Feel Like You Are Repeating Yourself? Good!

Consistency in Your Marketing Message

"To thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day,
thou canst not then be false to any man."
—William Shakespeare

Last month, we talked about using marketing strategies to demonstrate the unique focus of your practice. This month we’ll examine the importance of consistency in your marketing message.

Consistency is important because a focused, repeated message about your business is what’s going to get you recognized in your community. (See “Brand Recognition” in March’s article.) Consistency means that any marketing you do — handing out business cards, postcard mailings, advertising in local papers, giving presentations, posting flyers or whatever — should always reflect your main message and the image that projects that message. It makes good business sense, and at the same time, you’re creating a practice that allows you to do what you do best and get appreciated for it.

Do your materials reflect your business personality?

This month, first look over your marketing materials to make sure the words and images you choose to represent your business express your particular focus, skills and business personality.

Then think about applying this approach to every bit of marketing you do.

For an example, let’s say you specialize in pain relief for people with chronic conditions such as fibromyalgia and arthritis. Your business cards should say so. The brochures you carry should focus on these topics. They should display your contact information in an attractive and readable manner. Your postcard mailings should remind clients that your work can reduce their pain. And so on.

Consistency doesn't mean always doing the same thing

Being consistent doesn’t mean using the same postcard every time you announce a special, or depending on the same ad month-after-month to bring in all your new clients. On the contrary, it’s most effective to use a variety of strategies that will come at people from different directions. In a simple example, say a co-worker gives a woman a copy of your newsletter which includes information on massage and chronic pain. Then, while waiting in her chiropractor’s office, she picks up one of the brochures you have left there. She mentions it to the chiropractor, who speaks highly of you, and then she contacts you and makes an appointment.

Both new contacts and regular clients need to hear your message again and again. In fact, one oft-repeated marketing adage is that people need to hear a marketing message at least three times before they respond. On top of that, what may catch one person’s eye may not work with someone else. But if you use a variety of strategies with the same focus, the word will get around to a number of people, and you will become recognized as a professional who can help reduce people’s pain.

Here’s a sample multi-pronged plan. Say you have created a business card that has your business name, an attractive image that expresses your business personality and text stating that you specialize in relieving chronic pain or particular conditions. You also have brochures on massage for chronic pain, and a supply of promotional postcards and gift certificates.

Now you institute your plan.

• Leave business cards and brochures (ask first) at your local pain clinic, yoga studio and senior center.
• Send a postcard mailing to your regulars, offering 10% off gift certificate purchases for the next big holiday — reminding them that your work can reduce their loved ones’ pain.
• Purchase an ad in the newsletter of a local arthritis support group, presenting yourself and your experience working with the condition.
• When you sell a gift certificate, include your business card and a brochure on a topic of interest to the recipient.

Being yourself

Keep in mind that if you leave your marketing materials at places you are naturally drawn to, and send them to people you have a natural affinity for, the results may be multifold. Not only will you consistently expand your presence in the community, you will create a practice where you truly get to be yourself, and where your expertise shines.

Pick and Choose

This plan presents only a few of the many tools you can choose from. Pick several you like and commit to using them for long enough to hear people say, “Oh, you’re the one who helps people with arthritis (or whatever it is you do).” That will be a signal to keep using the same strategies, or to add new ones — always, always sending a message that says specifically who you can help and how you can help them.

Read a sample from Sharon’s Marketing Monthly. We liked this one — it has a clear, direct message about being clear and direct in your promotions!