Question

Topic: Advertising/PR

Advertising Professional Services

Posted by Anonymous on 2/19/2009 at 4:36 AM ET 125 Points
We are a small and growing consulting firm -- $10 million in revenue last year -- whose clients are hospitals. Due to the nature of the service we sell, the purchase decision for our services is always made in the hospital c-suite.

I have a debate with my CEO on advertising approach. He believes that an effective ad will cause a hospital president to pick up the phone and call us. I argue that with our limited budget (10 full page ads per year in a major health care periodical) we should focus on brand recognition and not expect sales to follow directly from the ad. Of course this impacts ad copy, graphics etc.

Two questions:

1. What is the prevailing opinoin on the efficacy and purpose of professional services advertising -- sales results vs. brand recognition; and

2. Are there good quotable studies that I can use to bolster my or his approach?

Thanks.
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by ilan on 2/19/2009 at 8:18 AM Member
    Where are you?
    Hospitals react in a different way in different markets. Hospitals are also different from each other, you can't lump them up in one pile.
    I worked on identical issues before, and found that certain direct marketing approaches worked better that anything you mentioned so far...
  • Posted by michael on 2/19/2009 at 8:47 AM Member
    I'm with your CEO on this one, sorry. Not that brand recognition isn't important. But its not as important as revenue....just ask Marshall Field's

    Michael
  • Posted on 2/19/2009 at 9:21 AM Accepted
    I would take a completely different approach.

    1) Figure out which trade publications your target reads and write articles for them. Establish yourselves as experts on problems x, y, and z facing hospital administrators.

    2) Hold an event which brings the hospital CEOs together to discuss problems or issues that are important to them. Or, make it a regular hospital CEO breakfast. Let them network, talk, and interact with each other (as well as you). Invite current customers and let them bring a colleague or friend from another hospital for a reduced fee.

    3) Hang out where they hang out (meet them, talk to them - online, offline) and offer useful tools and information

    4) Give your current customers a place to talk to each other and exchange ideas (online forum)

    5) Give your current customers a place to talk to you.. get their questions answered (publicly). Show them you're interested. Listen a lot.
  • Posted on 2/19/2009 at 10:09 AM Author
    Thanks, Phil.

    Battling is a career-limiting move to be sure. My purpose is education myself and hopefully engaging in a longer term useful discussion.

    bvernon
  • Posted on 2/19/2009 at 10:20 AM Author
    Thanks jkaplan,

    We do most of these things now and working on a couple of others. Hospital c-suite execs travel in packs and we go where they congregate and even hold our own meetings.

    How and what kind of advertising would you put in the mix?
  • Posted on 2/19/2009 at 10:24 AM Author
    Thanks Michael,

    A going in assumption is that the appeal to a hospital exec buying expensive consulting services may be different than the appeal to a retail customer buying clothes and cosmetics. How much should we expect phone call inquiries about our services emanating from a full page ad?

    bvernon
  • Posted by Mandy Vavrinak on 2/19/2009 at 10:50 AM Accepted
    How many CEOs pick up the phone and directly call for any service or thing? The normal procedure (if he or she notices the ad at all, which is debatable) would be to tell someone on the staff to look into (whatever). And they'll start with the web, not the phone. (IMO).

    Yes, branding and brand recognition is important, but full-page ads in trade pubs are expensive. It ought to do more than awareness or you should be spending $$ elsewhere (IMO).

    What about changing how you do the ads? What about going with more half-page ads, stronger calls to action, and moving to a pub targeting the people who recommend to the CEO? Invest $$ in making your web site a conversion machine (getting people who visit to call/e-mail). Put case studies there, easily e-mailable (to the CEO).

    I don't know your co. name, so of course haven't seen your site. Maybe it's already all it can be... but if not, it advertises for you all the time. Use ads to drive traffic there, and then tell the full story that the C-suite needs to be convinced. List seminars, meetings, upcoming events, make it the go-to place for info in your industry (about you, of course, but also broad-based info).

    Would be more helpful with more info about you, but hope this gives you some starting points. Good luck!
  • Posted by Tracey on 2/19/2009 at 6:12 PM Member
    I like jkaplan's ideas. How about using your ad to drive traffic to an event like a webinar, or to download a free white paper, where you have a higher chance of delivering a quality lead, and gather lead info?

    The ad can build your brand and drive traffic simultaneously.
  • Posted on 2/19/2009 at 6:36 PM Author
    Mandy,

    Thanks for the thoughtful comments. My argument is exactly your first one. Interesting idea to target C-suite influencers, because the VP/Mgr level really doesn't have the fiscal authority to hire us. We are hard at work on the website to improve its "interactiveness". Thank you

    bvernon
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