WHICH HALF OF THE AD DOLLARS ARE
GOING DOWN THE DRAIN?
Once upon a time, the legendary department store
magnate John Wanamaker is reputed to have said,
"Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted.
The trouble is, I don't know which half."
A century and a half later, it seems that nobody is
any closer to figuring out how to solve that dilemma--
but they're bound and determined to try.
Which, by itself, is OK. The motivation is honorable.
What's not OK is many of them are bound and
determined to kill advertising that might be working
by using flawed methods.
YOU MAY RECOGNIZE THIS AS ONE OF MY
RECURRING PET PEEVES
There's nothing quite as pointless and potentially
damaging as the ongoing attempt to intellectually
justify the imperfect art of advertising with the exact
science of accounting.
Honey and I recently had a long conversation with
a medical client's call center. We wanted to find out
what they were asking callers and how they were
asking it.
We got on the phone with the guy who runs the
call center. Using Citrix GoToMeeting, he ran us
through everything that happens when a call comes
in.
By all indicators, this call center is about as together
as you could possibly want. The guy was sharp, he
was ready with answers, and he was completely
transparent--no "proprietary secrets." Liked him a lot.
Loved his operation.
Except for one troubling detail.
One of the first things the call center operator asks is,
"How did you hear about us?"
ASKING THAT QUESTION IS LIKE LOBBING A
STINK BOMB INTO THE PUNCH BOWL
This call center specializes in taking calls from
prospective medical patients.
Why on earth would you make your first question to
someone who's calling with a medical problem, "Would
you please help me source my advertising for me?"
It's irrelevant at best.
It's insulting at worst.
And it's destined to destroy the client's advertising when
used as empirical evidence of advertising effectiveness.
(Be sure: there are doctors out there doing exactly this.)
It's proven time and again that people don't know where
or how they've come across someone's advertising.
Example: you can sing the Roto Rooter jingle.
Do you have ANY idea how you heard it? What station?
When? Have you even heard it any time during the last
20 years?
That's not going to stop you from calling Roto-Rooter
when you need your drain unclogged.
And that's how effective advertising works.
Effective advertising is not a game where you have one
shot to hit a moving target.
If you expect your advertising message to intersect with
a prospect's need on the first try, you might as well
adopt Lotto as a business strategy.
Effective advertisers put it out there repeatedly and wait
patiently.
EFFECTIVE ADVERTISING INVADES THE
PROSPECT'S PSYCHE UNTIL THE PROSPECT
DECIDES IT'S TIME TO CALL
Nine times out of 10, the prospect has NO IDEA how
they found the advertiser's business.
But here's a call center who's asking the question as
if it's somehow going to solve something for the
advertiser--and letting the advertiser believe it proves
something.
Talk about ultimately shooting yourself in the foot.
If you cater to a small-minded bean counter mentality
with an imperfect tool, here's the net result: the small-
minded bean counter eventually uses the flawed data
from that imperfect tool to make important decisions--
like canceling advertising that's "not working."
They don't KNOW it's not working.
They just know they have data--which they don't
understand is flawed--and they're going to use it to
pull some of the advertising.
And what happens if they ultimately decide none of
the advertising is working well enough and decide
to use different methods?
They cancel the call center.
HOW DO YOU KEEP CLIENTS BY PROVING
TO THEM THEIR ADVERTISING DOESN'T
WORK?
And how do you ignore the wholly inappropriate nature
of immediately using the prospective patient as a
marketing tool?
This person has a medical problem.
They're calling about potentially life-changing,
potentially dangerous surgery.
The entire focus should be on that prospect--not
on the client's marketing.
Making that call to the doctor has meant a grand
leap of faith for that prospect.
EVERYTHING in the conversation should be about
making that prospective patient feel comfortable and
make them glad they called.
How do you expect to do that by making the first
question you ask them about your advertising?
The worst-case scenario for the advertiser is that
they destroy what little trust the prospect already has,
and the prospect goes elsewhere.
And frankly, who could blame them?
Any business requires a culture of servitude to attain
greatness.
Doctors especially have a duty to serve.
It's right there in the Hippocratic Oath. It's all about
serving ethically and safely. There's no oath to
Asclepius and Hygieia about making sure those in
your care source your advertising leads for you.
GREATNESS REQUIRES ABANDONING
FEAR-BASED TACTICS
In this case, the fear is, "I won't know my advertising
is working."
Honey put voice to the perfect alternative tactic. (She's
much smarter than I am.) She suggested, "Once the
patient is cured and happy, ask them: who may we
thank for sending you to us?"
John Wanamaker knew greatness, and he achieved
it--all while "wasting" half of his advertising dollars.
Nobody ever achieved greatness through fear-based
tactics, or by substituting the counting of beans for
having faith and going with their gut.
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