Traps of modern marketing: how not to get caught in the network

Olga Suganyak, family doctor, manager-economist, business coach (Ukraine)

Our soul is a ship sailing to Eldorado,

Which strait leads to the blessed land?

Charles Baudelaire, "Swimming"

The replacement of the Soviet monopoly economic model with a market one brought all the many years of marketing experience accumulated by Western countries. At first we were simply unarmed in front of him, like the natives in front of the “civilizer.” Just remember what naive commercials were shown on television, what amazing slogans fit tightly into our subconscious. The age of any resident of the country can be easily determined by asking him a code phrase: “Just add water”, “Lenya Golubkov recommends”, etc.

Marketing in aesthetic medicine

Most of us, specialists in aesthetic medicine, in a fiercely competitive environment, are forced to approach marketing no longer from the point of view of the consumer, but to play on the other side - the side of the service provider. An example of the deep penetration of marketing into the masses can be a widely circulated picture: a poster “Today only ⎼ 50% discount” hanging in the salon and with all its tattered appearance demonstrating the extreme longevity of this “today”.

A huge number of specialists understand that dumping, an endless and uncontrolled reduction in price, is a road to nowhere. And we go, huddled in groups based on interests, to endless trainings on Internet marketing, CRM and creating an individual brand. Some do better, some do worse, some fall victim to “marketing scammers” who promise mountains of customer bases for a couple of dollars.

But in general, the market is developing, the overwhelming number of successful specialists implementing their own projects can safely say: “Yes, I’ve already eaten a dog with all this!” However, this knowledge and, I would even say, self-awareness does not prevent us all from falling into yet another consumer marketing trap. The subconscious childhood desire for a miracle does not go away, and we all hope that, yes, right at this moment we receive that very unique offer that no one has received before. Forgetting a simple truth: if it is fast, high quality and cheap, then most likely somewhere and in some way you will be turned into rabbits.

The Most Popular Marketing Pitfalls

"European product"

I think that if Europe had as many factories as there are declared “European products,” it would have avoided the economic crisis. A loophole in the law that allows the publication of a legal address on packaging has instantly turned many Chinese and Korean products into European and American drugs.

What's wrong with Chinese and Korean products, you ask? There is nothing wrong if the specialist consciously makes a choice and does not mislead the patient. If this drug really has European or American registration behind it, it is absolutely not in terms of idolatry, but simply today this is the only mechanism that truly demonstrates that the drug is safe enough for use. Everything else, unfortunately, is from the evil one. Any study in Ukraine, Russia and other countries of the former USSR can be written with the given results for absolutely little money. But if a drug does not have any of the above registrations, and sometimes, moreover, is deprived of it, is this really not a reason to think about it?

What's in a name?

As for me, globalization has more pros than cons (yes, I’m ready to be stoned). And this is absolutely normal when a large pharmaceutical plant produces products for different customers.

But what about copies? A line of 3-4 fillers is produced, a loud name is given for some technology: “premium”, “smart”, “extra-smart”, etc. When you get into the essence of the technology - a regular monophasic filler, purified biotechnological hyaluronic acid. You look at the syringes lying next to them - if you turn their names down, you won’t even be able to tell which one you bought for 30 euros and which one for 80 euros. During the procedure, the sensations are absolutely identical, the time spent in the tissues is the same. Everything is the same. Same thing, Karl! So I had to learn the addresses of production facilities. (By the way, according to the new legislation, when drawing up technical regulations, the production address must be indicated in the document. So let’s wait. Many interesting things should come to light soon!)

What's the conclusion? I haven’t believed slogans for a long time, I only believe those who are ready to take me to production and not just take my beloved for a walk on the islands (I’ll pay for the tourist trip myself), not just proudly show off the shiny building of the central office and clinic, but invite me to the factory : here it is - the workshop, here it is - the sterile zone, here we mix, here we pack, here we store. At least you begin to understand that you are paying money not for a fake, but for a real product.

"Innovation"

This is partly related to the above. Just imagine: you have a product without registration, research, or tangible benefits. And in order to somehow stimulate sales, clients are told a legend about terrible global companies that do not allow inventions into large markets (the mafia, really!), about a poor company that is small but proud... The most interesting thing is that real innovations and inventions are bought up by global companies exactly at the moment when research shows the safety of such an invention, and a business miscalculation shows potential profit. The time for small businesses remains in the restaurant and boutique hotel segment.

The pharmaceutical business sets quite strict limits; the system of access markers works very strictly. And, excuse me, I don’t believe in the personal experience of the “great” inventor. I would like to study about a hundred people, preferably in different centers, different countries, and the “cherry on the cake” - blind. And absolutely ideally ⎼ with an objective assessment method, that is, not a diary of the patient (who likes it already because he was injected for free), but a computer program for assessing before and after photos, ultrasound, biochemical markers ⎼ everything that can be realistically measured and difficult fake

Indicative for me in this regard is an interesting fact of my past life. Before launching a new filler on the market, the company conducted a study, and in Germany an error was made in the translation, which is why patients rated the result exactly the opposite: if in all countries the drug scored 4.8–5 points, then in Germany it was ⎼ 2. 5. So, this low score was taken into account, so the overall result was 4 points - much lower than expected, although when the results were published there was a footnote about the fact of such a translation error.

Think, analyze

Besides, I always try, sorry, to turn on my brain. There is a beautiful name, so let me understand what exactly is behind the loud abbreviation.

The story is from my life today. New filler. What's new? Well, besides the fact that it actually adheres better to tissues and, according to research, has a long-term effect. What is the “trick” of a beautiful name? We read the patent: thanks to a patented innovation (they replaced a thick-walled metal vat for cross-linking HA with special thin-walled plastic “packages” stitched with metallized threads, which lowered the temperature of the chemical reaction, and high-molecular HA does not break down into fragments), dynamic hydrogen bonds are preserved, less BDDE is needed. Well written. They showed it in production. Stanislavsky's answer: “I believe!”

By the way, sometimes large companies play this marketing role-playing game - they buy back old products, rebrand them and... voila - the launch of new products. So sometimes old brands that appeared in the early 2000s suddenly pop up under new names.

And what can you believe when you see materials on a booster or biorevitalizant with awkwardly photoshopped results, where even the naked eye can sometimes see not only the use of fillers, but also signs of surgical intervention, which the manufacturer modestly keeps silent about?

I really don't like being deceived. And, wanting to remain not only an injector, but also a thinking doctor, I regularly try to train the “core muscle” - which is what I encourage you to do. Let's think, gentlemen!

First published in Les Nouvelles Esthetiques 2017/№5