In a down economy, what should the general advertising message be? According to advertising guru, Roy Spence, “The message should be all about great values at the company and offering great value to the consumer.” See: http://www.kiplinger.com/businessresource/forecast/archive/interview_with_roy_spence_090129.html
What does that mean for a dental practice? Your existing marketing may already display your “values”, but can you also sell your service as offering the customer great “value”? To a certain extent, the way you accomplish this depends on the brand you have established.
While low prices are certainly part of the marketing strategy for some dentists (a few do this very successfully), most steer away from that model. Most dentists who are seriously marketing their practices set their fees at the higher end of the spectrum in their local market. They don’t want to be known as “low cost”, they want to be seen as “high quality”.
So, if you have already established a high quality brand, is it impossible or even contradictory to market a “value message”. I don’t think it is. Neither does BMW, and they’re not known for aiming for low-end customers. You’re not trying to establish that your prices are low – you’re just letting the customer know that the service is worth it, and that their money will not be wasted. The price is not low, but it is fair. The higher end consumer is quite willing to pay for quality, but just like everyone else, he doesn’t want to spend more than he has to.
Don’t sell price. Sell value.
