I have been talking to MD’s offices about web sites for their practices and the responce I have been receiving is financially not at this time.
I have thought of selling “links” / ads to the pharmacy reps, retail stores that they refer to etc… all placed quietly through out the website or on just one LINKS page… what do you all think? I am trying to make it financially positive for them. any ideas?
THank you for all of your thoughts, help etc. THIS GROUP IS AMAZING!
As the husband of a doctor and a former medical advertising art
director, I have to weigh in here and say that there are both legal
and professional reasons for running screaming from this sort of thing.
Most medical professionals are seeing their practices squeezed from
both ends by the current economy, but the idea of tarnishing the
“white coat” image by accepting advertising or appearing to be “for
sale” in this manner would cross legal lines in some localities and
would certainly raise ethical and brand management issues everywhere.
It’s the squirm factor I would look out for the most. As some wag once
said (I think it was George Carlin) “Would you go to a cut-rate
surgeon?” (I have a coupon for 20% off appendectomies, but it’s only
good on Thursdays in April.)
Doctors already accept “free” samples and pass them on to their
patients – there’s a certain risk of losing credibility there. But to
sell advertising on their Web sites would probably tip them over the
edge and attract either legal or collegial scrutiny (or patient
suspicion) that they could hardly bear at any point in the economic
cycle.
Here’s a free idea to run with. I used to work at an ad agency that
specialized in retail shopping malls. Their strategy was to find a
bunch of like-minded malls scattered around the country, and sell them
all the same advertising campaign. (And yes, they were all aware of
this, but geographically they were so disparate that they didn’t care,
and could see the benefit.) Their money would be pooled, and the very
best advertising money could buy would be made for them. A
photographer and models from New York City, an art direction team from
Philadelphia, the best copywriters – a total dream line-up. And far
outclassing any competition in each mall’s regional market. The agency printed money, since if they charged each client the local going
rate for a product that was markedly superior (and which no client
could afford on their own) they could still rake it in by selling to
more clients. Doctors (like malls) don’t tend to move around much, and
their patients are directed to them based on Zip (Postal) code by
insurance carriers. Since it doesn’t matter much where you are in
relation to each doctor (since you work on the Web) I think that you
could use this idea to gather a pool of doctors around the country (or
world) and sell them on the notion of crushing their competition at
the going rate or cheaper.
Walter
On Apr 7, 2009, at 11:51 AM, swimmer35 wrote:
I have thought of selling “links” / ads to the pharmacy reps, retail
stores that they refer to etc…
THat is very interesting and exactly what I needed to hear. Thank you
Can I talk to you more about this and how to “market” and sell the
idea off topic?
Julie
email@hidden
On Apr 7, 2009, at 12:22 PM, Walter Lee Davis wrote:
As the husband of a doctor and a former medical advertising art
director, I have to weigh in here and say that there are both legal
and professional reasons for running screaming from this sort of
thing.
Most medical professionals are seeing their practices squeezed from
both ends by the current economy, but the idea of tarnishing the
“white coat” image by accepting advertising or appearing to be “for
sale” in this manner would cross legal lines in some localities and
would certainly raise ethical and brand management issues
everywhere. It’s the squirm factor I would look out for the most. As
some wag once said (I think it was George Carlin) “Would you go to a
cut-rate surgeon?” (I have a coupon for 20% off appendectomies, but
it’s only good on Thursdays in April.)
Doctors already accept “free” samples and pass them on to their
patients – there’s a certain risk of losing credibility there. But
to sell advertising on their Web sites would probably tip them over
the edge and attract either legal or collegial scrutiny (or patient
suspicion) that they could hardly bear at any point in the economic
cycle.
Here’s a free idea to run with. I used to work at an ad agency that
specialized in retail shopping malls. Their strategy was to find a
bunch of like-minded malls scattered around the country, and sell
them all the same advertising campaign. (And yes, they were all
aware of this, but geographically they were so disparate that they
didn’t care, and could see the benefit.) Their money would be
pooled, and the very best advertising money could buy would be made
for them. A photographer and models from New York City, an art
direction team from Philadelphia, the best copywriters – a total
dream line-up. And far outclassing any competition in each mall’s
regional market. The agency printed money, since if they charged
each client the local going rate for a product that was markedly
superior (and which no client could afford on their own) they could
still rake it in by selling to more clients. Doctors (like malls)
don’t tend to move around much, and their patients are directed to
them based on Zip (Postal) code by insurance carriers. Since it
doesn’t matter much where you are in relation to each doctor (since
you work on the Web) I think that you could use this idea to gather
a pool of doctors around the country (or world) and sell them on the
notion of crushing their competition at the going rate or cheaper.
Walter
On Apr 7, 2009, at 11:51 AM, swimmer35 wrote:
I have thought of selling “links” / ads to the pharmacy reps,
retail stores that they refer to etc…