How to Meet Your Audience Eye-to-Eye in Your Dental Marketing Content
Sometimes the strain is too much. In my case it was the strain I consistently felt in my neck.
A practical Christmas gift solved that problem. And it prompted me to think about a principle that can keep your dental content and dental marketing from being well…a pain-the-neck.
I’m at my desk for the majority of each work day. My stand-up desk, though efficient and good for my overall health, even so created ongoing tension in my neck and shoulders.
Looking down at my MacBook Pro all day left me sore at day’s end.
I browsed for a more ergonomic solution. And viola!
The Rain mStand.
This gorgeous piece of aluminum looks sweet on my desk top. More important, it provides the lift I need to bring my MacBook Pro to eye-level.
Mom hooked me up with one for Christmas. I’m stoked about it.
Everything’s at eye-level now. Neck-strain gone!
Got me to thinking about marketing-strain.
What’s that you ask?
Consider it any promotion, copy, or piece of content that fails to meet your reader, client, patient, or customer at eye-level.
Eye-to-eye or “die!”
Might seem extreme. But in a world of “hey-look-at-us-and-how-great-we-are” marketing it removes the pain.
Marketing that’s so feature heavy and bloated with industry-speak that it weighs your core message down isn’t compelling.
There’s a better way.
How to Create Dental Marketing Copy and Dental Marketing Content That Meets People at Eye-Level
1-Get personal
Your dental marketing strategy has one purpose, ultimately. It’s to consistently meet your patient/client at their personal “pain-points.”
To clarify, not all patients/clients are at a pain threshold all the time. Much of the time they’re simply looking for a solution to a problem.
This demands that you personalize your strategies.
Speak to each as an individual rather than a collective group. For example, use the word “you.”
This trains you to think in terms of a single person. You’ll naturally write, promote, market as if you’re speaking to them alone.
More important, they’ll feel it too.
2-Stop “selling”
Might seem strange to hear that said in a discussion of marketing. True, “selling” is the outcome of your dental marketing.
Though you perhaps don’t like to think of what you do as “selling” it’s the reality of marketing.
But…
It’s important to understand that the concept of “selling” is much different than the approach that feels and sounds “salesy.” Before you dismiss this point as a matter of semantics, think about it.
“People (you included) don’t like the idea of being sold.”
It’s more a matter of connecting their personal desires, emotions, problems to a solution. That connection is where the real value of “selling” takes place.
You create a “fan” over time by how you engage them with your solutions. If you sound, write, promote like a 15 second tv commercial you’ll do nothing more than numb your market.
Tap into your patient’s/client’s emotional buying motives. It’s reflected in a classic marketing formula according to Theodore “Ted” Levitt:
“People don’t want to buy a quarter-inch drill. They want a quarter-inch hole.”
And that, my friends, leads to a third and final idea…
3-Solve problems
The “drill” (according to Levitt) isn’t the ultimate, desired solution. The “hole” is!
In our feature-intensive marketing language it’s easy to forget the problem-solution-benefit equation. That is, how your services/products are described or packaged isn’t as valuable to your patient/client as the solution-benefit it provides.
Know your “audience” and you’ll speak to their pain. Listen to chair side conversations, consultant feedback, online reviews, search data, social media data and conversations, etc.
Mine conversations for problems that your unique services/products can solve. Create content that highlights how the problem/pain is solved.
Your dental marketing value will increase within your niche when you give your patients/clients consistent reason to trust your expertise.
Get eye-level. Your pain and theirs will disappear.
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?
How a Minimalist Approach to Your Dental Website Compels a Response
So, my wife cleaned out her closet recently. It prompted my thinking about your dental website.
There’s a significant mindset shift contained in her closet reorganization that can help you streamline your dental website.
Comparisons reveal a lot. Compare my wife’s newly reorganized closet to mine…and…well let’s not!
You get the picture.
Compare your dental website to others. Some pale by comparison while others create a compelling reason to do a reorganization.
Renew or regret
A healthy comparison of your current website with others in your industry is helpful. Be careful not to overthink it (more on that in a moment).
The idea is to compare by first-impressions. For example, I can feel drawn into a website and compelled to explore their content or the opposite.
More isn’t always better (by comparison)
These days, you’ll notice a more minimal approach to standard, main page content (e.g. Home page, About Us, Dental Services/Procedures, etc.). And you’ll see more substance on a blog/article page, social media feeds, etc.
Content “numbing” happens more than you’d like to admit. This means when your readers see a been-there-done-that, feature-heavy Home page or Services pages they’re more likely to dial-out and move on.
I’m not a design expert. But I am intuitive enough to know what numbs and what engages.
Intuition is key
It’s vital to your dental website that you be intuitive. Think like a “reader” or “site visitor.”
Avoid thinking like a dental professional. That’s not to say ignore your expertise or service value.
It simply implies that you should put yourself in the mindset of a person looking for an answer to their question or a solution to their problem. This approach must trump the all-to-common “hey-look-at-our-latest-greatest-state-of-the-art-technology-that-we’re-proud-to-announce” approach.
Provide solutions more than you salivate (gross, I know…)
How to Take a Minimalist Approach to Your Dental Website That Compels a Response
1-Create content that’s readable and relevant
By readable I’m not talking about language and grammar (entirely, though don’t discount them). Readability has more to do with voice, flow, and clarity.
- Write like you talk. Keep the “voice” conversational in tone. Why? It builds a relationship of trust faster than over-the-heads, impressive language.
- Create a story-like thread of thought. Think of “flow” as ease of use. Avoid overcomplicating your message with “fluff-wording” that numbs or sounds like every other industry website you visit. Keep it real, in other words.
- Be clear, above all. Most copy/content online or offline suffers from too many themes. Narrow your page message down to one, clear, compelling BIG IDEA. Ask yourself – “what is the ONE idea we want the reader to know?” Write to that solely and clearly.
2-Review and renew your services pages
Remember as a dental professional that you’re not writing to industry colleagues. It’s more engaging to your reader/site visitor for you to avoid industry-speak.
Words like periodontics, endodontics, orthodontics, prosthodontics, etc., sound impressive and translate well during a CE course or convention conversations. But in the day to day your readers are thinking gums, root canals, braces, and dentures – use words they can relate to.
- Inventory your service pages. Look for industry language. Replace it with a “street” word.
- Get out of your own head as a dental professional. Outsource your website revisions to a skilled web copywriter who knows the dental industry.
3-Repurpose and revise your webpage content
All those pages that are feature-heavy or full of industry-speak…don’t trash them yet! These can be repurposed into benefit oriented, solution-providing content on a blog/article page or a published newsletter.
- Adopt a new mindset about your content. Begin to think about it as a platform and not a stand-alone, one time and done set of webpages.
- Deep dive into your current website. Or ask a trained-eye to do a site audit for you.
You once invested time and dollars to create the content on your webpages. Now’s the time to re-invest some fresh perspective (and perhaps a few more dollars) to renew dated or data-heavy content.
Themes, benefits, new ideas, etc., live between the lines of your current web copy, blog posts, and newsletter archives. Breathe new life into them through some repurposing.
Reorganize and reduce the “fluff” in your digital (web) “closet.” It can give you valuable breathing room to improve your dental marketing content.
How Consistent Curiosity Can Drive Your Dental Content Marketing Strategy
I consume content in a variety of places. What I learn from a favorite children’s character might surprise you and provide you a valuable strategy for your dental content.
Curious George is a fave of our grandson. So naturally he’s among mine too.
Curiosity works
Being consistently curious can lead you to be more resourceful. In fact, that’s usually the outcome for Curious George.
Insatiable curiosity will compel you to look for clues. And those clues form a trail that could lead to a profitable or beneficial breakthrough.
The clues you follow are the essence of your ability to listen to your patients or clients. Picking up on their clues creates a stockpile of content sources.
End dental content marketing frustration
What to write, blog, post, or chat about is an endless challenge. There are, of course, a variety of strategies for the “what-do-I-blog-about-next?” dilemma.
I’ll focus on a fundamental idea in this post.
I was having this discussion recently with a dental client I blog for. We exchanged ideas on effective strategies for being intuitive about their reader’s questions.
The better part of our conversation had to do with turning those questions into blog/article content.
The thing about questions
The questions your readers ask are a vital resource stream for your content. Questions are a window into the needs, wants, and desires of your patients and clients.
Problems masquerade as questions. Answer them with useful solutions and you’ll form potentially profitable connections.
How to Listen and Leverage Your Patient’s or Client’s FAQ’s (Frequently Asked Questions) Into Intentional Dental Content that Delivers Solutions
1-Re-engineer your FAQ page
A well written FAQ page can highlight your services (and related keywords), reveal your awareness of common issues, and promote your expertise. You can also gain significant traction by exporting your solutions to other content streams.
On a blog/article page you have more canvas to work with. You can tap into your patient/client emotions more effectively, provide more benefits, and legitimately invite a call-to-action.
Plus, your blog posts are recognized as more authoritative. This increases your influence and expertise in the eyes of your reader.
Dissect your FAQ page. Look for topics you can expand into blog posts, articles, podcasts, social media, etc.
2-Retrain your social listening skills
There are valuable conversations occurring around you. Their value has to do with your willingness and ability to monitor them.
It’s not creepy at all. Why?
Today’s social media is an open conversation about random and sometimes beneficial information.
Listen to what your patients/clients are talking about on social media. What are their fears, concerns, and problems? Listen and leverage your content in the direction of their search for answers and solutions.
Appoint “brand ambassadors.” Free up select team members to extend their “radar” and listen to patient/client dialogue. Follow social media and key in on trending #hashtags that are relevant to your industry. Listen more intuitively during chair-side conversations about treatment and treatment plan questions. Do this for starters and think “how can we turn this into useful content” while you’re listening or reviewing your discoveries.
3-Recycle feedback
You’ve heard it said (though now a bit cliche) that “feedback is the breakfast of champions.” Don’t know who said that or why but it’s worth reflection.
Track and monitor your support and feedback channels. What’s being said between the lines on your patient/client surveys? How are you being perceived via your online reviews? These channels speak volumes about where your audience is and how you are (or are not) reaching them with your content.
Look over the fence into your “neighbor’s backyard.” That is, scan your competitor’s reviews, testimonials, and social media channels (Facebook page, Instagram, etc.). Find content topic “seeds” you can use on your “channels.”
Curiosity opens your eyes to opportunities you might not have considered. Up your curious nature and “monkey-around” a bit – the payoff could be high.
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.
Two Strategies That Will Keep People Reading Your Dental Content
There’s a reason this adult coloring book trend is catching on. The deeper vibe you can gain from it also applies to how you position yourself in the minds of those who consume your dental marketing content.
A friend and colleague has joined the tribe of adult coloring book publishers. Hers goes beyond the simple act of coloring the stress relieving pages.
Her “Thoughtful Colouring” approach includes the refreshing aspect of coloring designs. It adds a corresponding page with an inspirational quote and blank space to process it however you choose (while you’re coloring).
Cool! I agree.
It’s that small addition to the trend that I believe offers a principle you must consider in the content you curate and create.
You increase your authority with your patients/clients when you implant value in your content.
Words, especially the common, fluff your reader is accustomed to can become numbing and an eventual turn-off.
Your content audience has too much info-noise coming at them minute by minute. It’s your task as content creator and publisher to capture their focus.
This is the precise reason I encourage dental providers to step away from a standard, brochure-like website design. Refresh your design (and with it your authority) by adding an information platform to your site (e.g a blog/article page, a newsletter portal, etc).
Your content gains traction when you list dental implants among your services. It increases in value when that page links to an archived blog post/article that answers a common question about “dental implants.”
In fact, in today’s search rankings, you might discover that the article page ranks higher than your keyword intense services/procedures page. The reason: search engines like Google place a higher priority on your value-providing intention via a blog post than on standard webpage content.
How to Add Some “Color” to Your Dental Content Marketing Strategy
Inspire your reader
How inspiring can dental content be? Appeal to your reader’s curiosity and hunger for solutions to their dental problem and your inspiration-factor increases.
You inspire by compelling your reader through the solutions you offer.
General site content promotes your services. Consistent, fresh content inspires your reader with answers to their questions and solutions to their problems.
You become a source of inspiration to your patients/clients when they get that you’re listening to them. The best proof of listening is to mirror their “pain,” “problem,” or “concern” through relevant content.
- Listen to every patient/client conversation with content in mind.
- Ask information-gathering questions: “How can I help you with…,” “What’s your biggest fear about…,” etc.
Simple, right? Inspiration shouldn’t be complicated.
Next…
Import secondary value
Think deeper benefits related to what you provide.
You deliver a primary value as a dental professional or a dental marketing professional. Respectively, you help, heal, or you promote in a way that leads to a buying decision.
Your secondary value to your patients or clients is vital too. This happens when you move from an “I’ll-call-when-I-need-you” relationship to a “Go-to-source-of-useful-shareable-information” relationship.
Secondary value rises as you become a consistent “well” of practical (not technical) information.
- Invest the time and marketing dollars in a consistent well-spring of content. Again, focus on the needs, wants, desires, questions, and problems of your patients/clients.
- Create a front-of-mind expectation. The more consistently you appear on their “radar” via a blog post, article, newsletter, social media link, etc the more influence you’ll earn.
Influence has value. Give your patients and/or clients something to value alongside the primary services you provide.
How Influence is More Vital Than Ever to Your Dental Content Marketing Strategy
Election season. You love it or hate it.
Wherever you affectionately land there’s more to the process. The same is true for having an online presence for your dental practice or dental industry business.
I don’t blame those who are a bit disinterested or jaded about American politics. And I’m not here to “stump” one way or the other.
My better point: the right to vote (however you feel about the current stable of candidates) is a privilege of citizenship. It’s a right granted you and I as result of our country’s fight for and preservation of freedom.I
What comes with the “territory”
Rights and privileges are worth protecting. Better is their ability to be used or maximized to their fullest potential.
You don’t have to agree with everything or everyone. But you do have a cause to act.
Action is the energy of your online dental marketing efforts. Succeed or fail, “casting-your-vote” is the essence of the privilege associated with having a piece of territory on the internet.
Sure, it’s a massive space. And you’re one among the billion or so.
Daunting. Yes.
But it comes down to one thing
Value. Not everyone who owns a piece of cyberspace uses it deliver value.
You? Me? I count myself among the value-delivery crowd. And hopefully you do as well.
No, not every blog post, Tweet, newsletter, email, or shared article is a world-changer. But I do approach it feeling as though I deliver something my growing “tribe” will read and be helped by.
And frankly, for starters, that’s enough!
Whatever you do online…do this as consistently as possible.
Create, Deliver, and Share Valuable Content
Increase your influence
I have a client whose influence as a consultant is on the rise. Why?
She recognizes the value, scope, and scalability of hers and her organization’s influence. The weekly content I help her create provides value to a segment of her industry target.
Notice I said, “segment.” You won’t influence everyone.
Focus on a niche within the greater industry universe you occupy. Tap into their pain, problems, and search for relevant solutions. Write, broadcast, email, market to that…consistently!
Showing up on their consciousness “radar” on a regular basis will nestle you into their thinking when they need the help you provide.
Online search these days revolves more and more around your intent. What kind of intent?
Your intent to help. Your online presence that’s branded, so to speak, with a particular library of useful content.
Invest in your influence
Desiring to have influence and being able to consistently deliver on that desire are two different things. For example, as a copy/content writer and content strategist I’m an investment to my previously mentioned consultant client.
I collaborate and create content for her “brand.” She has invested an amount of her marketing stake in my skill to research and write content.
Many dental professionals, dentists, and dental industry business owners desire to expand their influence. And they take a step into the content marketing sea.
Then they become weary. Why?
Consistent content curation, content writing, and content publishing takes time. For most, it’s time you as a professional do not have.
Outsource content curation and creation to other skilled professionals. Locate a go-to copy/content writer, resource them financially, and set them free to consistently stoke your influence via your brand’s content.
Your name is still the one in lights. The content shines on your behalf.
It’s a better approach than a random blog post or digital article here and there. Consistency reveals that you’re dialed in, available, and in tune with your “audience.”
And the quality is also no longer an issue. Although being there with consistently, useful content holds the top spot.
Influence transcends many things. And I’d have to agree that (given the current season where I live) politics is one of them.