Dental industry case studies
How Buyer Personas Could Increase Your Dental Marketing Success
Before you crank out your next dental marketing piece push pause. There’s something you’ll want to include, besides something catchy or creative.
Compelling today’s dental patient or dental industry client requires more than a burst of creativity. Their decisions about your services have less to do with an eye-candy mailer or luring them with a cute contest.
What’s the catch?
Truthfully, there is no catch. Get comfortable without one.
Today’s patient has one thing you must know and understand. And it becomes the focus of your dental marketing.
A Problem
It’s at the core of their buyer (patient) persona.
David Meerman Scott takes a bold step saying that a “buyer persona” is better than a focus on benefits. He shares a true story that reveals the power of the buyer persona.
”Nick Woodman wanted to sell cameras with a waterproof housing. A ‘benefits, not features’ approach would have used language like, “protect your camera while it is in the water.” Nick however did much more than reverse-engineer benefits from the features. He interviewed surfers to learn about their problems around shooting photos in the waves. Surfers told him they found it challenging to paddle into a wave with a camera, stand, get into balance and trim, and then only having a second to take a photo. It was too awkward to do with the cameras available on the market at the time. The key learnings from the interview is surfers don’t look for the benefit of “protecting my camera in the water”. Rather, they want to know ‘how can I take photos while surfing.’ And that’s how in 2004, the GoPro was born and have since sold millions of cameras.”
Problems lead to solutions. And solutions are what you provide as a dental professional.
But first, what’s the problem?
It’s easy to think about every dental patient as one in the same. Generally speaking that’s true.
And yet each patient has a unique “story” that highlights their specific problem-solution persona.
It’s time for you to become the “mentor-guide” that’s pointing the way. That’s the role of your dental services content.
According to Copyblogger’s Bryan Clark,
”……by accepting the role of mentor with your content, your business accomplishes its goals while helping the prospect do the same. Which is how business is supposed to work, right?”
Stop Marketing to Your Patients…
Instead get to know their problems. How?
Listen
Be attentive to every story they tell…problem they reveal…pain they mention…etc. As vital as your clinical expertise is to them so is your empathy.
If you want them to become part of your “story” you must join them in theirs with a sincere level of empathetic listening.
Use aggressive listening
Have a predetermined set of strategic questions. Make sure they’re designed to probe beneath the surface of why they (really) called and scheduled.
It’s often more than a commitment to routine dental care (though you want them to value that). It could have more to do with their calendar, relationships, or life goals.
For example, create and have on-hand questions designed to gain insight into their social calendar, trips they’re planning, relationships they value, and goals they want to achieve. This helps you apply specific services to a particular chapter in their story instead of a random attempt.
Use anticipatory listening
This is where your expertise (authority) meets their problems. You know, intuitively, what they need by looking in their mouth, at their x-rays, or their treatment history.
How you use that information can help them “write” new chapters in their story. Questions that include:
- “Have you thought about…?”
- “Why would you…?”
- “How are you dealing with…?”
Next…
Leverage
Apply what you hear to your marketing content. You’re perhaps most accustomed to following a templated, standard approach to promoting your practice and services.
Leverage your content into a-ha solutions to real patient problems. This positions you as a “mentor-guide” in their health care.
Again, Bryan Clark confirms,
”When you think in terms of empowering people to solve their problem by playing the role of mentor, you’re naturally performing better than competitors who take an egocentric approach.”
Join them in their journey. Without an empathetic appeal you could miss substantial opportunities to stay engaged via ongoing mentor-status.
Your best leverage is being intuitive about about who your patient or client is (their persona). Intuition becomes accurate by listening beneath the surface of their problem.
Then you’re prepared to share the best solution to solve it!
Solving problems is what you do. It’s better (and more patient-centric) than merely touting your benefits – those that may or may not be relevant to them. The more you know (them) the better your solution-to-problem accuracy.
There’s more to be said about buyer personas. Let this ruminate for a bit…and stay tuned for more on this topic.
Support Your Dental Reviews with Case Studies
Your patient or client reviews speak for themselves. And their message can have a positive or a negative effect.
I’m not talking about a “troll” who makes life difficult for you. Instead, it’s those legitimate opinions that have a make or break impact on your dental practice or your dental industry business.
No mistake, reviews are good and useful. Yet, there has to be another (and perhaps better) way!
A case-in-point
Case studies pull back the curtain. These strategically crafted stories are a timeless tool to have on hand for those good and bad review days.
Michael Saba confirms the value of an exceptional case study (content edited):
A good case study creates serious value for your brand by showing your (patient’s) real-world examples of the benefits your (practice) can bring them. That translates to more (new patients), more (appointments), and more (scheduled production).
The basic anatomy of a case study
A newsy headline
The first and most compelling piece of your case study is the headline. It must grab your reader’s attention and communicate a direct and relevant benefit.
“Newsy” implies that your headline must be clear. Cut to the chase and avoid being overly creative, “cute,” or cryptic to arouse curiosity.
A headline requires a journalistic persona. Think like a journalist who’s on a breaking story. Deliver straightforward, no-nonsense, non-salesy information.
Like this…
Dental Implants Gave Her the Confidence to Make a Career Change
New In-Office, Professional Teeth Whitening Increases Results by X%
Each are clear, straightforward, and reveal a direct benefit. The use of tangible percentages and related, real-life benefits helps boost the headline’s credibility.
And there’s only one big idea in each. This is vital to keeping your case study focused and free from the clutter of unnecessary “rabbit-trails.”
A well-defined “Who”
The patient or client is your “Who.” This is where you describe the main character of your “story.”
- Where they’re from (their condition as well as any other important, identifying information)
- What they experienced (their pain, problem, challenge, etc)
- What they wanted, needed, desired
- The number of solutions they’ve tried
- What their ideal outcome looked like
- What your service or product helped them accomplish (how it solved their problem)
- Where they are now, how the solution is continuing to work for them, etc.
These various “where,” “what,” and “how” perspectives will help define your case study character and create a connection with your reader.
A clear and compelling “plot”
Story line is everything. And how compelling it is depends on doing your homework.
Interview prep is the foundation of your homework. Relevant questions that probe the experience you’re highlighting are essential.
- Provide questions to your interviewee ahead of time. This gives them emotional “air” to relax during the interview and provide better answers.
- Be prepared to listen more than you speak during the interview. Keep the interview as much like a conversation as possible. This allows the process to feel less scripted and leading.
- Keep your questions open-ended. Yes-or-no questions will shut down your conversation and produce a weak storyline. The goal is to get to the solution-based benefits of their experience.
And remember, the purpose of your case study is to set context and reveal the journey to the desired solution. Advanced preparation is the key to a clear and compelling plot.
A case study puts-skin-on your services. It’s to your advantage to show as much real-life, real-people results as possible.
3 Strategies for Re-Purposing Your Dental Content That’s “Collecting Dust”
Our recent garage reorganization gave my wife and I some minimalist “air.” Ultimately, it was more of a redistribution.
There’s redistribution-value in your dental marketing content, dental website copy, online engagement, and other promotions you may have tucked away. Your archives and current content sources have life left in them…if you know where to look and how to revive their usefulness.
My wife finds it especially “cleansing” to box up items and give them away. It’s our way of re-purposing resources for the benefit of someone else.
Vintage is still cool
The lure of vintage anything – clothing, jewelry, etc. – is basically about resourcefulness. It’s a trendy attempt at redistribution or re-purposing what was once everyday.
Your dental marketing promotions are no different. Each are full of themes, big ideas, features, and benefits you can easily re-purpose for a fresh return on investment (ROI).
That’s part of the “magic” of today’s content marketing strategies. Dental website services and procedures pages, older blog posts, previous newsletter editions, articles, email marketing promotions each contain seeds for new content.
How to Re-purpose and Re-distribute Dental Content That’s “Collecting Dust”
1-Scan your online reviews, survey data, and patient/client comments for back-story content.
What your patients/clients tell you about your services reveals more than a virtual “high-five.” Look for questions, emotional-buying motives, pains, problems you solved, solutions your delivered.
- List emerging topics, themes, and ideas for how your can re-distribute the content.
- Create blog posts, newsletter articles, case studies, themed email series’, and themed landing pages.
2-Re-package blog and article content for a new or different “audience.”
Your patients/clients each consume content differently. And they access it in a variety of ways.
- Reach your “audience” according to their preferences. Implement some content experiments and track your responses. Try visual content via YouTube, Pinterest, or Instagram. Or re-purpose visual content into readable content via your blog or newsletter articles.
- Look for themes and ideas within your content channels. Your main website platform copy can be sub-divided into topics of interest. Scan your Services/Procedures pages for topics.
3-Audit your website platform for readability and call-to-action outcomes.
Many dental websites could use complete rewrite. Why?
Perhaps the content is outdated, is overly technical, isn’t mobile responsive (i.e. it isn’t easily read on a smartphone or tablet), is too wordy and full of feature oriented fluff and industry-speak.
Simple upgrades can revive a poor performing, uninformative website.
- Re-purpose service and procedure copy themes into blog posts or articles. The place to be more informative and technical (with reader in mind) is on a blog/article page instead of giving them everything on your main/internal service pages.
- Remove flashy banners, overused images, and “cute” headlines. Tell your reader something valuable. Create benefit-focused page headlines and sub-heads. Use benefit-oriented bullet-points on pages to improve readability (readers scan web pages they read blog/article content – keep this in mind).
- Compel your site visitors to take a specific action on each page. “Contact us…,” “Schedule your next…,” “Request…,” “Call us…,” etc are call-to-action words. Tell your reader what to do, tell them again, and…you guessed it…tell them yet again. Eliminate passive, permissive wording and replace it with a specific action to be taken.
You have more value in your existing content than you may realize. It’s time to re-distribute it.
3 Compelling Ways to Use Story in Your Dental Marketing Content
Stories have power. It’s why you enjoy a night at the movies or a compelling summer beach read.
And speaking of compelling – that’s the super-power element of effective stories. They compel you.
Your dental marketing content will succeed these days over the marketplace noise for one reason. And you should evaluate your copy and content by this emerging standard.
Story sells.
A recent post on Copyblogger compelled me to explore more deeply this whole idea of story telling content. I’ve been a fan of it for awhile.
The Copyblogger article carried me to another dimension in my future writing for clients. And it will do the same for you if you value having your dental marketing content stand out.
Sean D’Souza says your content storyline must have three core elements to compel a response.
1-The sequence – the events (points, ideas, etc) that build upon each other and create meaning.
2-The suspense – the drama of what’s happening, what’s up, or what’s approaching.
3-The roller coaster – the up and down and all around of good to bad to good, etc.
The reason story works.
A fair amount of marketing content is full of hubris. It talks about YOU, YOU, YOU.
Overused phrases like “state-of-the-art,” and “We’re proud to (announce this or that),” offer very little compelling value.
Where’s the story? And if there is one how does it benefit the reader?
Leaving out compelling benefits mutes your storyline. It’s like reading a clearance-rack biography or paying good money for a 1-star movie – boring and disappointing!
A story (your job: to find it – or hire someone who can – and tell it) has the advantage of a logical and compelling sequence of events. Add in some suspense and a roller-coaster of features and benefits to draw your reader in.
What does this have to do with dental marketing copy and content? Good question.
Enough “suspense.” Here’s the scoop.
3 Story-Intense Dental Marketing Content Tools to Compel Interest in Your Services
1-Case studies
These are story super-powers. A case study is basically a success story.
A dental case study would include a “villain” such as oral cancer, periodontal disease, bleeding gums, yellowed teeth, crooked teeth, etc. Your sequence of events would include the problem, product/treatment/service, and the solution story.
When a patient or prospective client finishes reading this brief success story they’re compelled to take action. Your offer is the action that will solve their problem and create a profitable outcome for you.
2-Blog posts
Appear regularly on your reader’s radar. Blog posts have viral capacity because they create a “what’s next?” response.
Read a compelling blog post and you’ll anticipate the next one. Blog content is evergreen and ever evolving.
Exceptional bloggers earn a spot on your newsfeed. You bookmark their content like you do a favorite passage in a novel or non-fiction book.
Your blog posts will move up the list of fave-reads when you add in story factors.
Keep your posts to between 350 and 500 words on average. Tease the next post by not giving away too much “plot.” Your readers will thank-you by returning again and again to follow your “story.”.
Blog posts build trust too. Become a trusted expert by delivering trusted content week in week out.
Eventually readers become patients, clients, or customers. They will buy/seek your services when you’ve proven yourself as a trusted source of expertise via your blog content.
3-Email
Email is a perfect (and overlooked) canvas for story based copy. Avoid jumping in with your promotion or facts that tip the reader that this is another sale-sy email.
Lead with a story. How?
Listen to culture, current trends, local events, your own experiences. Use these to craft a story that introduces your email.
Lead with a story in your email copy. The added drama will compel your reader to stay with you.
Two essentials – make a good transition from the story to the email purpose (promotion, information, etc.).
And…don’t miss this…
Write a subject line that prompts the email to be opened. Many emails fail at the inbox level because the subject line is anything but compelling.
An email subject line is like a movie trailer. It must move your reader to see the full feature.
Add some drama to your dental marketing copywriting and content. Use story to compel interest and your expertise will profit.
Which content “tool” do you most often use to promote your dental services?
How Copywriting Uncovers the Hidden Value of Your Dental Products & Services
A local paper ad caught my wife’s attention. It was promoting an international coin buyer’s event taking place over the weekend at a local hotel.
Our experience prompted my thoughts about some important dental copywriting and marketing principles. I was reminded how it’s essential to think about the untapped value within your dental products and services.
Along with gold and silver items, the company was offering cash payouts on coins of a certain vintage. My wife knew we had a few silver and half-dollars lying around so she scoured the house, drawer clutter, and forgotten containers to find a few hopefully valuable coins.
Bingo! Among some kitchen drawer clutter she uncovered a 1966 half-dollar. And we did a halfway serious happy-dance as if we were holding the winning Powerball lottery ticket.
We arrived at the hotel, took our number and a seat waiting among a few others who hoped they too had discovered the mother-lode in a jar or coffee can among their house clutter just as we had.
In a moment I’ll tell you how much our 1966 half-dollar was worth and what we walked away with check in hand. But first, our experience reminds me of some basic copywriting principles to apply to your dental marketing content.
Understand perceived value
Remember that people buy for emotional not rational reasons. This holds true for how they perceive the value of your dental services and dental products.
Imagine a client or patient seeing your latest promotion for the first time. Once they hear the price for treatment or service they’ll immediately form an opinion about whether there’s value for them (perception).
Of course, you know the value. And it’s the job of your promotional content to sell them on it.
Your dental copywriting and marketing content must get inside their head. But don’t stop there. You must reach their heart – the emotional core. How?
>Use benefit-rich action words and keywords.
>Ask questions they must answer in the moment as they read, view, or listen to your content (however it’s delivered).
>Raise the value of whatever your promoting in the minds of your readers with comparative data (statistics, facts, etc.).
>Write to overcome perceptions and objections.
Deliver beneficial value
Your dental products and services have built-in value. But do you know their value inside and out?
Change your perspective and look at your products and services with fresh eyes. Consider outsourcing your dental copywriting and marketing efforts on occasion.
Your products and services contain hidden value. And the purpose of your marketing is to discover it and create solid, compelling content that promotes it.
Show prospects, potential clients/patients, and current ones the benefit-value of your services. But don’t stop there.
The purpose of copywriting is to put the product in their hand…in their experience with words. Use words to paint a picture of the future with them benefiting from its use and the consequences of not doing so.
Use content to get them so emotionally attached to your services that they can’t walk away without buying.
Increase value
Not only give them a picture experiencing the benefit of your dental services. Show others benefiting also.
The “community” or “tribal” effect can increase value. It’s the show-and-tell principle that builds a story around the product/service benefits.
>Use testimonials throughout your dental marketing content.
>Expand your testimonials into case-studies or whitepapers.
>Show your products/services solving problems, altering outcomes, increasing confidence, saving lives, etc.
This has emotional appeal that few can ignore without joining the crowd.
Back to our coin selling experience. Our number was called. And we were graciously escorted to a table where the buyer eyed the few coins my wife had uncovered.
He immediately separated the value-coin from all the rest – our 1966 silver half-dollar – and casually told us to spend the other coins since they wouldn’t increase in value.
We agreed to his estimated value on our 1966 silver half-dollar. We shook hands. A check was issued.
And we walked away…$3 richer. Hey, unless my “math” is wrong (wouldn’t surprise me if I was) isn’t that a value increase of 400%?
“Est” Syndrome & How to Beat It in Your Dental Content
Sometimes I can’t get-over-myself. This occasionally happens when I write proposals to promote my services to a potential client.
My first hurdle with self promotion is taking myself just seriously enough to boldly inform someone that I’m the person to get-it-done for them. Something similar happens with product and service promotions.
The “est” syndrome.
This feature-focused disease includes promotion killing words like bigg-est…fast-est…great-est. The problem with “est” words is their potential to create unhealthy – or unnecessary – comparisons.
There’s a much better focus. I’ll share that in moment.
Think about making an impression on someone. That all important first impression makes it harder to breathe, doesn’t it?
You stress about your appearance – what to wear? You stress over your first words, how firm should your handshake be, etc.
It’s all about the feature presentation. And perhaps that’s the fear source.
When you think features – everything has to fit and flow just short of “perfect,” right?
But like all lasting relationships, you eventually move past the surface appearance and engage with what’s beneath – the real person. That’s where the relationship takes off and has staying-power.
The staying-power of your products and services have more to do with the deeper benefits than surface features.
Write your dental promotional content to the benefit level.
1) Look at the product or service with fresh eyes.
Ask – what problem does this service really solve? Then think solutions.
Perhaps you’ve focused so much creative energy on the presentation (features) that you’re missing your most compelling selling points (benefits).
2) List every possible problem the product/service solves (really, all you can think of).
This list could be creative-gold for your R&D (Research & Development) processes. Whiteboard or mind-map every possible problem and solution your dental product/service engages.
Punch-up your content with these gold nuggets. Benefits connect and compel your prospect’s emotions.
3) Leverage the results of happy users/clients/patients.
When a problem is solved with one of your products/services that’s an emotional deal. No, there may not be laughter and tears (depending on what their issue is) but now you’ve won a customer…perhaps for life!
Why? Because you engaged them at an emotional level – where a dental problem, an issue, etc was causing “pain.”
You delivered a timely and useful solution to their dilemma. And they’ll talk you up because of it.
But…they won’t if you don’t give them a venue. Testimonials, case studies, survey forms are excellent venues for this kind of “love.” Leverage them.
Seeing yourself as the solution (benefits) is much more effective than comparing yourself to everyone else (features).
YOU have a voice that’s uniquely YOU.
Get over yourself. Start using it.