Dental Copywriting
How Buyer Personas Could Increase Your Dental Marketing Success
Before you crank out your next dental marketing piece push pause. There’s something you’ll want to include, besides something catchy or creative.
Compelling today’s dental patient or dental industry client requires more than a burst of creativity. Their decisions about your services have less to do with an eye-candy mailer or luring them with a cute contest.
What’s the catch?
Truthfully, there is no catch. Get comfortable without one.
Today’s patient has one thing you must know and understand. And it becomes the focus of your dental marketing.
A Problem
It’s at the core of their buyer (patient) persona.
David Meerman Scott takes a bold step saying that a “buyer persona” is better than a focus on benefits. He shares a true story that reveals the power of the buyer persona.
”Nick Woodman wanted to sell cameras with a waterproof housing. A ‘benefits, not features’ approach would have used language like, “protect your camera while it is in the water.” Nick however did much more than reverse-engineer benefits from the features. He interviewed surfers to learn about their problems around shooting photos in the waves. Surfers told him they found it challenging to paddle into a wave with a camera, stand, get into balance and trim, and then only having a second to take a photo. It was too awkward to do with the cameras available on the market at the time. The key learnings from the interview is surfers don’t look for the benefit of “protecting my camera in the water”. Rather, they want to know ‘how can I take photos while surfing.’ And that’s how in 2004, the GoPro was born and have since sold millions of cameras.”
Problems lead to solutions. And solutions are what you provide as a dental professional.
But first, what’s the problem?
It’s easy to think about every dental patient as one in the same. Generally speaking that’s true.
And yet each patient has a unique “story” that highlights their specific problem-solution persona.
It’s time for you to become the “mentor-guide” that’s pointing the way. That’s the role of your dental services content.
According to Copyblogger’s Bryan Clark,
”……by accepting the role of mentor with your content, your business accomplishes its goals while helping the prospect do the same. Which is how business is supposed to work, right?”
Stop Marketing to Your Patients…
Instead get to know their problems. How?
Listen
Be attentive to every story they tell…problem they reveal…pain they mention…etc. As vital as your clinical expertise is to them so is your empathy.
If you want them to become part of your “story” you must join them in theirs with a sincere level of empathetic listening.
Use aggressive listening
Have a predetermined set of strategic questions. Make sure they’re designed to probe beneath the surface of why they (really) called and scheduled.
It’s often more than a commitment to routine dental care (though you want them to value that). It could have more to do with their calendar, relationships, or life goals.
For example, create and have on-hand questions designed to gain insight into their social calendar, trips they’re planning, relationships they value, and goals they want to achieve. This helps you apply specific services to a particular chapter in their story instead of a random attempt.
Use anticipatory listening
This is where your expertise (authority) meets their problems. You know, intuitively, what they need by looking in their mouth, at their x-rays, or their treatment history.
How you use that information can help them “write” new chapters in their story. Questions that include:
- “Have you thought about…?”
- “Why would you…?”
- “How are you dealing with…?”
Next…
Leverage
Apply what you hear to your marketing content. You’re perhaps most accustomed to following a templated, standard approach to promoting your practice and services.
Leverage your content into a-ha solutions to real patient problems. This positions you as a “mentor-guide” in their health care.
Again, Bryan Clark confirms,
”When you think in terms of empowering people to solve their problem by playing the role of mentor, you’re naturally performing better than competitors who take an egocentric approach.”
Join them in their journey. Without an empathetic appeal you could miss substantial opportunities to stay engaged via ongoing mentor-status.
Your best leverage is being intuitive about about who your patient or client is (their persona). Intuition becomes accurate by listening beneath the surface of their problem.
Then you’re prepared to share the best solution to solve it!
Solving problems is what you do. It’s better (and more patient-centric) than merely touting your benefits – those that may or may not be relevant to them. The more you know (them) the better your solution-to-problem accuracy.
There’s more to be said about buyer personas. Let this ruminate for a bit…and stay tuned for more on this topic.
Is it a Good Idea to Write Your Own Dental Content?
What’s my gut reaction when a client or someone kicking-the-tires of my services leans toward writing their own dental content?
“Slow your roll…!”
I’m all about going-for-it. Yet, can you really afford a DIY (Do-It-Yourself) approach to dental copywriting or dental content creation (considering available time for starters)?
There’s more to copywriting than throwing some words on a page or screen…hitting publish…clicking send…and waiting for your phone to ring or a contact form to be received.
Sure, I’m biased as a trained, experienced, pro copywriter. I apply my skills in the art of copywriting and content creation with a strategic focus in the dental industry.
This is everything when writing dental content
The reader, more than your knowledge or expertise, is the focus! Think through these questions about copy and content writing…and pause before you answer….
- Can you ditch the technical, industry-speak jargon and still make your point?
- Are you able to write conversationally?
Here’s the essence of what I’m talking about…
Would you say it sitting on a barstool?
When writing imagine sitting on a barstool. Picture yourself in a conversation with a friend, colleague, family member, or someone you just met.
Imagine sitting there…it’s casual…you’re comfortable…they’re at ease…you’re having a simple chat!
The conversation can quickly go one of two ways:
One, boredom sets in. They wonder when the conversation will end. They turn the page or they “click” away from your message.
Or…
Two, they stay engaged. They sit up and lean forward…”Tell me more…I hear you…I’d like some more information…Let’s talk soon…!”
Copywriting and content creation requires proper voice. Otherwise it’s just words (blah, blah, blah…yada, yada, yada).
Keep it conversational.
Now back to the barstool…
Implement these “Barstool” Copywriting Strategies in Your Dental Copy and Content
Write like you talk
Keep it casual and to the point. If you were sitting on a barstool, enjoying a beverage, how would you describe the service, procedure, treatment, or product?
Conversational copywriting:
- Dials-down the tech-speak
- Avoids the use of complicated, industry-insider words and terms
- Isn’t hype-driven or salesy
Make an impression without trying to impress
Will your reader leave the “conversation” remembering the easy-going, comfortable, engaging way you communicated with them?
Good conversational copywriting promotes a tell-me-more feeling. The impression you make can repel people or bring them back for more.
Let the communication process work for you
Content marketing is about building trust…ahead of the “sale” or “buying decision.” If you rely too much on your ability to “Wow” with hyper or confusing creativity you’ll send a less than engaging message.
Trust translates via your conversational tone.
Dress your language less formal and more casual
Good copy and content are comfortable like your favorite jeans, shorts, and t-shirt. If you feel relaxed you’ll communicate that way and your reader will relax too. (Remember the trust factor?)
And get the image of your English teacher out of your mind. Gotta love ‘em. But now’s not the time to stress over “crossing your t’s…dotting your i’s,” losing your mind over sentence structure, or worrying about being ticketed by the “grammar police.”
Sure, the basic rules of grammar apply. Sloppy isn’t the answer.
Instead…
Use good judgement. Be easy to read – remember it’s like a good conversation on a barstool.
What’s easy to read is easy to understand. And what’s understood compels a scheduled appointment, a product purchased, or an idea applied.
Communicate effortlessly
Envision effortless like Tiger Woods driving a golf ball or Steph Curry nailing a three-pointer. A professional’s skill appears second nature, fluid, “invisible.”
Make your writing “invisible!”
Be aware of how your words promote your services or products. Write to showcase benefits and results.
Features entice. Benefits sell!
Pause before you go all DIY on your next dental marketing promotion. Evaluate your dental copywriting and dental content using the “barstool test.” Your results could depend on it!
How to Use Your Dental Blog as a “Home Base” to Engage Your Patients or Clients
Say what you will about having a dental blog. But your dental practice or dental business has an opportunity to capitalize.
According to Heidi Cohen you’re in a “renaissance” era for blogging.
“Blogging pioneers, Copyblogger’s Brian Clark and Problogger’s Darren Rowse, are leading the blogging renaissance. It’s documented in their discussion ‘Blogging is Back.’
They want to recapture the power and human essence of blogging, especially as an owned home base.”
Speaking of “home base.”
A high percentage of my work as a dental copywriter is invested in writing and/or rewriting webpage copy for dental practices or dental industry businesses. Another increasing percentage of my work is on the dental content strategy side of things – writing blog content for those who understand (by default or instinct) this “blogging renaissance” idea.
Yes, you need an engaging, conversationally written dental website. No doubt about that, my friends.
But building that “house” (so to speak) and not inhabiting it with ongoing, credible, and useful content (via a blog) can disconnect you from your audience.
Who’s your audience?
It’s those who search for information relative to their dental needs and/or questions. As I say to clients, “People aren’t looking to bookmark dental website copy or clamoring to read it…”
That said, they ARE searching online for answers to their questions about dental treatment, dental procedures, building their dental business, growing their dental group, etc.
Your “static content” (i.e. Your standard Home, About Us, Services pages) needs the support (now more than ever) of an active, consistently fresh blog and/or article page. Thus “home base” content that YOU own and that’s posted on YOUR online property (your website).
What’s wrong with social media?
Nothing, fundamentally. The exception is that it’s becoming more difficult for your business (including dental practices) to have, for example, a Facebook page you can effectively and profitably use without having to invest your valuable marketing dollars to maximize your reach.
What this means for you…is that you need an accessible, information-rich source of content your audience can consume consistently.
How to Use Your Dental Blog as an Engaging Home Base
1-Create and publish blog content that answers the core questions your “audience” is asking.
Start with needs. Your patient or client questions are a bread-crumb path to what’s front-of-mind related to your services.
They search…but are you answering?
“I have info on my Services pages…,” you say. Good, but remember that’s static content (meaning it rarely, if ever, changes or evolves).
Cohen highlights the 5 types of information your audience seeks,
- Product information
- Customer FAQ’s
- How to’s
- Product (or Service) styling or best-in-class practices
- Ratings and reviews
Answer questions via your blog posts that tap into those areas of interest. Use their language and speak to their emotional desires.
2-Publish dental blog posts consistently to establish presence and availability.
Consistency isn’t about being obsessive. It’s more about being present as a go-to source of useful information (content).
Know your audience and their needs. Again, this relies on your listening strategies.
Use social media listening by scanning your page feeds, comment history, etc. Open channels in your clinical and/or consultant and sales force zones – what are your assistants, consultants, etc., hearing or being asked?
Publish on theme.
For example, April is Oral Cancer Awareness month, Spring and Summer is wedding and reunion season. What are your patients thinking about during those seasons – prevention, improving their appearance, etc?
Post about the value of oral cancer screenings, preventive dentistry that decreases oral cancer risk. Publish content about teeth whitening, “professional whitening vs. DIY whitening,” porcelain veneers, dental bonding, etc.
3-Spotlight and re-purpose your dental blog content via accessible channels.
Post the content primarily on your “home base” (your dental website).
Use your email list to broadcast new and available posts. Do this when new content is published and to repurpose content that informs your patients or clients about relevant questions they’re asking (those theme seasons, etc.). Provide a blog post snippet with a clickable link to the actual, full post.
Publish an e-newsletter to your list using the full blog post as the content. Include links back to your website and use the newsletter format as another opportunity to share current promotions (do this without being salesy).
Start with these. Soon you’ll be capitalizing on the current blogging renaissance.
The “Lingering Effect” and How It Turns “Lookers” Into “Buyers” Using Your Dental Content
I’m not a real estate expert. I own a house and know a few real estate agents, that’s as close as I get.
I’ve observed something about the real estate process lately. And it has some value to the process of creating dental marketing copy and content.
The house across the street from ours is on the market. The “FOR SALE” sign went up a few days after the last occupants moved out and the flow of lookers has been steady.
There are the “Slow Drive-by’s”. They’re the ones checking the area, the property appearance, and other points of interest on their house-hunting list.
There are the “Ubers” as I call them (those who arrive chauffeured by a Realtor). These folks have taken their house hunt a step further by making this one of several stops on the “let-me-show-you-some-options-in-your-price-range” tour.
And then there are the “Lingerers” – those who arrive with a Realtor and linger on site. These individuals form an emotional attachment to the property, they begin to picture their evenings on the patio, meals being prepared in the kitchen, dinners around the dining table, what their furniture will look like throughout, etc.
The difference between the “Slow Drive-by’s”, the “Ubers,” and the “Lingerers” – an emotional connection.
The effectiveness of your dental content marketing strategy depends on your ability to (over time) create the “lingering effect.”
How to Increase the Time Your Audience Invests Consuming Your Dental Content
1-Create something worth “checking out”
The “slow drive-by’s” simply checking out property might not ultimately buy. But they’re willing to invest their time and fuel to see what’s available.
Your dental marketing copy and content ultimately has one goal. It’s availability is to build a relationship.
The operative word is “build.”
Your patients and clients are accustomed to consuming massive amounts of content. Sure, not all of it (or probably not much at all) has anything to do with dentistry.
The only way you’ll be worth a “drive-by” is if you answer their questions or provide solutions to their problems.
Make sure your dental copy and content is valuable as a problem-solution/question-answer resource.
2-Create a sense of partnership
Realtors no doubt prefer to “chauffeur” their clients on their house hunting tour. Why?
They can “control” the relationship. They drive, they provide the list, and they can then provide the necessary information throughout the buyer-journey.
Become a “chauffeur” of sorts through your dental copy and content. You KNOW what your patients and clients do not KNOW.
You must also know the unique connection of your services to their individual emotional and physical desires. This requires listening and leveraging what you hear into content that meets them where they are.
“Drive” them step by step to a decision. Not all at once though…
Remember effective content marketing is a journey toward a deeper relationship that ultimately results in them investing in your services or expertise.
A blog post, podcast, social media content, email, or direct mail create a relational thread that eventually compels trusted buy-in.
3-Create a lingering connection
Realtors must love those who linger on a property. This tells them that an emotional connection is being made.
The longer your readers stay on your website, follow the links within your blog posts, follow your social media channels, and click the links on your emails the greater opportunity you have to create a lingering connection with them.
Keep them in-the-house as often as possible and as long as possible.
Content that delivers value causes your reader to begin including you in their “story.”
In real estate a “SOLD” sign says the process worked. Your dental content marketing is a process too.
“SOLD” is the result of moving “drive-by’s” to “partners” to “lingerers” and ultimately “buyers.”
What “Binge Watching” Can Teach You About Creating Compelling Dental Marketing Copy
Come on, “fess-up.” You know you’ve binged watched your favorite show (more than once) on Netflix or your preferred entertainment content source.
Your “guilty pleasure addiction” actually holds a principle that can transform how you strategize about and create your dental marketing copy. There’s a reason you’re compelled to stay tuned-in on the edge of your seat as the next episode or scene buffers.
My wife and I have a few “guilty pleasures” on Netflix. One is Bloodline. We’re eagerly awaiting the next, and what we’re told is the final, season (bummer).
Until then, this binge culture you and I live in prompted some thoughts about dental marketing copy and content. Fact is, you stay tuned for a reason.
And that reason has much to do with how the content is made available and is delivered.
All at once in real-time
Remember the days when you had three, yes three, choices for TV entertainment. If’ you’re of a certain age or generation, you might also recall that you were a slave to a specific viewing time and a pre-recorded amount of programming, including commercials – that you HAD to watch.
If you’re under the age of, say, 40, you perhaps have no clue what I’m talking about. Millennials and GenXr’s only know the world of instant access, everything all at once, entertainment content.
It’s mind boggling to scroll the timeline from the late 1970’s to now and realize how significantly content access and delivery has changed. Choice-access is a premium both for WHAT you consume and WHEN you consume it.
Your patients and clients are accustomed to the same. It’s how they live.
Craft a compelling storyline, share it in a compelling format, and allow them to access it in real-time. Think email, SMS (text messaging), blog, Facebook LIVE, Twitter, Periscope, YouTube, SnapChat, Instagram, etc.
More pressing – are you using these “channels” and if so, how?
Second realization and principle has to do with “intrigue” or “curiosity.”
You know how your heart races and your pulse quickens as the credits roll on the second or third or sixth episode in your Netflix series queue? The countdown to the next episode begins 10 seconds…9 seconds…5…4…3…2…1…!
No pause. You’re on to the next episode…why?
Love for the show? Perhaps more has to do with curiosity…intrigue!
Those who create entertainment content and design it’s delivery sequencing understand what all great copywriters and content creators understand:
Curiosity is powerful. There’s no limit to how effective your copy and content will be if you use curiosity to capture your reader’s attention.
From the headline of your online or direct mail promotion, to the subject line of your email, to the lead of any promotion you create – if it doesn’t appeal to your reader’s curiosity and stir their sense of intrigue – rewrite it until it does!
A third and final principle from the world of favorite show binging…
Tap into your audience’s feeling (fear) that the “end” isn’t really the “end” (for now, at least).
In other words, create repeat buy-in.
It’s a sad day indeed in our household when I receive the Netflix notification that our favorite “guilty pleasure” is wrapping up (as in, no more “seasons”).
But Netflix applies a compelling strategy.
They’re quick to add – “If you liked ?…you might also like ?”
There’s never an “end” to a familiar storyline or content that looks, sounds, and feels like the “binge” I just completed.
Those who receive your dental marketing copy or content will return and even anticipate what’s next if you give them one thing – emotional value.
In essence, know your audience and be prepared to provide more stimulating reasons to find you a source of practical value. But not just any value – the brand of value that connects at an emotional level.
Remember, “People buy for emotional not rational reasons.”
I urge to re-read this post and keep it on hand. There’s much buried between the “plot line” that can help you create more compelling copy and content (or the motivation to seek someone who can).
Speaking of plot lines…it’s about time to see what Netflix has to offer for our next “guilty pleasure.”
Does Your Dental Marketing Copy and Content Cut Through the Noise?
I credit Brian Clark and his Copyblogger article. He prompted my thinking about an essential element of compelling copy and content including what use in your dental marketing.
Writing is hard. Reading more so.
How’s that?
You (and your readers) must identify with a compelling reason to take action. In essence, that’s scheduling, using your service, or making a purchase.
Basically it’s the primary response your dental content and dental copy intends to prompt in your reader.
Is it compelling?
What makes content creation difficult is not the writing itself. It’s the identifiable benefits that are hidden behind the features that pose the challenge.
That’s a theme I’ve covered before. There’s no shortage of feature-intensive dental content.
It’s easy to focus on the newest, greatest, latest, state-of-the-are, cutting-edge this or that. Right?
No doubt you’re proud of whatever it is that you’ve recently acquired or offer as a service. But adding an emphasis on the “thing” without compelling your audience with what the “thing” can do for them makes for a weak, lazy marketing message.
“Why didn’t I think of that…?”
Clark highlights the value of true benefits with a reference to direct response copywriter, Clayton Makepeace.
“…(He) asserts that fake benefits will kill sales copy, so you have to be on the lookout for them in your writing. He uses this headline as a an example:
Balance Blood Sugar Levels Naturally!
That sounds pretty beneficial, doesn’t it? In reality, there’s not a single real benefit in the headline.
True benefits
Makepeace advises to apply his patented ‘forehead slap’ test to see if your copy truly contains a benefit for the reader.
Here’s how Makepeace identifies the real benefit in that headline:
‘Nobody really wants to balance their blood sugar levels. But anyone in his or her right mind DOES want to avoid the misery of blindness…cold, numb, painful limbs…amputation…and premature death that go along with diabetes.’”
See the difference?
Make a connection where your reader “feels” something – the risk and effects of diabetes. This hits them where your reader (in this instance) lives.
Get “emotional” about it
Your copy shouldn’t be emotional for the sake of it. That leaves your reader numb and unable to do much about it.
Tap into emotions that compel a response.
Think what?, why?, how?
What is your product, service, etc., and what does it do? This is the feature level.
Why is this important, useful, etc., in the first place? Now you’re thinking at the edge of benefits.
Now…
How does your product or service actually connect with your patient’s/client’s desires? Here’s where you think emotionally and make it about the real benefits they’ll receive from whatever you’re promoting.
Nothing “fringe” about the benefits
Ultimately benefits are personal to everyone who interacts with your promotional copy. They make up their mind and take action simply because you ask them to but…in response to being compelled at an emotional rather than solely rational level (where a high percentage of marketing copy and content fails).
“What’s in it for me?” is the ultimate question your copy and content must answer. Get your reader, listener, viewer to ask that question and it’s only a matter of time before you can lead them to a responsive answer.
And that’s the goal for much of your marketing copy and content – ACTION!
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.