Article written by Ann Dosen
You would not believe the number of times I have had this conversation over the last two weeks. Perhaps it’s because I’m in the middle of pitching our revamped super fancy Corporate Sponsorship program (more details on that below).
I suppose this is where I tell you there is not a magic formula for success. Sorry. My son would call this headline “clickbait”.
The truth is that marketing is more of an art than a science. You must be willing to try everything and evaluate as you go.
The difficult part is that it’s nearly impossible to determine an ad campaign or marketing outlet’s success. Sure, you can review click reports, open rates, webpage analytics and traffic sources, and everything else out there but that only gives you one small piece of the puzzle. We know that a potential customer must see a message at least 7 times before they will take action. For this reason, you need a well-rounded, multi-faceted approach to marketing. You need a healthy combination of print, digital and in-person impressions.
Too often we attribute the success of an ad or a marketing outlet to a customer or new lead calling and mentioning that specific ad. We must remember that while that ad may have been the one that triggered the action, it wasn’t the first time they’ve seen your ad or message. They’ve seen it repeatedly across a few different platforms and now – finally – they are doing something.
Here’s the nuts and bolts… In podiatry, you should be advertising your product EVERYWHERE – in print magazines, on popular industry websites, in email publications, at industry conferences, and anywhere else you can.
Ideally you will have a similar ad (in design elements, copy, call-to-action, and landing page link) run across all these mediums for a specific term. Then, when you are approaching the end of the term, whether it’s a few weeks or a few months, you evaluate the ad campaign’s success and make tweaks as necessary. Then, rinse and repeat.
Reminder – we just opened up our very limited Corporate Sponsorship program to new sponsors. This opportunity only comes around once a year.
Don’t forget – your trade show booth should be considered part of your marketing plan! It’s an ad that people get to see and experience in person.
Pro tip- make sure you generate specific links for each online outlet.