Here's how to "pump up" the marketing power of your ads and flyers while avoiding the common mistakes most wellness practitioners make.

In our Marketing Club calls, people often raise questions about phone book ads, flyers, business listings, and other forms of print advertising. Print advertising can be helpful part of your marketing system (what we call the "Cars" of your Marketing Train) - they help people remember you, and they can help you convey a professional, credible image (or hurt your image if you do it wrong!)

Print = Passive

However, for most wellness providers, passive print advertising generally won't drive a lot of traffic to your door. Usually, you'll get much more return on your marketing efforts if you focus on active marketing like speaking engagements, writing articles, or strategic alliances, among other things. These are the "engine" activities that drive your Marketing Train and really increase your visibility by leaps and bounds. (More details on the Marketing Train principle are in our free marketing class workbook - just click the link above or on the left to download it!)

Phone Books too!

Phone book ads may help you reach people outside of engine activities, but they are not always the best investment of your marketing dollar OR time (because often the kind of client you get from a phone book is a low-commitment, high-energy demand client, what we call "window shoppers"). And because you're not doing anything actively to reach out and connect with the client (you're waiting for them to stumble upon you), a phone book ad is still PASSIVE marketing - it's a CAR of your marketing train - and not a very effective one.

If you decide to give phone book ads a shot, try to go with a smaller, cheaper ad, but pump up the marketing power of the ad itself with these simple formatting tips. These principles apply to ANY print advertising piece, and many of them apply to online content like website pages and ezines as well!

A Good Template

First of all, the display ad should emphasize your target market's PROBLEM at the top, then your solution, then at the bottom your contact info and a call to action. This is our general recommended format for any piece of print marketing, like flyers, display ads, etc. So a therapist who specializes in helping divorced women move on and create successful relationships might say:

_____________________________________________

RECENTLY DIVORCED?

Let your next relationship be the magic one!

Our divorced women's program will help you move beyond your divorce and attract the love of your life!

Limited number of low-cost introductory sessions available - call now to reserve your spot. Contact: ___ (and fill in your contact)

_____________________________________________

Put The Problem Up Top

Almost all wellness professionals automatically mimic their office letterhead, and make the mistake of creating ads or flyers that feature their clinic or personal info/logo at the top. This is a big no-no. The top of the print page is THE most valuable real estate on that page. The next most valuable is the bottom right side (the last thing they read).

Most people will read only the top 1/3 of the page (if that) and will decide based on that reading, whether they'll bother with the rest of the page (or ad). So you have to make the top of the page about THEM, their problems, needs, or struggles, NOT about you! Your logo, clinic name, personal name, or picture has NOTHING to do with them; it's all about you! They don't care about you (yet). They only care about you once they know you and know you can help them.

Work The Ending

The second common mistake wellness professionals make in print ads and flyers is leaving the bottom of the page blank, keeping it too passive, or (again) making it about themselves (with logos, photos, and stuff).

The bottom of the page (especially the right side, the last part they'll read) generates the last thought a reader will have as they leave your ad. It therefore needs to emphasize ACTION, commitment, taking a step, making a change. Appropriately enough, we call this the "call to action" part of your ad. Every piece of marketing you do (every web page, every flyer, every ad, every talk, every brochure, everything!) needs to end with a call to action.

Use A Strong Call to Action

A good call to action is both clear and compelling. It needs to tell the reader or listener exactly what to do next, and WHY they should do it. (IE, the WIIFM or "what's in it for me" principle!). With any call to action, be sure to keep it ACTIVE, simple, and specific.

Active

Active means you invite them to actually DO something. It should BE active and, for best results, should FEEL active to them. In other words, it should make them feel like they are taking an important step, like they are making a commitment. This is how marketing is actually a part of your healing and helping work! You are guiding them to take charge of their wellness!

So, while "call us for details" is technically an "active" request, it doesn't feel very new or exciting to them. How about, "Contact us for your free introductory CD on migraine triggers" or "Contact us to attend a free orientation class to our Divorced Women's program"? MUCH better, right? That's because it feels to them like they are really getting somewhere, really taking action.

Simple and Specific

In addition to being and feeling active, a call to action really needs to be simple and specific. Don't give them multiple choices or catch-all phrases like "call us to book a session, find out about our services, or for clinic directions". NO! You want them to do ONE thing, and you want that one thing to be (1) a powerful one (from a marketing standpoint) AND (2) an attractive one (from a reader standpoint).

Powerful & Attractive

For example, you might say: "If you're serious about ending your migraines for good, call us to schedule your free consultation today. Limited spots available, call now." Then give your phone number (in LARGE FONT; make it easy for them.)

Why is this a powerful call to action?

• It puts the reader directly into your new client enrollment process
• It gets them into your powerful, motivational, commitment-building Intro Sessions
• It allows you to screen them via the Intro Sessions
• It is attractive and compelling to them (keywords: free, consultation, limited spots, serious, for good)

All this in just 2 lines! Can you see why this is so much better than a logo or mailing address?

Include Testimonial(s)

One last thing: if you can fit it in, every print piece can benefit from a testimonial, prominently displayed. One good place for a testimonial is right before the call to action. It builds credibility right before the reader makes the critical decision whether to take action and "primes" the reader to believe taking action would be a wise choice - after all, other people like him/her have benefitted too, right? Right!

The other good place for a testimonial is immediately after the title and description of your program. Putting a testimonial here lends credibility to your program as something that can get RESULTS.

Be sure the testimonial emphasizes specific results (not just a woo-woo about how compassionate and nice you are) and focuses on your target market's needs (don't have a general pain management testimonial on an allergy program ad!) Set the testimonial apart with special font that conveys speech. Italics are great for this. If you have permission (and do try to get it), put the speakers name and city. At least put the client's initials and city - you want the reader to be able to picture a real person speaking about his or her real results.

Don't Forget To Stay Active!

Ok, that's enough time spent on passive print pieces! Remember, you want to spend 80% of your time on ACTIVE marketing (Engine strategies like speaking, article writing, networking with doctors, strategic alliances, etc.) These are the activities that help you truly become more visible to the client. The print pieces are just "snapshots" that help the client remember you. So don't over-invest your time and money in them, and don't "hide out" from the real work of marketing and connecting with people who need you!

More Info:

Members, if you want to a great live training and discussion on this, check out the latter half hour of the October 2006 Marketing Club call on the Audio Player page.