Professionals who run a clinic or business often strive to create effective messaging to draw clientele.
Professionals who run a clinic or business often strive to create effective messaging to draw clientele.
Just prior to Mother’s Day, Olympic sponsor Proctor and Gamble (P&G) released a television commercial honouring moms that offers an example of how to connect with your audience. It depicts mothers all over the world supporting their children in becoming Olympic athletes. The commercial went beyond viral on YouTube and P&G surfaced as a hero. Let’s examine some elements of this messaging that may have contributed to its success.
First, it reflects the target viewers’ reality, not the sponsor’s vision for the ideal or satisfied client. The moms featured are not searing effigies to a Utopia brought about by clothes that virtually clean themselves, flawless skin or teeth so white they could double as reflectors on a dark night. They are hard-working, somewhat strained women who scrub their laundry and wrinkle around the eyes when stealing a rare moment to exhibit a pallid smile in the midst of their dawn-to-dusk existence.
Significantly, the sponsor discerns and aligns with the essence – not necessarily the endpoint – of the target viewers’ cause. The kids’ victory is, for the moms in the commercial, almost beside the point. It is secondary to a universal journey to which these moms will return on the day after the Games. Similarly, P&G doesn’t mention itself until the end of the commercial and only appears for a few seconds, thus making itself secondary to, but universal in its support of, the journey that is the essence of its audience.
Further, rather than create a culture based on its products and services – around which the universe should naturally rally – the sponsor showcases an existing culture that it could commit to serve. Dr. Anthony Lombardi, who joins us in this issue of Canadian Chiropractor to discuss the role of social media in growing a chiropractic practice, highlights this point of identifying and nurturing a culture within your current and prospective patient base. Cultures are people united in values, goals and actions: if these people can envision your worth, within that culture, they will be much more amenable to hearing your message.
Many DCs have utilized some, or all, of these elements in creating messaging, but with varying degrees of success. So, what’s the magic bullet to draw patients? First of all, let’s be frank: there’s no such thing as a “magic bullet.” But in this issue, our contributors repeatedly mention one valuable binding element – you, the doctor. They emphasize not just your skills and knowledge but also your innate ability as a holistic practitioner to discern and champion the needs and realities of a patient base, and to translate that into powerful and effective messaging – and practice.
The P&G commercial ends by noting that being a mom is the hardest, but best, job in the world. Any mom is grateful and inspired when someone acknowledges both. Likewise, your patients, and prospective patients, will appreciate your commitment to harnessing your resources to honour all aspects of their journeys.
Bien à vous,
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