The 8 Dental Marketing Mistakes that are Costing You Patients and How to Fix Them
Marketing and advertising traditionally have been considered soft areas of business, incorporating right-brain activities like design and writing that leftbrained, analytic dentists often consider outside their realm of expertise. Well, if you think marketing is too left-brained for you, you ve downloaded the right e-book. The truth is that those images and words are only the final product of a lot of careful analysis and measurement: Skill sets for which dentists are uniquely qualified. In fact, ignoring an analytical approach the science of marketing is almost always the reason marketing attempts fail. The evolution of marketing as a science Watch a few episodes of Mad Men and you ll come away with the idea that marketing (technically, advertising) springs from long, heated brain-storming sessions interspersed with episodes of moody, alcohol-fueled bouts of pensiveness. And while that may have been the case in the 1950s, today s marketing is the result of careful data analysis, testing hypotheses, measuring the results and making adjustments based on those results. Today s outstanding marketing professionals are data junkies more comfortable in a spreadsheet program than a graphic design program. They dig deep into big data to understand their audience s demographics, motivations, fears, purchasing habits and more. They study successful cases and connect causes, implementations and outcomes. Then they measure the success of their execution and results and make changes accordingly. They study, diagnose, treat and measure results. Sound familiar? If you re a dentist who s frustrated spending money on marketing campaigns that show little impact on growing your practice, or if you have simply given up on marketing altogether, then this e-book will show you how to correct the mistakes you re making and avoid mistakes other dentists are making to craft a marketing program that pays off in new patients, increased engagement with existing patients and the overall practice growth you ve been seeking. But first: a definition. What is marketing?
Marketing is everything a business does to communicate value. It is not your advertising. It is not your logo or your direct-mail campaign. It is not your pricey advertorial in your local city magazine, your website or your Facebook page. Marketing is the underlying approach that informs all of these items as well as everything you do to communicate the value of your services. Mistake No. 1: Putting marketing in a silo. Treating marketing as a discrete business unit is a fundamental error made by most small business owners. For dentists, whose focus is on treating patients, this silo mentality is even more common than in other businesses. So the first change you need to make is to embrace the fact that Success Tip everything you do as a clinician and business owner is marketing. Here are the major items that comprise your marketing: Your interactions with your patients Your office dress code The design of your operatories and public spaces The technology you feature in your practice The treatment options you offer Your social media presence The look, feel and functionality of your website Your staff s telephone and interpersonal skills The music you play in your practice The causes your practice supports The outbound messages you send via direct mail and advertising Consistency of message is the primary attribute of successful marketing. Write a list of all the things in your practice that communicate a message, then write in one sentence the message you are communicating. Compare this to the message you want to communicate. If these messages don t match, or if you cannot capture the message in one sentence, then it s time to conduct a marketing audit, listing each of the items above and noting adjustments you can make that can foster consistency. Your positioning: Family practice, cosmetic practice, full-service practice, value practice, etc. The key to successful marketing is consistency. Rather than putting marketing in a silo, consider all of the ways your practice communicates its value to your current and prospective patients. Write out the message you want to communicate, then compare that to the message you are sending. If this seems like a burden, then consider hiring a qualified marketing consultant who focuses on dental practices. But first, adopt the mindset that everything you do is marketing.
Mistake No. 2: Ignoring your audience. So we know that marketing is everything you do to communicate value. And we have an idea of what message you want to communicate. But does that message connect with your market? We all know that a high-end cosmetic practice doesn t work in a blue-collar community any better than a bargain message resonates with an affluent audience. You probably conducted a full demographic survey before you opened your practice, but have you continued to study your audience? Communities change over the years. Less affluent areas gentrify. Middle class areas fall on hard times. Children grow up and have families of their own. Empty nesters move to warmer climes and new families move in. All of these demographic changes affect the way you communicate. Ignoring these changes is a sure fire way to lose patients. But even if your demographics don t change, styles do. Have you invested in keeping up with the times in your dress code, décor and web presence? Have you invested in the modern technology that can improve patient comfort and outcomes? Are you featuring this technology prominently? If you are not, your patients can sense it and they may be looking for more up-to-date practices. Mistake No. 3: An out-of date website or no website. One of the primary ways consumers research businesses is through the web. When it comes to dentistry, only personal recommendations beat web research for choosing a practice. And even Success Tip Too many dental practices have websites that were designed on the cheap by a relative or family friend who gets web design. If your website is not up to contemporary standards of usability and look and feel, then it s time to turn it over to professionals like the folks at Officite, who can provide you with a contemporary, effective and engaging online presence based on years of online experience in dentistry. personal recommendations have gone online thanks to Facebook, Twitter, HealthGrades, Angie s List, Yelp and myriad other review and referral services. Today s consumers are Internet savvy and they expect a professional practice to have an up-to-date, helpful website that not only provides a vivid glimpse into the experience of being a patient of your practice, but also adheres to contemporary web standards in terms of functionality and look and feel. What about existing patients? Is your website optimized to make scheduling and communication simple? Is this functionality mobile-optimized to benefit the increasing number of patients who access the web from their mobile devices? Beyond your website, do you use electronic communications such as e-mail and text messages to keep your patients connect-
ed? Does your staff respond promptly to email inquiries and comments on your Facebook page? These are all indicators of value in today s wired society and ignoring them can cost you patients who want to communicate and do business on their terms, not yours. Mistake No. 4: Ignoring the power of social media. Few tools have revolutionized marketing as powerfully as social media. Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google Plus: All provide unique ways for businesses to communicate their value message and engage with current and prospective customers. But when it comes to social media, most dentists fall into one of two camps. Some dismiss it as frivolous, and at best, throw up a poorly conceived and managed Facebook page. Others believe social media will be a magic bullet that will bring patients running to their doors. The truth, as always, is somewhere in between. In the social age, you ignore social media at your peril for a simple reason: Your current and prospective patients are there, and you want your message to be everywhere they are. By engaging with your patients (and, therefore, all of their friends), you enter their lives on a regular and comfortable level. You are part of their days and part of their lives, and any posts that your patients like, share or comment upon become viewed by everyone in their social circles. But you can t just use social media to broadcast marketing messages. Your social media marketing like all your marketing is about everything you do online. Success Tip Don t get overwhelmed by trying to keep up with every new social platform. Pick one and do it well. Start with Facebook by far the most popular and useful social media service around and focus on providing a great user experience there. Once you ve got the hang of Facebook and see some results, then consider moving to Twitter. The key to successful social media is engagement. If you re on Facebook, then you need to do more than just use it to advertise your whitening specials. You need to engage. Mistake No. 5: Treating social media like direct mail. The reason social media works is that it is integrative. Properly executed, your social media presence allows you to be present in the day-to-day lives of your patients as your messages and interactions appear interspersed with those of their friends, families, news sources, causes and other favorite businesses and products.
But it s just as easy to hit unlike as like. And if your messages Success Tip are an interruption in your audience s feeds rather than a welcome addition, you will be un-liked pretty quickly. The key to success is to intersperse messages about you with (many more) messages that will resonate with your audience. That funny video of the toddler brushing her cat s teeth? Share it on your Facebook page and watch your likes and shares skyrocket. Is it a patient s birthday? Post a happy birthday message on her Facebook page. To stay more focused on dentistry, share articles about oral health and overall health. Use your social media to show the world that you re not just a dentist: You re a person who cares about your community of patients. And be sure to like, share and comment on your patients posts. It shows you are listening and engaged, not just broadcasting. Follow a basic 80/20 rule on your Facebook posts: For every 2 posts that are strictly business, run 8 posts that are entertaining or informative. And be sure to interact with your patients! If you approach social media as an engaged participant in your patients lives and not just as a way to advertise your latest special, you will find social media to be a rewarding experience. While no single post will send patients flocking to your practice, the cumulative impact of your regular presence in their lives will help cement the bonds you need to build to expand and maintain your patient base. Mistake No. 6: Putting your nephew in charge of your online presence. Earlier, we mentioned that many dentists view their online presence as an afterthought despite the fact that their patients spend much of their lives in the online realm. Too many dentists leave their online communications from their websites to their social media and reputation management in the hands of a friend or family member who has a slightly better understanding than the business owner. You owe it to yourself and your patients to invest in ensuring that your online presence is current, professional and driven by a firm understanding of best practices. At the same time, you probably lack the time and/or interest to manage your online presence yourself. If you give these responsibilities to a staff member, then that s time taken away from other, directly profitable activities. For most dentists, the best bet is to employ the services of a company that specializes in online dental marketing. Companies like Officite create and manage everything from website development and Search Engine Optimization to social media management and blogging. This saves you tremendous amounts of time and energy and ensures that your online presence is professional, effective, and consistent in communicating your overall message of value.
Mistake No. 7: Failing to measure the results of your marketing. We opened this e-book by focusing on the value of data analysis in marketing. We hope you have discovered that a firm grounding in data such as demographics and purchasing habits is necessary to develop your overall marketing strategy and the tactics you employ. But data is also crucial at the back-end. Since many dentists treat marketing as an afterthought, they also tend to ignore the data they need to properly evaluate the effectiveness of their marketing components and the return on their investments in terms of time and money. Remember: Marketing is everything you do that communicates the value of your service. Once you have established the message you want to communicate and taken the actions necessary to align the components of your practice with this message, it s time to look at analyzing specific marketing assets. To analyze a marketing asset, whether it is a direct mail piece, a website redesign or a social media post, you need to break down the asset into discrete parts. The most basic of these are: The Offer The Channel The Call to Action A failed marketing asset can always be attributed to one of these three components. By treating them as discreet units, you can test one at a time to see which performs better. The offer is just that: The value you are offering. This can be a whitening special or an overall experience. To be successful, the offer must resonate with your audience. They have to want what you re offering. If the offer is solid, then it s time to move on. The channel is how you choose to communicate your message, whether it s on the homepage of your website, on Facebook, through direct mail, in a phone directory ad (bad idea, by the way). Certain offers will work best in specific channels. Test the offer in different places to see how it performs. The Call to Action is the specific request you are making of your audience. Should they call to make an appointment? Like a Facebook post? Refer a friend? Respond to a text message or
email? Test different Calls to Action to see which performs best. Mistake No. 8: Doing nothing. Too many dentists simply give up in the face of a few failed marketing attempts. We hope that this e-book has given you some insight into ways you can approach your marketing in a way that is rewarding for you. The simple fact is that you don t need to be a marketing expert. There are plenty of qualified marketing professionals and service providers who, with a small investment of time and money on your part, can give you the tools and roadmap you need to enjoy successful marketing and, therefore, a successful practice. Most importantly, we hope you have embraced the view that everything you do is marketing and this awareness gives you the motivation to take a good look at your practice from the point of view of your patients. Remember that the value of your practice is more than just the value of your dentistry: It is the value of the experience of being your patient. At Officite, we believe in dental office websites that get results meaning our clients can count on higher search engine rankings, a stronger online image, more patients and more referrals. Our websites for dentists are the best in the business, leading us to be the preferred choice for over 20 top dental associations, which represent over 150,000 dental professionals around the world. In today s Internet-centric marketplace, patients of all ages use the Web to find what they re looking for, from information on tooth decay to the best dentists in their area. With a dental website from Officite, you make sure those patients can find you, whether they re searching from an office desktop or a smart phone at the coffee shop around the corner. Think of how your practice will benefit by harnessing the power of the Internet in its marketing efforts and with Officite, it s never been easier. Officite www.officite.com 800-908-2483 3010 Highland Parkway Suite 625 Downers Grove, IL 60515