In last week’s blog I said that I would have more to say this week about End of Life Planning, however, the following subject seemed to be more timely. I promise that next week I will return to Disaster Planning.
Ahhh October! Summer is on its way out taking its record weather with it; quickly dropping over the horizon as the fall season’s rush of hearing aid ads comes into view. Columbus discovered America (some disagree) and his holiday marks the beginning of the nine weeks of good business (we hope) prior to the end of year holidays.
I sat down to read the Sunday paper this past weekend and found three half-page or larger hearing aid ads. Good! Businesses are out there promoting themselves, or I should say they are promoting how low their prices are or how great are their “deals.” I know the economy stinks and it takes a lot of hard work to keep your bottom line in the black, but I always wonder what our potential customers think when they are continuously seeing “Discount” ads. “Boy that’s a good deal,” or “These prices are better than last year. I bet they’ll be even better next year.” Anyone who has read my previous thoughts on advertising knows what I think of this kind of advertising, so I’ll leave that subject alone. Instead – let’s look at some other traits these ads seem to have in common.
One thing I noticed was that they all tried to look like news articles. Maybe it was a coincidence, or maybe it is a trend that I haven’t been aware of until now.
I believe that our industry should stress the positives “honestly” while not reminding the public about the problems hearing aids sometimes cause their wearers. Yes – hearing aids can whistle, yes – they can make a person feel like they are in a barrel, and yes – hearing in a noisy place can be a problem, but why remind the non-wearer about things that modern, properly fit instruments have dramatically reduced? Current users probably know only too well what problems they want to reduce and most likely know a good deal about what modern instruments are capable of. If your clients, the people most likely to purchase new instruments from your office, don’t know these things you might be well served to examine your direct marketing program.
Hopefully you agree with the previous paragraph, so might it not make sense to stress the positives of modern hearing aid use without also giving people reasons to avoid purchasing them? The following is part of one sentence in a full page ad that I read this week that tries to make itself look like a news article.
…programs that eliminate feedback, optimize speech understanding in noise, and enhance natural sound quality.
I believe most new instruments can significantly reduce feedback, but doubt that any instrument “eliminates” feedback. And from another ad, in bold print
•No Feedback •No Echo •No Whistling •No Wind Noise
I guess reducing negatives is a positive but, personally, I would simply ignore these potential problems since they make readers aware of the negatives, reasons not to try hearing aids, rather than promoting the positives. The positives are the things we have all been aware of, but each new generation of hearing impaired has to be introduced to, one at a time. For those offices where the same old ads are not working the way they once did, it might prove useful to try ads that are totally positive in tone – but honest.
As a wise man once said, “When you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.” With that said, I hope everyone has ample reason to celebrate a good holiday sales season and be thankful that Queen Isabella liked Christopher C.
