May 2011
How to build a relationship of trust with your dental industry clients
Want to build a relationship of trust that keeps clients/customers doing business with you again and again? This tool is regularly abused by the ill-informed (and sleazy types – you know who you are). And at the same time it’s an under-utilized marketing tool.
I’m talking about e-mail. Not the kind that jams and spams (reference earlier “sleazy types”) your inbox and that of your clients.
I’m talking about e-mail that…
…gets opened
…read
…clicked-through (links to your website, online product sales page, social media sites/pages, etc.)
…and even forwarded as a referral source to client colleagues
Question: Do you send out email? How often? Is it sent via an opt-in delivery system (the optimum delivery method – more on that in another post)? Are you measuring response?
>E-mail promotions are the hidden power of business communication.<
Here’s how:
1–Effective e-mail promotions are about building a relationship of trust
Think of each e-mail as a portion of an ongoing conversation. One that establishes an acquaintance…builds credibility…and a long-term sales source.
2–Effective e-mail promotions are conversational – not hyped up sales pitches
When I write an e-mail promotion (or any copy) I ask the question: “Would I say that sitting on a bar stool?” Do your e-mails sent to your client list pass the bar stool test?
3–Effective e-mail promotions open the door to larger service/product promotions…resources…sales pages…online content and more
Some people talk too much and say nothing in the process. Those are the conversations we avoid!
Trying to do too much in a single e-mail promotion overwhelms and dilutes your marketing approach.
Build trust through an ongoing conversation – one e-mail at a time.
Does Your Dental Marketing Content Need to Get-a-Life?
What motivates someone to purchase a product or use a service?
Think about your most recent purchase. Consider the promotion that led you to hand-over your earnings.
Freelance copywriter and author, Bob Bly introduced me to a concept in one of his articles. A colleague revealed [in his opinion] that people don’t necessarily care about the idea of being…say, a millionaire or even making six-figures.
Really – the driving force is…a certain kind of life-style…living life on their terms. Money is simply a means to an end.
Of principle, Bly adds…
“…marketers who simplistically trumpet “get rich” in their ads are making a mistake. Instead of selling the obvious benefit, they could be reaching their prospects on a deeper and more powerful level.”
Here’s an example, according to Bly. Historically, career-training institutions would focus their marketing approaches on graduates making lots of money.
One ad featured an actual student standing next to his new Jaguar. What the ad failed to mention, Bly observes, was that this particular student bought the luxury auto with money he won in a personal injury lawsuit, not with money earned as result of the institution’s training.
New ads have a different focus, he notes. They feature interviews with now gainfully employed students…but they don’t talk about money.
Instead, one of the graduates talks about the pride his kids show when they see him leave the house for work every day wearing a suit and tie. Another student reveals the rewarding overseas business trips his company sends him on. He talks excitedly about his love of travel, the new foods, the diverse cultures, and new people his career enables him to meet. He’s joined in the commercial by his mother who glows about how proud she is of her son.
Bly referred to this deeper level of marketing as “life-style promotions.” It’s the appeal to what truly drives most of us to buy products or use services. The what’s-in-it-for-me answer is in many ways a shift in HOW we live more than it is merely about having money.
The persuasive element? It’s all about lifestyle!
The key…?
>>Whatever business or service niche you are in – connect it to life<<
Here’s a couple of insights into choosing words that give *life* to your promotions. First… >Shift your marketing copy into *reverse*.
>Instead of leading – as is typical – with the product, launch your wording around the lifestyle or the lifestyle benefits your target market desires.
Listen to *life* that’s happening in-and-around your business/service and the *lives* of your customers/clients. How does your product or service impact their *lifestyle* (at any level)? When you’ve made a list…you’re ready to write your copy (before creating a product).
Next…
>>Drive your product/service *forward* with copy instead of driving your copy with the product/service.
Write a persuasive lifestyle promotion about a product/service you haven’t rolled out yet (yes, you read that correctly). When you’ve tested the promotion’s selling-appeal (by actually placing it in front of your market) and found it’s effective (meaning interest is gained…order inquiries roll-in) THEN develop the product. Risky, yes! But…now who’s in the driver’s seat?
Lifestyle appeal works in a good (or bad) economy! The promise of a different, and perhaps better, lifestyle will drive your products and services forward…profitably!