Where’s the BIG Money Being Spent By Smart Companies?

If you want to know what to do to promote your business/practice, sometimes, it pays to follow the money – at least the “smart money” in advertising.

What do I mean by “smart money?”

There’s DUMB money in advertising – this is the money big corporations spend to “brand” themselves instead of position and market their widget. It’s money spent on social media (because that is what everyone else is doing). It’s half-time commercials for the SuperBowl that make no sense and are done to entertain, not sell. These are two different approaches. One works, one does not.

Smart money is that which is spent and can be held accountable to some measurable return on your investment.

Unless you can track where sales or leads come from, you can’t know for sure what’s putting people in the mood to buy your widget, right?

It’s exactly why I have a life-long love of direct mail and really, ANY advertising I can hold accountable. (If you’ve been reading this blog for any length of time, you’ll know I abhor advertising efforts that cannot be tracked.)

So, back to where the BIG and SMART money’s being spent…

I’m somewhat familiar with these 2 different SMART companies – both of which are privately held.

BOTH are doing extremely well using the exact same strategies I’ve employed extensively for myself and clients and have done so since getting into business almost 15 years ago.

However, most businesses have dropped BOTH media in favor of other, more trendy media. You know, like Social Media.

I don’t have an idea what these two big companies’ ROI is, I just know they can’t buy the media fast enough. That tells me their bottom line is growing, otherwise, they’d quickly abandon.

Direct Mail.

Newspaper Inserts (FSIs).

With my newspaper FSI, I’m currently generating about 7.2:1 ROI. (My ClearPath Members get access and limited license to use this very insert.)

On direct mail, I’m almost always 3:1 or better after just a 30-day period of time at SofTouch Dental.

The smart money is not trying to “create buzz” online at sites like Twitter or Facebook. That may have its place in some arenas (if you can show me someone that is profitable using either as a “posting” place of commentary, I’ll pay you $100), but it’s most likely NOT for healthcare pros.

Pregnant question then: Why Bother?

Why not focus on accountable advertising that PAYS the bills?

Why let yourself get distracted?