If you’ve attended any of my seminars, then you KNOW that I enjoy speaking to groups. In fact, doing a two-day event (in which each day is 12 hours long) is no problem.
When I am NOT on stage, I like to reduce my personal talking time to the point where someone might mistake me for being shy (which, to-date, has never happened). It’s not that I don’t enjoy speaking, rather, I like to keep the communication simple and to the point.
To assist me in reducing the amount of oxygen utilized per day on speaking, I often use metaphors, analogies, and single words to explain my point. As powerful as certain choices may be in terms of being a positive force in explaining a point, choosing the wrong metaphors, analogies, and words can be equally negative and often, very offensive.
With that in mind and with regard to marketing, knowing what NOT to do is more important than knowing what’s right. Nevertheless, knowing what you shouldn’t say, and knowing what images you shouldn’t use is frequently overlooked to the point that, in many cases, there are folks out there who are IN DENIAL in terms of how they are offending their prospective customers, clients, and patients.
Here’s a great example of what not to do, and an even greater example of some folks who continue to DO IT WRONG:
There is a company that sells a poster (primarily to chiropractors) that suggests – with imagery, that bad posture will eventually lead you to confinement in a wheelchair.
Since a number of chiropractors have purchased this poster, it does not surprise me that most of them will become defensive when presented with ACTUAL FACT with regard to the unfortunate usage of this particular poster. In other words, they will fight me tooth and tail without consideration of reality.
This poster suggests the following:
WHEELCHAIR = NEGATIVE
I don’t know about you folks, but I don’t know of any evidence that suggests that bad posture will definitively put you in a wheelchair. Do you?
Sure, bad posture can lead to a myriad of problems, but there are folks who may have decent posture and are morbidly obese that are going to be needing the use of a wheelchair or a scooter well before a skinny person whose is not standing up straight.
There are many children who have conditions that require their use of a wheelchair (i.e. muscular dystrophy). These children NEED a wheelchair! It helps them live a productive life!
Is it really smart to suggest that a tool that helps these folks get around, is also a NEGATIVE? Is that a smart thing to suggest with your imagery? Is that how you want to begin your relationship with your patients? Is that the message you want to send home with your patients? Really? Seriously?
To some, that’s just bad karma to
send that kind of horrible message.
What about folks who have multiple sclerosis or other illnesses that have nothing to do with posture? They want to get around – just like you and me. What these chiropractors DON’T SEE is the final point that’s REALLY generated via this poster:
WHEELCHAIR = NEGATIVE
I wonder what the folks at the American Association of People with Disabilities would have to say when presented with that poster? I can tell you right here and now that I KNOW what many chiropractors will say: “Who cares if people are offended…to hell with them!!!!”
I am going to assume that the company that designed this poster has sold a lot of product. Wonderful. So right now…as I sit here and bang out this blog post, hanging in many chiropractors offices is a message that says, WHEELCHAIR = BAD.
A copy of that poster was given to me as a “gift” (LOL). I have shown it to some of my marketing colleagues and asked for their feedback. In addition to finding a few “errors,” the unanimous consent was that the poster was ineffective at making a serious point about the effects of bad posture. In other words, the suggestion that a WHEELCHAIR is a negative destination far outweighed the potential for a positive “action message.”
A chiropractor with a son or daughter who is ill and requires the use of a wheelchair, would probably respond with, “Come on – you’re making a big deal over nothing!” But a person with a child whose life will DEPEND on a wheelchair, will likely be offended. Will these parents say anything to you? NO – I seriously doubt it. Will they consider your services for themselves and their friends? I KNOW FOR A FACT that many will not. I have already heard many stories relating directly to the message broadcasted by this particular poster.
Again, a chiropractor who owns a DC degree (mind you, this IS NOT a degree that grants them knowledge when it comes to communication and/or business) will deny the potential for any negative fallout as a result of “marketing” with this imagery. They will argue the point until they are blue in the face. But does arguing a point make them right? OF COURSE NOT!!!
Is this poster using scare tactics?
YES.
Is that what a doctor who loves his or her patients (as many chiropractors claim) should be doing? Should they be scaring people into care? WELL SHOULD THEY???
CHIROPRACTOR: “Dr. Marc, I really, really L-O-V-E my patients! I do! To get them in here, I need to scare the crap out of them by suggesting that not standing up straight is going to put them in a wheelchair. That’s the chiropractic message!!! Forget all that nonsense about the nervous system! Forget about teaching our patients about the inner workings of the body. Instead, I L-O-V-E my patients soooo much that I am going to scare them into my practice! The other message is that chiropractic is all about posture. And if you have good posture, you are never subluxated…err…I think…err…or not…”
SIDE NOTE: As anyone who knows anything will tell you, only chiropractors who focus on STRUCTURAL CORRECTION, are able to really make any inroads in terms of CORRECTING posture. After all, even a little kid knows that good posture depends on OPTIMAL STRUCTURE. If your structure is off, then your posture is off. Period. Additionally, everyone works on posture. A personal trainer works on posture. A physical therapist works on posture. So does a yoga instructor and a Pilates instructor. My grandmother worked on posture when she yelled at me to “sit up straight!” Only a chiropractor who focuses on STRUCTURAL CORRECTION is able to correct (or, at the very least, seriously improve) structure, which then corrects the posture.
CHIROPRACTOR: “Dr. Marc, I hate your guts for telling me that the poster hanging in my reception area is NEGATIVE.”
DR. MARC (Me): “You sir/ma’am are not a principled chiropractor or even worthy of the title ‘doctor.’ Any ‘doctor’ who tries to scare people into care has ZERO PRINCIPLES. And even if you weren’t attempting to scare people into care, you should have enough common sense to know when you using a tool that is IDIOTIC!”
THE POINT:
A single poster, created without thought, uses images and verbiage to counter the potential for a positive message. And because the folks purchasing that poster lack the proper knowledge to make a smart decision, they allow the poster to hang in their reception areas.
A patient will never come up to a doctor and say, “I AM OFFENDED BY THAT POSTER!” Instead, they will just be offended. Will it hurt their practice? YES. Will the chiropractor be able to measure that “hurt”? NO. And because the chiropractor cannot measure the potential “hurt,” then in their eyes, the “hurt” does not exist.
I realize that this post is going to make many chiropractors unhappy with me. That’s okay. Like cockroaches, weakness runs as soon as soon as someone turns on the lights. The smart chiropractors will want to FRIEND me, and the “less smart” chiropractors will dismiss me like dog poop on the underside of a shoe.
The point of this post was not to offend anyone, rather, demonstrate that selecting the right words and the right images can help…and can hurt. My reference to chiropractors was two-fold:
1). Illustrate a point
2). Help a profession that continues to send the WRONG message, see that the obvious is often not so obvious. Hopefully the folks using this poster (and similar posters) will see the light and remove something that is nothing less than harmful to what really is a great profession.
I hope you’ve learned something from this post.
Have A GREAT Day!
…Dr. Marc