How to Make Sure You Use the Right Media!

Strategic Messaging and Tactical Implementation in a Nut Shell

Your strategic marketing plan is a carefully crafted message that presents your skill and your practice in such a way as to make prospects eager to schedule with you. Your tactical marketing plan is the implementation and delivery of that strategic message using the correct media.  Get either one of them wrong and you’re going to bomb!

Your Advertising Dollars Are The Most Important Investment You Can Make In Your Practice.  If You don’t Believe That Then Quit Now, and Save Your Money!
 
“But you don’t understand, I have the most expensive, and up to date equipment money can buy. I have a very expensive education and years of experience to back it up. How can my ad expense possibly be more important?”  Well sir (or madam), the hundreds of thousands of dollars in equipment and those hard earned certificates plastered all over your office are totally worthless! Unless...you have enough LASIK patients to generate respectable profit.

Your friends and relatives possess a limited number of eyeballs. Even if you did LASIK on them all, you couldn’t make enough to pay your janitor, much less yourself.  You must tell other folks about your service and thus, we have the necessity to advertise. You cannot sustain or grow your LASIK practice until you have created and implemented an effective marketing plan that includes every aspect of your practice.  However, you can have a killer marketing plan and still fail miserably if you don’t carefully choose and place your media.

The Basics

Advertising media fall into four major groups: Print, broadcast, signage, and digital. Within each category you have a variety of media formats ranging from highly targeted vehicles that reach very specific audiences to vehicles that have a very broad reach and will touch massive audiences.  

Primary considerations when making your media selections need to be; choose vehicles that will hit your targeted demographic, the reach you desire, production costs, placement costs, timing, and R.O.I.

Rules Of Thumb When Planning Your Tactical Media Buys

• “Reach” creates awareness – size of audience
• “Frequency” generates responses – people generally have to see or hear an ad 5 or 6 times before they will act.
• Cost effective advertising can usually be attained by concentrating your ad placements within a few specific media.  Your reach will be smaller, but you can increase frequency which will produce responses.
• Ad schedules and timing should consider seasonal, community events, and cultural issues.
• Decide whether to use a blitz campaign – to achieve immediate and massive awareness, a “blinker”- which will re-kindle interest on an intermittent basis, or a lower impact continual running schedule for consistent messaging and branding.

Who and Where Is Your Target Market?

We all know that your best LASIK prospects are mid to upper income folks who wear glasses or contacts and are between the ages of 28 and 55, right? Okay, so what media are theses guys seeing, and of those choices, which would be the most effective ways to get your message out?

Media sales people refer to their “reach” and “cost per thousand.” Your job is to sift through their supporting data, locate your demographic, and create a targeted and efficient tactical plan that virtually eliminates ad dollars being dumped on audiences that could not or would not use your services.

Return….On Investment!

Two critical elements of any serious marketing strategy;

• Track your results – determines successful R.O.I.
• Test, Test, Test! Try variations in your message and new angles with your media placement – always be on the hunt to improve your R.O.I.
  

Hopefully, you believe as we do, that nothing happens – nobody gets paid - until your marketing returns measurable and profitable results. There is no other element in the expansion of your LASIK practice that is more important than your strategic and tactical marketing plan.

Gambling With Your Ad Dollars Will Jeopardize The Future Of Your Practice – Don’t Do It!

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