Use Marketing Collaterals to Help Consumers AND Make The Sale

It’s not at all unusual for an astute consumer to make an initial foray to your retail outlet. These prospects aren’t ready to be tested. They don’t want to look at product options. They’re after a few simple facts on their reconnaissance mission:

 

• Are you the right professional?

 

• What does a hearing aid cost?

 

• What are my product options?

 

• What do I need to know to make my own decision?

 

I like these buyers. They educate themselves, they do their homework and they know what they want and need. So, when these first-timers walk in to one of my stores, I determine quickly what these shoppers want: information. Information on:

 

• services

 

• costs

 

• options

 

• benefits

 

• professionalism

 

So, I don’t spend a lot of time educating these prospects. Instead, I provide information in print form – everything from sell sheets to product literature to a tri-fold brochure that covers our service offerings, product lines, contact information and directions to the store.

 

Using marketing collaterals – take-aways – keeps your business’ name before the prospect. You provide the literature and impartial information required to make an informed decision. You provide easy, postage paid return cards to arrange an appointment for a complete hearing evaluation.

 Know What Your Customers Need to Know

Sell Sheets

These are designed to provide accurate, impartial information. No hype or hard sell. In fact, the only commercial reference on a sell sheet is your store’s name and contact information.

 

So, for example, you might print up a sell sheet on what a first-time buyer should consider before purchase, or maybe write up a 20-page consumers’ guide on the hearing aid purchase cycle – from initial contact to on-going aftercare.

 

Sell sheets should be printed on lacquered paper, professionally written and accurate without any hard sell. If writing and graphics aren’t part of your skill set, visit hearingtutor.com for low-cost, license-free downloads that you can take to the local office store and print up and give away. As many as you’d like.

 

Direct Mail

Two critical parts to a successful direct marketing campaign: (1) the quality of the mailing list and (2) the quality of the mailer.

 

You can purchase mailing lists of individuals who’ve opted in on the web for information on hearing aids or you can do a direct e-mail blast of every resident over 60-years of age within a 30 mile radius of your zip code – much more cost effective.

 

BTW, in difficult economic times list brokers (there are a ton of them) are hurting. So, in your initial conversation with a list broker you may be quoted a price of five cents a name. Negotiate. That information is worthless unless someone is willing to pay money for it and that’s you. Chances are, you can negotiate down to 3.5 cents per name.

 

Also, seed your mailing list with known recipients – yourself. Add your name and your brother-in-law’s name to the mailing list just to make sure that the mail is, indeed, getting through.

 

Newspaper Advertisements

Though newspaper circulation continues to dwindle, it’s still a great resource for reaching local populations – especially older senior populations who still subscribe to the morning news to read over coffee. Wouldn’t be a morning without it.

 

Newspaper and other periodical advertising are opportunistic. The same reader can see your advert for years and not react because s/he didn’t experience hearing loss – until a few months ago! So today, your store’s advertisement is an opportunity to drive that reader to visit your store.

 

Use coupon advertising in local newspaper placements to capture the attention of those seeking aftercare and first timers.

 

Card Decks and Co-op Advertising

I don’t recommend card deck mailers (bundles of post cards) or any kind of cooperative advertising. I just don’t think you get enough bang for your marketing dollar when your card is one of 50 in a shrink-wrapped deck or a square column inch in the  “OUR LOCAL MERCHANTS” section of the newspaper.

 

These may seem like low-cost alternatives to the expense of your own direct mail campaign but you get what you pay for.

 

Letter Campaigns

Perhaps the most productive of all direct mail campaigns.

 

A letter campaign is simply a follow-up letter sent after some other form of introduction. These aren’t hard sell. They’re soft sell reminders of that round of golf or that get-together last month at your mutual service organization.

 

These letters should be printed out on high-quality stationery with your company letterhead and matching envelops. They should be addressed directly to the recipient: Dear Bob, Dear Ms. Smith, Good day, Dr. Jones.

 

Either purchase the highest quality print paper you can or have these letters printed up at the local office big box store. This contact should stress your: (1) desire to assist and (2) a short listing of beneficial services, specifically targeted at the reader if possible.

 

Indeed, the W3 has changed the way hearing aid practitioners market products and services. But, it’s the print materials that prospects use to actually make that buying decision.

 

So provide print collaterals – sell sheets, product brochures, consumer tips – your counter tops should be covered with neat stacks of this promotional information, customized with your business name and contact information.

 

Remember, some buyers are methodical in their decision-making processes. Simply provide them with the best information in the most personal format, demonstrate your professionalism in the quality of the content and its look and feel, and help more prospects become customers.

 

Customers enjoying a better quality of life.  

John M. Adams III

jma3@hearing tutor.com