Posted on 2011-02-08 13:23:14
During the Super Bowl, we got a great example of how ads should and shouldn't be for your dental website.
"What is GoDaddy?" someone asked, while we were watching.
"Exactly!" I exclaimed.
She had confirmed what I had been thinking all along, that GoDaddy had wasted a ton of money on their Super Bowl ad.
GoDaddy is a web hosting and domain name provider. This means they can physically hold the web space your site takes up, and grant you a domain name. That's about it.
This makes you wonder why in the world they would advertise their service on the #1 watched TV Program all year. With a range of infants to 102-year-olds watching, it doesn't make sense to pay this much money to promote a product so few will respond to.
Beyond that, the ad didn't even describe the service. It was some odd storyline about a contract that resulted in attractive women parading around in GoDaddy shirts. Even if you desperately needed a website hosting provider, this ad would not convince you to sign up with GoDaddy… because you wouldn't know that's what GoDaddy provided.
This applies to your dental website in two ways. First of all, you must target your audience appropriately. If you know that your potential patients are in a small area, you would pick a local radio station to advertise your office, instead of a state-wide station. Also, you have to make sure your ad actually communicates what you provide for your patients. Forget about entertaining and amusing. People have to know you're a dentist and why you're the best one for them. That's what advertising is really about.