With all the talk about web-based advertising, personalized search and local search, there are lots of independent hearing aid practitioners rushing to build a web site ASAP, hoping to beat the competition and make a little of that web cash.
But before you hire a pricy web site designer and smooth talking web writer, take a look at your marketing efforts as a whole. If you put all of your marketing dollars into a glitzy, optimized web site and that web site doesn’t pull as promised, you may be out of business (though still have a great looking web site).
The Problem With Print Advertising
Print ads have always been the staple for the independent hearing aid specialist. Daily ads in the local paper were a given and a quarter page ad in the telephone book more than paid for itself, even though the monthly bill to the phone company was lethal!
Things have changed. My morning newspaper is about the size of a pamphlet. And most of the coverage is local sports and stories taken from the newswires – the same stories you read the day BEFORE on AOL or Yahoo!. There’s no way a newspaper can compete when it comes to timeliness of news delivery. None!
That’s why so many newspapers are going under. Magazines, too. People just don’t read magazines like they used to. Special interest magazines are still popular so, if you’re in to fishing you might get a fishing magazine each month, but the subscription figures for print journalism tell a bleak story.
Limited Options = Unlimited Opportunities
Even so, there are plenty of people who wouldn’t give up their morning paper over coffee for love nor money. And there are still people who prefer to read a magazine than listen to the tales of woe on the news each day – 24-7.
So, to cross print adverts off your marketing list would be a mistake. Heck, I know people who don’t even own a computer. Never will. They don’t Twitter, Plurk and they wouldn’t know a blog if one came and sat in their lap. These are people who grew up with print media and that’s the media with which they’re comfortable.
So, you have a captive audience in print. The people who subscribe to the local daily are avid, dedicated and interested folks – the exact kind of folks you’re trying to reach. So, before you eliminate that ad in the local paper, call your ad manager and see if you can negotiate a better deal. You give something (a longer commitment) and the paper gives something (a lower per-insertion cost). Win-win. Oh, and you’ll be surprised at how eager the local marketing rep at the newspaper is to negotiate. Some of these old time newspapers are slashing cost-per-column inch just to stay afloat.
The number of people reading newspapers and periodicals is shrinking, there’s no doubt about that. But, the people who still take a subscription to the newspaper and Time magazine are the sweet spot of your market.
Aim for it.
The Yellow Pages
This one is a little tougher, but still a no-brainer. You have to have a presence in the yellow pages but, in this case, there’s not much room for negotiating. Even though there are competing telephone book publishers, yellow pages advertising is expensive. So, a couple of tips.
First, go with the edition that best targets your service area. Some companies publish regional directories that cover a couple hundred square miles. It’s not likely that an advert in a regional yellow pages is going to pull prospects from 50 miles away. There are closer providers.
Second, focus locally. There are publishers that publish phone books by community – each community gets its own phone book, just like the old days. Because these directories cover a smaller area the ad prices are lower. And because these phone booklets are targeted by town/zip code, you are nailing your service area. Funny. People tend to keep these local phone books because it’s a lot easier to find a service provider in town than to drive half way across the county for a hearing evaluation.
Marketing Integration
One final and critical point. Integrate your on-site and real world marketing so one plays off the other and vice-versa.
Be sure to include your web site address (URL) in all of your print ads – in BIG TYPE. The curious will check out your web site for additional information – like a printable map, perhaps, to pay your store a visit.
Your print advertising can and should direct readers to your web site. But it should also stand alone for those readers who don’t own a computer and still use the ol’ rotary dial telephone.
They’re out there. And they’re reading the morning paper and skimming the yellow pages looking for a store just like the one you own.
John M. Adams III
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