Avoid Direct Marketing Mistakes

Avoid Direct Marketing Mistakes


• Promotional flyers and coupons are growing in usage, and have been increasingly popular with the public for more than a century

– On the plus-side, done right, they often work well in the healthcare marketing mix, but it's easy to make mistakes

– Here are some of the classic mistakes to avoid and how to make the humble coupon into a revenue-producing annuity


• Q. Want to clear a room full of doctors quickly? • A. Tell them you are going to put their faces on

coupons (or billboards) – To a large extent, they'd be right to leave the room – Coupons aren't right for everyone

• However, a secret few doctors will tell you is that coupons can work extremely well for retail, consumer direct services – What's more, we often advertise the business or service,

not the doctor – Advertising Coupons and Flyers have been around since

C.W. Post first included a penny-off voucher with Grape-nuts cereal, and a druggist used handwritten notes offering a free sample of his new product, Coca-Cola


• Safe to say...both products have done reasonably well in the hundred-plus years since – And the humble coupon—which is rarely handwritten these days—

remains one of the most effective forms of direct response advertising

• Coupons and flyers (as well as many other forms of direct mail) are a serious option for some healthcare marketing plans – Valpak, Valassis, PennySaver, Clipper Magazine, and Money Mailer are

among the familiar names – You can also run inserts in the local newspaper – The cost is affordable, because printing and mailing is often shared

among several advertisers – Most mailing service companies know how to closely target audience

groups, usually by neighborhood or ZIP Code • Plus, it's easy to test, track and measure results

– What's more, coupons usage is up as consumers are increasingly concerned about value and well-considered spending


• While they aren't for everyone, coupons and flyers can be highly effective if used in smart ways – For example, sometimes we'll advise a plastic surgeon to open a small

medi-spa, and then promote non-scary services via a coupon – The idea is not so much to generate revenue from medi-spa services,

but build a low cost, long-term feeder for surgeries – Thus, patients will take "baby steps" into the practice for something

non-threatening like Botox, but while they are there ask about liposuction

• So coupons can work, but only if they're done right – The down-side is...it's easy to make mistakes – To help keep you out of trouble, here are some of the classic

problems that traditionally transform coupons from marketing high-flyers into a muddled mess (And what to do instead)


• Don’t Go for everyone, everywhere – The distribution list that you select can make or break your

results, and casting an indiscriminate wide net is the wrong approach

– At least 40% of the success in direct mail advertising is connected to the list used

– Carefully and precisely define your target audience by ZIP Code, demographics, buying patterns—right down to the neighborhood or side of the street

– It doesn't make sense, for example, to include apartment/rental districts if you want to reach up-scale homeowners

– Targeting "everyone" reaches no one


• Don’t Use a weak offer (or no offer)

– Another sure-to-bomb approach is to neglect the offer

– Chalk-up a further 40% of your success rate (or failure risk) to the offer you present

– The offer is the engine of flyers and coupons, so make it attention-getting, compelling and irresistible

– Anything less is guaranteed fruitless time, effort, and results


• Don’t make the design really pretty; something that only appeals to you – If you've done the math, the missing 20% of

effectiveness (in addition to LIST and OFFER) is in the 'creative'

– But don't confuse "pretty" with what's effective – More over, you are not the target audience, so what

appeals to you may not be effective with the target audience

– By the way, this is a toughie, so ask for our help with a critique


• Don’t exhaustively list everything you do

– A full range of services is good to have, but keep your message tightly connected to the specific offer and focused on the target audience

– There's not much space on a coupon, and an individual's needs are individual

– Save the secondary and tertiary capabilities for the first office visit (or a separate coupon)


• Don’t use your name or profession as the headline

– With due respect, friends and relatives already know your name, but prospective patients or clients want an answer to a problem

– Provide a benefit-laden headline about a precise need for a target audience

– It's not "all about you," it's all about what the patient/audience can get (Solve their problem)


• Don’t Do it once, don't test, and quit early

– Direct mail has a lot of moving parts, but they are easy to test—change headline, change offer, change list sources

– If something works, do more

– Otherwise stop and adjust

– It's a process that tells you what works best, and shapes a formula for repeatable success


• Don’t do exactly what the competition is doing

– First, odds are that the competition may be making mistakes

– The bigger mistake, however, is that copy-cat efforts are exactly opposite of differentiating yourself from the competition

– And worse...you've taken your eyes off the all-important target audience

– Speak clearly to them; don't be an echo


• Don’t let your gut tell you how well it's working – Your guts are probably wonderful, but they can't

beat diligent tracking and calculating a true Return-on-Investment

– When you rely only on your emotions as a measure of effectiveness—good or bad—you're probably wrong

– The nature of flyers and coupons makes it easy to do the math


• The primary objective of direct response advertising is to get the attention of a defined and desired target audience, and to inspire an immediate response

• It sounds easier than it is

Fred J. Tyson

239-201-9587

[email protected]

Avoid Direct Marketing Mistakes

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