Marketing-like medicine-is part science and part art. Because marketing attempts to influence human behavior, it is possible to do everything "right" and get an unexpected outcome. Successful marketing builds a solid base of evidence-statistics, studies, research, trend analysis and industry best practices--along with competent execution to yield good results.
This article won't use the term "evidence-based" quite the same way as in the medical world; however, it is possible to employ the fruits of research, observation and experience to develop marketing approaches that create consistently good outcomes.
Here are five ways to use solid marketing information to increase your professional visibility, enhance your professional reputation and attract new clients.
#1-Start with good information. It is difficult to separate fact from fiction when it comes to marketing. Everyone has a theory about how it works, and everyone has a story about something that happened to a friend of theirs. You wouldn't make a diagnosis on the basis of that kind of information, and you shouldn't make marketing decisions based on hear-say either.
Good marketing information can be found from many credible sources. The Business Marketing Association (BMA), the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) and many other professional groups publish industry studies, detailed white papers and research that deal with marketing trends and outcomes in specific industries. These materials are expensive and often require group membership, but they are among the most complete, most unbiased and most detailed studies available.
#2-Get a baseline. To know whether you have improved, you must know where you started. If your goal is to increase your professional visibility, keep a record for one month of how often your practice is mentioned in the local press or how frequently your name or your practice's name shows up in Internet search rankings or in speaking/writing requests on your area of expertise. Or, if you want to increase your customer's knowledge about a specific service or product, start with a survey to find out what the customer knows (or doesn't know) before you begin marketing. A baseline gives you a point of comparison to see how much you are improving.
#3-Set realistic expectations. You wouldn't expect one night of brushing and flossing to completely cure periodontal disease. One dosage of medicine won't control a chronic disease, nor will one day's diet result in reaching goal weight. It is surprising to find how many people, however, expect one advertisement, one press release or one burst of marketing effort to "cure" the effects of years of marketing silence.
Marketing is more like medicine in this respect than you might suppose. While rapid and amazing results do sometimes occur, they are rare. In medicine, good outcomes result from adherence to a planned course of treatment over time, and creating healthier habits pays off in better health. So it is with marketing. It is wonderful (and rare) when a single action results in a dramatic positive increase in visibility. Successful marketing is the result of sticking with a course of planned action even when initial results are not immediately apparent.
Marketing-like medicine-takes time to work. Newspapers or magazines may have their editorial calendars booked solid for months, meaning that your article or news release will have to wait to be published. Your target audience may not feel an immediate need for your services, and therefore may not perceive themselves to be in the market. Patience, persistence and consistency eventually pay off. While it is true that most marketing plans do need some tweaks over time to adapt to changes in the organization and the environment, lurching from one approach to another on a weekly or monthly basis is a sure prescription for failure.
#4-Get an expert opinion. Credentials matter. Every medical professional has known the frustration of "armchair physicians" who-without benefit of a degree or license-proceed to diagnose their children, friends and relatives. Unqualified advice can be dangerous-even deadly.
While the stakes are not usually life-threatening in marketing, significant amounts of money and irreplaceable blocks of time can be wasted by following unqualified advice. Marketing is a profession, and you have a right to expect your marketing advisor to be properly credentialed. This can include: holding a graduate or undergraduate degree in marketing or a closely related specialty; having an M.B.A. to provide a sophisticated business perspective; and having experience working with physicians, hospitals and medical personnel. Unless your next-door neighbor, golfing buddy or best friend is qualified to give marketing advice, view their helpful tips with the same skepticism with which you would consider their opinion of prescription medications or diagnostic techniques.
Resist the urge to skimp or to rely on volunteers. Follow up expert advice and strategy with expert execution to write, design and produce materials that convey the professional and credible appearance you desire and deserve.
#5-Results require reimbursement. Good marketing isn't free. Expert advice, quality writing, solid strategies, and the creation and execution of professional-caliber surveys, advertisements, brochures, web sites and newsletters require thoughtful budgeting. The recommended ideal marketing budget is five to six percent of revenues, but it is possible to get started on much less.
Evidence-based marketing works. When you combine solid information with a valid baseline, realistic expectations, expert assistance and a workable budget, your plan for heightened personal, professional or practice visibility will produce results.
Gail Z. Martin owns DreamSpinner Communications and helps professionals, companies and nonprofit organizations in the U.S. and Canada tell the Real Story of their business through exceptional writing and marketing. Through her teleseminars and Webinars, Gail helps professionals and business owners create authentic, differentiated marketing that really works. Gail has an MBA in marketing and over 20 years of corporate and nonprofit experience at senior executive levels. She is also the author of The Summoner, a fantasy adventure novel. For more information, visit
www.DreamSpinnerCommunications.com or email
Gail@DreamSpinnerCommunications.com.