Is there a set of reasons why some ophthalmology practices are highly successful, while others are just plain mediocre? In my opinion, there are. I would go as far as to say the incorrect use of marketing and advertising is the key reason why many practices fall far short of their potential.

Marketing is not advertising. According to Webster’s online dictionary, advertising is the “the action of calling something to the attention of the public, especially by paid announcements.” It is the broadcast of specific messages through specified media, like newspaper, Valpack and yellow pages.

Marketing, on the other hand, is “an aggregate of functions involved in moving goods (services) from producer to consumer” also according to Webster’s online dictionary. Marketing is an overall process of deciding who is in your target market, what their needs are, how your service fulfills those needs and how to best orchestrate the process.

Ads send a specific message. Marketing calibrates the message to market to media match-up and delivers the right message to the intended target. Said differently, the way your receptionist answers the phone is not necessarily part of your advertising but it is part of your marketing.

Patients (and the referring doctors who send them to you) are ever-inundated with advertising messages. The average consumer is estimated to receive 3000 sales messages in a day. Physicians get more than that. As an adaptive response our brains have increased in the ability to discriminate among these messages. The typical patient weeds out the sales messages and instantly discounts them as being “just advertising”.

Perceptual studies have been done on the behavior of reading the newspaper. The reader scans the page quickly and separates news stories from advertising content. Then headlines are scanned, with about 4 seconds each devoted to each headline. After that, articles of interest are read, and boring articles are skipped. Finally ads are scanned and interesting ones are read, while most aren’t.

The point is this. You have a brief window of time to get your prospect’s attention. In the newspaper you are competing with a lot of other printed material just to get 4 seconds or less of your prospect’s time. If you don’t have something of interest to say to him or her, your prospective patient will ignore your message and simply move on.

Notice the message has to be interesting to the prospect, not necessarily what interests you. One of the easiest ways to be boring is to be egocentric. The “I’m the biggest, I’m the best” message convinces no one and often has a negative effect when broadcasted to your market. These ads might actually drive patients away from your practice.

I’ve always maintained that the best advertising for a physician is a full waiting room. The public tends to ignore claims that we make about ourselves and looks to the opinion of other people like themselves as validation of their opinion.

Consider the difference between these two headlines: (1) “ABC Ophthalmology Clinic”, and (2) “73% of patients with dry eyes get complete relief using new treatment”. The second headline paves the way to discuss something of relevance to the target market, patients with dry eyes. The use of a specific measure – 73% of patients get relief – increases credibility and believability.

Testimonials, third party and celebrity endorsements and guarantees all greatly increase credibility. An enormous amount of credibility is implied if you are the official physician for a local team, for example.

Your professional credentials provide credibility in themselves, but they do not always work in your favor. If every physician has roughly the same level of training, credentials and experience, I don’t recommend you make that your headline. It doesn’t make you the unique and obvious provider of choice.

Marketing guru Dan Kennedy refers to this as “marketing incest”. Simply copying the other yellow pages or print ads, with the same copy, graphics and message accomplishes nothing. Yet that is what 98% of practices do. Kennedy says that the more marketing incest is practiced, the dumber the ads tend to get.

The most common mistake I see is to make the headline of your ad either your name or your practice’s name. It is an amateur mistake but it is validated by all the other ads that have the same headline. Resist the temptation to create ads that are look-alikes to your competitors. Chances are they came up with their ads the same way you did, and their ads probably don’t work for them either.

Marketing professional services is different from marketing new cars or soft drinks. Not completely different, but different in some important ways.

“Got milk?” is a catchy slogan-based ad that got a lot of attention through massive placement in magazines, tv spots and billboards. I see other businesses and professions trying ineptly to borrow that headline on a daily basis. Everything from “Got mortgage?” to “Got day care?” Could you imagine “Got Ophthalmology?” I beseech the advertising world, stop using the “Got?” headlines!

The tone and voice of your ads must walk a fine line. Your ads must be professional and dignified without being boring (see reason #2). They must speak to the needs wants and concerns of your target market. Ideally, your ads position you as an expert, not as a salesman or saleswoman of your services.

In my next column, I’ll round out the rest of the top 10 reasons why ads don’t work. Understanding the pitfalls of advertising and marketing is a great way to build the foundation for an effective and cost-efficient methodology to build your practice.

Practice building is as logical and tangible as any other scientific study. It is only a mystery to those who don’t understand it’s principles and practice.