It’s very tempting to be seduced by promises of mass reach and frequency with an all-encompassing message that covers every benefit of every product and service you offer – it sounds efficient really doesn’t it?
But sadly it’s not! In today’s ever competitive environment you must be targeted with your communication. Your goal should be to reach the right person with the right message at the right time.
Before you even entertain the idea of any tactical marketing initiatives you need to invest the time in ensuring that you drill down your target audiences into groups (segments) focusing on specific needs, wants and characteristics and then match the right message to them.
Try and change your focus to building and maintaining connections and relationships.
- Spend some time defining who your ideal patient/client/customer is. What are they looking for? What do they want? What do they need? What things do they like doing? What method do they like you to communicate with you through? The more specific you can be the better.
- Drill down and segment your ideal patient/client/customers into distinct manageable groups.
- Do some research and really get to understand what your target audiences what, need and like. If necessary, make tweaks and changes to your product and service offering to suit.
- Connect and communicate with both current and potential patients/clients/customers when, where and how they want. Use your marketing mix – print, digital, social – appropriately.
- Build long-term relationships with ongoing marketing (for example, newsletters and e-blasts) based on your targets’ wants and needs.
Often, the path to success involves giving without always expecting to get. Trust and long-term relationships take time to build and maintain but the rewards are well worth it.
