By: Chris Donofri,D.C.

   I just read an ezine article from Bob Bly. If you don't know who he is, I'll clue you in. He's written 70 (that's right 70) books on marketing and copywriting and he's regarded within the marketing world as one of the top marketers and copywriters around today. So, what he says generally matters in the marketing world.

    Anyway, this particular ezine really struck a chord with me. Here's why: He was talking about the difference between seasoned "pro" marketers and the average marketer (even many clients he's worked with) and drawing some pretty insightful conclusions that I think you'll find important. The reason I've included some of his ezine is because I believe that this is one of the BIGGEST mistakes that Chiropractors make today in their own marketing.

    Here's a quote directly from that ezine...and then I will go on to explain it's significance.

    "I heard on the radio a few weeks ago that the Florida Marlins, with 23 wins and 14 losses, has the best record in Major League baseball today."

    "But that means the best-performing team in professional baseball loses six out of every 10 games it plays."

    "And remember: That's the best record in baseball."

    "What's ironic is that businesspeople who accept this statistical truth about baseball without a second thought... go bonkers when even one of their marketing programs fails."

    "Experienced direct marketers know - and expect - a percentage of their test campaigns to under-perform the current control, or even lose money. They accept this fact without despair, because they know that if one test mailing in every two... or every three... or even every five is a winner, they can make a lot of money."

    "Inexperienced direct marketers don't get this."

    So, what has all this got to do with you? Plenty if you are engaged in the marketing of your own practice right now.

    I see and hear doctors all the time giving up when they had a low response month, equating that month with every other month that will follow.

    If you are a true marketer, you stay in the game, month after month. Now, you also need to be smart and not throw good money at bad results, so I will offer you some practical guidelines to make sure you're not jumping ship too early with any of your own marketing.

    1. Track ALL of your results...every month...using an ROI tracker. I have a private client for example that was blown away to find out that he had an overall 700% ROI on all his marketing. He thought it was much lower, until he REALLY tracked his results. Keep in mind, you may have even a negative ROI on one campaign and positive on the others which will bring the negative ROI up. Hope that makes sense.

    2. Look for "trends" in your marketing. Don't ever make assumptions based on one or two months or decide that a specific ad doesn't work or even that a specific media is not a good media.

    3. Relentlessly track all of your marketing and your response rates. Every ad, every day, placement, number of people, media used, ect... I track EVERYTHING and then keep a marketing log of all those statistics. It's amazing how clear the p icture gets for you when you analyze this data over time. Unfortunately, most doctors are often unwilling to put this kind of effort into their marketing. Don't let that be you.

    4. If your response rate is low, it may not be your marketing...it may actually be the media that the marketing is being placed in. Time and time again, I see a newspaper insert for example do poorly in one paper and blow the doors off in another pap er. Same insert, same doctor, same local area-just a different media (different newspaper). Again, don't jump to quick conclusions ...test, test, test!

    5. Be careful not to make assumptions after only one or even two runs. Market conditions change all the time. You need to determine if a response was due to a market condition or the marketing itself.

    6. Realize that it is the marketing that brings new patients into your office every month-the lifeblood of your practice. So, you need to keep your head in the game and make a long term commitment to your program. Yes, even when some months suck and you feel like giving up. Look at the overall results you've had and will continue to have by following a game plan.

    7. Don't skimp on your marketing budget. Doctors who have the highest budgets are usually the ones that win at this marketing game. Why? Because they are not afraid to take some risks, try new things and even split test to find out what the best marketing is in their arsenal. Doctors who severely limit their budget, hoping for the one ad that will turn around their practice are usually not the ones that stay in the game for long.

    If you get this concept...it's big...really big. And, it will serve you well in the long run. I think I've learned the most about life and even marketing lessons from running marathons and being a distance runner. You eventually get to your goals as long as you stay committed...one mile at a time. Some miles you feel great and others make you feel like you just want to give up. The one truth to this is that you will definitely not get to where you want to be by giving up.

   The reality is, that the fundaments of marketing will NEVER change, so it pays to become a student of marketing and learn as much as you can. With the growth of the internet and other media, however, the "channels" that you market in ARE changing, so you need to keep up and understand new media as well.

    In next weeks ezine, I will be focusing on how to use the internet as a tool to market your practice. You won't want to miss this one!

    Please email me with questions you would like me to answer or topics you want to learn about. If you have a marketing piece you would like me to video critique on my blog, email it to me in a pdf format with specifics on how the ad did and I will critique it on the blog for you. Finally, shoot over to the blog and fire off ideas or something you'd like to mastermind on.

    As always, if you need specific help with your marketing, I encourage you to click on the tools in the "Recommendation" section. If there is something I don't have, I will try to direct you to resources if you shoot me an email.

Here's to your highest response,

Dr. Chris Donofri
www.NewPatientMultiplier.com