AMEs advertising?

[airheadpenguin]

I have to admit, I don't know the nuances around the AME culture so I was a little surprised to get a postcard in the mail from an AME that I don't know asserting that my medical was due to expire at the end of this month and that I should call him to schedule an appointment.

I checked into this a bit, my last AME is still in business and still an AME. Most astonishingly my medical is good for another 3 years. Seems a case of an AME in Dover NH trolling the database and trying to drum up business.

Is this sort of thing common?

 

[Jim Logajan]

He runs a business, he advertises. What is new about that concept again ?

Nothing is new about it. I'm surprised that people are surprised. Marketing need not be explicit or deliberate to exist.

Many marketing consultants now advise that if you have a service you want to market, you need to have some presence here on the net. Specific advise I've seen is to create a website with plenty of relevant free material, thus making the web site have a higher probability of showing up in searches. The extra material also makes the service provider appear as expert, knowledgeable, and generous. Consultants also advise the service provider to join appropriate social networks and provide their expertise and advise - and suppress any urge they have to actually push their services.

Expertise and free advise for services that are normally offered only for a fee is, as I understand it, effective marketing because it employs the sociological principles of reciprocity and authority - at least according to what I've read in Robert Cialdini's Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion.

Doctor Chien seems to have marketed himself in a manner that aligns with modern best practices, yet his occasionally brusque posting style indicates he never consciously intended to market himself. The online endorsements from many of the people who stated they went to him for help are evidence of the success of that style of marketing - even if the marketing wasn't deliberate. The endorsements would likely provide additional marketing advantage because of what Cialdini calls the principles of social proof and liking.

Getting a postcard from an AME you've never dealt with is just not terribly effective. John mentioned 1% effective rate for direct mail - as I understand it, that would be considered a very successful direct mail return rate.

I got a postcard this summer from an AME whose office was 40 miles away. Naturally he was throwing away good money on such a campaign. I doubt he would be getting anywhere near 1% response rate. If he did what Bruce is doing, I'm pretty sure he'd be a lot more successful.