The Importance of marketing principles versus the mechanics of marketing steps.

Article by Helmut G. Flasch, CEO Flasch Business Expansion

The Importance of marketing principles versus the mechanics of marketing steps

Certain basic laws or principles govern the universe, and that includes our bodies and our businesses etc. The law of gravity is such a principle, which cannot be ignored. The blood in a body having to circulate in order to keep the body alive is another fundamental, which should never be violated.

Great professionals in any subject matter are great because they thoroughly understand the underlying principles in their field.

Because, and only because they understand these guiding fundamentals can they excel in their profession and even make it look simple.

By the way, all activities are simple once you understand their few but "unbendable senior rules"

A doctor might have to try several different medicines or approaches to get the blood pressure down or increase circulation.
Some procedures and some medicines will work less than expected and might even surprise the Doctor with their un-workability due to his positive past experience with this particular treatment on other patients

But, if he understands the basic fact that blood must circulate, he will never stop to look into treatment, which might do just that. He will find a workable action of treatment(s) much faster than a doctor who has not recognized the basic fundamentals of this particular science.

The doctor of course will also have to be aware of some slightly lesser principles, which are right below the basic principle of " blood must circulate"
He will be aware of which body parts need more circulation, reasons why circulation might slow down etc.

In short, the doctor knows his basics and can now handle almost any situation regardless of individual differences of why, when and what!!!

If in the jungle with no equipment he might simply immerse a person in the cold river and then put him in the big cooking pot with hot water and repeat this whole procedure 50 times to achieve his desired result and in a super hi-tech hospital in NY he will obviously do something else.

In the case a doctor is only educated in the use of a certain machine or medicine but not thoroughly know, even in his sleep, the basic basic principles and the slightly lesser principles he would have lots of people dying on him.

Sure, the doctor needs to know the mechanical steps perfectly as well. Those mechanical steps are an important part of any treatment and the doctor does need to be proficient in handling a needle or laser, or high speed drill, but all those things are mere mechanics of which are many many more in number than basic principles and which are all derived from underlying basics.
One will never never be a good doctor without knowing the basic principals cold.

A good diagnosis is half the work if not virtually all in some cases. A doctor who is only good in administering treatment and not familiar enough with the fundamentals could not diagnose very well.

Business and/or Marketing are no different.
Many doctors tell me that a certain marketing action will not work in their area or their profession or their practice.

Usually they are right but only about that mechanical action or actions. Not knowing the basic underlying fundamentals paralyzed them without knowing it. In fact it makes them trying to get to the other side of the wall only one way. Usually its head on till the head (valet) is hurt enough and just going with the flow seems to be much less pain full. Lots of shattered dreams and those people will tell the younger generation something like: "Oh yeah, I too was once wanting to conquer the world and had those big but unrealistic dreams - you will see, life is not like that - you will see"

Those doctors have some knowledge of mechanical actions of marketing, which they may have observed to work or not work as the case may be but they do not know how to connect the dots and to make an intelligent business diagnosis - due to the missing basic basic fundamentals.

Knowing those basic principles of marketing would give any marketing individual the ability to adjust the marketing vehicle used to get the desired result. Usually this is more business more money in the pocket and more free time to do whatever one champions.

Please remember the doctor in the jungle who puts the sick person in hot and cold water to get circulation going. A marketing expert will know the marketing principles so well that he will be able to "cure his patient" (the company), with minimal resource availability.
In short, a true marketing guy who has been in the trenches and has learned his basic principles well will be able to make any business grow, even if there is little marketing budget available. And he will be able to do it for a doctor in Chicago or a dentist in Kansas or an oil company in India just as well as for a printer in NY or a publishing company in Taiwan or a hotel in Africa.
I have personally done all the above with good results.

The business guy, just like the good old doctor who's prescribed treatment does not always work as predicted, will here and there embark on a marketing activity which does not bring the desired results - but he won't be without many more successful activities up his sleeve and he will use and adjust them as needed and he will in the end succeed.

Examples of some basic principles and some mechanical activities in the business arena:

	You've got to have a desired or need and wanted product/service. (Any doctor has the above.)
	You've got to sell enough of it to be profitable.
	In order for people to buy from you they must have some trust in you.
	Before they can trust or like you they must have heard about you, in good light from reliable sources.
	The quantity of people having heard about you in this fashion is directly proportioned to the amount of people who will come to you.
	Hearing about you from a third party (as long as in large quantity) is more believable and goes much much further in attracting new patients than hearing it from you (paid advertising). Third party endorsements build trust! Particularly if in the eyes of your prospective patient, they are reliable.
	Repetition! People need to hear about you on an ongoing basis, literally a few times a day if possible (like Coca Cola, Hilton hotels, etc) but at least every month or so.
	Cost! To be able to let ALL the people in your area hear from you on a constant and repetitive manor one must find a way to keep cost extremely low and to spend little or no time on it.
	The way people evaluate whether they want to do business with a certain person or company has more to do with personally liking that person than with how good that person is as a professional in his field. This is hard to understand by most doctors because they have been told from the time of entering medical school that doing good work is all that is needed to succeed. Then why are so many doctors working harder and harder and make less and less money? Anyhow it is extremely hard if not down right impossible for people to evaluate the professional expertise of a profession like a doctor, lawyer, accountant etc… simple because one must have undergone the same schooling as the doctor. (Even doctors have difficulty evaluating each other) Thus, people resort to: "do I like the fellow?" "Is he trustworthy?" "Is he caring?" (No different than they do with politicians and just about any and all other business or non-business relationships). Not knowing and not recognizing this particular principle causes most of financial hardships a doctor might have. In fact not being liked as a person slows and can even inhibit the recovery of a patient, no mater how "right" the treatment might be. People follow people whom they trust and like!!! The "doctors orders" mean quite little - just look around how many patients have defied your "doctors orders"
	Inexpensive and powerful spreading of your name, which endorses you as a person, would be done through the media and the community leaders talking about you on a social level. This is called Public Relations.
	Social endorsements by the media and community leaders must be supported by marketing or advertising activities which are known and have been tried by many doctors previously with sporadic and much to be desired results. The reason for that is that there was not enough trust and affinity built (no third party endorsements on a social level) to ignite the marketing endeavors.
	The mechanics of how to achieve all of the above are numerous and almost every doctor is familiar with most of them. They range from flyers to coupons, to TV ads on minor or major channels to newspaper ads or inserts, Radio, health fares, screenings, visiting referring doctors, doing speeches at schools or rotary clubs, enrolling in a direct referral service, telemarketing whether live or with a machine, faxing, asking patients to refer, sending health reports, brochures to new move ins, Yellow Pages, billboards, placemats in restaurants, ads on the back of supermarket receipts, web sites, Search-engine, e-mails to existing patients or new prospects, handing out business cards, getting related but different businesses to refer or endorse you etc, etc.
	The list could be so long that you would never read it. However what is important to know is that all those means are mechanical marketing steps only. They are very important, yes, they are the vehicles, but they can and do have different results in different areas or for different professions or even for different type of practices. All the above marketing affects by themselves are prone to fail and extremely difficult to predict the out come of implied.

It is the right synergy of several of those mechanical actions together, aligned with the above principles, which will bring in more business.

Most small business owners think only with the mechanics of the marketing and completely ignore the basic principles. Thus they are surprised when a marketing step, which worked for some one else, does not work for them. Thus they don't know what to do when things don't go as hoped for.

Imagine a real good martial arts fighter! He, at any time, no mater what the position of the opponent in relation to his own position knows what to do; he knows how to bend or kick or clinch or draw. But a less experienced fighter will only be able to do his fighting successfully if the opponent stands and attacks him exactly as in class drills.
This inexperienced fellow knows some mechanics but not yet the principles. He simply can't think fast enough to do what needs to be done and will get beaten up as will the marketing guy who simply has heard about some marketing vehicles but can not use and arrange them correctly due to the missing knowledge of fundamentals.

What about a good chef, maybe a housewife who cooks good, can't she draw together any meal despite bad equipment, and with little food in the refrigerator even with only leftovers? Can't she mix and match spices in ways, which you never even thought of and which make you come back for more?
Back to a doctor example: Have you ever noticed that some doctors can do procedures well but could not diagnose and find the exact illness and then come up with a treatment plan that works, for NOTHING.
They can't do a workable treatment plan, which gets the patients well, but they are quite satisfactory doctors with the actual procedures! Just tell them what to do and they will do it. I bet you know a few doctors like that - they have not gotten the basic basic principles down cold.
They of course are still quit dangerous to have around because IF the slightest thing goes wrong with the ordered treatment then they are lost.

Take your own Hippocratic oath and translate it into your life outside your profession. The part in this oath I am referring to is where Hypocrites said something like this. "Don't be ashamed to admit I don't know and consult with other practitioners who might know."
(You see every time you ask for help you will get better at it yourself and even though there will never be a time you know it all but you surely will become very knowledgeable yourself. And knowledge IF applied and used is undoubtedly the most powerful weapon one can have in any situation.)

So the moral of the story - get the big picture of the field you like to concur and learn it well, and only then will you be able to correctly use the numerous "mechanical steps" which are needed to achieve your objectives.

In creating new good paying patients for your practice the big picture simply is:

You must create trust in people before they even entered your office. This trust, liking, and feeling he is Ok etc CAN NOT be achieved with advertisement it MUST come from third parties. Preferable from third parties which are influential themselves and which have a large circle of acquaintances. Create trust amongst those who will pass along this trust to others for no money of yours at all.

 

Helmut G. Flasch
CEO Flasch Business Expansion