Calling Doctor Feelgood

I heard an interesting podcast today from The Memory Palace. The story was about a man in the 1930′s who claimed to be a doctor and could cure a number of things, primarily impotency. For the sum of $750, “doctor” John R. Brinkey would perform surgery and insert goat testicles next to the patients own equipment and send them on their way.

There are a number of disturbing things about this and for all the details you should really give the podcast a listen. But from a marketing perspective, I was amazed with the effort dr. Brinkley put into finding his patients (or should I call them prey). He ultimately set up a radio station in Mexico and blasted 1 million watts of marketing goodness across the US. His voice would come on the air saying, “you know you’re sick, you know you’re sick.” And the message brought people in droves.

Do you see a similar scenario happening in business today? Marketing “experts” blast their message over twitter, facebook, etc. tugging at business owners…..you know your business needs help, you know it does.

John Brinkley had doctor credentials. Many patients gave testimonials of success (though in reality it was only a placebo effect). And the radio messages always promised hope.

The story ends with dr. Brinkley going broke, getting a leg amputated and dying after his forth heart attack. Many of his patients died and those that didn’t had to live with implanted goat testicles.

Not all doctors are quacks just like not all marketing agencies are bad. But there is a difference and it might not always be easy to tell. Want to know how your business can choose the right marketing agency? Leave a comment below and I’ll share my answer with you.