The New Realities of Marketing

How to do more than just survive… how to thrive in the post recession era of dismal advertising results, Internet marketing frustration, and out of control marketing costs.

Do you remember when you could just place an ad in the newspaper, in a magazine, on the radio or TV or in a ValPak mailer and people would actually call you and setup appointments?  I’m sure you know those days are gone.  Lead generation and advertising costs are up and conversion rates are down.  Many Laser Vision centers now are not sure where to invest their marketing dollars to generate real results that bring new customers in the door.  Although the many and varied “deal sites” are still an option for some, the reality is people who purchase these deals have absolutely no loyalty to the brand.  Therefore, all this does is cut your profits while generating a little cash flow, plus you have to split the proceeds with the deal site! This is not the way most professional service companies want to operate.  Plus, some businesses such as Lasik Eye Surgeons and orthodontists don’t want to and often can’t discount their services. So what are these businesses to do?

Although one of the common objections to getting Lasik surgery is the cost, discounting your service is NOT the way to go.  Some surgeons do this because they don’t know what else to do.  They know there are customers out there with money to spend.  They see other businesses offering coupons and discounts off their services so they think that’s what they should do.  I’m here to tell you that’s the wrong approach to marketing for Lasik Eye Clinics and Orthodontists. The reality is that even the Internet which was supposed to be the holy grail of marketing has not panned out for most businesses.  In fact, many businesses fared better before the Internet became this “Wild, wild west” of marketing.  That’s the bad news.  However, there is good news.  People are still buying laser vision correction and orthodontic services.  It’s just that competition is so fierce in many markets.  How does one differentiate themselves from all of the other providers of the same services?

Look, the recession is behind us. The economy is growing.  People are ready to spend money.  The next few years are expected to best ever – as people who have been holding back and saving for years are now ready to let go and purchase those services they know they want. The problem is the way people look for and choose professional services has radically changed over the past few years.  But, instead of adjusting their marketing to match this new paradigm, most Lasik Eye surgeons and Orthodontists are desperately clinging to the same old junk from the past – what I refer to as “The old realities of marketing” and their getting crushed!

Hi, my name is SheaEllison, President and Founder of Strategic Marketing Consultants and today I want promise you that there are answers to your marketing problems and I’m the guy who has them.  Today I want to talk to you about how to reliably generate leads and lower your marketing costs in 2014. I have been working with professional service providers now for 15 years, and I know you have acute BS detectors – that’s a good thing.  I don’t want you to just take my word for it.  The moment I say something that doesn’t ring true for you – doesn’t make sense to you, just ignore it.  The solutions I want to share with you are unlike anything you’ve ever seen or heard before.  That may be hard to believe, but read on.  You can also visit our website to learn more, watch videos, listen to audio podcasts and expand your awareness of what good marketing looks like, sounds like, and works like.

I’m going to share with you what I call the “New Realities of Marketing.”  There are 6 ‘Cardinal Realities.’

• New Reality #1: Differentiate or Decay.  When people encounter any of your marketing, you’re lucky if you have more than about a second to capture their attention.  In the old days, if your ad was only one of three or four others in any given marketing medium such as the paper or a magazine, it didn’t matter if your ad looked a lot like the others.  However, now that everyone has access to Google and all the other search engines and directories on the web, they have nearly instant access to ALL of your competitors – so you MUST master the art and science of differentiation.  This is the heart and soul of what you will learn here and on our website at www.StrategicMarketing-Consultants.com.  You’ll learn exactly how to differentiate yourself and your professional service business so that people can see exactly how you are better and different; why they should choose you, and precisely why they should do business with you.  I’ll show you how to do this and I’ll provide plenty of examples of – the right way and the wrong way.  You’ll clearly see how you have a long way to go to get to where you want to be to generate the kinds of results you sincerely want.
• New Reality #2: Convert Visitors into Buyers. Almost every professional service provider (Lasik surgeon or Orthodontist) website does a pitiful job of converting traffic into customers. Even websites that look gorgeous, cost a fortune to build, and rank well on all the major search engines almost universally fail to convert lookers into customers.  I’m going to challenge you to FIRE your website designer—and hold them accountable for real results, just like you do with your employees.  I’ll show you 5 major communication essentials and you’ll grade your website on the spot.  However, I must give you fair warning—you’re gonna be depressed with what you see.
• Reality #3: First Page of Search Results.  Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a technology process that has seemed to always be shrouded in mystery and “geek-speak,” but I’ll explain it in Simple English that the average person can understand.  You’ll learn exactly how SEO works, why it has to be an ongoing process, and why most SEO companies fail to deliver on their promises.  You’ll even learn how “well-intentioned” SEO companies are ruining your business… even when you are showing up on the first page of search results.
• Reality #4: Instant Lead Follow-up Required.  If you wait more than 5 minutes to respond to a lead, your chance of even talking to them drops to less than 5%.  It’s sad how much money is left on the table by SMBs today, both through online methods and real-life encounters.  What percentage of your website visitors purchase from you?  What about your in-store customers?  How many old business cards are sitting on your desk or in a drawer because you never followed up? It often takes more than one encounter for a potential customer to make a purchase. As such, follow up skills are critical to success. However, the art of following up is not for everyone. Many find it boring and tedious. In addition, it is more effective when it happens quickly. Your leads can dry up within days, if not hours or minutes. Is your system of follow up working for you? Does it include automatic emails, hand written emails, voicemails, post cards and letters? That sounds so tedious! There has to be a faster, easier way!  I’ll show you EASY and inexpensive software that will allow you to capture, respond, and close leads faster than all of your competitors. You can literally DOUBLE your sales by simply better managing your existing leads.  Yes, DOUBLE or even TRIPLE.
• Reality #5: Pre-Positioning Selling: Why do most sales people wait until the sales meeting to start selling?  That’s such a 20th century mindset, and it’s handicapping your results.  I’ll show you how to instantly start the selling process in a low-key, under-the-radar way with every contact from the first response, to the first phone call… to your website, and emails that you should be sending every prospect moving them down the Educational Spectrum.  Learning how to effectively master this one reality will boost your closing ratios by 50% or more.  Seriously.
• Reality #6: Relationship-Building Marketing.  Previously, advertising used to entail placing one or more ads and then wait for phone to start ringing.  Not so anymore.  Now it calls for a totally different mindset and approach.  I’ll show you how and where to place ads for maximum results… and I’ll show you what to avoid. Mastering this reality could literally save—or MAKE—you hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. There’s no “EASY” button here.  Learning to master these new realities will take effort, time, and an investment on your part. This Program Will Expand Your Brain, Cause You Rethink Everything You Thought You Knew, and Require A Total Divorce Of The Status Quo. Look, I’m not going to sugar coat it for you.  Not everybody is ready for this information—it’s far easier to just keep doing what you’ve always done.  There is no magic-bullet solution that you can easily implement in 8 hours or even one week.  It’s going to take time, patience—and some money to fully integrate everything into your marketing program. To put you in the proper frame of mind, ask yourself these questions to see if you MIGHT need to at least continue reading:

• Is lead flow a constant source of discussion and anxiety for you?
• Have your lead sources that used to work in the past stopped working as well as you remember?
• What is your typical lead cost now?  What was it 5 years ago?
• What percentage of your self-generated leads comes from the internet? (If it’s not at least 50%, you definitely need to keep reading)
• Does your marketing collateral TRULY differentiate you from your competitors?
• Do you have a cohesive marketing system in place to ensure everything works like a well-oiled machine?
• Have you become frustrated and/or disillusioned with every “SEO & Website Guru” who promises the moon but fails to deliver?

Here’s where to go next Identity: Standing for Something