Dental email promotions
How to Declare Your Independence & Market Your Services More Profitably
Some post-Independence Day reflection has me thinking about the value of the holiday – given what it represents.
We celebrate with fireworks, grilling some form of meat, sipping a cold beverage, hanging-out with friends and family. And we remember – at the “twilight’s last gleaming”…as a celebratory burst of fireworks explodes overhead – to reflect on what it means to be American.
Sweet freedom!
Think about it – you and I have freedom. The undeniable freedom to live, earn, and prosper in this great country!
Declare Your Independence
In the dental business, as in any business, true freedom is knowing what makes your products/services unique. Your USP (Unique Selling Proposition) gives you the confidence to stand independently among your competition.
How uniquely independent is the copywriting that promotes your dental services and products? Have you established your independence in the dental industry marketplace with outstanding copywriting?
3 Steps to Declaring Your Independence from Your Competitors
In the spirit of independence and all things freedom, consider your dental business growth in the first half of this year. It is, after all, July. You’re halfway through the calendar and either celebrating the profits to date or evaluating how you can emerge profitable at the end of the two remaining quarters come December.
Before you think “Jingle Bells” and mistletoe (that’ll be here soon enough) let’s do some mid-year evaluation of your marketing resources in the shadow of the the recent July 4th holiday and the ole’ “red, white, & blue.”
Exercise some freedom of thought by applying the following steps to your marketing content.
Read…Write &…Renew… (think red, white, & blue)
**Read**
Reading your dental marketing copy with fresh eyes could be the key to increasing your second-half profits. Begin to read your promotions with a more critical eye.
Start right now! Pull up your current promotion. Scroll over to your website. Check out your latest blog post, tweet on Twitter, or Facebook page post.
Does each uniquely declare your dental market independence? Do the words suggest that you’re offering something different than every other solution currently available?
Often a business relies on outdated, over-done, over-written copy and expects it to work its magic on prospects and clients. Is it?
Eye the promotions that arrive in your email in-box and your postal mail. Which ones get your attention? What is it about the content that draws you in, inviting you to read further?
Compare it to your A-Level marketing piece. Differences?
**Write**
The keywords and concepts you glean from the vast amount of copywriting you receive via postal mail and email might be good-as-gold to your business.
It’s been my practice to read a market proven promotion such as a direct-mail or online sales letter (I’ve got files and book full of them). Typically I’ll read the same one over and over again for a period of days during a given week. Then I’ll hand write a large portion of the copy word for word on a blank sheet of paper.
This discipline – rote as it may seem – ingrains key concepts and copywriting strategies in my mind (like hitting golf balls on the range…taking batting practice…shooting free-throw after free-throw). Perhaps you’re thinking that’s too much work (but remember this is my chosen field).
The principle holds – establish your dental market uniqueness and independence by schooling yourself in what’s working (and not working) in your industry niche. It serves the process to *write* down what you like about the copy, keywords, how they’re used, etc.
Read…Write…and
**Renew**
Halfway through the year is a great time to renew your dental marketing resources. What profits are you leaving-off-the-table as result of ineffective promotions?
Test a new sales letter, a fresh product case study, an email promotion, your web page copy, etc. against your current ones. You’ll never know if what you’ve been mailing, sending-out, or posting on your website could be improved until you test it. When sales increase (or decrease) you’ll know your renewal efforts and/or costs were or will be worth it.
Apply these simple steps to your business promotions. Declare your independence from your competitors.
That’s the kind of freedom you can take-to-the-bank.
The web has changed – do you know what to do?
As a dental service provider or dental marketer, let’s agree you want a piece of the online action. But how does your web presence compete for the attention of today’s savvy web surfers.
And once you’ve established an online presence – that brings in business – how do you keep it?
You do know the web HAS changed…right!?
Securing that attention is both a technological AND content issue. The web presents countless waves of opportunity for dental industry and dental marketing pros like you.
Here’s a few reminders of how savvy, A-level dental marketers are strategically using the web for their front-line dental marketing efforts:
–>E-mail (Are you maximizing this tool?) – use product/service promotions, autoresponders (a series of strategically written email promotions that provide a click-through link to your website or promotional webpage).
–>E-newsletters or e-zines (Got one? – they work in ways you may not have considered) – keep your products/services front-of-mind through a series of articles and tips published weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly.
–>Blogs (For some they’re better than an e-newsletter and…they’re more than a place to vent or rant) – stay on the radar of the your target market through consistent, relevant content that establishes you as an authority – or at least one with your finger on the pulse of your industry. See it…say it – that’s the power of having a go-to blog.
–>Social media (Seriously! What are you waiting for?) – think Twitter, Facebook pages, LinkedIn, YouTube, Foursquare, Gowalla, etc. I’ll be as bold to say – “Get on board or be irrelevant (that’s a kind way of saying you’ll go the way of the dinosaur)!”
–>Home pages (perhaps the most strategically under-utilized and ineffective website page) – set the pace for your entire website here.
–>Landing pages…squeeze pages (could be the difference between a customer and potential one) – warm up your market with a product/service promotion before they even get to your website.
–>Podcasts (if you’ve got something valuable to say) – be the voice with a portable…listen-as-you-go marketing tool (IPhones, IPads, Blackberrys, and the Android market of smartphones make this a slam-dunk)! Embed it on your website and build your subscriber list. For some hearing is better than seeing (reading).
–>Webinars (nothing to fear…much to gain when used right) – create an online educational system. Save cash-flow on training travel and related fees. Offer the occasional free webinar to build your educational tribe.
New and efficient forms of communication require fresh, targeted content. Design is a significant feature of your dental industry website for sure.
But without benefit-biased copywriting all the *pop* and *flash* technology risks diverting attention…and the web, brothers-and-sisters, preaches the doctrine of attention!
3 Ways to Step-Away-from-the-Crowd with Better Dental Copywriting
Do you know how much marketing content is published in the dental industry? Your response is probably like mine – “How much…? Not sure. But a lot!”
Your approach to copywriting as a dental marketer, dental supplier, or dental service provider will most likely follow a certain pattern. But the issue is always – will it produce the response you desire for your marketing efforts? And if it does, can it be repeated with equal or greater effectiveness each time it’s sent via email, mailed directly to your list, or posted on your dental website’s blog?
What you already have going for you may be the secret you’ve been looking for in your promotions. In print or online, revealing more of this can lift you above the crowd.
Speaking of crowds…remember a recent social function (a party or networking event). Someone – maybe only one – stood out from the pack of those you interacted with. What initially got your attention? Was it how they were dressed? How they looked? What they said or how they said it?
When all’s been said and done – this shines through. It’s…personality!
Add some personality to your dental marketing content and track the results. It’ll mean avoiding the window dressing mindset (e.g. flash, design, colors, etc.) typical of many copywriting approaches. In the end people will remember you more for the personality that shines through than the exterior coating.
Don’t misunderstand me, I’m a fan of creative, colorful, out-of-the-ordinary promotions. They catch my eye and keep me engaged.
But…
I’m hooked more when I’m drawn into the marketing conversation and it seems like only seconds have passed while it’s actually been several minutes. Good copywriting – the kind with personality – does this.
No more sleep-inducing content!
If your dental copywriting and marketing materials come with a warning label – WARNING: Do not drive or operate heavy machinery after reading this…you know what I’m talking about! More than that they’re TYPICAL…and in business – typical isn’t memorable.
It’s vital to insert personality between every line of your communications with customers and prospects (most read between the lines of what you’re saying anyway). The *personality-ethic* applies to your email promotions, your blog posts and the social media content you post on your Twitter and Facebook page, the copywriting on your website, your e-newsletter content, and more.
Here’s 3 ways to add some personality or better yet get yours working for you and the copywriting that promotes your dental products and services:
1) Inc. yourself (and not in the corporate sense)!
I consistently remember the words a colleague and mentor said to me several years ago – “be yourself.” No one else can be you better than…YOU. Management guru, Tom Peters calls it “You Inc.” or “brand-you.”
It’s about the unique personality…the DNA…you personally bring to your marketing communications. Be unafraid to let people “in” on your life and the behind-the-scenes aspects of your business-story (we talked about this in a previous post).
Step away from worn-out, weak, or ineffective branding! What you keep hidden or overshadowed (too much dependence on brand or image) might be the key to winning a client’s heart.
2) Step from behind the professional veneer.
Don’t misunderstand me. I’m a believer in being and remaining professional in all your business practices. Just don’t confuse professionalism with being pretentious, aloof, or out-of-touch.
Why is it that someone talks in plain, easy-to-understand words yet when they get behind the key-board or take pen in hand they become this austere (there I go…using a big word) “plastic” person.
Corporate jargon is just that – jargon. It may or may not reflect your niche in the dental industry…or, for that matter – you. Think about it – how effective does bureaucracy communicate – really?
3) Be anything but typical.
Aim for authenticity. I’ll continue to beat-my-drum about avoiding typical, hype-driven marketing approaches.
Hypey…salesy wording alienates more than it attracts. People do business with hype-sters for much they same reason crowds show up at a freeway pile-up…!
People much more enjoy doing business with someone who’s real…authentic…open…honest…non-salesy! That’s untypical and it works.
Personality shines through every time. Get yours going for your dental copywriting and marketing approaches. Real people enjoy doing business with REAL people. And smile while you’re at it!
What’s unique about you?
My wife and I enjoyed dinner and good conversation with a friend last evening. Part of our conversation was about the value we bring to our work and the opportunities the marketplace gives us.
Our friend is pursuing new job opportunities (and I happened to renew/write her resume – another value-add benefit of knowing effective copywriting skills). Though she’s transitioning back into a different field she’s able to transfer many if not most of her skills and passions into this new venture.
Most businesses and organizations – like individuals – have transferable benefits. It’s essential to remain ever-aware of those benefits and highlight them as much and as often as possible.
Isn’t that part of what marketing does?
When I’m writing an email promotion, an online or print sales letter, an email autoresponder series, a case study, a client’s blog post…even an individual’s resume (as with my friend) – I focus on the transferable benefits of the business’s product/service to a particular solution their prospects/clients seek for solving a problem.
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What value do your products/services deliver to your market?
Consider what your top-level clients/customers are saying about you. Listen to their feedback and survey comments (you are asking for this…right?). Between the lines of what your clients tell you is “gold” you can mine and use in your marketing content.
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How do your unique benefits stack-up next to others in your market?
This isn’t a question of one-upmanship. In fact, I encourage being so focused on your own unique-selling-proposition (USP) that you seldom (if ever) fall into the trap of comparing your marketing value to that of others. But it does help to know what’s working and not working for those with similar or same product/service solutions.
Live and learn…then develop your unique benefits to deliver to the marketplace. The more uniquely specific those benefits – the better!
Our dinner conversation gave me some valuable food-for-thought. Go…serve-up some value to your market today!
Does your dental marketing content survive the “3-second” rule?
You’re enjoying a favorite snack at home. And suddenly the morsel slips from your paws and on to the floor!
That unfortunate moment sets a rule into play jokingly known as the “10-second rule.” Basically, the rule holds that any food item remains edible if it’s quickly scooped up and dusted off within ten seconds (shorter or longer depending on who you ask).
(Trust me, there are limits to the “10 second rule” and where it applies. Anything that falls to the floor in a public restroom or anywhere “public” – for that matter – stays there as far as I’m concerned. It could be a $5 piece of Godiva Chocolate. If it’s public domain I’m sad to say – the rule doesn’t apply! You with me…?)
There’s a similar rule at play in copywriting. It’s the “3-Second rule.”
Here’s the premise – Your headline must grab your prospect’s attention! And you have about “3 seconds” to do it!
Seems like a short time-frame but consider the amount of information that streams into our consciousness every moment.
>An email hits your inbox. The subject line either compels you to open it or delete it.
>A piece of direct mail arrives in you mailbox among a few bills and credit card statements. It may look compelling enough to tear it open. Once opened, the lead sentence determines whether you give it any additional time.
Marketing content is a “dime-a-dozen.” And since a lot of “dimes” are invested, I’m amazed at copywriting that ignores the “3 second rule.”
Here’s 4 things your headline content must do to seize attention (and survive the 3-second rule):
1)Make a promise.
Typically, it should be a big promise. But big or small – promise something! Tell your reader what major benefit will come to them from your product/service.
You must think (strategically) about this. And your thoughts should be guided by below-the-surface research about your prospect, their problems, and how your product/service is THE solution. Start by answering their dominant “what’s-in-it-for-me” question.
2)Draw a picture.
This is why I often default to a story-lead (like my earlier “food” story). People can relate to a situation, a story, a popular/trending news item, etc.
It’s true – showing beats telling!
An active social media presence helps. Social media keeps “what’s current” in front of you consistently. Keep a notebook or use Evernote to capture story ideas. Subscribe to newsfeeds with services like Google Reader. Keep your ink fresh and ready to create captivating images of your product/service in action. Pictures don’t paint-a-thousand-words by accident!
3)State a fact.
Think action-ability. What actions do your products/services compel a client or prospect to take? Actionable facts give the readers of your marketing promotions something that confirms the trustworthiness and viability of your products and services. Don’t allow your copywriting to ramble. Go ahead and state it!
4)Ask a question.
Questions create necessary tension or clarify tension that’s already present. Ask your prospect a question that reminds them of their core problem or need.
Create copywriting around the answers that solve their problem(s).
Asking questions shows intuition and intelligence. Be intuitive through your marketing content. Show your prospects that you know them. And give them reason to trust you through the answers your copywriting provides.
Seconds count…whether it’s food…or copywriting!
How to Clean-up Your Copywriting for More Profitable Marketing
My wife gets the urge, on occasion, to have a garage sale. So we teamed up with a couple of neighbors on either side of us (one of them did the advertising so it was a nice way to piggy-back on their efforts) to unload some of our stuff.
For those in other cultures, or perhaps the unfamiliar – a garage sale isn’t a literal selling of one’s garage. On scale, a garage sale is typically much smaller than the commonly understood estate sale. And (if I could go so far as saying it) is a bit more sophisticated than a yard sale.
Aside from the few dollars of “fun-money” you earn (one summer we actually paid for all of our vacation road meals for our family of four with our earnings) a garage sale provides a good excuse to clean and sort.
It’s important to get rid of the clutter.
How cluttered is the copywriting used to market your products and services? A thorough cleaning before you unleash it to your niche market will sharpen its impact. And that translates into more earnings!
Here’s a 3-step “copy-cleaning” process I use and recommend:
1) Read your promotion aloud.
You get a feel for the voice, tone, and emotional connect-ability when you actually hear it read. And here’s the deal with reading it aloud…
If your writing doesn’t sound like you’re talking to a friend, it’s NOT good copy! Copy that connects – whether it’s a sales letter, web copy, an email promotion or autoresponder, a case study, or a social media feed like a Twitter, Facebook page, or blog post – needs a conversational voice.
2) Let others read it.
A fresh or different set of eyes and ears is an effective copywriting test-drive. It helps too when you allow someone (if possible) in your content’s target/niche market to read it.
For example, if the marketing content is targeting the baby-boomer market niche, find a reliable baby-boomer aged person to read it. If it’s targeted to a female audience, by all means have a female read it.
The extra eyes and ears can sharpen the focus and sound of your copywriting.
3) Proofread every sentence of your promotion – from the bottom up!
Yes, you read that right. The bottom-up approach helps spot misspellings and unnecessary words easier than merely reading it top-down.
You’ll miss a few here and there. But the bottom-to-top idea gives you a less routine and even more efficient way to proof the copywriting before it hits your market.
Clean copywriting helps increase the crystal clarity of your marketing approaches. And I’m close to certain you’ll earn more in the process than just a little extra fun-money when you get rid of the clutter!
Why saying “trust me” destroys trust in marketing
A close family member recently experienced a salesperson’s attempt to close-the-deal by shoving a contract across his desk with the words, something to the effect of, “Come on…sign the (expletive) papers and let’s get this done…!”
Had this been a multi-million dollar deal, built on months of negotiations, with significant upside potential, I’d understand the context. And I’d probably take the expletive emphasis as bold, banter between two soon-to-be business partners one of whom was probably attempting to prove he had a “pair!”
It wasn’t that at all…
The close family member is a young, nervous-as-one-would-expect, first time car buyer. The salesperson (obviously trying to prove he had a “pair”) couldn’t be further from earning the trust he needed to secure the deal.
Would the salesperson have made a better impression saying what’s commonly said in such deal-making scenarios – “Trust me!”
You hear or read those words all the time in advertising.
- “Trust me, ‘X’ the single best product on the market for…”
- “You can count on us…the most trusted source of…”
- “Trust us to deliver the most effective…”
Do you instill trust by merely asking someone to trust you or saying your product/service is the most trusted?
I’ll let you make up your own mind. But I’ll go on record saying, trust is earned.
And a primary way to develop trust is through a relationship not merely telling someone to “trust you.”
Trust emerges on a solid track record of credible engagement.
The problem with many sales approaches (such as the above mentioned car deal) is the forced timing that many salespeople deploy. It’s why I prefer writing marketing copy and why businesses benefit from solid, credible copywriting in it’s various forms – a story-based email promotion, a series of autoresponder emails, a long-form sales letter, engaging blog posts, Twitter feeds, and Facebook page posts, case studies, etc.
Write these effectively and trust rises to the top much quicker than forced, “trust me,” manipulation. And with it comes credibility your prospects will return to again and again!
Master copywriter and trainer, Will Newman shares these five easy-to-implement strategies to help build credibility on a foundation of trust:
1–“Avoid hype.”
Saying you’re “the world’s greatest…” works in infomercials for a variety of reasons but is that your medium? Calm, authoritative approaches do more to establish trusting clients/customers.
2–“Avoid vague or unsubstantiated claims.”
Backing up your comments with substantial data shows you’ve done your “homework” – adding credibility. Instead of proclaiming, “The world’s greatest…,” describe how your product/service/etc. is proven to accomplish this or that by a certain percentage, etc.
3–“Give your prospect a reason to believe.”
Claims of effectiveness, etc. backed by proof and endorsement within your marketing content adds to your believability. And it builds credibility.
4–“Speak to (prospects) as an equal.”
Know-it-alls are seldom listened to. A friendly, realistic, conversational tone establishes a connection.
5–“Respect your prospect and their needs.”
This is a core trust builder. Respect follows trust.
Build trust in your marketing with clear, compelling copywriting.