I’m close to certain that the following line is from the classic movie, Cool Hand Luke. Right or wrong it reveals something about the nature of being accurate and understood in your dental marketing content.
The line: “What we have here is a failure to communicate.”
I could create the (assumed accurate) movie scenario that featured the line but…if I’m wrong that would be weird and completely send my opening story crashing to the ground. So, I’ll assume I know what I’m talking about and continue communicating something of value in this post.
That’s the thing about communication. Sometimes you enter into a conversation – one to one or with a crowd – and you think you know what you’re talking about.
Then someone steps up and says, “No, you’re not correct…!” Or more often, “I’m right…listen to me.”
Either way, communication in that moment has the potential to stall. And when that happens “…failure to communicate…” is in full-swing.
What to do?
Communication is tricky business today. There are more channels than ever.
In fact, I’m of the shared opinion that social media communication has had a groundbreaking impact on how we interact with our words. For example, what’s implied in a text message, a tweet, or Facebook post is often misunderstood.
The reason – the face-to-face element is missing. Perhaps this is fueling the current surge in live, interactive video content such as Periscope or Blab.
Your dental marketing conversations can have equal confusion. Or more than likely what’s implied misses the intended target as result of “failing” to communicate in a way that delivers your message in a compelling way.
4 Strategies to Recover from Communication Failure in Your Dental Marketing Content
1-Be urgent.
Your services, products, or resources meet a need. At least they should or you’re in for other challenges.
Realize that just because your patients or clients know they need what you produce is no guarantee that they will. It’s vital that you stay front of mind (more on how to do this in a moment).
You must give your audience a real, street-level, where-they-live reason to want (desire) your product or service today, now, right away!
If you provide dental services, a high percentage of your production relies on pain as a “reason” for your dental patient to schedule. Pain creates urgency, no doubt.
But pain is only one “reason.” It does drive production but only for those experiencing it and who choose to act on it.
- Inventory your services, products, or resources. What deeper needs do they meet? Who needs them, when, and why?
- Explore your recent reviews, consultations, contact form requests, etc. What themes do you see? Are there seasonal trends, etc., that prompted someone to request your services, schedule, etc.?
- Engage the wants and desires you hear/see. Create “urgency” through special offers, promotions, testimonials. Use “urgent” language to communicate them – “now,” “what happens if you wait…,” “too late,” “schedule/order/etc no later than…” – you get the picture.
2-Be useful.
No one has time for fluff or irrelevant content. Communicate something of value to your audience.
- Deliver value through every dental marketing channel you use. This includes your email promotions, your website content, your blog posts/articles, your newsletters, your special offers, etc.
- Reevaluate everything by asking – Is this useful? Does it deliver value?
- Be courageous enough to revise it or…trash it if it fails to communicate usefully.
3- Be unique.
This does not mean be overly creative for the mere sake of being creative. Placing a bizarre, new, flashy header on your website isn’t the essence of being unique.
Uniqueness is about solutions. Even further, being unique is offering something that’s different in some way than every other solution currently available.
- Think (because marketing requires much thinking) about your products, services, or resources as a solution more than a commodity. What problem(s) are solved when someone schedules, uses, etc.?
- Ask your audience what problems they’re facing. Use simple surveys for post-treatment, product orders, service usage, etc.
- Create and deliver content around the problem and how your service, product, or resource is THE unique solution.
Remember, your uniqueness is the result of asking the right questions to discover the most pressing problem then delivering the most unique, compelling solution.
4-Be ultra-specific.
Being specific isn’t enough. Why?
There’s too much marketing “noise” these days vying for your market’s attention. Being ultra-specific is rising above the “noise” by consistently delivering value through benefits.
Stop being vague at all costs!
- Eliminate fluff wording in your promotions. Words like, “we would like to…,” “we’re pleased to announce…,” “Introducing…” are only the beginning. Why pick on these commonly used phrases? They numb your reader because it sounds like every other promotion they read.
- Cut-to-the-chase. Tell your reader what you want them to do (specifically). Call them to action throughout your promotion and especially at the close.
- Compel with specific benefits. Avoid being feature heavy in your dental marketing content. “Latest,” “greatest,” “state-of-the-art,” are too vague. Go deeper and inform your reader about the specific benefit(s) they will receive.
“Failure to communicate…” is one failure you can’t afford to make in your dental marketing. Rise above the “noise” with clear, compelling solutions.
