Radio continues to be one of the most effective mediums. The greatest thing about radio is that it is inexpensive, creates an impact and is effective. You can also reach a large number of people (reach), many times (frequency), in a very cost-efficient manner.

Reach + Frequency = Success

Choosing a station

First, find your core demographic. Usually you'll target 25- to 49-year-old adults for LASIK and 55+ for cataracts.

For LASIK stations, I'll usually pick a Top 40 station, a classic rock station, a sports talk station and a country station. For cataracts, I'll usually pick AM talk and an oldies station.

After choosing the stations, stick with them for a minimum of 3 months. If you feel that you're getting a great return on investment (ROI), then you may choose to spend more money on the station. If you're getting a poor return, you'll need to analyze your choice of stations or your marketing message. For the sake of this discussion, let's say your message isn't the problem. If you are not getting the results you want after 3 months and are losing money, simply move to another station.

Competition

Be a trailblazer. Unless you have the budget to do so, try advertising on a station where your competitors aren't. Otherwise you'll be fighting for market share. This might be a challenge in larger and more saturated markets.

Psychographics

Psychographics is a word relating to the personality, interests, values, attitudes and lifestyle of a consumer. If you run your commercial on a country station, focus your message on the psychographics of that audience. Keep in touch with family values and traditional lifestyles. If you're running on a Top 40 station, focus your message toward active lifestyles that drive a younger audience.

Placement

Most people are in their cars in the mornings and late afternoons going to and from work. These time slots are called drive time. Morning drive is usually 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. Afternoon drive is 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. Stick with a Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday lineup. If you want to throw in an extra time slot, try Friday 7 p.m. to 10 p.m., when families are going out to dinner.

If the cost of a 60-second ad is $200, then a 30-second ad will probably cost 30% to 50% less, which is the direction I'd recommend. A 30-second ad increases frequency and lowers your cost per thousand impressions.

The law of diminishing returns

If you're on a station and getting a 4-to-1 ROI, and you spend even more money, you won't necessarily continue with the same strong ROI. Eventually your ROI will diminish because many listeners have heard of your practice and services several times throughout the year. Also, many of these listeners will have taken advantage of your services.

Creating your message

Your message is far more important that the placement of your media. Here are some ideas that I recommend.

The five items every LASIK message should contain

1. An attention-grabbing opening

2. Benefits of the service ("Wake up and see your alarm clock.")

3. Difference between you and your competitors ("Free pair of designer sunglasses with surgery.")

4. Call to action ("Call us today for a free consultation and 0% financing for 24 months.")

5. Contact info ("Call 555-5555 or visit us at www.acme-eye-care.com.")

I recommend not discounting your services (ie, "$999 LASIK"); however, I do recommend offering a call to action. On the more aggressive end of the spectrum, this would be, "For a limited-time, save $1,000 on LASIK, and we'll even finance your procedure, interest free for 2 full years. Schedule your free consultation by calling ... ."

The five items every cataract message should contain

1. Signs of cataracts

2. Procedure is fast and effective with no stitches (for clear cornea)

3. Premium lens offer

4. Call to action

5. Contact info

"Are you over 65? Have you had changes in your vision? Do you have difficulty driving at night? You might have a cataract. Acme Eye Care offers a no-stitch procedure to leave you seeing great the next day. Ask us about near-vision technology that allows you to see up close without stretching your arms out. Call today for your free near-vision cataract consultation ... ."

These are some outlines of basic key points that you should include in your radio messages. Of course, you'll want to grab the listeners' attention in the most creative way possible, but that's part of the fun!

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Happy new year!

Another year has come and gone. Our agency has been busy creating Q1 media plans and campaigns for our clients, which brings us to our very exciting and somewhat complicated topic this week.

I intended to write this blog about choosing the right message and medium for your 2010 marketing campaign, but soon realized that the blog would become a novel very quickly. In an effort to start 2010 on the simplest note possible, we'll cover "Choosing the right media plan" in several installments:

• Radio
• Television and cable
• Print
• Web
• Social media

In each of these installments, we'll also include proven messages to make your practice successful for ad campaigns in LASIK, cataract or general branding. Let's begin with some basic advertising definitions before we delve into more advanced topics.

Impression: A single instance of a consumer hearing or seeing an advertisement.

CPM (Cost per thousand): This is the cost (per thousand impressions) you are paying (or have paid). If a billboard gets roughly 32,000 impressions a month and the board cost $500 a month, then your CPM is $15.53.

This is calculated by taking the price of your advertisement and dividing it by the total thousand impressions. In this case: $500/32=$15.53.

Reach: Size of target audience exposed to an advertisement during a broadcast at least once during a specific time period.

Frequency: How many times an individual is exposed to your ads in a specific time period.

Medium: A vehicle or group of vehicles used to convey your message or advertisement. These include newspaper, cable, television, Web, radio, billboards, etc.

CPI (Cost per inquiry): In direct response marketing, this is a term used on getting one person to inquire about your products of services.

Demographics: Description of consumer you are targeting: age, sex, household income, education, etc.

Psychographics: Relates to personality, interests, values, lifestyle and attitudes of a consumer.

Effective reach: Percentage of targeted audience that is exposed to a particular ad during a specific period. Usually this is three or more times. It's crucial for getting consumers to react to advertising.

The old saying is, it takes three times for someone just to understand who your commercial is for, another three times to understand what it is saying and another three times to react to it.

Drive time: Term used in radio that refers to morning and afternoon times when consumers are driving to and from work.

Direct response: A type of ad campaign designed to generate a response from a consumer immediately or within a short time of hearing an ad.

Example: Call now and save, limited time offer, call before the end of the month.

And there you have it. Now that you know some of the terminology, you'll have a better understanding of the marketing strategies we'll discuss in the later blogs.

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Many practices ask me, "What should I spend on marketing?" Some consultants might give the same number to anyone who asks, a generic $10,000, $50,000, $100,000 or what have you. I, however, believe that there is no simple catchall answer, as many factors influence the true value of advertising. The answer depends on the size of your market, the number of competitors, how new you are to the market and your desired revenue goals.

Marketing is intended not only to acquire new patients but also to keep your current patients. Marketing also should not be marginalized to mere radio, TV and print ads. Good marketing utilizes logo items such as pens and notepads, internal pieces such as posters and educational DVDs, and printing of brochures and patient newsletters.

A good rule of thumb is to spend 3% to 6% of your total revenue on marketing. However, if you're new to town or trying to launch a new service, then be prepared to spend in excess of that percentage. Marketing budgets are usually determined a few months prior to the beginning of the new fiscal year. If this is January for your practice, then you should have next year's budget complete by the end of October or absolutely no later than the end of November. After the budget has been approved, your agency will develop a marketing plan based off of the budget.

Example:

Acme Eye Institute

• 2009 revenues through October = $2,913,000
• Projected revenues throughout the remainder of the year = $3,495,600

Choose your level of spending.

• Slight presence: 1% = $34,956
• Moderate: 3% = $104,868
• Strong: 6% = $209,736
• Aggressive: 10% = $349,560
• Ultra-aggressive: 15% = $524,340

Now, let's say you've picked 6%, but in March 2010, you notice revenues are down 10% and you need to cut expenses. Many practices look at marketing as the first cut. I strongly recommend against doing this, as it can send your new patient acquisitions into a death spiral. That's why you need to set a budget you'll feel comfortable with from the beginning.

The great thing about marketing in an economic recession is the cost of media; there are some real bargains out there. Radio, television and cable are only 50% to 80% of the cost from just a few years ago. So if you have reservations about spending money on advertising and return on investment, then you could look at it like you're saving 20% to 50% or just getting that much more bang for your buck. But as the economy continues to improve, more and more advertisers will be gobbling up media. As demand increases and supply decreases, we'll see the price of media once again reach pre-recession pricing. My advice is to get your budget approved so that you can lock in annual contracts to take advantage of low rates. Most contracts come with a 2-week cancellation clause, so if you do cancel before the year is up, you won't be penalized.

In my next blog, now that we have our budget approved, we'll look at how to choose the right message and medium for your 2010 marketing campaign.

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