thought leadership

April 24, 2019 Content marketing, Dental blog, Dental blogging, Dental content, Dental Copywriting, Dental marketing strategies, Uncategorized No Comments

How to Become a “Thought-Leader” with Your Dental Content and Increase Your Influence

Recent collaboration with a dental industry client revealed something about their content. And the principle has value for how you view your dental content and copy across all your platforms.

We were importing a new template on our project management platform. Time came to label a category having to do with our editorial calendar. “Thought leadership” appeared to be the obvious tag.

That got me to thinking about the attitude you should have about the content you create to market your dental practice or dental industry services.

It’s about being a thought-leader.

Not all “thought leadership” is worthy

You might have seen a viral video a few months ago. It featured a baby bear attempting to navigate a steep, snow packed cliff to reach its mother.

Millions of people saw the video and were inspired by it. Such triumph and strength against the odds of nature.

That was one perspective…shared by millions!

A contrary opinion was formed. It separated one thought leader from the crowd of admirers.

”Science writer Ed Yong saw it differently… Writing in The Atlantic, he described it as a worrisome example of drone-mounted cameras harassing wildlife. To animal experts, several moments in the video show the mother bear reacting to the too-close drone rather than interacting with her cub.

Marketing expert and mentor, Marcia Yudkin, continues her observation of Yong’s perspective,

I appreciate Yong’s article because it provided unexpected perspective on a seemingly harmless story or idea.

And here’s the jewel…

If you can dish up those kind of ‘Yes, but…’ insights to your audience, you’ll attract thoughtful fans and experience growing influence.

Yong did this without scolding the uninformed admirers of the video, and you should do so as well.

Identify a popular or trending belief that doesn’t mesh with what you know.

Explain your deeper angle in the tone of ‘What you probably didn’t realize is…,’ ‘Unfortunately…’ or ‘The problem here is…’

This is thought leadership at its finest.” 1

How “Yes…But” Thought Leadership Turns Contrary Ideas Into Useful Content That Builds Loyalty with Your “Tribe”

Identify, clarify, and leverage your unique point-of-view (POV)

You have solutions to problems…answers to questions…and more. Therein lies the core of your dental content strategy.

Gone are the days of writing to an “empty room.” The dental seeking public is rich with questions you can answer and problems begging for a solution.

You’re the expert. And more important – you have a POV!

  • Start with the question. Thought leadership has as much or more to do with listening than it does sounding-off on dental-speak. Harvest as many questions as possible (by listening) through conversations, consultations, email, and social media.
  • Share your answers and solve problems. Thought leadership is relevant to what your patients want to know and need to know. Create content that relieves the tension and emotional needs of your audience.

Think of your content like a tribal fire. Your “tribe” will feel safe in the warmth of your expertise.

The good news…they could look no further than YOUR thought-leadership!

Take a contrarian approach and fearlessly share your POV (without judgement)

The recent Netflix root canal documentary is a good example. Sure, as a dental professional you can take offense and voice your opinion as many did. Or you can be a contrarian voice and use the albeit alleged inaccuracies as content seeds.

  • Answer the questions and doubts that emerge around dental myths, dental services, or dentistry in general. There’s plenty of related opinions. Dispel them (graciously and professionally) as a thought-leader.
  • Invite dialogue by being unafraid to take on controversial topics. But always do so not as antagonist…rather as a professional, skilled expert.

Provoke questions and create solutions to problems that compel action.

The sign of a good leader isn’t always how they respond but also the depth and compelling nature of the questions they ask. Always providing answers and opinions can shut down communication more than it opens it to opportunity.

I once heard Jim Collins (bestselling author of Good to Great and Built to Last) say during a lecture something to this effect. He viewed his skilled research and the questions it raised as the careful placement of a grain of sand in the minds of his readers. That solitary grain of sand was strategically designed to “irritate” their thinking.

Worth noting is that pearls begin that way. A grain of sand within an oyster elicits the healing process that layer upon layer forms a pearl.

Your questions are “grains of sand” not to necessarily irritate but to promote healing.

  • Ask questions that reveal the emotional desires of your patients or clients. Within their answers are content “pearls” that can lead to compelling outcomes for your audience.
  • Always be solving problems. Essentially that’s the business of thought-leadership.

Anyone can create content. But…being a thought-leader and influencer requires that you have a point-of-view that you fearlessly communicate.

  1. https://www.yudkin.com/markmin.htm ↩
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dental blog ideas
June 23, 2016 Content marketing, Dental blog, Dental blogging No Comments

3 Simple Techniques for Maintaining a Steady Stream of Ideas for Your Dental Blog

It’s simple erosion yet the rest of my yard looks great! The lack of lush, green grass in a small portion of my backyard provides a useful principle for how to maintain a steady flow of content on your dental blog.

I’m no lawn expert but I’m aware that grass has difficulty growing once soil erosion sets in. The erosion began a few years ago. Our labrador, Mandy, got it started with her routine “wallow” beneath the shade of our tree.

Overtime the erosion created a washed-out place. Lack of guttering to catch the water and the shade of our now massive maple tree are the main causes now.

Perhaps the biggest problem you face with your dental blog

Informative, search-relevant topic ideas are what sustain your dental blog and most content streams. Without a steady flow of ideas your content strategy will suffer.

You’ll be irrelevant to your growing audience of readers. And you’ll risk losing them because you have nothing that compels them to increase their time on your page.

There’s another fundamental issue. It’s like my guttering problem.

I can stop the erosion if I have a place to catch the water. Like that, ideas must be collected or your dental blog will erode.

A limitless source of ideas

It’s a common problem. It’s also a reason you’ll be tempted to give up on your blog.

You want and need a source of ideas.

Think of ideas like “seeds.”

You plant them in an easy to access place (more on that in a moment). You water them and one day they “green-up” into something useful to your readers.

As a dental professional this all begins with your patients or clients. They are your limitless source of ideas.

Would you allow your patients or clients to write your blog?

However you feel about your current and potential patients/clients, they are your audience. What if you made them part of your content team?

I’m not implying that you should give them access to your WordPress password, allow them to log into your blog, and start writing.

Rather, I’m recommending the you allow them to write your blog from the idea side.

You have a wealth of blog topic ideas within the sound of their voice.

Are you listening?

And listening in this instance has more to do with what’s not being said as much as what IS being said.

Questions are the key. Ask and you shall receive.

How your dental blog can give you expert status

1-“Savor” the questions you’re asked or that you hear

You’re accustomed to dispensing services. Your information comes at a premium.

Most often it’s distributed face to face, chair-side, or another way that requires your physical presence. Nothing wrong with that but it lacks scalability.

These days making your information stream available and easy to access increases your value to patients/clients. They (like you) will search for what they want to know and somewhat expect a quick, useful answer – one that compels action.

This requires having your “radar” fine-tuned.

Are you picking up on the signals that your audience is sending?

They’re consistently informing you through their questions about their problems. Become efficient at “saving” the data you receive in the form of patient/client questions.

Avoid dismissing them as simple inquiries.

Do a deeper dive beneath the surface and listen for motives, fears, and other emotions that could be prompting their question(s).

Next…

2-“Seed” the information you obtain into potential content

I said “potential.” The reason: not all questions “grow” into an evergreen blog post or other content form.

But most will!

Have a place to greenhouse those “seeds.” I use and highly recommend Evernote.

Wherever you plant your content “seeds” for future harvest – Evernote, a paper notebook, Google Doc file, etc., – don’t edit them…yet. Let them take root as other related questions will come along and one day a useful piece of content will emerge.

3-Share the information in an easily accessible format.

Most questions you’re asked can be “seeded” into sub-topics. For example, I blog regularly for an implant specialist.

To date I’ve written over 70 blog posts for him. Ninety-eight percent are related to questions about dental implants.

There’s no way to do this unless you sub-topic that content “seed” (dental implant questions). This is among the main reasons I encourage you to not put all your webpage “energy” into lengthy “Services” pages.

You compel more interest (traffic) via an informative blog page where you’ve “chunked” a broader topic (like dental implants, etc.) into sub-topics that answer your audience’s questions.

Ultimately, it’s about compelling interest in your services. A compelled reader who has easy access to informative, useful content is more likely to take the next step.

And that’s good for “business.” Agreed?

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