Dental promotion ideas

dental content that compels action

3 Strategies for Creating Dental Content That Prompts Action

The default approach when creating dental content could be having a negative impact on your desired response. Everyone does it, including you on occasion (or more often than you realize).

David Ogilvy nails the approach in his classic book, Ogilvy on Advertising:

“When I write an advertisement, I don’t want you to tell me that you find it ‘creative.’ I want you to find it so interesting that you buy the product. When Aeschines spoke, they said, ‘How well he speaks.’ But when Demosthenes spoke, they said, ‘Let us march against Philip.’”

There’s more to creating compelling dental content than being “cute” or “creative.” It’s essential that you compel your reader, patient, or client to take action.

Sometimes that action is immediate: “I’m ready to schedule my next dental examination and teeth cleaning…”

At other times that action is a thought your reader has: “I like what I’m reading here. Think I’ll return for more…and schedule when I’m ready…”

Why do you take action?

It’s more than having a “want-to.” Action moves you in the direction of your emotion.

The same applies to your patients and/or clients.

I talk a lot on this blog about emotion. Again, this bears repeating:

“People buy things for emotional, not rational reasons.”

Here are a few approaches you can use to compel action via your dental content (without defaulting to creativity).

1-Create an image

I’m not talking about a photo or a stock image. It’s about compelling your reader emotionally by going for their jugular…I mean… their beliefs.

Your patients or clients function according to their core values. It’s their world-view, their desires, and their goals that propel them.

Tap into that with a more narrative approach. That is, give them an experience that tugs at their emotional core.

If you keep up with marketing dialogue these days you hear about “storytelling.”

Story “sells” not because it’s necessarily creative but because it creates an image of a preferable future or a problem solved.

The Wall Street Journal achieved $2 billion in subscriptions with a promotion that began as follows:

“On a beautiful late spring afternoon, twenty-five years ago, two young men graduated from the same college. They were very much alike, these two young men. Both had been better than average students, bother were personable and both – as young college graduates are – were filled with ambitious dreams for the future. 

Recently, these two men returned to college for their 25th reunion.”

Got an image “burned” in your mind now? That’s what I’m talking about!

Get the rest of The Wall Street Journal promotion story here.

2-Build suspense (instead of giving away the “plot”)

If you come out “swinging” you’re likely to tire too quickly before your content or copy can gain momentum. Or your reader will be “onto-you” and bolt with a simple click off the page or on the “trashcan” icon.

Music has a crescendo.

Think: Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody.

Speeches build to a powerful close.

Think: Martin Luther King, Jr’s “I Have a Dream” speech.

3-Assemble a “tribe”

Who doesn’t like the feeling of belonging? We love to group around shared values, experiences, and the collective watering hole where our decisions are influenced.

It’s about influence really.

The more your expertise gains a reputation for delivering value the more your tribe will increase.

By “tribe” I’m referring to those who find your dental content to be informative, relevant, conversational, compelling, and benefit-focused.

Picture a campfire or a circle of beach chairs within steps of the surf. Imagine the feeling of warmth and engagement that’s felt by two, six, ten, 100, or more…!

Tribes create viral responses. And viral results are the essence of influence.

Bottom-line: your dental content success is about the action your reader is compelled to take. Stir them to action and they’ll stick with you for the long-haul.

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dental content clarity

How to Assure that Your Dental Content is Clear and Useful

I love it when clients “get” what I’m about to share with you! It’s simple really and it can add value to your dental content – online or offline.

I recently wrote the copy for a dental client’s website. The pediatric dental content was brief and to the point – as they preferred.

They asked for a minor revision. It involved copy on a somewhat obscure dental issue. Though pleased with the copy, the client recognized that the existing content could be a bit confusing to their “audience.”

It’s vital that your content connect on a compelling AND clear level with your reader.

I made a minor adjustment to the copy. All it involved was a simple tweak in the language followed by a clarifying explanation of the issue.

I’ll share the “language” I used in a moment.

Clarity first

I’ve written about what is called the “power of one.” It’s the principle that your copy/content is more compelling and useful when it focuses on one, clear idea.

It’s common for marketing or promotional copy/content to take on too much. Words carry weight but too many ideas all at once can weigh-down and confuse your reader.

Narrow your focus to one clear, compelling, big idea. And make sure that idea is clearly communicated (what my client gets).

How to Assure that Your Dental Content is Clearly Useful

1-Know your audience

This is Communication-101. Who are you talking, writing, marketing, promoting to? Dentistry is a technical, knowledge-based industry. As a dentist, your education holds esteemed value to your patients (and it certainly should).

Your audience “pays” for your knowledge and expertise. But that knowledge-base requires a clear explanation when it’s shared with those other than industry colleagues (i.e., your patients).

  • View your services through the “eyes” of your patient. Explain, promote, educate them with words they understand. This is a fundamental task of my dental content writing – clarifying and attaching benefits to what is otherwise obscure or irrelevant.
  • Get to the benefit level as quickly and clearly as possible. Remember that the benefits of your services must connect with your patient’s emotions. Features, on the other hand, appeal to their logic. Use both (features and benefits) but clarify what you provide around the benefit they will receive.

2-Paint a “picture.”

It’s useful to illustrate the “idea” you’re communicating. This is what I did recently with my client.

I used a few simple words to clarify the complex issue. Instead of using albeit accurate technical language I illustrated it by saying, “Think of it this way…,” then crafted a short connection to a relatable idea.

Those simple words shifted their thinking to something they could understand. When your reader makes the “shift” they inch closer to accepting what you’re communicating.

Art takes work.

Invest time creating clear ways to communicate your services. What can you compare it to? Is there a connection to something your patient(s) know and understand?

3-Tell a story.

This is about your core message. Those who read your content aren’t looking for a screenplay but they are looking for value in what your provide.

The more you draw them into your services the better your outcomes.

  • Help your patient see themselves using and benefitting from your service. It’s not about “whiter teeth” it’s really about confidence at their daughter’s wedding or feeling attractive at their upcoming high school reunion.
  • List as many plot-lines as you can think of for each of your dental services. By “plot-line” I’m referring to the path you guide them on from problem to solution. What ultimately does this “problem” cause if avoided and what would it look like if they accept the “solution?”
  • Mine your reviews, surveys, and patient testimonials for story themes. Patients tell you their story through their post-treatment comments. Listen chair side for clues to your patient’s story. What are they really wanting from the service you’ve treatment planned for them?

That’s story!

Simplify your copy. And remember that clarity adds value to the content you publish to promote your services.

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