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Everything moving in the same direction. Make sure your company has a consistent look. This not only allows potential customers to become familiar with the look of your brand, but creates an air of professionalism around your business. If you use a certain color scheme, font or type of photo in your brochure, use the same elements in the ads you place, letterhead you use, direct mail piece you send, etc. Think about your style. Are you modern and edgy or natural and environmentally-friendly? The answers to these questions will help you determine everything from the type of paper you’ll use (glossy with rounded edges? one hundred percent recycled?) to the photos you’ll include in your pieces (chic businesspeople and martinis? dragonflies and sea oats?)
Simplicity. White space is the unused area in a designed piece such as an ad, direct mail piece, brochure or Web site. It may seem like a waste if this space is not filled with words or images, but the opposite is true.Include white space between paragraphs. Most people won’t bother to read if they see a menacing chunk of words with no spaces in between. The white space creates a rest for the eye and visually organizes what’s on the page.
One, maybe two fonts. The best designers stick with one, maybe two fonts per piece, plus the logo. A good rule of thumb is to use large, bold type for the headlines and a smaller, easy-to-read font for the text.
One dominant element. When you look at a well-designed piece, one feature will probably stick out to you. Sometimes it’s the headline, sometimes it’s the photo—but don’t try to make both stand out. Trying to emphasize everything will emphasize nothing.
Quick Tip: Ensure everyone from your business is using the same e-mail signature – a simple but effective way to be consistent and uniform.
- Get rid of the clutter. It’s estimated that drivers only have about five seconds to see your billboard. Keep the design simple so that viewers can easily see and understand your message. The clean look of a simple, uncluttered design is very eye-friendly and will cause people to actually look at the board.
- Don’t try to say everything. A simple rule of thumb: seven to ten words maximum will ensure every word gets read.
- Use high contrast colors. Yellow on black is said to be the best combination to ensure readability. Muted, pastel and soft colors may look great on your printed brochure, but on a billboard they will be washed out and hard to see.
- Use the script font for your wedding invitation, but not your billboard. Eliminate or at least minimize ornate fonts as they are very hard to read from afar. Clean and bold fonts will get your message across.
- Keep it simple! Use your outdoor space to inform of an event, remind drivers of your brand, promote a product or service or as a directional. Remember to keep it concise! Use brochures, Web sites, ads and other collateral materials to expand your message.
Relevance equals response. Send your offer to only those who can benefit from it and make the subject line relevant to them or their business.
Wednesday is opening day. According to research done by EmailLabs, a leading company in high-performance e-mail marketing, Wednesday is the best day to send your pitch, followed by Tuesday. On Wednesdays, people seem to open e-mails sent that day and also those from Tuesday, the day they most likely received the most e-mails.
Use an email distribution service. Don’t try to send mass emails from your home or office computer—use an email distribution service (MyEmma and Constant Contact are two of our favorites). An email service will ensure that your email marketing is compliant with Spam regulations. They will also provide statistics on your email success. Review who opened and who clicked through. Test several different subject lines and track your results to see which were most effective in getting people to open.
Put the customer on a pedestal. Providing a high value to your readers will make them feel appreciated and want to see what you’re offering them.
Keep it clean, direct and uncomplicated. Most business owners don’t have the time to decode your offer, and most will not search for a click-through link if it’s hard to find. Make compelling, immediate offers and include links in easy-to-find and relevant places.
“Hot links” are your friends. Many believe that the more click-through links you include in your e-mail, the less likely people are to click on any of them. Not true. Including many different “points-of-entry” from your e-mail to your Web site will increase the likelihood that someone will actually find one that they’re interested in learning more about.
Privacy please. Clearly state your privacy practices and deliver. Simple as that.
Tips for PR professionals on creating better email pitches:
- Don't be cute in the subject line.
- Don't be mysterious in the subject line.
- Say what the pitch is about in the subject line.
- Keep the pitch short.
- Explain it in one or two short sentences, max.
- Break the content into bulleted points or short paragraphs.
- Use white space between paragraphs.
- Don't say, "I just found your blog…"
- Don't say, "I'm sure you'll want to cover this…"
- Keep it short.
Make a point.
Market in your neighborhood. Research shows that more than 90 percent of patients reside within a three-mile radius of the practice. Get excellent results with a direct mail targeting these households. By doing this, you will get your message delivered to those candidates most likely to become new patients.
Hit the target. The number one mistake medical professionals make is not targeting their audience. Mass marketing doesn’t often work in this industry, so it’s important to focus on only those who are likely to make up your potential patient-base.
Do you specialize in sports medicine? Place ads in sports publications, the sports section of your local newspaper or become a sponsor at an upcoming athletic conference. In women’s care? Set up a booth at your community’s next women’s expo or compile a list of women in your area for your next direct mailing.
Bottom line: Doctors spend less and get better results when they target one group or demographic without trying to hit them all.
Offer a guarantee. Don’t guarantee a cure, of course, but guarantee your patients satisfaction. People have so many options when choosing a physician – the guarantee will make your practice stand out instantly. Very few people ask for refunds and many say the gesture was the reason they chose the practice. Even if they don’t use it, it offers peace of mind and security to patients and makes your practice look responsible and confident.
What’s so special? Most people assume that all doctors are competent and responsible. It is your job to tell them what makes your practice distinct. Develop a unique way to present your practice as different – more experience, happier patients, longer successful track record, etc. A good way to do this is to incorporate testimonials from thrilled patients into specific marketing pieces or develop a creative marketing piece not typical of “serious” doctors.
What media was so effective in 2007 that 82 percent of marketers made plans to increase it in 2008?
E-mail marketing
After a survey of more than 2000 professionals, Datran Media found that 82 percent of the marketers surveyed indicated they planned to increase their use of e-mail marketing in 2008, and 55 percent of respondents said they expected a return on investment from e-mail to be higher than any other medium. The survey results are consistent with Direct Marketing Association's recent report which found that e-mail return on investment hit $51.45 for every dollar spent in 2007, more than twice the ROI of other interactive media including search and display.
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