Drafting this message at 30,000 feet above the Appalachian Mountains as we prepare our descent into the Washington DC area for the ASCRS meeting.

I wanted to share a concept that has served me well over the years, and needs to be part of your patient attraction strategy. It’s simply this:

Everything is Marketing.

Yes your ads, your website, your social media.

And of course your brochures, your videos, your logo.

But also your paperwork, your on-hold messages, your email subject lines, your lobby, your attire, your language, your staff meetings, your appointment confirmations.

Everything is Marketing.

Let’s look at some examples.

The trigger for this topic is thanks to an out-of-office message I received from an awesome colleague, Carol-Anne at Zeiss, who is also en-route to DC.

Here’s a screenshot of what you’ll get from her right now if you shoot her an email:

Key info, a little personality, and promotion of their latest offering. Way better than the typical "I'm out of office from DATE 1 - to DATE 2 limited access to email... I'm super-boring and forgettable..."

Everything is Marketing.

This is the message I received from a practice admin on Monday after she received my meeting invite:

What was the title...? 👇

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Fun. Curiosity driven. Set the tone.

Everything is Marketing.

Now that doesn’t mean everything is GOOD marketing. But it could be.

Everything you do COULD move patients down the path. COULD create a positive memorable impression of your practice. COULD be persuasive in their decision-making process.

And these opportunities are hiding all around you. So how do you identify them?

Generally I like to ask, “How can I make

Maybe that means making it funny. Or giving it a punchier title. Or adding a bit of pomp and circumstance. Or reducing friction. Or even ADDING friction is some cases.

Out-of-office messages? Usually boring. Carol-Anne’s is not. Meeting invites? Usually boring. Mine is not.

Another strategic approach: “How do I want this item / activity positioned in the mind of the recipient?”

Because it can be as easy as renaming activities you’re doing to give them more powerful frame.

It’s why you’ll never get a Proposal from LogiCole Consulting. You’ll get an Action Plan.

We don’t do Coaching Calls. We do Coaching Sessions.

I lead a monthly meeting with a client’s advertising partners. But it’s not a meeting. It’s a “Marketing Mastermind.”

Why? Because I want everyone showing up with the mindset that they are contributing from their unique zone of genius to this client’s practice growth goals. And that results in a much better work product than “Let’s do another boring meeting.”

When you treat Everything as Marketing, you start to notice these little opportunities for persuasion that are built into your current flow.

Small ways you can Educate in Awareness, Build Authority, and Empower Patients (the 3 Es of our E3 Conversion System). No silver bullets, but tons of small nudges that imprint your philosophy on their brains.

Alright, I dropped way more sauce than I intended today, but hopefully this has your wheels spinning in ways you can amp up otherwise boring or generic aspects of your practice communications.

And if you’re at ASCRS this weekend, and you see a dude in a cowboy hat, that’s me. Come say hi.

- Troy “Even Cowboy Hats are Marketing” Cole

PS - FINE, one last example. An all-time legendary execution of this concept is from a company called CD Baby. They had fantastic “order confirmation” email they sent to every customer who ordered a CD.

Here’s a link to founder Derek Sivers blog where he talks about it + shares the email word-for-word. Enjoy.