your ad reaches 1/4 page.

The same is true with running color versus black and white ads. The color will cause more readers to notice your ad and may bump response a little ... but usually not enough to justify the extra cost.

The Poynter Institute recently conducted an eyetrack study that, although not specifically focused on direct response, suggested the same thing.

Copyright 2007 by Galen Stilson

Do You Talk Out Loud To Yourself? You Should ...

Here's a different way to critique you ads and letters ...

Find yourself a recorder and record yourself reading one of your marketing ads or letters. Then play it back and listen carefully. For what should you be listening?

Sentences that are too long (no sentence should require more than one breath) ...
Stumbling blocks to smooth copy flow ...
Confusing words ...
Awkward combination of words or phrases ...
Words that are difficult to pronounce ...
Too much "we" and not enough "you" ...
Possible misconceptions, mis-perceptions and negative connotations.
Anything which could possibly confuse your prospects.

Then ask a friend to read and record the same ad or letter. Listen to his or her recording for a entirely different perspective. Tweak your copy until the message is crystal clear, is persuasive and reads smoothly.

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

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

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

Use Caution When Using Two Colors In Your Promotional Material

If you choose to use two-color (or more) printing for your ad or other marketing material, be sure to use the second color only to highlight a few key points.

Reason: A second color, particularly a bright color like red, attracts the eye like a magnet. Thus, it give you an opportunity to attract a reader to the key selling points (benefits) in your ad. But when you overuse color and try to make too much stand out, you dilute it's value. In fact, I've seen ads where so much of the second color was used that the black stood out as different. The result, the reader's eye was attracted to the less important copy printed in black.

Here's a rule-of-thumb regarding attention-grabbing devices (of which color is one):

The more *things* you try to make look important,
the less important each will be perceived.

So, be selective with what you choose to highlight.

Also as a general rule ... two color ads will increase readership and response when compared to a single color ad, BUT, not usually by enough to justify the extra cost. However, there are other attention-grabbing devices you can use with a single color ad. For example ... bolding, italics, CAPS (BUT USE SPARINGLY BECAUSE ALL CAPS ARE DIFFICULT TO READ), underlining, font type (use with caution because misuse of fonts can be very distracting, which is never a good thing),

Font Size,

white space, centering,

------Tabbing, etc.

White space around copy can really make it stand out. And, of course, you can combine one or more of the attention-grabbing devices ... as I've done above. But, as you can see, when you combine too many it's very distracting. And again, distractions are not a good thing.

Copyright 2007 by Galen Stilson

The Importance Of Clear Communication

It is absolutely imperative that your ad copy be crystal clear to your prospect.

You simply can’t afford to have a prospect questioning what you meant ... or misunderstanding your intent. If prospects don’t precisely understand your copy — and understand it on first reading — the outcome is likely not to be to your liking.

Let me reinforce the importance of clear communication via a quick, little story ...

A hapless hobo comes to the front door of a neat looking country home and raps gently on the door.

Soon, the well-dressed owner of the home -- a dentist -- answers, "Yes, what is it ?"

The hobo begs, "Please, sir, could you give me something to eat? I haven't had a good meal in several days."

The dentist sternly says, "I have made a fortune in my lifetime by providing quality services for people. I've never given anything away for nothing."

"However, if you go around to the back of the house you will see a gallon of gray paint and a clean paint brush. If you will paint my porch back there, I will give you a good meal."

So the hobo gladly agrees and quickly goes around back. Soon afterwards, he again knocks on the door.

The dentist smiles, "Finished already? Good. Come on in. Sit down. Enjoy your meal."

After the hobo finishes a grand meal he turns to the dentist and says, "Thank you very much, sir... By the way, there's something that I think you should know. That's not a Porsche you've got back there. It's a BMW."

As this story points out, sometimes seemingly clear communication ... really isn’t.

Before you ship that ad off to the newspaper (or the direct mail package/brochure to your printer), re-read your copy. Then, have other people read it. Watch them. Do you find them re-reading portions? Do they look confused? When finished, ask them questions to make sure they got out of it precisely what you intended.

Look for every possible instance of potential reader misunderstanding in your copy. Then, correct it. If you don't, you'll be wasting much of your advertising dollar.

Of course, communicating with your staff (and communication between members of your staff) requires the same attention to clear communication details. Miscommunication can create all sorts of unnecessary problems and grief within the practice.

Copyright 2007 by Galen Stilson

Prospective Patients: Quality vs. Quantity

When asked what they would like their advertising to accomplish, most dentists say, "bring in lots of new patients."

But that's not precisely what they mean. The problem with "lots of prospects" (quantity) is that many of them may not be "good" prospects (quality).

How does one distinguish between a good prospect versus a not-so-good one in this context?

A good (quality) prospect is someone who ...

... has a self-identifiable dental problem, and,
... is looking for a solution to that problem, and,
... has the money to pay for the solution to the problem.

A not-so-good prospect is someone who ...

... doesn't have the money to afford quality dental care, and/or,
... is only looking for the cheap solution, and/or,
... is only looking for information.

This obviously doesn't tell the entire story of who are, and are not, good prospects and patients. But for the purpose of creating successful dental response advertising, the above definition will work just fine.

The question is, how can you create your advertising so that mostly quality patients respond?

Here's a general rule of thumb: The more generalized your message and the more you feature (or infer) low-price, the higher the number of prospects who will likely respond ... and the lower the overall quality of those prospects. (Of course, if your practice is geared towards lower income patients, this approach makes sense.)

Conversely, the more specific your ad message, without the inference or perception of bargain-basement pricing ... the fewer the responses, but the higher the quality of prospect.

Full article: New Patient Quality vs. Quantity

Copyright 2007 by Galen Stilson

Advertorials Usually Increase Ad Readership

What is an advertorial?

It is an advertisement written in an editorial format with an editorial style.

Previous studies have shown that readership of editorial material is five times greater than readership of advertising (that's probably on the low side today). But will increased general readership translate into increased response for your ad?

The only way to know for certain is to test.

According to David Olgilvy, editorial style ads boost readership by about 50% over standard-looking ads. And a few years ago in a true A/B split run test in Reader's Digest, an editorial style ad boosted response by 80% over the standard ad layout.

Worth a test? Absolutely.

Copyright 2007 by Galen Stilson

Embrace & Massage Those First Fifty

Research has shown that readership falls off dramatically during the first fifty words of an advertisement. However, from words 51 to 500, readership falls very little.

What does that mean for you?

It means you need to spend far more time tweaking those first fifty words of your dental ad to ensure that they are likely to capture the attention/imagination of the reader, build interest, and virtual compel the reader to read on. Of course, if you simply run minimal copy image ads, this doesn't apply.

When it comes to ad copy, the headline is most important ... but the first fifty words aren't far behind. Embrace them. Massage them. And you're likely to get more of the response you want.

Copyright 2007 by Galen Stilson

Nix The Negative

It's virtually always more response-effective to build your marketing message around positive benefit appeals than to focus primarily on the negative ... fear.

For example, the ad headline ... "Untreated Gum Disease Can Kill You!" ... is a negative approach, using fear to try to persuade prospects to take action. It very often causes mental discomfort for the reader which may cause him to avoid thinking about it. Or s/he might remember the "Kill You" part of the headline in association with your name and forget the "Gum Disease" part.

The headline ... "Eliminate Your Gum Disease ... Feel Better, Live Longer." ... is a positive benefits approach to the same problem.

If you're disappointed with the response to your ads, direct mail, radio spots, etc., analyze carefully to see if you're using a more negative, rather than positive, message. If so, try the positive approach.

Does positive always outpull negative? Not always ... but typically it does (probably 9 out of ten times).

Copyright 2007 by Galen Stilson

Use Photos, Not Illustrations

Whenever possible choose to use a photo rather than an illustration in your marketing/advertising material.

Why?

Because study after study shows that photos sell better than illustrations (except in those situations where photos either can't clearly detail what you're trying to visually communicate or where photos could create anxiety ... like how implants are placed.

In one test of photo versus illustration, the photo ad increased response by 300%.

Copyright 2007 by Galen Stilson

There's A Fine Line Between *Disguise* and *Deceit*

When you play the *disguise* game with your direct mail, you risk crossing the line into *deceit* territory. And it's a fine line.

Recognizing the difference is often a real problem.

Why?

Because you're playing on the recipient's home field ... and he's doing the officiating. And if he perceives it to be deceitful, then you get penalized and sent to the penalty box (the wastebasket) ... even if instant replay clearly shows that your intent was not truly deceitful.

It's true that I'm playing semantics. Let's face it, to disguise is to deceive. One disguises in order to hide ... to conceal ... to deceive.

Please
Remember
This ...

In marketing, what's real in our prospect's mind is what's real. Even if, in reality, it isn't. And in the mind of most prospects, there's a difference between *disguise* and *deceit.* A little *disguise* is usually acceptable. A little *deceit* isn't.

So, if you're thinking about concealing the true contents of your direct mail by dressing up the envelope in an IRS look-alike costume or a phony-check-inside mask, or any other disguise ... remember that it might be perceived by some as just a disguise, but by others as deceitful (even if you intended it "just as a disguise").

Think about it.

And then decide that disguise in any form is not only risky ... it's also dishonest.

My recommendation: Don't disguise or deceive. Always be truthful when creating your marketing/advertising ... just be sure to make that truth sing a happy and benefit-filled song.

Copyright 2007 by Galen Stilson

Which Day(s) Should You Run Your Newspaper Ads?

Run newspaper ads on days when your office is open and your staff is available to answer the phone.

Responding to direct response dental ads is very often a spontaneous, emotional reaction that has a short sense-of-urgency lifespan. The longer the prospect has to wait to act on that emotion, the more likely it is that the emotion and urgency will fade. As emotion and urgency fade, so does the likelihood that the prospect will call to make an appointment.

If you have office hours on M-Th, then those are the days that make the most sense ... with Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday usually working best. Friday and Saturday are the least likely to produce because there is a two-to-three day lapse before the prospect can reach you. Remember ... time lapse equals loss of emotion and urgency.

Sunday -- because of increased circulation, high readership, and just a one day time lapse -- is worth testing.

Copyright 2007 by Galen Stilson

More Headline Humor ...

As I mentioned in an earlier blog, headlines are critically important to the success or failure of your ads. Therefore, they demand more of your creative time to make sure you get them just right, unlike the the authors of these article headlines ...

• Juvenile Court To Try Shooting Defendant
• Two Sisters Reunited After 18 Years In Checkout Counter
• Never Withhold Herpes Infection From Loved One
• If Strike Isn't Settled Quickly, It May Last A While
• Cold Wave Linked To Temperature
• Typhoon Rips Through Cemetery; Hundreds Dead
• Kids Make Nutritious Snacks
• Hospital Sued By 7 Foot Doctors
• Local High School Dropouts Cut In Half
• Ban On Soliciting Dead In Trotwood
• Red Tape Holds Up New Bridges

The red tape must be duct tape. Duct tape will hold anything.

Copyright 2007 by Galen Stilson

Say What? ...

You work and work and work to make sure your marketing copy is easy to understand ... to where it won't be confusing and can't be misunderstood. But, never fear, there will be people out there who will still not get it.

From the files of the California driving exams archive, here are actual answers given to standard questions:

Q. What is the difference between a flashing red traffic light and a flashing yellow traffic light?
A. The color.

Q. What changes would occur in your lifestyle if you could no longer drive lawfully?
A. I would be forced to drive unlawfully.

Q. When driving through fog, what should you use?
A. A car.

Q. Do you yield when a blind pedestrian is crossing the road?
A. What for? He can't see my license plate.

Story moral: Do your best to make your copy as crystal clear as possible ... and accept the fact that there will still be some people who will still be baffled by it.

Copyright 2007 by Galen Stilson

Headline Importance and Humor ...

The headline is the single most important copy component of any print ad. It, by itself, can make the difference between the success or failure of an ad.

Although the following headlines are taken mostly from article headlines and not ad headlines, they clearly illustrate the importance of carefully wording your headlines ... and saying precisely what you mean.

• Police Begin Campaign To Run Down Jaywalkers
• Drunk Gets Nine Months In Violin Case
• Iraqi Head Seeks Arms
• Panda Mating Fails, Veterinarian Takes Over
• Eye Drops Off Shelf
• Teachers Strike Idle Kids
• Enraged Cow Injures Farmer With Ax
• Miners Refuse To Work After Death

Personally, I'm with the miners.

Copyright 2007 by Galen Stilson