Sage Advice: Medical Advertising Agency Words of Wisdom
In the healthcare advertising agency industry, we’ve found that clients who are open to advice and guidance are those individuals who understand that there is a best practices approach to doctor marketing and advertising. Sometimes wisdom comes from making mistakes, but the wiser approach is to listen to and learn from the experience of others. Avoiding mistakes and doing what works is often the better course.
Although we’ve been in the health care advertising agency business for many years, we’re also open to listening to sage advice about marketing and advertising. We often find that the words of others have sharpened a concept to a precision point.
Here are a few quotes about marketing and advertising that are both insightful and instructive. They are mainly from business and industry but they all have application to medical marketing:
ON PLANNING:
“Planning is bringing the future into the present so that you can do something about it now.” -Alan Lakein
“A goal without a plan is just a wish.” –Unknown
ON DELIVERING SOLUTIONS:
“Don’t find customers for your products, find products for your customers.” –Seth Godin
“The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well that the product or service fits him or her and sells itself.” –Peter Drucker
“Advertising doesn't create a product advantage. It can only convey it.” –William Bernbach
ON TELLING YOUR STORY:
“In good times people want to advertise, in bad times, they have to.” -Bruce Barton, co-founder BBDO Agency
"A man who stops advertising to save money is like a man who stops a clock to save time." -Henry Ford
“He who has a thing to sell and goes and whispers in a well is not so apt to get the dollars as he who climbs a tree and hollers.” –Unknown
“A good basic selling idea, involvement and relevancy, of course, are as important as ever, but in the advertising din of today, unless you make yourself noticed and believed, you ain't got nothin.’ " –Leo Burnett
ON SUBSTANCE OVER FORM:
“What really decides consumers to buy or not to buy is the content of your advertising, not its form.” -David Ogilvy
“Marketing takes a day to learn. Unfortunately it takes a lifetime to master.” Phil Kolter
“Words calculated to catch everyone may catch no one.” -Adlai Stevenson
“Don’t underestimate the value of beginning a headline by naming the people you want to reach.” –John Caples
“Everyone—no exceptions—responds to well-written, persuasive, emotionally based copy. Not everyone can write it, that’s why copywriters are often paid so much, but no one can escape its power.” –Joe Vitale
ON ENGAGING YOUR AUDIENCE:
“The aim of marketing is to get customers to know, like and trust you.” -Unknown
And finally, this quote from advertising pioneer Rosser Reeves is close to our own healthcare advertising agency philosophy:
“Let’s say you have $1,000,000 tied up in your little company and suddenly your advertising isn’t working and sales are going down. And everything depends on it. Your future depends on it, your family’s future depends on it, other people’s families depend on it . . . Now, what do you want from me? Fine writing? Or do you want to see the sales curve stop moving down and start moving up?”
We like a good quote that communicates an important idea in a few words. What’s your favorite quote or saying about advertising and marketing? We’d like to hear from you.
