“When Facebook Ads ARE NOT The Solution – Know Your Market”
Jim Edwards and Stew Smith discuss a question from a medical professional about marketing his concierge service. There are some things that we should realize that social media cold traffic may not be the best bang for your buck with advertising. Check out this interesting discussion concerning building a new service for your business.
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Transcript…
Jim Edwards: Hey guys, Jim Edwards here, and welcome back to Sales Copywriting And Content Marketing Hacks Podcast…
Episode 31!
So, we are on a roll.
Stew Smith: Yes!
Jim Edwards: So, today we’re still answering questions.
And today what do we have, Stew?
Stew Smith: Well, we have a doctor who,
Jim Edwards: Did you ever try and get girls to play doctor with you when you were younger, when you were a future frogman?
Stew Smith: No, I never, I don’t think I ever did that…
Jim Edwards: Okay.
Stew Smith: I might’ve.
Jim Edwards: Okay. Hahaha!
Stew Smith: I don’t know…
Jim Edwards: All right, cool…
Stew Smith: All right, so a doctor with it a concierge service, or should I say he’s trying to start a concierge service.
Jim Edwards: Okay…
Stew Smith: Right, So he is a doctor in Phoenix, and he has a funnel with a website pthreemd.com…
Jim Edwards: Okay…
Stew Smith: “I’m having trouble with traffic.”
“I offer a service that I thought would be well received.”
A membership concierge service for people who could get home visits, wholesale pharmaceuticals, 24-hour access.
No one in Phoenix offers this, but I’m also having no takers.”
So, he’s been advertising on Facebook and is just asking for any suggestions with getting people interested with finding people interested in concierge services.
Jim Edwards: Okay, so do you mind if I go first?
Stew Smith: Oh, take it…
Jim Edwards: Okay, So here’s the thing, I know what a concierge services with the doctor and I don’t pay for one.
It’s not because I’m against it, but it’s because it’s not something that I feel like I need.
Now, I mean there’s like 8,000 things running through my head…
The reason I don’t think I needed is because I live in a super small town and I don’t have any problem getting in to see my doctor whenever I want to.
So yeah, that’s not an issue.
When I lived in Williamsburg, that wasn’t the case.
And the doctor that I had over there right before we left started a concierge thing, but we were leaving…
So I was thinking about it, and that’s how I learned about it.
But here’s the thing…
I personally would never join a concierge doctor off of an ad…
And if I ever need to, like my accountant told me about his doctor who offers a concierge service…
It’s like 600 bucks a year…
But you get a whole bunch of cool stuff…
And he only takes people by referral.
And my personal opinion is that if I was going to join one, I would either want it to be my doctor…
…my own personal doctor that I already knew and had a relationship with…
Or I would want it to be by referral.
So my personal opinion is that you could probably spend a crap-ton of money on ads and have a real hard time getting people to sign up.
You can do a lead magnet, you can do a five-minute perfect webinar about three secrets of why smart people are going to use a concierge doctor.
Stew Smith: That’ll be a good idea, actually…
To actually discuss the pros of going, concierge.
Jim Edwards: Yes, but it’s a question of who are you discussing it with?
I would look at it in a tiers situation.
I would approach all of my existing patients…
Stew Smith: Yes!
Jim Edwards: And offer it to them. I would use the marketing materials in the sales copy that I would develop for strangers.
But I would use it for hot traffic.
Your existing people…
I’d use postcards, I’d use letters, I’d even call them myself!
If you’re the doctor, call them up.
Because I remember one time, my doctor called me, and he actually was asking me questions about his iPod and because I was the technical guy…
But I got to – in that 10-minute conversation – I kinda got to know him as a person…
And then when I went to see him next time we talked about video games and other stuff.
And I know that sounds goofy, but as a concierge you want them to see you as a trusted resource, not just as the doctor.
So in order for them to do that, they got to see you as a person, as a personality…
As the authority…
What’s the word I’m looking for here?
Stew Smith: The trusted source,
Jim Edwards: But also an attractive character.
Someone they want to be closer to…
Cause you’re asking them to pay money out of their own pocket for the privilege of being able to be your patient.
That’s really what you’re asking them to pay for.
Stew Smith: Yeah.
Jim Edwards: So, start with the people that know you…
Then I would develop some sort of a referral campaign where there was an incentive for my existing customers to refer people they knew…
Kind of like on Facebook where when you advertise or boost a post, you’re boosting a post to people that like your page and their friends.
There’s a reason why because birds of a feather flock together.
So I would implement some sort of a referral type campaign.
I would have a number that I was capping it at.
Stew Smith: Yep!
Jim Edwards: So just like a membership site you, there’s fear of
“Hey, this is a limited quantity, you can’t join at any time.”
You could also have your own open enrollment as well.
So it’s not like you can join…
Even if you’ve only got five patients as a concierge doctor…
…And then all the others are regular patients…
You still have to shut it down.
You’ve got to have a time when they can’t join…
So there’s a reason for them to join and to join NOW.
And if you thought about it like any other service you might be doing on the web…
…I don’t know about HIPAA and stuff like that…
But they should definitely have some sort of a newsletter that you’re sending out on a regular basis via email…
That you could encourage them to share and forward to their friends with really good content.
Again, I don’t know about Dr laws and stuff like that, but I’d create content and encouraged them to share it.
I don’t know that I’d have a private Facebook group where they could all hang out and talk about their goiters together.
I don’t think that’s a good idea…
But that’s really my thought.
Instead of trying to work the cold traffic angle…
I would work the hot traffic and then the warm traffic angle.
And that’s pretty much my thought on that for right now.
Doing some Facebook lives and some other stuff would be cool.
And building up, again, it’s not just patients but people who know you and can refer people to you as well on your Facebook profile.
You could do doctor talks…
“The doctor is in”
Type of Facebook live stuff where you talk about problems and stuff and things like that.
And then people can get to know you.
Once they know you, then they’d be more likely to sign up…
But running ads isn’t going to do Jack, in my opinion…
Stew Smith: Yeah, I would agree with that…
And I’m with Jim as far as the doctor thing…
My wife’s doctor started one, and we considered it at one point, but at the same time, we just don’t…
We’re lucky that we don’t go to the doctor very often.
I go once a year to get a physical.
And I had bronchitis this year, so I went to a 24-hour clinic because all I needed was a medicine and I was in and out of there in 30 minutes…
Could I have had a concierge doctor do the same thing?
I guess, but I don’t see a need for me to do that right now.
But! I know how that process works and my wife’s doctor is doing it now, but she’s not even taking new clients.
So she still has her old practice, but she’s starting a concierge service from her old practice, pulling people from that old practice into the concierge world of hers.
But you know, it’s moving really slowly too for her.
So I think the biggest issue right now, as with the craziness of healthcare in America, being…
Is it going to be Obamacare?
Is it going to be Trumpcare?
Is it going to be…
There’s way too many political angles going on right now.
And I think the idea of having a concierge doctor would be great for stability of doctor service.
Jim Edwards: Right.
Stew Smith: And I think that is something you really need to say with all the questions of what is going to happen with healthcare in America.
Is it going to get better?
Is it going to get worse?
You can have this same continued doctored service right here as a concierge.
I think they really just need to see all the pros behind a concierge service…
And what would happen when you don’t do this and healthcare goes to crap, and you’re spending 2,500 bucks a month for healthcare…
If you want health care at that point.
Jim Edwards: That’s a great point… That what you just, if I’m hearing you correctly, what you just said is basically neither one of us has seen a strong enough reason why to do it.
And there’s no strong enough reason why not having it is going to hurt me.
And the thing that popped into my head was my friggin health insurance is expensive enough already…
Why do I want to add more expense on top of that when I’m not having really any problems except for the fact that it’s already expensive enough.
Does that make sense?
Stew Smith: Oh, absolutely. Absolutely…
I’m wondering what I am going to pay for health care every year.
I mean every year it changes
Jim Edwards: Up! It don’t go down!
Stew Smith: Every year, something is changing with my health care…
Like some program that Blue Cross is no longer doing anymore.
I had to downgrade it to an HMO, whatever that is…
Jim Edwards: But by God, you and I can both get birth control pills for cheap…
Thank God for that!
Stew Smith: Like I said, there’s so much flux in the market right now that you’re trying do…
It’s hard to get people to change, right?
Cause they’re scared…
So I think you coming on with a nice video sales letter…
…maybe some old school marketing too…
Amongst your previous clients or cards,
Jim Edwards: Letters, phone calls,
Stew Smith: Cover all of the basics.
Jim Edwards: A seminar… That’s the other thing I do…
If you’re going to spend money on ads, do a live local seminar…
Stew Smith: Oh!
Jim Edwards: Just like they do it in the financial industry all the time…
Stew Smith: All the time…
Jim Edwards: Give them a lunch and explained to them what a concierge doctor is all about…
Make sure it’s like a really unhealthy lunch too…
Like Bacon Cheeseburger…
Stew Smith: Cigarettes!
Jim Edwards: Hahaha!
Stew Smith: Hahaha!
Jim Edwards: Oh, that’s awesome… The problem is, and we’re not making fun of the good doctor…
The problem is is that this…
Your target audience is talking to you right now in that we could afford it, but we don’t see why we need it…
And we can’t be the exception to the rule…
We have to be the rule so really focusing in on that as to…
“Why?”
And the problem is that doctors have been taught to be very clinical…
A very certain way that they explained stuff that is not a salesy, persuasive way.
It’s a clinical…
“I want to make sure you understand exactly what I’m telling you” way
That’s at odds with sales…
It’s like any professional, a lot of times…
They see the benefit, and so they assume that everybody should see the benefit…
Not just doctors, any professional.
Stew Smith: Sure, they understand it so well that it should be obvious to everyone.
And so that might be a situation where it might be a good idea for you to take the first pass at your sales copy stuff…
And then hire a copywriter to do an edit job…
Or an audit job…
Or to coach you on it…
To help you, so you get an outside perspective.
Stew Smith: Yeah… I definitely would make an instructional video, maybe even a little short PowerPoint…
Just to explain the pros and cons of whatever decision you make with your health care.
Jim Edwards: Right.
Stew Smith: Whether you decided to go concierge or you decide to risk the insurance market…
Jim Edwards: Yeah…
Stew Smith: Because doctors are changing all the time too…
That’s another thing that doctors no longer take this insurance anymore…
Everything’s in a flux right now.
And I think if anything if you can come across as the calming state of stability…
Jim Edwards: Voice of reason…
Stew Smith: In this unstable world of American healthcare, I think you could definitely be on the winning side of that one…
Jim Edwards: I just got a vision of just everybody sitting around and eating Bacon Cheeseburgers, smoking cigarettes, listening to the doctor talk about stuff…
It’s so wrong man…
It’s going to stick with me all day.
Stew Smith: Hahaha!
Jim Edwards: But you’re absolutely right, so anyway, we’ve done this enough.
Stew Smith: Yeah, I think so, it’s just one of those really specific target audiences that you know, not all businesses have.
Jim Edwards: Yeah.
Stew Smith: I think you’re just in one of those unique markets that will require some unique education.
Jim Edwards: Yes.
Stew Smith: To educate your audience a little more.
Jim Edwards: And a couple of final suggestions…
Number one, just understand that the solution to sell stuff or to get stuff done through the internet is not necessarily always running ads on Facebook.
I know that’s like the thing that everybody thinks…
That Facebook Ads are how you get anybody to do anything.
And that’s not necessarily the case…
So that’s number one.
Number two, thinking old school, definitely.
And using social media whatnot to create content that will draw people closer to you, but then working more old school techniques to build the relationship…
And finally, if you could find a very successful concierge doctor somewhere, that is advertising well and getting it done…
Then it’d be worth hacking their funnel and seeing what they’re doing.
But I would think that all doctors are kind of having this issue…
So if you could find somebody, great!
See what they’re doing, see if you can copy what they’re doing…
But that’d be what I have to say…
Stew Smith: I would end it with this, your market is probably gonna be an older market…
Especially in Phoenix, that’s a big retirement area…
I think they would definitely have a probably more open mind to having their own house doctor… a doctor that makes house calls.
Jim Edwards: Well, and if you can crack the code of how this, combined with Medicare, and their supplemental Medicare insurance and all that stuff will help them live longer or will make…
Just thinking about your audience, that’s a great point, Stew.
And then just what I know about retired people and stuff, they’re all worried about their Medicare and what Medicare will cover and their additional…
Their medicare supplement insurance and what’s that going to cover?
And they’re living on a fixed income, and again, you don’t want the people who are living on a fixed income…
Basically, a concierge doctor wants rich people who aren’t worried about money.
Stew Smith: That’s it, but there’s a lot out there…
Jim Edwards: Oh yeah, absolutely.
Stew Smith: Yeah.
Jim Edwards: Cool.
Stew Smith: All right, well everybody have a great day, and we will talk to you soon.
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