What Can You Realistically Expect From Your Print Ads?
By Chuck Mancino, MMPR
Ahhh, the old days. Remember when your advertising and marketing efforts were as simple as running some print ads, showing up at some trade shows and answering your phone? That was about the extent of it. Whether it's DCs, MTs or PTs, you could promote your product or service by merely advertising in one or two magazines, -- and that was all that was needed -- since a few magazines and trade shows were the extent of their information sources.
Flash forward to today, and you have a highly-compressed message environment. Hoping your print ad alone will be enough to get your message across to your audience may be wishful thinking. We are bombarded all day with email offers, online pop-up ads, billboards, TV, radio and magazine advertisements. Running some print ads and answering your phone doesn't do what it used to do. Depending on how compelling the offer is in your ad and how high the demand is for your product, you might get a few calls from your ads, but, is this realistic? You won't get much more than a few calls, unless you are offering some out-of-this-world, "cat's meow" super product or service. I have some clients' calls from their ads ring directly into my office, and even in cases where we ran a two-page spread, we still get just a handful of calls from print ads.
So does that mean you should end print advertising?
In a word, "no". But you should also keep a realistic expectancy of your print ads. Of course, there are several factors that determine what kind of response you should expect: Are you offering a product or service that is already valued by the audience? Do you already have a trusted brand? Are you making a compelling offer, as opposed to just offering something they know they can get at anytime? There are a few well-established products in the DC niche who offer quarterly specials (buy X, get one free type of offer) and when they run those specials, sales spike. In these cases the doctors already know they value these products so when they see a chance to get some units free, they respond. The doctors already know they will be buying the product anyway, so when they see an offer to get free units, it compels them to "buy now" and they do.
But other than the above scenario, what can a vendor legitimately expect from their print advertising? Assuming the ad program offers consistency (not just a few ads here and there, which just doesn't work), one can realistically expect:
- Increased brand awareness. I've had a lot of people scoff at this element, as if the ad doesn't make the phone ring off the hook, there is no value-add. But, reinforcing the brand is nothing to scoff at. I have two stories to reinforce this. I had one client who told me they advertise simply to make traffic stop at his booth at trade shows. He revealed, "When I didn't advertise, people would barely take time to look at our booth; they'd kind of squint up at our signage and walk away. When we started advertising, the attendees were far more likely to actually stop at our booth, saying, 'We know you,' giving us a chance to chat and explain what we had to offer." In other instances, I have stopped by to chat with small mom and pop companies, who always had their little booth at the most popular trade show in the niche. It was the only time you would see or hear from them. When asked about advertising, they would always say the same thing: "We can't afford that!" And yet, they always remained tiny. You'd see them once a year, with their little single booth. And they were always just sitting there, without anyone stopping at their booth.
- Traffic to your website. Sound backwards? A lot of people thought when they put money into making a quality website, that they could cut their print advertising. In addition, they thought putting effort into a Google keyword campaign was the wave of the future. Keyword campaigns directing prospects to an effective landing page can be incredibly effective. But guess what? Those reading this sell to health care professionals (HCP). Not many buying decisions are made by HCPs doing keyword searches on Google. In fact, the majority of traffic to websites in the health care market is created by print advertising. For example, a consumer looking for a sleeping pillow may type in "sleeping pillow" in order to start the shopping process. But a HCP will only be interested in a pillow that has an established brand in the market. Their reputation is on the line. The professional is not going to make a buying decision based on what pillows come up from a keyword search and buy whatever is cheapest.
- Some sales leads in the form of phone calls. Even though calls from print ads have diminished over the last 15 years, some people still want to inquire about buying by picking up the phone and calling, period. So, you don't want to miss out on prospects choosing to still do business by calling. I can't tell you how many times I have asked a call-in if they had checked out our web site and their response is, "No. That's why I'm calling you." In other words, they don't want to dabble online, they want to speak to someone about the offer, end of story. It is ideal to offer every version of response possible so as not to turn away any business. And there is still a fairly large category of HCPs who want to inquire more about your offer via telephone.
Print isn't dead. It just doesn't perform the exact same role it used to. It is still the number one thing that drives people to your website, to email you, to call you and yes, to buy from you. It still is a vital component of a marketing campaign in the complimentary and alternative medicine (CAM) markets. As of right now, very little - if any - branding can be accomplished with web efforts alone. And even if getting prospects to your website is high on your priorities, it's usually your print effort that gets them there. At the end of the day, print ads still do get you calls, but now it's usually after they have visited your website. The most effective campaigns still include print components - in this market and in others.
About the Author:
Chuck Mancino, with MMPR (www.gommpr.com) has been involved in magazine publishing for 24 years and currently serves as a consultant for vendors wanting to ramp up their advertising and PR efforts doing business in the CAM niche.
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