Marketing to dentists

The Use-it-or-Lose-It Factor That Attracts People to Your Dental Marketing

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Image courtesy: Pixabay

We have two young adult daughters. The youngest (in her early twenties) was involved in a car accident that totaled her newly purchased vehicle.

Yeah. I know! Bummer.

The frustration she’s experienced reaching an acceptable insurance settlement is proof that having one thing matters.

Leverage.

And leverage is an essential reason why you must be in a position of authority in your dental marketing.

Two fortunate things about my daughter’s accident. One, she wasn’t injured. Two, it wasn’t her fault.

But the no-fault issue isn’t without loads of hassle. Of course, I’ve been the supportive Dad (why wouldn’t I).

My unfortunate experience with auto accidents gives me a certain amount of leverage. I can use it on her behalf to get what she deserves from the at fault’s insurance provider.

Leverage is essential to getting what you want, what you need, or what you’re entitled to.

You have more authority than you’re leveraging as a dental professional.

  • You’re educated.
  • You have solutions to people’s problems and pain.
  • You deliver a valuable and useful service.

The magic of leveraged authority

In a previous post, you discovered how to leverage your expertise via your Platform Content (PC). Revisit the post to understand how your dental website has essential cause and effect value.

It’s time to amp-up your website (PC). And your Authority Content (AC) is the energy you need.

Gone are the days when a mere website is all you need. Sure, it’s a start.

Search engines (e.g. Google) recognizes that you have one. But if you want to vault to a higher ranking as a dental provider you must…I repeat, MUST prove that you’re a useful resource worthy of people’s search.

There’s more to being useful online as a dental professional than common Services and Procedures web pages packed with dental keywords.

PC + AC = “Leverage”: How to leverage your authority into an ongoing stream of profitable relationships.

  1. Keep your blog updated with fresh, informative content. Answer the questions your patients, clients, or readers are asking via your blog content.
  2. Tap into patient’s or client’s questions with responsive, relevant, quick & easy surveys. Develop your own surveys/questions instead of using standardized approaches.
  3. Avoid “bait-and-switch” tactics when surveying and promoting your content on your website and through social media channels. Do it just-because and be up front about your reason(s).
  4. Re-purpose your blog content into a downloadable e-book. Offer the e-book (free) on your website or via a designated landing page. Share the download link every opportunity you get and you’ll develop a reputation of being a go-to resource.
  5. Start a podcast.  It’s a fresh way to spotlight your “authority.” Check out these resources:
    Pat Flynn’s How to Start a Podcast Tutorial
    Rainmaker.fm – The Showrunner podcast

And who knows…

You might create a passive income stream out of your content development. And who couldn’t use that kind of financial and career leverage?

Stay tuned. In an upcoming post you’ll get the final content piece that increases your influence.

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The First (of 3) Snooze-You-Lose Strategies That Eliminate Panic and Propel Your Dental Marketing

http://pixabay.com/en/family-tree-genealogy-295298/If you’ve ever attended a family reunion you understand. I’ll explain.

At the core, it’s the same principle that connects your dental marketing to the big-picture strategy.

My dad made a statement at our most recent family reunion. I can’t get it out of my mind.

It answers the question, “Why am I here?” And I’m not talking some existential, meaning of life idea.

The essence of his statement to our gathering of nephews, nieces, cousins, spouses, children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren defines what it means to be family.

We were circling up prior to our reunion meal. My dad (the current family patriarch) pointed to the displayed, vintage portraits of my grandmother and grandfather.

Then, tearfully gesturing to our gathering, said, “They caused all this…”

Cause and effect

Everything starts somewhere. Before a tree, family or otherwise, extends its branches, there’s a simple seed (the cause).

And your dental marketing impact (the effect) is no different.

What seeds are you planting? And going a step further, do you have a strategy that’s easy to implement?

Reacting isn’t a strategy

You’re accustomed to it. For example, as a dental provider, you react to the pain a patient presents with.

Your education, training, and experience teaches you to diagnose the situation and prescribe a treatment plan. I realize it’s a bit more complicated than that, but you get the imagery.

Reaction can grip you too when there’s a need to market your services.

  • New patient scheduling is down
  • Recare has stalled
  • Web search analytics are showing downward traffic trends

And the dentist down the street is your community’s new rock star with their state-of-the-art…cutting-edge this or that (and if they use “state-of-the-art” or “cutting edge” to describe whatever in their latest postcard mailer or on their newly designed website, you should stop worrying…because no one cares…seriously, nothing says boring, “numbing,” marketing copy than those two phrases…but I digress).

Meanwhile, back to your challenge at hand…

Your marketing dilemma is a different cause for reaction than you’re typically educated, trained, and experienced to handle. You know when a tooth has erupted and what to do to fix it.

Now your marketing presents with pain. What to do?

A road paved with “good intentions” that leads you nowhere

Well intentioned dental professionals do what they know best to do when marketing challenges arise. Right?

You leave a Post-it® note on the desk of your office manager or designated front-office team member that reads, “See me about an email blast…” (or something related to a panic-driven “marketing” blitz).

Is that the best you can do?

Your dental marketing deserves better than a random, reactively conceived, out-of-their-depth (with all due respect reference to the person tasked) email blast. You’re panicked. I get it.

Take a deep breath.

Better…?

Now let’s assess the problem and nail down a more effective solution to your ongoing marketing dilemma.

You WILL be in panic mode again. That is, unless you readjust your perspective and realign your approach.

The first (of 3) marketing content resources you’ll ever need to build your dental practice or dental industry business (and stop burdening an already focused and busy business assistant).

1-Your Platform Content (PC)

Consider your website your office’s front door. Before a new patient or anyone else walks through the door of your dental practice they’ve probably invested a portion of their time hanging around in your digital “lobby.”

This assumes you have a website. If you don’t…well…we need to talk (and we should have that conversation, like, NOW).

Having a website is only the beginning. These days there’s more to an established, effective, useful, search friendly online presence than a mere website.

Home page-check! About us page-check! Services pages-check! Contact us page-check! Social media buttons-check!

I’ll even go so far to say Blog-check! You’d be surprised (perhaps) how few can check that one off the list these days.

And if you do have a blog page, how fresh and/or recent and useful is your content?

More on that later.

How to make your dental website a solid, home-base platform

Consider it the “cause” of your intended “effect” (to borrow from my earlier family reunion story).

If you want to avoid reactionary, panic-stricken marketing make certain your website platform is solid.

  • Visit your website as if you’re searching for a dental provider. How informative is it? Do you know where to go next from page to page? Does it communicate relevant, benefit focused information (rather than “hey, look how great, equipped, educated, etc we are…”)? Are there clear calls to action page to page? Does the content ultimately lead to scheduling an appointment or consultation?
  • Clean up your language. Make sure your entire site is “you” (reader/patient/client) focused. It should read as if you’re having a personal conversation with the person reading your content.
  • Stop talking so much. Reduce your page word count if necessary. You should be able to inform and compel a response with 250 to 500 words per page on average.
  • Keep it real. Evaluate your page header images. If your images look cookie-cutter, your site can appear that way.
    You want to avoid having the reader feel like, “oh, I’ve been here before…just another dental website…” Imagine them feeling instead that your practice story, culture, and voice is different than most…and unique to yours.

Your dental marketing starts somewhere. And your website platform is the most strategic place to begin if you want to solve the panic mode problem in your marketing.

Process and act on this for now. Stay tuned…there’s more to come in an upcoming post.

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2 Actions That Will Protect Your Dental Website from Being Left-Out-in-the-Rain

http://pixabay.com/en/people-walk-rain-tree-trees-fog-314980/My first thought was, “On a holiday at 6:30 p.m.?” But when I saw him standing there, in the rain, at the edge of my front porch, another thought occurred to me.

His chosen approach has much to do with how you reach your audience via your dental website.

My soggy, evening visitor was going door to door selling the opportunity to “…have a few minutes of my time…” He wanted to talk about my home security system.

A number of thoughts raced through my mind in the brief moments I felt sorry for him standing there, on my doorstep, rain-soaked from walking door to door in my suburban neighborhood.

One thought dominated them all.

“There has to be a better way…!”

I’ve always admired door to door sales dedication. Seriously, it takes a level of perseverance (or desperation) to do it (I can relate having done my fair share of it a few years ago for a variety of reasons).

I peddled everything from products to ideas. And I gained much from the experience that serves me to this day.

That said, technology has vastly improved the “sales” relationship. Say what you will about the grass-roots, guerrilla marketing, bootstrapping diligence of the committed few who knock it out door to door.

There IS a better way. And how you’re attempting to reach your audience via your website could be the door-to-door equivalent of my soggy, holiday, dinner hour salesman.

“You had ONE job…”

Your dental website has one fundamental purpose. And depending on your specific niche it could be patient related or product/service related.

That ONE job? Compel action from your reader.

Let’s define action. And let’s bottom-line it, shall we?

For the dental practice, most often your website’s sole purpose is compelling a new patient, current patient, or referral patient to schedule an appointment. I’m not going to argue the sub-categories of appropriate purposes. Let’s keep it simple.

For the dental industry service or product business, the common driving purpose is compelling a new client, current client, or referral client to order products and services from you. Again, corollary purposes aside, let’s stick with the basics.

What gets the job done?

My soggy door to door sales-guy gets points for effort. But more important, and he knows this, it’s a numbers game.

Every “No” gets him closer to a “Yes.” It’s common sales motivation.

Is this true when it comes to your website? Does every visitor who searches for dental services, arrives on your site, and leaves with a “No” get you closer to a “Yes?”

And if that’s true do you have the time to measure it? (Understanding, of course, that you can deep dive into your site analytics and get a boat-load of relevant answers to that question.)

I choose to deal in the realm of what increases the likelihood that they’ll not only STAY but RETURN again and again.

In this instance, it’s about relevant, useful information.

And speaking of a deeper dive, allow me to clarify what “information” I’m NOT talking about.

There’s more to useful, dental website information than standard, overly technical explanations of crowns, fillings, dental hygiene, implants, etc. And there’s way more than talking about your latest, state-of-the-art, high-tech equipment. You know, the equipment you’ve just completed hours of training or CE credit for the qualification to use it on patients who you assume are laying awake at night longing for the opportunity to sit in your op-room chair to experience it.

I overstate my case. But that’s the door-to-door equivalent on many dental websites when delivering information.

“Hand that dude a towel…” (so he can dry off and throw it in).

It’s time to renew your website, the kind of information you share, and how you share it.

As I earlier observed following my dinner time sales intrusion – “There has to be a better way…”

Do this…

1-Build your authority by being a reservoir of useful information.

These days information translates into trusted expertise. Notice I added the word “trusted.”

I don’t have to tell you that a search for “dentist” in your city/region will return pages of apparent expertise. Most are trustworthy and treat their scheduled patients appropriately – you included.

How and where you rank in that search determines whether they’ll give you the opportunity to show your trustworthy treatment approach. You can pay for that ranking via Google Ads, etc. hoping they’ll discover you to be everything they’re searching for in a dental provider…and then some.

Or…

You can show up consistently as result of useful information about the treatment, service, or procedure that they’re interested in.

  • Blog content, podcasts, video, and social media content relevant to your reader’s questions, problems, and concerns spotlight your authority in today’s digital media world.
  • Build a list of topics from the questions your patients and people you consult with are asking.
  • Create useful, easy-to-access content.
  • Make the content available on your website’s blog/article page, via a podcast button (linking to a downloadable audio file or an iTunes channel), or a link to your dental practice’s YouTube channel.

2-Be consistently available with answers to the questions patients/clients are asking.

There’s more to answering questions than filtering a select few through your website’s FAQ page.

  • Make your web page’s sidebar a billboard for where site visitors can get answers to their questions.
  • Create compelling content titles that capture their attention (make them scream, “Read me!”) in the “Recent Posts/Articles” section.
  • Show your interest in patients by making your content about them and their questions…not you and your latest technological advance, credentials, etc.

Trust translates via being attentive. Your attentiveness shows up in being useful via quality content.

Don’t get left-out-in-the-rain on your dental website. Persevere, sure.

But be certain that your diligence is, above all, useful to those you’re seeking to compel.

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3D Dental Copywriting That Compels People to Choose Your Services

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Saying something is good, great, state-of-the-art, etc. makes a point. But if you want your dental copywriting and dental marketing content to have “punch” you must go deeper.

I occasionally watch a local news program during lunch. It’s one of those noontime programs that features entertaining, informative special segments during the hour long broadcast.

The host anchor made a comment during an episode’s cooking segment that I’ve laughed about many times since. The segment featured the use of beer in a particular recipe for a meat based pie.

The guest cook discussed the various ingredients and in particular the use of beer for added flavor. The host anchor responded off-the-cuff and enthusiastically – “I don’t drink beer…but I sure do like it in my pie!”

I don’t know why the anchor’s statement made me laugh. But after doing so, it made me think.

Products and services have multiple benefits.

Beer, for example, is a refreshing, enjoyable beverage. Even so, many don’t prefer drinking it…but they will add it to a recipe.

That said, the dominant benefit that’s used to market beer is what? It’s not people sitting around, partying, pouring beer into a kettle on a stove top.

There are dominant benefits and there are dimensional benefits.

Copywriting master, Clayton Makepeace says there are “3 deadly blunders” made in marketing copy and content.

  1. Mistaking features for benefits.
  2. Mistaking processes for benefits.
  3. Missing different types of benefits.

His solution: “Drill down to the real, bottom-line rubber-meets-the-road benefits your product (or service) provides.”

Someone “drilled down” and discovered (perhaps while sipping an ice-cold, refreshing brew) that beer adds flavor to a favorite recipe. Beer as a refreshing, relax-with-my-friends beverage is a dominant benefit. Beer as a flavor-enhancing ingredient in your main course is a dimensional benefit.

3D your products and services to add compelling power to your dental marketing copy and content.

Comprehensively inventory your product/service features.

List every objective fact your product/service has. What’s unique, special, compelling, interesting, etc. about the dental service you’re promoting right now?

List everything you can think of.

  • What’s its purpose? What does the service do for your patient/client?
  • What are its physical characteristics? How will a patient/client experience it visually, by sound, taste, etc.?
  • How long does it last? What will the experience be like? When will results be seen? How does it compare?
  • What’s been said about it? How have others experienced it? How is it guaranteed?
  • What choices are offered? Size? Color? Flavor? Is it customizable?
  • How is it priced? Is it dividable by cost per year, month, week, or day?

“Attach a ‘Why’ to each feature”

Feature: Digital x-rays are the latest, state-of-the-art technology. Why: Faster image views means less time in the operatory.

Feature: A TV in every exam room. Why: More comfortable for the patient and time passes quickly during the appointment.

The “Why” forces you to think about benefits. People are sold by benefits not features.

Transform features into benefits.

Force the all-important question before you promote your product/service. And the question is: “What’s in it for me?”

Features must connect. Your patients or clients must experience (via your copy/content) how the service directly improves their life.

What fear does it help them overcome? How does it save them time and money? What have others experienced by using it?

“Dimensionalize each benefit.”

Feature: A TV in every exam room.
Why: More comfortable for the patient and time passes quickly during the appointment.
Benefit: Your appointment is over before you realize it.
Dimensionalized benefit: Great for fidgety kids. The time zips by. In fact, just last week little Jimmy asked if he could stay longer at the office!

Get “emotional” by connecting each dimensionalized benefit with a dominant resident emotion.

Think about how your patient/client will FEEL personally after they’ve enjoyed each benefit your service/product provides.

And there’s another emotional perspective people have too.

How will your patient/client feel as others see them enjoying your services’/product’s practical benefits? That’s an even deeper question.

There’s more to your services and products than meets the eye. Go deeper and tap into the compelling reasons people will buy-in.

Question: Why is it easier to focus on features than diving deeper into benefits? How is dimensionalizing your benefits useful to you? Comment.

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4 Words That Can Transform Your Dental Marketing Copy

Benefits sell! That’s core to effective copywriting and the power language you need to promote your dental services.

The Sunday edition of my local newspaper featured two ads that got my attention. How they got my attention is what’s important to this post (realize henceforth – I’m more critical than the average reader).

First, it WASN’T the somewhat eye-candy graphics or the positioning on the page (two big deals to most newsprint advertisers). Second, it WASN’T the headline – at least in the way you might be thinking.

The ad’s colors and placement did draw my eye to it. But it was the headline that bothered me.

The ad writer did the common, believed effective, ad naseum, amateur, I-have-a-gazillion-ads-to-write-today-so-I’ll-take-the-easy-way, feature-first headline approach. And perhaps wrapped it up by asking the design department to throw in some cool colors and bold fonts so people notice.

I confess – I read the ad. Was I compelled?

That’s the question your copy must answer – is it compelling?

And copywriting that compels doesn’t lead with features (everyone does that) it leads with benefits.

This brings to mind a recent meeting I was in. Our dental hygiene team was discussing how to promote oral cancer screenings to our patients. Even though the service is undeniably beneficial and has a relatively low cost point (beyond insurance coverage) some patients aren’t compelled.

No doubt it’s a beneficial procedure. But how do you get to the compelling core benefits without dumbing-it-down with feature heavy content and graphics (what I’ve called “est-syndrome” in previous posts.).

Here are 4 words to keep front-of-mind when mining the benefits of your dental products and services.

1) Urgency (Think-if they don’t get this now the world as they know it will end)

Act now! Limited time offer! You must do better than that.

Give your reader a hot-seat reason to jump NOW to get your product or service.

How can you tell the story in the most compelling way? That’s the question.

Urgency isn’t just about prompting a decision. Urgency is about removing the gap as quickly as possible between decision and action.

2) Usefulness (Think – this is so practical…I must show them)

Not all products and services are ultimately useful. So it makes sense that the promotional copy lacks it too.

Do the hard work required to find a product’s or service’s usefulness that’s not obvious. The ultimate task of your copywriting is painting a picture of practical action.

Who’s using the product/service? What’s happened to them? When did they first discover it’s effectiveness? Where are they looking to use it next?

3) Uniqueness (Think – no one has the “angle” we do. And that “angle” is…)

Being unique is overrated. Especially when it’s confused with creative.

How creative your copy is doesn’t necessarily mean it’s unique. You must find a way to tell the story in a way no one’s told it yet.

This may or may not be the most creative. A unique message is about captivating a person’s buying emotion in a way no one has before so the buying decision keeps repeating itself.

4) Ultra-specific (Think – then think again…and again until it’s crystal clear)

The problem with many marketing messages is just that – they contain more than one message. The key to specificity (love that word) is funneling all the possible ideas into one, compelling message.

Too many messages in a single promotion confuses. Compelling copy is about clarity.

It’s the difference in a laser and a light-bulb. One illuminates, the other penetrates.

Certainly, the end result you desire is more than merely illuminating your “market.” Why not penetrate it?

I’ll admit I’m more critical of marketing copy than the average reader. But I know good copywriting when I see it.

And usually it’s because I’m reaching for my wallet.

Is your dental marketing copy more feature focused or benefit focused?

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