Know-How Exchange : Other

Although there is no way to guarantee delivery to the physician instead of the gatekeeper reviewing, there are some ways to get the gatekeeper to pass it on or make it available to the doctor.

I have a couple of ideas for you:
I’m going to give the basic overview of these and assume you have good copywriters and creative people that can write compelling copy and design interesting communication pieces to flesh out these ideas to be most appropriate for your needs.

There are telescoping fishing rods that collapse down to about 16 to 24 inches. Get one of these with a reel and fishing string. At the end, you attach some 100lb cover fish paper cutouts (your designer should do a vector “likeness” of a bass, trout or whatever – preferably have a few different sizes from 8 to 20 inches). On the cutouts you put your marketing message(s). Example “Like a good fishing guide, our agency specializes in reeling in the best keepers from the best fishing holes. If you want a better fishing spot with more (something the doctor needs) we can help bait the hook and reel’em in… etc” then on the other fish cutouts include case studies, testimonials, etc, then on the last cut out, your call to action like “your next basket of fish and chips is on me. Lets talk over lunch xxx time yyy place (promise statement of what they will get by working with you).”
For shipping, ship overnight to add a sense of urgency. Your followup on this could be a small hand held tacklebox with some lures in it with a note that asks how the fishing is going and that you’ve given a few lures to help, but you’ve saved your best fishing tricks for that lunch meeting. Include your biz card etc.

A bit more expensive is to do a custom bobblehead or snowglobe of your agency or mascot, or ornament that has some compelling interest or nice feel good message. Make sure your agency info is on the item itself with a sticker or decal (at the base) and send it to the doctor with a picture of you (or whoever) holding that snow globe or bobble head with your selling message written on the back of picture with a link to the website or whatever. The idea is that if it doesn’t get to the doc, the gatekeeper will still keep and display it in the office.

Another option is to have your selling message as an audio spot (less than 2 minutes), professionally produced, using language specifically directed to that doc then put it on a nice dictation device (hand held voice recorder). Then put a note on the device that says “press play for important xxx information”. At the end of your audio include your info, how to reach you, and of course, tell them the voice recorder is theirs to keep. Then include link to site or whatever.

I few other ideas that are basically the same concept, just different ways to execute:
Large poster with a motivational message and include your agency name etc at the bottom. Include a note that you think they will have a great day/business etc and that the poster is theirs to hang. Include your marketing info, roll it up, ship it in a round tube.
Medium size whiteboard with vinyl overlay (from your local sign shop) with your info on it, the whiteboard can either be templated as a daily calendar with grids they write in the days on, or as a In/Out board for keeping up with who is out to lunch, or as a Things to Do board… put your very brief marketing message at the bottom with a link to the website.

So, there you go. Interesting and creative approaches that have been done before and work, but aren’t your typical postcard, set of golf balls, calendar, refrigerator magnet, etc.

Hope this gives you what you were looking for.

Good luck,
Justin McCullough