Marketing to dentists
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.
How to Find Your “Voice” and Compel a Positive Response to Your Dental Marketing Message
“Imagine the person you’re writing to. Picture him or her as a friend. Believe that the (service) you’re (promoting) will improve your friend’s life. Figure out what it would take to convince you to buy the product.” – Paul Hollingshead
“It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it.” That memorable phrase contains a “double-edged truth.”
On the contrary, what you say does matter. Mixed messages create confusion.
Equally true is how you communicate. Tone, delivery method, or “voice” can make or break your dental marketing message.
I’m a strong advocate for a particular tone of voice in the copy or content I create. And I’m diligent to coach my clients in the same.
Friend or foe?
You shouldn’t be forced to choose, should you? “Foe” is a bit too strong a label.
It’s not productive to view your readers, patients, clients, prospects, etc as “foes” to be conquered. “Friend” is a better perspective for your marketing promotions, blog posts, or conversations when the goal is to compel a response.
Paul Hollingshead’s words that introduce this post help establish that view in your dental marketing. Voice is the core idea when writing, promoting, or marketing your services.
How to find your voice and compel a positive response to your dental marketing message.
1-Use your imagination
It’s important to break free from the seller-prospect mindset when marketing your dental services. Remember, “People don’t like to be sold.”
This common approach sets up an adversarial relationship from the get-go. And you’ll adopt a “voice” that’s perceived that way too.
Rather…
As Hollingshead encourages, “Imagine the person you’re writing to. Picture him or her as a friend.”
- View your promotions as a conversation. Write conversationally – friend to friend.
- Use short sentences. Long sentences typically evolve into something too technical or wordy. Avoid “bloat” and “fluff” throughout your writing.
- Forget “English class.” Beginning a sentence with “And” or “But” is okay in this context. And (there you go…haha) a preposition is okay to end a sentence “with.” Remember conversational, friend-to-friend communication is not only common these days, it’s accepted (like it or not, thanks to social media).
- Use the “barstool” filter. Ask yourself if you would say it (what you’re writing) sitting across from a friend at a bar or table.
2-Deepen your beliefs
Believing in your message, service, or product should translate via your voice. If you sincerely believe it will improve someone’s health or life, how could you not communicate it in a compelling way.
Again, the friend-to-friend, conversational voice compels better than a sales-y, hype-y tone.
- List the “whys” of your product or service. Why is it necessary, useful, beneficial, etc.?
- Listen to comments and reviews. Readers, patients, and clients will tell you “why” they like or dislike your services.
- Write to problems and questions. Beneath a negative experience or review is a solution that will improve your marketing message. Fearlessly evaluate the negatives you hear or experience when promoting or applying your services.
3-Identify with the benefits
Walk-a-mile in your patient’s/client’s shoes. Keep the question in mind – “Would I use this, pay for this, try this, etc.?”
The answers will reveal the true, unvarnished benefits of your particular product or service. Features appeal to logic. Benefits connect with emotions.
Friend-to-friend, conversational communication is more emotional than it is rational or logical.
- Review your products and services searching for benefits.
- List the benefits of each service. Remember “state-of-the-art” is a feature not a benefit.
- Answer the question, “So what?” Confirm that your particular service or product actually leads to a compelling result. Identify that result and write to it as often as possible.
Find your “voice.” Make “friends” through your dental marketing content.
Implement the Power-of-One and Eliminate Dental Marketing Overload
I gave myself permission. It helped me narrow my options and relax more than I would have otherwise.
Trying to accomplish too much all at once leads to frustration and unproductive outcomes. This holds true in your dental marketing copy and content too.
Back to my “permission” moment…
Extended holiday weekends beg for a laundry-list of tasks to be accomplished. That’s the proverbial “road-most-traveled.”
I chose “the-road-less-traveled” this time around. And as author, Scott Peck, once discovered, “it made all the difference…”
I featured this idea of narrowing your focus in a recent post. Specifically, it was about knowing your audience well enough to market to “one” person instead of the collective masses.
The power-of-one
A copywriting mentor, Mark Ford (aka, Michael Masterson) says,
“Stir…one core emotion
Emphasize…one good idea
Tell…one captivating story
Direct your prospect to…one inevitable response.”
It’s easy these days to have too many dental marketing channels sending out too many signals (offers and promotions). It’s a symptom, perhaps, of scarcity-thinking.
That’s being afraid that if you don’t throw enough deals, promotions, offers, sales, discounts, coupons, percentage-savings, etc at your patient or client list, you’ll “starve” from lack of bookings.
What’s enough? Sure, I get that throwing more “seed” increases the odds that you’ll “reap-a-harvest.”
But these days, there’s a risk of people becoming numbed to your offers. They’re “shopping” the lowest bidder in terms of percentage discounts and special offers.
Minimalism and marketing
Market by a factor of “one.” Approach your marketing message and the content you distribute like I did my weekend.
Give yourself permission to simplify and narrow your focus. Adopt and adapt a power-of-one mindset with every marketing effort.
1-”Stir ONE CORE EMOTION”
Think about each of your dental practice or dental business services. Deeply explore the benefits of each service.
Now…attach an emotion to each benefit.
For example, what core emotion follows the benefit(s) associated with teeth whitening?
Teeth whitening, for instance, creates an emotion of “confidence.” – Write to that! Do the same for each of your services before you create another related marketing promotion.
Create content around ONE CORE EMOTION. Avoid tangents that distract from that ONE message within that specific piece of content.
2-Focus on ONE BIG IDEA
Too many themes or “ideas” damage the impact of your marketing message. Decide what you want your dental marketing message to promote.
And remember you’re not promoting a service or a product. You’re promoting a benefit (that “stirs one core emotion)!
Focus on the one-thing the particular service being promoted does for your patient or client. Again, think through your services strategically like you did when attaching emotions to each.
Create content that highlights, exploits, showcases, and builds on that ONE BIG IDEA. If you have more than one idea, relax.
The beauty of content marketing is that you’re not limited to a single marketing effort. There’s always the next blog post, article, podcast, or social media post.
Let your ideas ferment. Then share them one at a time with your audience.
3-Share ONE CAPTIVATING STORY
Consider the “story” as a picture of your patient/client using or interacting with your service or product. Restrain yourself from telling about everything the service does all at once.
Give your audience time to see themselves in the “story.” You wouldn’t wear two pairs of shoes at the same time. So don’t expect your marketing to ask readers to walk in more than one pair of shoes on their journey through your current promotion.
Pick a theme. Stick with it until the next “chapter” (e.g. blog post, article, newsletter, etc.).
4-Compel ONE RESPONSE
It helps to use a one word call to action. “Schedule,” “contact,” “call,” “click,” “join,” “invite,” “bring,” etc are single words that compel a specific action.
Avoid using copy/content “bloat” like – “We would like to ask you to…,” “We’re proud to invite you to…,” etc. Ask for the response early in your promotion and ask for it again in the middle and again at the end.
Cut the passive language. Ask your reader to do something (one thing) NOW!
Re-start your dental marketing with a simple, singular approach. Give yourself permission to do ONE thing and perhaps your audience will give you their permission.
How to Connect with Your “Audience” by Talking to “One” (Person) Through Your Dental Marketing Content
She mentioned Seth Godin and that immediately tipped the conversation we were having. If a conversation about dental marketing includes his name you can bet you’re on to something good.
Actually the context was about the readability-factor of dental industry blog and article content. Seth Godin was mentioned as a benchmark for readable, actionable, audience focused content (more on that in a moment).
If you’re a fan of his marketing wisdom and writing style, you know what I’m talking about. And if you’re not up to speed on him, take a moment, go to Amazon, your favorite local book retailer or library, and browse his titles and chapter excerpts.
In the meantime, subscribe to his blog feed and connect with him on social media. Seth Godin is always creating a “ruckus,” as he likes to say.
The “magic”
Dental marketing shouldn’t be “rocket-science.” Frankly, why should any marketing be complicated?
Once you get past the “funnels,” sales-speak, latest guru webinars, etc., dental marketing is about connecting with people – your audience.
Written, audio, video, or social content – whatever you use – must be audience-centric.
What is “audience-centric?”
Who is your “audience?”
And…
How do you connect with them?
What my colleague referenced about Seth Godin had to do with the tone, tightness, and readability of his published content. No doubt, he gets his point across in fewer words than most…and it radically jolts your conventional thinking about marketing and connecting with your audience.
Being Audience-centric
Writing content for the sake of writing it or writing it in a way that sounds like everyone else’s misses the target. Centric (focused) content considers who is reading YOUR writing.
For example, if you’re a dentist, who reads your dental practice website?
The general public? Colleagues? More often the general public than your colleagues.
Audience-centric tip: Write to one person not a crowd. Think: a potential new patient, a person with dental pain, someone with insurance benefits remaining who has a dental implant in their treatment plan, etc. Action: Keep your dental website’s Service/Procedure pages brief (250-300 words max). Include links to useful, informative blog/article content on your site that are centered on topics of interest to your audience. Create a “ruckus”: Practice fearless curiosity. Discover what interests, frustrates, or loses individuals in your “audience” by listening to their questions, reviews, and survey comments. Write to that!
Having Audience-connection
Knowing your audience – their questions, pain, goals, etc. – enables you to create content that connects on an emotional, rather than intellectual, level. Dental website or marketing content that sounds like a CE course for industry insiders misses where people live.
Audience-Connection tip: Write and create content that’s readable and time-conscious. Think: how a person accesses your content – mobile device (smartphone, tablet, etc.) more often than desktop. Action: Practice excellent “word-economy.” Make your point with short, tight, crisp sentences. Remember that complicated, long, wordy sentences numb your reader. Create a “ruckus”: In your content, minimize features (how great, educated, new, state-of-the-art, etc that you/your services are), maximize benefits (what your services do FOR your reader/site visitor), and tell them what to do (call-to-action) to schedule, contact you, purchase, etc your services.
It’s about one-to-one connection. Make sure your dental marketing content connects!
I’ll toss it to Seth Godin to put a wrap on it.
“Be genuine. Be remarkable. Be worth connecting with.” – Seth Godin
3 Ways to Deliver Value Through Your Dental Marketing Content to the Masses Searching for Your Services
“You add about as much value as the ‘g’ in lasagna.” – @BillMurray (not the actor) via Twitter
I chuckled while scanning my Twitter timeline as the above quote got my attention. It’s blunt but there’s a principle you shouldn’t ignore.
Whatever you do, don’t be a “g.”
It’s vital to your dental marketing success that you avoid being the “g.” As quoted, the “g” adds no value.
In the language context it occupies a necessary space, a keystroke, within a yummy word. But it’s silent and holds no value beyond the word’s spelling.
I’m not going to debate the nuances of the English language here. That’s not my point.
Here’s the principle: Your dental marketing content – especially online – should add value to your readers and dental website visitors.
There’s two reasons I’ve been beating this “drum” on recent posts.
One, is because the volume of dentists, dental professionals, and dental marketers who are “getting-it” is increasing as we speak. If that’s you, you’re dialed-in to the digital marketing reality that having a dental website is ONLY the beginning.
There’s more and you know it.
You’ve adopted the content marketing mantra that valuable, useful content, consistently published, and distributed via a blog/article page, a podcast, social media, etc is how you build a trusting audience – an audience of readers who will gladly use your services because they trust your expert content.
The second reason for beating the “content-drum?”
A significant number (I’m sad to say) still rely on high-word count, feature-heavy, technical web pages full of dental-speak that colleagues understand but the general public quickly click away from. Not because they’re “dumb” but because the content is “numb” (typical, expected, overdone, and over-used).
How to Deliver Value Through Your Online Dental Marketing Content to the Masses Searching for Your Services
1-Publish Tight, Accessible Content
“Tight” content is readable. Copy and content readability involves a conversational flow.
Write and publish content that your readers can easily scan and understand. Keep in mind that most are reading your content (and viewing your website) on a smartphone or mobile device like an iPad or tablet.
Accessibility is vital to your digital marketing success. The tighter and less wordy your copy/content is the better for how your reader commonly accesses it.
2-Deliver Useful Content Consistently
I’m often asked, “How frequently should I publish or distribute my content?” Opinions vary.
At a minimum I encourage dental professionals to publish every other week or two times per month – minimum! Weekly is best (four times per month on average).
Consistency builds momentum. And the quicker you build momentum with valuable, useful content via a blog, podcast, or social media channels the more trusted you and your expertise become.
Brainstorm and write down the questions your patients or clients are asking. What topics emerge that you could answer through a 400 to 500 word article/blog post?
Create and update an editorial calendar. List topics that apply to certain dental “seasons” (Late summer: back-to-school, Fall/Holiday: end of year insurance benefits, Spring/Early Summer: teeth whitening and cosmetic dentistry for wedding and prom season, Etc.).
Hire/contract with a skilled copywriter or blog content writer who understands the dental “landscape.”
3-Compel with an Easy, Clear Call-to-Action
Inform your readers what the next step is. Compel them to take it.
Use “action” words like “Schedule,” “Contact Us,” “Request,” “Click here,” Etc.
Remove the passive language from your website content. Words like “Welcome to…,” “We’re proud to announce…,” “We would like to…,” “Please…,” imply passivity and permission.
Tell readers about the benefits of your services and ask them to do something specific to access them.
Deliver value through every piece of content you publish. It’s how you build trust, gain attention…and avoid being a “g.”
How to Create Dental Website Content That Guides Readers to Solutions with Compass-like Precision
Where I recently hiked is not for the directionally challenged. And I quickly discovered something about maps that has helped me find my way more than once.
The same could be said of your current location on the dental marketing grid. Marketing your dental services has value relative to what you know and understand about the new marketing landscape.
Hiking or driving, I can typically find my way around. Once I’ve learned the lay-of-the-land I can move about with few, if any, navigational problems.
And I’ve discovered something about maps. They’re most valuable when you know where you are relative to where you began (e.g. my recent hiking experience) and, of course, where you’re going.
“If you don’t know where you’re going…
You probably think I’ll finish the sentence by saying, “…you’ll probably end up someplace else…,” right? And you’d be partially correct.
The bigger challenge related to your dental marketing strategy is – “If you don’t know where you’re going, you…aren’t listening to your dental patients or dental clients.”
This might seem a bit presumptuous or harsh. But the truth is, you might be making too many assumptions and not enough asks.
Asked and answered is the-new-black
It’s easy to assume that your dental website is all you need. Set-it-and-forget-it seems to be the common strategy I find in my consultations these days.
Here’s the deal:
A dental website is a platform not a stand-alone marketing strategy.
The true value of your dental website is how you leverage it with useful information by listening to your “audience.” Not all information is necessary or useful – know the difference.
Evaluate the information you’re sharing on your website. Your “Home,” “About Us,” and “Services” pages are not the most effective place to provide value to your readers.
Why? These are quick-scan, credibility enhancing pages.
Most of your site visitors are quick to click away from them unless you’re doing something fresh and different with a strategic portion of the content (I’ll talk about that in a moment).
Think like your site visitors
It’s easy for educated professionals and providers to believe that website visitors/readers are as enamored with your latest-and-greatest whatever as you are. They (like you, perhaps) can sniff hype, fluff, and feature-focused web content that does nothing more than enjoy the sound of it’s own voice.
Ask yourself why someone is visiting your website. Why would you visit and stick around to read content on your website if you were them?
How easy is it to find an answer to a common dental question (e.g. mouth pain, cosmetic dental treatment, straight teeth, etc.)?
On a map or compass “north” is a common reference point. As my recent hiking experience revealed, “true-north” has value if I knew where I started and where I needed to arrive when my hike was finished.
True-North: What it pays to know about your dental website content that will help you answer more questions and guide readers to the solutions they’re looking for.
1-Design your dental website to be a digital marketing platform.
These days two things will be obvious about your website. It’s either a digital (electronic) brochure or it’s a digital media platform (content delivery system).
People scan and toss brochures. On the other hand, people read, digest, search, bookmark, tag, share, revisit, and bottom-line, give you their trust as result of useful, valuable content delivered via an informative website (platform).
The choice is yours!
Create informative dental blog posts that answer the questions you’re hearing from your patient’s/client’s comments via reviews, post-appointment surveys, chair side consults, etc.
2-Make your dental blog/article page the front-door of your dental website platform.
Replace bloated, fluff Home, About Us, Services/Procedures page content with brief (250-400 words), crisp, benefit-focused, call-to-action content that links to your blog/article page (for starters).
3-Allow your dental marketing to evolve and revolve around content that informs and educates more than content that hypes and promotes.
There’s only so much you can say about “Improving Your Smile…” and all the overused, numbing dental marketing-speak that’s saturating today’s mailboxes and in-boxes. Enough, already!
Dig for more emotional-gold in your patient or client’s questions and comments. Ask them to explain “attractive smile.” What does that mean to them – more dates, greater confidence at work, feeling beautiful on their wedding day, etc?
Write content that taps into emotion. Inform with benefits more than you highlight your practice amenities or business success (Hint: if you use state-of-the-art, cutting edge or some other overused, numbing phrase to promote it).
Landmarks matter whether you’re hiking or marketing dental services. You’ll reach your desired destination if you follow the right reference points on an updated map.