Although online marketing is all the rage today, that doesn’t mean you should give up on your “offline” marketing efforts, depending on the market you’re in and the target audience you would like to attract. Addiction-Rep can help you evaluate whether radio, television, mail, magazine and/or billboard ads would be a wise choice for your drug rehab organization.
Our founder, Jim Peake, has led direct response and advertising campaigns since the 1980s. More than 10 years ago, he turned his attention exclusively to the addiction treatment industry, in which he has become as a top marketing and management consultant. Jim and his team help rehab centers across the country deploy attention-grabbing, measured direct marketing campaigns.
Direct marketing is short for “direct response,” and this typically refers to physical advertising materials, such as a magazine, newspaper or billboard ad, a printed brochure or a piece of mail.
We also include radio and TV ads under this definition, mainly because they exist outside of the internet, and because they draw a consumer’s attention pretty much in the same way as the other methods listed above. “Direct response” means we want to reach consumers directly and evoke an emotional response that compels them to take action – in the form of calling your treatment center or visiting your website.
Direct marketing is typically the most straightforward way of generating a lead for your drug rehab center. Other methods – especially those that exist through the internet – involve varying degrees of “nurturing” the lead until it becomes a bona-fide conversion.
When running radio or television campaigns, we want to run enough ads so that the viewers or listeners see the ads on a repetitive basis. The same can be said of direct mail marketing. Whether marketing online or offline, we typically try to give the ads a number of impressions at least 5 to 10 times each before determining if they are working or not.
The top question when doing direct marketing is, “How do you know if offline marketing is working for your treatment center?”
Our answer? The same way you know whether your online marketing is working. If you are doing elevator ads, magazine ads, billboards, or radio or TV spots, you have to track the number of calls each “channel” is generating. Also, your team has to make note of the quality of each of those calls.
At Addiction-Rep, we can set up call and web tracking systems so that you can monitor your marketing dollars and keep tabs on your cost per lead and cost per admission. Tying it all together can be cumbersome if you have not done it before. Addiction-Rep is here to help you get started.
Marketing is a data-driven game today, and this is true even when doing print and broadcast advertising. You need to know where your dollars are spent and which sources are providing the best ROI. This helps you make smarter marketing decisions going forward, in addition to stopping any ad source from becoming a complete drain on your budget.
Just as you should use call tracking software on your website, so should you do the same with your print and broadcast ads. With call tracking technology, you will:
No matter whether you’re marketing online or offline, don’t kick off any campaign on a whim or make adjustments simply because you feel like doing so. There are enough tools out there to help you “look before you leap” and that will let you track the results of any campaign once in motion.
Schedule a consultation with direct marketing veteran Jim Peake if you would like discuss how your treatment center can make better marketing decisions that produce more leads and, ultimately, admissions.
