Public Relations and Advertising, How Do They Tie Together?
Written by Doug Sims
They do have a role and do fit with each together. But you have to have the right view. You can advertise all you want but there is a specific reason for public relations. If you don’t have these two fields cleared up in your mind and how they work together you are losing a lot of your public reach.
Public Relations
Public Relations is not only making yourself known but also is, in fact, making your “Good Works” known. If the public – prospective patients – know what you are doing in and for their community then they will already have a positive image of you and your practice.
Marketing
Marketing in a simple statement is the creation, packaging, getting to market your goods or product and advertising that they are there to be consumed. While there is more to this, if we get down to brass tacks, this is what one is doing.
How They Tie Together
When starting your marketing campaign the preliminary step is Public Relations. As a result when you start to market your practice and services they will be much more receptive to what you are saying because they know you and they know what you are doing in the community.
But how do you do that? There is a multitude of ways. You can partner with a charity that is raising money for their program, or work with a non-profit and help sponsor their event by actual participation not just giving money. You have to be out there working with them by either holding an event in your practice or at their event. And then make that activity known. And the list goes on.
An important aspect of this is your purpose. If you are simply doing the Public Relations activity to get more sales it will be disdained by your potential public. However, approaching this endeavor as a way to give back to your community, remember you would not be there without their support, is the best. And you also will receive the satisfaction of making a difference.
One practice we work with recently held an event that resulted in the Doctor becoming widely recognized in his community. There was radio coverage by multiple stations before the event and the event was reported on the 3 major TV networks in the area. The result was the Doctor is now recognized in his community and some patients reported coming in just because of this event and what it meant to them personally. But the marketing is now producing better results than ever with the highest-ever surgeries for a month of October, traditionally a slow month.
So they do tie together. But in actual fact, Public Relations precedes Advertising.
About the author of this article:
Doug Sims is the President of Fast Track Marketing, which specializes in LASIK and refractive surgery marketing and advertising. Doug has over 30 years of experience in marketing and now implements the Maximize Your Marketing System to the field of Refractive Surgery with clients across the United States. Doug can be reached at [email protected]. More information is also available on the Fast Track website: www.fast-trackmarketing.com.