Dental social media
Are You Listening? And Why It Matters to Your Dental Copy and Content
I know why you procrastinate when it comes to creating your dental marketing content. No arrogance intended but it might have something to do with a key element of all content creation.
It’s easy to believe that writing is a burden or something that requires some sort of magical gift (I’m particularly fond of this idea).
There’s nothing really “magical” about the craft. Sure, skill is involved. Yet that skill favors something all writers and content creators know.
And I share it for the benefit of your dental content marketing.
”Effective writing comes from a very specific kind of homework. From empathetic listening. From spending time with the kinds of folks who make up our audience, and striving to see the world through their eyes.” 1
So, how do you become all-ears to your audience?
What habits help you get-all-up-into why they would choose your services and/or products?
They’ve got-a-problem
Actually your patients or clients have a number of problems. Content and copy can effectively point them in the direction of solutions.
It’s easy to forget that you also have problems. Being all-business…all-day can plug your ears to what your audience is dealing with.
To them it’s often very emotional!
Feel their “pain.”
Wrestle their issues alongside them.
Bear the “weight” of their current problem(s).
Next…
Open the “map”
Well…before you open the map it makes sense to create one. Mapping is the idea that to solve audience problems you must have a clear scope on what they’re “seeing, thinking, doing, and feeling.” 2
- What words do they use to describe their current situation, problem, or perspective?
- How do they describe their current, past, or future experience with what you have to offer?
Your copy and content will resonate with your audience when you immerse yourself in their challenges.
Put your ear-to-the-wall
Yes, you can listen-in without appearing a “creeper.” In fact the more you lurk around where your patients or clients “talk” the sharper your perspective becomes.
And the better your dental content and copy will be!
As it relates to “social listening” – it’s not about a particular platform. Some “talk” on Facebook, others on Twitter, some on Instagram, others on LinkedIn.
- Avoid platform-paralysis. Meaning, don’t just favor one over other.
- Let your audience tell you where to “cup” your ear. Listen where they are regardless of platform preference.
- Mine online reviews – even the negative ones. Talk isn’t cheap and opinions matter when it gives you valuable insight.
”Your job is to shut up and listen. Stay open to all of the ways that folks are talking about meaningful problems – including the ways that challenge your preconceptions.” 3
Listen for audience problems. But also listen to the language they use when sharing what’s on their mind.
Buy them a “drink”
What’s in the glass or cup isn’t the issue. The casual-comfortability is!
Picture them sitting across a table or next to you on a barstool. Copy and content that resonates feels and sounds more like a casual chat than a technical, jargon-filled, irrelevant discourse.
When the conversation digresses so does your opportunity to compel them to take action.
Your solutions to their problems will be lost on your inability to converse conversationally via your content. And this is often the problem of much content!
Effective dental marketing content is a one-to-one conversation.
The extent to which you understand this and do your related “homework” is the extent to which you’ll make a connection…and compel a response.
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.”
Are There “Gaps” in Your Dental Website That Expose You to Failure?
The recent winter weather did some damage to our property. It’s not significant but some minor repairs are in order.
Timing isn’t always on your side when the weather is involved. But the timing is always right to evaluate your current dental website and close some of the gaps that make your marketing vulnerable to failure.
A gap is precisely what I have in my fence as result of the strong winter winds that blew through my region recently. As I early mentioned, the damage isn’t significant by comparison but my suburban property feels exposed now that I lost two sections of privacy fencing.
Close the gaps
I write a significant amount of webpage copy for dental practices, dental consultants, and dental industry businesses. There’s a gap these days between those that are riding the wave of content marketing strategy (one that I do not believe will go away anytime soon) and those that are either satisfied with their online (website) presence or assume that having one up-and-done is enough.
The gap is widening. If you’re on the side of the fence that values consistent, useful content published via a blog, newsletter, podcast, online course, ebooks, email series’, etc you’re positioned to take your “world” by storm.
On the other hand, if you’re resisting or uninformed about the value of content to stimulate your dental marketing, brace yourself for a storm of frustration. You could find yourself wondering why your dental website visitors arrive but don’t stay…or more important – don’t schedule.
It’s time to close the gaps. You shouldn’t feel exposed to frustration or worse waste your valuable dental marketing dollars over the next 12 months on a website that’s basically a digital brochure.
Exposing Your Dental Website “Gaps” and the Strategic “Repairs” You Can Make to Increase Your Value to Patients or Clients
Assess the “damage”
Your patients/clients visit your website for one, primary reason – to access information about your services. Their response hinges on what they discover in the first few seconds of arriving there.
“Gap”: Thinking it’s necessary to differentiate yourself with flashy web page banners or spotlighting your brand image/logo. You can damage your online influence if you’re solely relying on “creative, visual elements” to compel your site visitor to schedule or contract with you.
Damage assessment solution: Build credibility and potential for repeat site visits by providing simple, understandable answers to the questions your patients/clients are asking.
- Fill-the-gap with blog posts/articles published a minimum of two times per month, a downloadable podcast, a consistently published Q&A-like newsletter, or an easy to access and read ebook.
- Spend your available annual marketing dollars on those strategies that provide useful, valuable information your visitors are seeking.
Clear the “debris”
No doubt, dentistry is a technical industry. Healthcare relies on skilled expertise to diagnose and treat effectively.
“Gap”: Thinking it’s essential to thoroughly explain the technical details of your dental services, treatment, and procedures so your patients/clients will want to schedule/use your services. In essence, believing that the more they know, the more likely they are to view you as an expert and schedule.
There’s a better way…
Clean-up solution: Your authority/expertise is recognized more by your ability to speak your site visitors language. Leave the industry-speak to your communication with colleagues, at conventions, or your local study-club.
- Eliminate “jargon,” “fluff-content,” over explained services/procedures, high word count descriptions, and unnecessary credential data.
- Create a compelling connection with your site visitor through every-day language via conversationally written web page copy, blog posts, articles, newsletters, etc. (to keep the language conversational and every-day it’s a good idea for someone to write it other than you…no offense).
Restore the “solution”
Clarity rules. And simplicity shouldn’t imply poor quality or design.
“Gap”: Thinking that a graphically intense, creatively unique, high word count website will build trust with your audience.
Repair solution: Creative design, more words, and indulgent graphics can make your website more difficult to navigate, to understand, and unclear about what visitors should do next. Ditch the mindset that says, “(Our) website must compete on a creative level with every other dental industry site in our area/region….”
Your patients/clients will visit, stay, return, and schedule your services for one fundamental reason – you provide clear, compelling answers to their questions or solutions to their problems. Clarity and simplicity trump creative.
- Stand out creatively through informative and consistent content. Distribute your creative-vibe via your social media channels (Facebook page, Instagram, YouTube, etc.).
- Be an authoritative resource and you’ll compel trust…and action. And speaking of action – restore your web pages to include a clear call-to-action (e.g. “Contact us to schedule…,” “Click here for more information…,” etc.).
These simple repairs will close the “gaps” in your website and your digital marketing strategy. It’s best to create good exposure for your authority and expertise than to be exposed via ineffective web page content.
4 Strategies to Raise Your Dental Marketing Expectations for a Successful New Year
It wasn’t at all what he expected. And the outcome he experienced reminds me that setting your expectations accurately and appropriately can create new beginnings in your dental marketing.
Our grandson recently asked to “chase” his distasteful medicine with a “spoonful” of sugar. I agreed, casually grabbed a spoon from the drawer, dipped into the container, and delivered his request to a smiling face.
His reaction was priceless. He jumped up from the sofa, sputtering, spewing, and reported his distaste for what was served up saying, “That’s CREAMER!”
In my defense, I do not use sugar in my coffee. That said, I’m accustomed to only spooning a dash of creamer into my morning brew.
I instinctively reached for the creamer thinking it to be sugar. We laughed, as did our grandson after he cleansed his palate with the aforementioned requested sugar treat.
Meeting expectations
You should trust that you’ll receive what you expect. That’s often not the case.
Your audience comes to your dental practice or dental service business with a load of expectations. These days what’s expected has shifted a bit due to how information about your services is consumed.
And speaking of information…
Now’s a perfect time to review and hit refresh on informational content that can help you set your dental marketing expectation for the coming months. And being intentional with your expectations can improve your approach to those nagging New Year’s resolutions you feel compelled to make but fail to fulfill.
Consider this post a dental marketing reboot of some common themes from the past few months of posts.
How to Raise Your Dental Marketing Expectations and Experience a Compelling Amount of Success This Year
Renew your thinking about dental SEO
As I’ve written here before, I do not consider myself to be an SEO expert or specialist. I know enough to be “dangerous” in a sense.
And maybe that’s my point. Too much SEO thinking can blind you on your path to online success.
Here’s the deal (and this much I do know) – SEO isn’t about “gaming” or “baiting” your online presence. True SEO creates search expectations around the delivery of useful, informative, valuable content.
This is SEO, of course. But it’s not the SEO you’re perhaps conditioned to believe you must have on your website or else…
Think SEO but…think about it differently!
- Create content around solutions (answers) to the problems (questions) your online visitors are experiencing (asking).
- Make your website content savvy and the SEO will satisfy your online dental marketing expectations.
Check out more related insight here.
Revise your dental website
A website is only the beginning. It’s not a one-and-done dental marketing strategy.
Think of your website as a platform with access to multiple content channels. Those channels are where your dental “consumers” should be able to easily navigate information that (once again) provides solutions (answers) to their problems (questions).
- Lead with your blog/article page. Lose the mindset that you must have high word count, information-heavy, dental-speak fluff on your service/procedure pages (people read what informs them…not what you think they need to know about x, y, or z dental procedure – that’s your world…not theirs).
- Give your website visitors easy to access, readable, visual, audible content. Think blog, YouTube, and Podcast instead of a Wikipedia-like dental procedure glossary. Instead of a tired-does-anybody-read-it-anyway FAQ page chunk those frequently asked questions into compelling blog posts.
Check out more related insight here.
Re-purpose your content
Having a blog/article page that you consistently publish to gives you options. The more blog/article content you have the greater your ability to re-purpose the content.
Remember…
Some website visitors are readers. Some are visually oriented. Some are listeners.
- (For your “readers”) Re-purpose your written content (blog posts, articles, etc.) into e-books, a call-to-action email series, a newsletter, a tip-sheet, etc.
- (For your “viewers”) Re-purpose your written content into a YouTube video (a vlog), a Periscope, a Slide-Share, an Infographic, or other visual content like a GIF, Meme, etc you can post on your social media channels (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter).
- (For your “listeners”) Re-purpose your written content into a podcast or downloadable MP3.
Check out more related insight here.
Re-orient your marketing mindset (think content)
How?
Rinse and repeat the first three points…because content rules!
I raise my expectations that you’ll continue returning here for more dental marketing perspective weekly throughout the year. Thanks for being part of this community…it’s appreciated!
Happy New Year!
How to Narrow Your Dental Marketing Message to One, Perfectly Clear Idea
“Let me make one thing perfectly clear…” How often is that said and the outcome couldn’t be further from the truth.
Clear and compelling communication is essential in today’s “noisy” marketing arena. Your dental marketing will benefit from a principle nestled within that often repeated, opening phrase.
Truthfully, when someone says “Let me make one thing perfectly clear…,” settle in to be “fire-hosed” with information. Why?
It’s not easy (or common) to narrow your marketing message down to one clear idea.
A current dental practice client has also secured the services of a branding agency. I initially wondered about the value of such for dental practice.
But…after a phone consultation prior to beginning my copywriting and content work with them, I soon saw the value of their branding strategy.
If there’s any value in today’s love-affair with “branding” it’s this – clarity!
Branding is in essence about “…making one thing perfectly clear…” And there in lies a principle that can significantly impact the effectiveness of your dental marketing content.
How to Narrow Your Dental Marketing Strategy to One, Perfectly Clear Idea (and Build Your Influence Around It)
Search for common themes
The client I earlier mentioned has found a common theme and they’re flavoring everything with it. Bottom-line: Get clear about who you are, what you deliver, and why your patients or clients are compelled to do business with you…repeatedly.
Being all-things-to-all-people is noble. But in business it can diminish your message and create sameness.
- Listen to what your patients and clients are telling you. Channel-surf their social media comments on your Facebook page or other social channels you’re present on. Dial into their review and survey comments.
- List emerging themes like “comfortable…,” “gentle…,” “on-time…,” “trustworthy…,” “delivered what was promised…,” etc.
- Highlight those thematic words and create “buyer personas” to create your content around. What you mirror back to them via your blog posts, newsletter articles, email promotions, etc will often return to you in loyalty and referrals.
Weave emotional threads into your marketing promotions
You capture and maintain interest with emotion more than you do with what’s rational or technical. It’s why today’s social marketing language is referred to as “engagement.”
Create dental marketing promotions that tap into your audience’s emotions. It’s easy to pepper your content with technical jargon or industry speak because you think that creates professional appeal. What it does is create a communication gap.
On the other hand, emotion attracts people and compels a response.
People get that you’re a doctor or specialist. That’s a given.
Remember the Three Fundamental Rules of Selling:
1. People do not like to be sold.
2. People buy things for emotional, not rational reasons.
3. Once sold, people need to justify their emotional decisions with logic. (Source: AWAI, American Writers & Artists Inc.)
What your patients/clients want to know is do you have a solution for their problem. Monetary investment typically follows emotional investment.
Communicate transferable value
Solutions to problems provide two important things. One, it proves you’re listening. And two, it transfers value.
- Deliver value via every dental marketing channel you use. Transform your dental website into a platform for value-driven content. Do more than explain your dental services, create content that reveals Problem-Solution scenarios your reader, listener, viewer can relate to.
- Deploy value-centric surveys and data gathering strategies to determine what your audience wants from you and your services/products. This is the ultimate path to branding – listening, learning, and leveraging your discoveries for the benefit of your patients or clients.
If one thing is perfectly clear it’s that branding your dental marketing has more to do with your audience than it does your creative logo, framed mission statement, or “cute” tagline.
3 Strategic Dental Marketing Skills That Enable You to Know Your Audience
It’s more than a game. At least, that’s how I feel when playing “Go-Fish” with our six year old grandson.
Your dental marketing is more about strategy. How you apply a certain type of strategic skill these days can improve your outcomes.
“Go-Fish” is a simple children’s card game. It’s mostly about matching cute, aquatic characters or associated numbers from the card faces you’re dealt.
There’s nothing really complicated about it. The strategy involves your powers of observation.
Listen and learn mindset
It’s common to make assumptions when you market your dental services. For example, observe much of today’s dental practice marketing promotions and what do you hear?
Smile this, smile that, right? Sure, smiles reveal healthy teeth – that’s the core of dentistry.
Is there more? Yes, there are many deeper benefits provided by dentistry.
Strategically speaking it’s to your advantage to dive-deeper into the longings, desires, needs, hungers, you name it of your patients or clients. This is the essence of strategic observation.
3 Strategic Skills That Tap Into the Deeper Needs of Your Dental Marketing Audience
1-Listen to conversations via social media.
Communication has changed. And depending on your experience or perspective, you would have to agree that in many ways it’s improved.
Mostly the speed and access to communication has shifted dramatically. Data driven conversations (text, social media, direct messages, etc.) are somewhat more common than audible (voice) driven conversations.
This reality impacts how people are accustomed to receiving information. And you must adapt your marketing to connect.
I was recently asked via Twitter (more on that in a moment) about “the listening tools” I use. My reply was somewhat reflexive – “social media,” specifically Twitter.
People use social media to talk, chat, share, boast, sell, market, disagree, promote, preach, pundit, push, encourage, shout-out, support…you get the picture.
Between the lines of all the data driven dialog are needs, desires, frustrations, pains, likes, goals, etc. And the more industry or niche oriented your channels are the more you’ll discover that’s useful for creating compelling content.
- Establish social media connections via Twitter, Facebook, or wherever your “audience” hangs-out. Twitter and Facebook are tops. Sign up (if you’re not already).
- Get acquainted with the channel. For example, Twitter is great for following trends, sharing content, and engaging in quick conversation around content and shared interests.
- Be consistent as you can be. Monitor your social channels regularly. Respond to other’s engagement as quickly as you can. This reveals that you’re listening.
2-Leverage trends by tuning into podcasts, Periscope broadcasts, blogs, webinars, online courses, etc.
Today’s educational output flows from informed authorities across every business niche. You can subscribe to a particular podcast or follow someone’s Periscope and gain loads of insight into what’s current.
- Scan what your industry leaders are talking about, listening to, and sharing. Sign up and follow their informational streams.
- Schedule time daily or at least weekly to catch up on the valuable information you’ve subscribed to or are aware of.
- Curate the content and leverage it into useful resources for your growing “audience.” There are transferable principles across every knowledge base. Explore, find, and share them.
3-Lean into “influencers.”
What’s more important than following your industry leaders? Following their leaders!
Leaning into the crowd exposes you to the person, people, idea, or information at the center of the conversation. Lean in to gain all you can.
Again, physical presence isn’t always necessary, especially in this age of access. I have tons of virtual mentors/influencers that stoke my thinking consistently.
- Use social media to get acquainted with influential industry leaders. Follow, share, and curate what they’re talking about.
- Take a risk and reach out. An authentic, brief comment on a podcast rating or a direct message on Twitter or Facebook could open a door to a new relationship.
- Be grateful for what you gain. Say thanks by sharing their content or referring their services/expertise.
Being more strategic can match you with beneficial outcomes. Otherwise, all I can say is “go-fish!”
Why You Should Change Your Thinking About Dental SEO and What You Should Do Now via Your Dental Website
Right off the top, I give credit where it’s due. Before I give my shout-out, I want you to take a deep breath and repeat after me, “Dental SEO is not dead, it’s just evolved.”
I give due credit to Ryan Stewart for the stream of thought in this post. His related article on Moz.com was spot on.
SEO isn’t dead…just different.
Perhaps you’re a bit worried. The thought of SEO being mentioned alongside the word, “dead” can cause a collective gasp.
Why?
Like most, you might have banked your dental website rankings on dental keywords stuffed throughout every page on your dental website. From the home page to your contact page perhaps you dropped some cash with an SEO-centric web design firm who all but guaranteed you a top local ranking.
Maybe it’s worked…and maybe it hasn’t.
But that’s not the biggest issue here.
The big deal is – SEO has evolved. How the search engines find and rank you and your content has changed and is changing.
Stewart says, “Google shows search results based on what’s best for the user. We can’t just rank for whatever keywords we want.”
He shares examples of searching terms from “best headphones” to “restaraunts” (in a specific city) to “buy a cheap tv” to “plumbers” (again in a specific city). The results in each example returned no websites on the first page search listings.
What did the search results reveal on the first page? According to Stewart’s examples, it depends.
His “best headphones” search revealed not a single product page. All first page results were articles about headphone types, benefits, pricing, etc.
What about “restaurants” (city specific)? No first page results included a single restaurant website, only review aggregators and Zagat ratings. Below the fold (second pages and beyond) the results featured listicles, reviews, and…again…articles.
“Buy a cheap tv” returned product pages in the top five results. Before you say, “Ah-ha…told you…,” they’re all mega-brands. Stewart confirms something you must understand: you’ll never outrank a brand for those type of keywords (unless you spam it up). And again, guess what, articles not product pages ranked at the bottom of the first page.
Are you seeing a trend here?
What about Stewart’s search example of “plumbers” (city specific)? Again top rankings were review aggregators like Yelp and Google+.
Why you should change your thinking about dental SEO and what you must do now to establish your authority online.
Stewart says two things are happening. 1-Google’s full of data and they’re using it based on what users (e.g. you, me, your patients, clients, etc.) want.
2-Google is moving into the “pay to play” era (like Facebook). They’re capitalizing on the massive revenue that comes from advertising.
(Read Stewart’s complete article here for detailed insight and analysis of this entire trend.)
My main take-away from Stewart’s article is this: content rules!
What does that mean for you and your dental SEO?
1-Listen (more than ever) to your “audience.”
What are they talking about? Concerned about? What services do you provide that solves the problems they face?
- Write to that! And write to it a lot.
- Inform your readers based on what you hear them saying to you via your reviews, surveys, chair side conversations, phone consults, in-office consults, treatment plan questions. You get the idea.
2-Create useful content consistently.
Stop playing the tell-them-everything-on-your-main-webpages game. What do I mean?
The days of burying all your informative “eggs” in your website services “basket” (pages) is done. Why?
People aren’t willing to wade through it. And if they did, it’s often full of too much dental-speak that they numb out and click away from the page.
- Start or re-start your blog/article page. This is your new SEO-friendly platform for valuable keyword relevant content.
- Experiment with podcasts, other forms of social media (Pinterest, Instagram, Periscope), and video (YouTube) content channels. Not all are readers. This will appeal to the audio/visual types.
- Link all content back to your website platform. This increases your search savvy-ness.
I recommend checking out Ryan Stewart’s more thorough and highly practical content on this subject. I agree with the essence of it, SEO isn’t dead but it HAS changed.