Last Sunday, I ran my Osteobiz interactive workshop for the British School of Osteopathy. We only had a limited time to rattle through the five topics I wanted to cover but the feedback, both verbal and visual, was extremely interesting.
Spray and pray marketing is indiscriminate!
In particular when we talked about ‘spray and pray marketing’ I could see a few light bulb moments as the delegates began to understand how ineffective this method is.
The term spray and pray marketing is also sometimes called the scattergun approach. It is essential that marketing is properly targeted in order to be effective. The trouble is that in many circles, it is assumed that if you target a niche, that it will automatically and unfairly exclude everyone else.
But the spray and pray marketing methods of yesteryear are faulty and indiscriminate in their ways.
In the class we took the example of Coca Cola. I asked, “Who can drink it” and we established that pretty much anyone could. Then I asked, “Who do they advertise to?” and I saw the realisation dawn on them that Coca Cola didn’t advertise in SAGA magazines but to the young and carefree. But this method of marketing still did not, in any way, exclude Granny from partaking of the brown bubbly stuff.
If Coca Cola were to advertise anywhere and everywhere in an attempt to reach everyone, they would have gone broke a long time ago.
And so it is for you. And me.
I have niched all my marketing and efforts to Osteopaths only. I love working with Osteopaths. But do you think I could use the same knowledge to help a dentist? Or a corner shop owner? If they came to me would I turn them away as clients? I don’t think so!
It used to be that we could pay for an advert to appear in the local phone book and local paper and that would suffice.
These days, however, people are time poor. They certainly don’t have time to read every boring advert in the back of the paper whilst sipping hot cocoa. People are busier than ever before and getting their attention is a fine art. They will ignore generic advertising material because they are very much more savvy than in the past!
I hope you can see that whilst your marketing must be targeted you are not refusing to treat your bread and butter bad backs!
The truth is that you can’t advertise generally any more and expect a decent return on investment or a rush of new bookings.
That’s a bit like Waitrose supermarkets reverting to spray and pray marketing methods and advertising that ‘We sell food’. Our response would likely be a nonchalant ‘So what?’
So instead, they say, ‘From responsible sourcing to price matching, we bring you delicious food at great value.’
That won’t attract anyone who wants cheap and poor quality food. But it resonates with me because they value the same things as I do. What they say demonstrates that and I take notice.
You may have spotted that Waitrose are pointing out the benefits of what they provide. They are talking to me in language I understand and use myself. The provenance, quality and value of the food I buy is important to me. In their marketing, Waitrose are reassuring me that they match my needs and values perfectly.
So how could you tweak your advertising, website and marketing materials to be as effective as possible? Thinking of your perfect patients, what would connect with more people like them and resonate so well with them that they become new patients?
How can you ditch that spray and pray marketing for something more targeted and accurately focused?
‘Back mechanic to the sprightly’ might be too extreme for you but it illustrates how impactful your marketing could be.
Spray and pray marketing – RIP!
