content marketing
How Buyer Personas Could Increase Your Dental Marketing Success
Before you crank out your next dental marketing piece push pause. There’s something you’ll want to include, besides something catchy or creative.
Compelling today’s dental patient or dental industry client requires more than a burst of creativity. Their decisions about your services have less to do with an eye-candy mailer or luring them with a cute contest.
What’s the catch?
Truthfully, there is no catch. Get comfortable without one.
Today’s patient has one thing you must know and understand. And it becomes the focus of your dental marketing.
A Problem
It’s at the core of their buyer (patient) persona.
David Meerman Scott takes a bold step saying that a “buyer persona” is better than a focus on benefits. He shares a true story that reveals the power of the buyer persona.
”Nick Woodman wanted to sell cameras with a waterproof housing. A ‘benefits, not features’ approach would have used language like, “protect your camera while it is in the water.” Nick however did much more than reverse-engineer benefits from the features. He interviewed surfers to learn about their problems around shooting photos in the waves. Surfers told him they found it challenging to paddle into a wave with a camera, stand, get into balance and trim, and then only having a second to take a photo. It was too awkward to do with the cameras available on the market at the time. The key learnings from the interview is surfers don’t look for the benefit of “protecting my camera in the water”. Rather, they want to know ‘how can I take photos while surfing.’ And that’s how in 2004, the GoPro was born and have since sold millions of cameras.”
Problems lead to solutions. And solutions are what you provide as a dental professional.
But first, what’s the problem?
It’s easy to think about every dental patient as one in the same. Generally speaking that’s true.
And yet each patient has a unique “story” that highlights their specific problem-solution persona.
It’s time for you to become the “mentor-guide” that’s pointing the way. That’s the role of your dental services content.
According to Copyblogger’s Bryan Clark,
”……by accepting the role of mentor with your content, your business accomplishes its goals while helping the prospect do the same. Which is how business is supposed to work, right?”
Stop Marketing to Your Patients…
Instead get to know their problems. How?
Listen
Be attentive to every story they tell…problem they reveal…pain they mention…etc. As vital as your clinical expertise is to them so is your empathy.
If you want them to become part of your “story” you must join them in theirs with a sincere level of empathetic listening.
Use aggressive listening
Have a predetermined set of strategic questions. Make sure they’re designed to probe beneath the surface of why they (really) called and scheduled.
It’s often more than a commitment to routine dental care (though you want them to value that). It could have more to do with their calendar, relationships, or life goals.
For example, create and have on-hand questions designed to gain insight into their social calendar, trips they’re planning, relationships they value, and goals they want to achieve. This helps you apply specific services to a particular chapter in their story instead of a random attempt.
Use anticipatory listening
This is where your expertise (authority) meets their problems. You know, intuitively, what they need by looking in their mouth, at their x-rays, or their treatment history.
How you use that information can help them “write” new chapters in their story. Questions that include:
- “Have you thought about…?”
- “Why would you…?”
- “How are you dealing with…?”
Next…
Leverage
Apply what you hear to your marketing content. You’re perhaps most accustomed to following a templated, standard approach to promoting your practice and services.
Leverage your content into a-ha solutions to real patient problems. This positions you as a “mentor-guide” in their health care.
Again, Bryan Clark confirms,
”When you think in terms of empowering people to solve their problem by playing the role of mentor, you’re naturally performing better than competitors who take an egocentric approach.”
Join them in their journey. Without an empathetic appeal you could miss substantial opportunities to stay engaged via ongoing mentor-status.
Your best leverage is being intuitive about about who your patient or client is (their persona). Intuition becomes accurate by listening beneath the surface of their problem.
Then you’re prepared to share the best solution to solve it!
Solving problems is what you do. It’s better (and more patient-centric) than merely touting your benefits – those that may or may not be relevant to them. The more you know (them) the better your solution-to-problem accuracy.
There’s more to be said about buyer personas. Let this ruminate for a bit…and stay tuned for more on this topic.
How to Use Your Dental Blog as a “Home Base” to Engage Your Patients or Clients
Say what you will about having a dental blog. But your dental practice or dental business has an opportunity to capitalize.
According to Heidi Cohen you’re in a “renaissance” era for blogging.
“Blogging pioneers, Copyblogger’s Brian Clark and Problogger’s Darren Rowse, are leading the blogging renaissance. It’s documented in their discussion ‘Blogging is Back.’
They want to recapture the power and human essence of blogging, especially as an owned home base.”
Speaking of “home base.”
A high percentage of my work as a dental copywriter is invested in writing and/or rewriting webpage copy for dental practices or dental industry businesses. Another increasing percentage of my work is on the dental content strategy side of things – writing blog content for those who understand (by default or instinct) this “blogging renaissance” idea.
Yes, you need an engaging, conversationally written dental website. No doubt about that, my friends.
But building that “house” (so to speak) and not inhabiting it with ongoing, credible, and useful content (via a blog) can disconnect you from your audience.
Who’s your audience?
It’s those who search for information relative to their dental needs and/or questions. As I say to clients, “People aren’t looking to bookmark dental website copy or clamoring to read it…”
That said, they ARE searching online for answers to their questions about dental treatment, dental procedures, building their dental business, growing their dental group, etc.
Your “static content” (i.e. Your standard Home, About Us, Services pages) needs the support (now more than ever) of an active, consistently fresh blog and/or article page. Thus “home base” content that YOU own and that’s posted on YOUR online property (your website).
What’s wrong with social media?
Nothing, fundamentally. The exception is that it’s becoming more difficult for your business (including dental practices) to have, for example, a Facebook page you can effectively and profitably use without having to invest your valuable marketing dollars to maximize your reach.
What this means for you…is that you need an accessible, information-rich source of content your audience can consume consistently.
How to Use Your Dental Blog as an Engaging Home Base
1-Create and publish blog content that answers the core questions your “audience” is asking.
Start with needs. Your patient or client questions are a bread-crumb path to what’s front-of-mind related to your services.
They search…but are you answering?
“I have info on my Services pages…,” you say. Good, but remember that’s static content (meaning it rarely, if ever, changes or evolves).
Cohen highlights the 5 types of information your audience seeks,
- Product information
- Customer FAQ’s
- How to’s
- Product (or Service) styling or best-in-class practices
- Ratings and reviews
Answer questions via your blog posts that tap into those areas of interest. Use their language and speak to their emotional desires.
2-Publish dental blog posts consistently to establish presence and availability.
Consistency isn’t about being obsessive. It’s more about being present as a go-to source of useful information (content).
Know your audience and their needs. Again, this relies on your listening strategies.
Use social media listening by scanning your page feeds, comment history, etc. Open channels in your clinical and/or consultant and sales force zones – what are your assistants, consultants, etc., hearing or being asked?
Publish on theme.
For example, April is Oral Cancer Awareness month, Spring and Summer is wedding and reunion season. What are your patients thinking about during those seasons – prevention, improving their appearance, etc?
Post about the value of oral cancer screenings, preventive dentistry that decreases oral cancer risk. Publish content about teeth whitening, “professional whitening vs. DIY whitening,” porcelain veneers, dental bonding, etc.
3-Spotlight and re-purpose your dental blog content via accessible channels.
Post the content primarily on your “home base” (your dental website).
Use your email list to broadcast new and available posts. Do this when new content is published and to repurpose content that informs your patients or clients about relevant questions they’re asking (those theme seasons, etc.). Provide a blog post snippet with a clickable link to the actual, full post.
Publish an e-newsletter to your list using the full blog post as the content. Include links back to your website and use the newsletter format as another opportunity to share current promotions (do this without being salesy).
Start with these. Soon you’ll be capitalizing on the current blogging renaissance.
Why Your Language Matters to Your Dental Marketing Message
This phrase is inevitable when effective communication is the topic. “It’s not what you say…
…but how you say it!”
True most of the time. But your dental marketing message could be more effective if you apply one half of that oft-repeated communication truth.
Try this: “It’s not what you say…or maybe it IS!”
“What” you say and “how” you say it matter. Though when you’re communicating with your patients or clients the language (the “what”) you use is vital.
The eyes have it
Marcia Yudkin got me to thinking on-topic via her recent weekly newsletter:
“When I advise consulting clients that they’re using jargon, they often pooh-pooh my point, arguing that potential customers all understand their terminology. What I’ve seen, though, is that when the average non-customer doesn’t understand your language, many in the potential customer pool do not, either.”
She illustrates her point…
“Explain what you do. Does the light go on in their eyes, or are they too baffled to even ask questions?”
It’s vital that your dental marketing message and the content and copy that delivers it “lights up the eyes” of your audience.
Language is the linchpin.
Use language effectively to create a compelling dental marketing message that leads to appointments scheduled or products and services sold.
Tell a “story”
Think of story as the narrative you use to illustrate the features and benefits of your services or products. It’s better to “show” (via compelling narrative) someone what to do than merely tell them.
Picture this (see what I did there)…you have a patient who has the beginning stages of periodontal disease. It’s tempting to use technical dental-speak to make your case:
“You have a lesion showing increased capillary permeability with a large number of neutrophils moving from the dilated gingival plexus into your junctional epithelium and underlying connective tissue…”
Technically overstated (and above my knowledge base), I agree. Plus, I realize you would never communicate it in such a way (at least I hope not).
Chair side, clinical communication is a “conversation” that leads to a treatment decision more than an exchange of unclear, confusing technical data.
Reboot the perio diagnosis this way, for example: “Your ‘pockets’ are full. Bacteria have taken up residence in the space between your gums and tooth surface and they’ve invited their ‘friends.’”
A bit pedestrian but easier to understand than the previous CE course language you’re accustomed to as a dental professional.
I’m not suggesting you use what I shared.
Do this instead…
Develop your own, conversational, and compelling language for every service, treatment, and procedure benefit.
Think benefits and the narrative (story) you can use that compels them to take action based on your diagnosis or recommendation. Make them the “main character” of their own story with the outcome being tied to the benefits of your service, treatment, etc.
Turn that narrative into content that can be consumed outside of your office or presence. Blog posts, social media content, newsletters, infographics, images with compelling captions (Instagram, Facebook posts, Snapchat).
Refresh your dental marketing message. Have a bias for being clear and conversational more than being technical.
3 Simple Techniques for Maintaining a Steady Stream of Ideas for Your Dental Blog
It’s simple erosion yet the rest of my yard looks great! The lack of lush, green grass in a small portion of my backyard provides a useful principle for how to maintain a steady flow of content on your dental blog.
I’m no lawn expert but I’m aware that grass has difficulty growing once soil erosion sets in. The erosion began a few years ago. Our labrador, Mandy, got it started with her routine “wallow” beneath the shade of our tree.
Overtime the erosion created a washed-out place. Lack of guttering to catch the water and the shade of our now massive maple tree are the main causes now.
Perhaps the biggest problem you face with your dental blog
Informative, search-relevant topic ideas are what sustain your dental blog and most content streams. Without a steady flow of ideas your content strategy will suffer.
You’ll be irrelevant to your growing audience of readers. And you’ll risk losing them because you have nothing that compels them to increase their time on your page.
There’s another fundamental issue. It’s like my guttering problem.
I can stop the erosion if I have a place to catch the water. Like that, ideas must be collected or your dental blog will erode.
A limitless source of ideas
It’s a common problem. It’s also a reason you’ll be tempted to give up on your blog.
You want and need a source of ideas.
Think of ideas like “seeds.”
You plant them in an easy to access place (more on that in a moment). You water them and one day they “green-up” into something useful to your readers.
As a dental professional this all begins with your patients or clients. They are your limitless source of ideas.
Would you allow your patients or clients to write your blog?
However you feel about your current and potential patients/clients, they are your audience. What if you made them part of your content team?
I’m not implying that you should give them access to your WordPress password, allow them to log into your blog, and start writing.
Rather, I’m recommending the you allow them to write your blog from the idea side.
You have a wealth of blog topic ideas within the sound of their voice.
Are you listening?
And listening in this instance has more to do with what’s not being said as much as what IS being said.
Questions are the key. Ask and you shall receive.
How your dental blog can give you expert status
1-“Savor” the questions you’re asked or that you hear
You’re accustomed to dispensing services. Your information comes at a premium.
Most often it’s distributed face to face, chair-side, or another way that requires your physical presence. Nothing wrong with that but it lacks scalability.
These days making your information stream available and easy to access increases your value to patients/clients. They (like you) will search for what they want to know and somewhat expect a quick, useful answer – one that compels action.
This requires having your “radar” fine-tuned.
Are you picking up on the signals that your audience is sending?
They’re consistently informing you through their questions about their problems. Become efficient at “saving” the data you receive in the form of patient/client questions.
Avoid dismissing them as simple inquiries.
Do a deeper dive beneath the surface and listen for motives, fears, and other emotions that could be prompting their question(s).
Next…
2-“Seed” the information you obtain into potential content
I said “potential.” The reason: not all questions “grow” into an evergreen blog post or other content form.
But most will!
Have a place to greenhouse those “seeds.” I use and highly recommend Evernote.
Wherever you plant your content “seeds” for future harvest – Evernote, a paper notebook, Google Doc file, etc., – don’t edit them…yet. Let them take root as other related questions will come along and one day a useful piece of content will emerge.
3-Share the information in an easily accessible format.
Most questions you’re asked can be “seeded” into sub-topics. For example, I blog regularly for an implant specialist.
To date I’ve written over 70 blog posts for him. Ninety-eight percent are related to questions about dental implants.
There’s no way to do this unless you sub-topic that content “seed” (dental implant questions). This is among the main reasons I encourage you to not put all your webpage “energy” into lengthy “Services” pages.
You compel more interest (traffic) via an informative blog page where you’ve “chunked” a broader topic (like dental implants, etc.) into sub-topics that answer your audience’s questions.
Ultimately, it’s about compelling interest in your services. A compelled reader who has easy access to informative, useful content is more likely to take the next step.
And that’s good for “business.” Agreed?
How to Assure that Your Dental Content is Clear and Useful
I love it when clients “get” what I’m about to share with you! It’s simple really and it can add value to your dental content – online or offline.
I recently wrote the copy for a dental client’s website. The pediatric dental content was brief and to the point – as they preferred.
They asked for a minor revision. It involved copy on a somewhat obscure dental issue. Though pleased with the copy, the client recognized that the existing content could be a bit confusing to their “audience.”
It’s vital that your content connect on a compelling AND clear level with your reader.
I made a minor adjustment to the copy. All it involved was a simple tweak in the language followed by a clarifying explanation of the issue.
I’ll share the “language” I used in a moment.
Clarity first
I’ve written about what is called the “power of one.” It’s the principle that your copy/content is more compelling and useful when it focuses on one, clear idea.
It’s common for marketing or promotional copy/content to take on too much. Words carry weight but too many ideas all at once can weigh-down and confuse your reader.
Narrow your focus to one clear, compelling, big idea. And make sure that idea is clearly communicated (what my client gets).
How to Assure that Your Dental Content is Clearly Useful
1-Know your audience
This is Communication-101. Who are you talking, writing, marketing, promoting to? Dentistry is a technical, knowledge-based industry. As a dentist, your education holds esteemed value to your patients (and it certainly should).
Your audience “pays” for your knowledge and expertise. But that knowledge-base requires a clear explanation when it’s shared with those other than industry colleagues (i.e., your patients).
- View your services through the “eyes” of your patient. Explain, promote, educate them with words they understand. This is a fundamental task of my dental content writing – clarifying and attaching benefits to what is otherwise obscure or irrelevant.
- Get to the benefit level as quickly and clearly as possible. Remember that the benefits of your services must connect with your patient’s emotions. Features, on the other hand, appeal to their logic. Use both (features and benefits) but clarify what you provide around the benefit they will receive.
2-Paint a “picture.”
It’s useful to illustrate the “idea” you’re communicating. This is what I did recently with my client.
I used a few simple words to clarify the complex issue. Instead of using albeit accurate technical language I illustrated it by saying, “Think of it this way…,” then crafted a short connection to a relatable idea.
Those simple words shifted their thinking to something they could understand. When your reader makes the “shift” they inch closer to accepting what you’re communicating.
Art takes work.
Invest time creating clear ways to communicate your services. What can you compare it to? Is there a connection to something your patient(s) know and understand?
3-Tell a story.
This is about your core message. Those who read your content aren’t looking for a screenplay but they are looking for value in what your provide.
The more you draw them into your services the better your outcomes.
- Help your patient see themselves using and benefitting from your service. It’s not about “whiter teeth” it’s really about confidence at their daughter’s wedding or feeling attractive at their upcoming high school reunion.
- List as many plot-lines as you can think of for each of your dental services. By “plot-line” I’m referring to the path you guide them on from problem to solution. What ultimately does this “problem” cause if avoided and what would it look like if they accept the “solution?”
- Mine your reviews, surveys, and patient testimonials for story themes. Patients tell you their story through their post-treatment comments. Listen chair side for clues to your patient’s story. What are they really wanting from the service you’ve treatment planned for them?
That’s story!
Simplify your copy. And remember that clarity adds value to the content you publish to promote your services.
Two Strategies That Will Keep People Reading Your Dental Content
There’s a reason this adult coloring book trend is catching on. The deeper vibe you can gain from it also applies to how you position yourself in the minds of those who consume your dental marketing content.
A friend and colleague has joined the tribe of adult coloring book publishers. Hers goes beyond the simple act of coloring the stress relieving pages.
Her “Thoughtful Colouring” approach includes the refreshing aspect of coloring designs. It adds a corresponding page with an inspirational quote and blank space to process it however you choose (while you’re coloring).
Cool! I agree.
It’s that small addition to the trend that I believe offers a principle you must consider in the content you curate and create.
You increase your authority with your patients/clients when you implant value in your content.
Words, especially the common, fluff your reader is accustomed to can become numbing and an eventual turn-off.
Your content audience has too much info-noise coming at them minute by minute. It’s your task as content creator and publisher to capture their focus.
This is the precise reason I encourage dental providers to step away from a standard, brochure-like website design. Refresh your design (and with it your authority) by adding an information platform to your site (e.g a blog/article page, a newsletter portal, etc).
Your content gains traction when you list dental implants among your services. It increases in value when that page links to an archived blog post/article that answers a common question about “dental implants.”
In fact, in today’s search rankings, you might discover that the article page ranks higher than your keyword intense services/procedures page. The reason: search engines like Google place a higher priority on your value-providing intention via a blog post than on standard webpage content.
How to Add Some “Color” to Your Dental Content Marketing Strategy
Inspire your reader
How inspiring can dental content be? Appeal to your reader’s curiosity and hunger for solutions to their dental problem and your inspiration-factor increases.
You inspire by compelling your reader through the solutions you offer.
General site content promotes your services. Consistent, fresh content inspires your reader with answers to their questions and solutions to their problems.
You become a source of inspiration to your patients/clients when they get that you’re listening to them. The best proof of listening is to mirror their “pain,” “problem,” or “concern” through relevant content.
- Listen to every patient/client conversation with content in mind.
- Ask information-gathering questions: “How can I help you with…,” “What’s your biggest fear about…,” etc.
Simple, right? Inspiration shouldn’t be complicated.
Next…
Import secondary value
Think deeper benefits related to what you provide.
You deliver a primary value as a dental professional or a dental marketing professional. Respectively, you help, heal, or you promote in a way that leads to a buying decision.
Your secondary value to your patients or clients is vital too. This happens when you move from an “I’ll-call-when-I-need-you” relationship to a “Go-to-source-of-useful-shareable-information” relationship.
Secondary value rises as you become a consistent “well” of practical (not technical) information.
- Invest the time and marketing dollars in a consistent well-spring of content. Again, focus on the needs, wants, desires, questions, and problems of your patients/clients.
- Create a front-of-mind expectation. The more consistently you appear on their “radar” via a blog post, article, newsletter, social media link, etc the more influence you’ll earn.
Influence has value. Give your patients and/or clients something to value alongside the primary services you provide.
How Influence is More Vital Than Ever to Your Dental Content Marketing Strategy
Election season. You love it or hate it.
Wherever you affectionately land there’s more to the process. The same is true for having an online presence for your dental practice or dental industry business.
I don’t blame those who are a bit disinterested or jaded about American politics. And I’m not here to “stump” one way or the other.
My better point: the right to vote (however you feel about the current stable of candidates) is a privilege of citizenship. It’s a right granted you and I as result of our country’s fight for and preservation of freedom.I
What comes with the “territory”
Rights and privileges are worth protecting. Better is their ability to be used or maximized to their fullest potential.
You don’t have to agree with everything or everyone. But you do have a cause to act.
Action is the energy of your online dental marketing efforts. Succeed or fail, “casting-your-vote” is the essence of the privilege associated with having a piece of territory on the internet.
Sure, it’s a massive space. And you’re one among the billion or so.
Daunting. Yes.
But it comes down to one thing
Value. Not everyone who owns a piece of cyberspace uses it deliver value.
You? Me? I count myself among the value-delivery crowd. And hopefully you do as well.
No, not every blog post, Tweet, newsletter, email, or shared article is a world-changer. But I do approach it feeling as though I deliver something my growing “tribe” will read and be helped by.
And frankly, for starters, that’s enough!
Whatever you do online…do this as consistently as possible.
Create, Deliver, and Share Valuable Content
Increase your influence
I have a client whose influence as a consultant is on the rise. Why?
She recognizes the value, scope, and scalability of hers and her organization’s influence. The weekly content I help her create provides value to a segment of her industry target.
Notice I said, “segment.” You won’t influence everyone.
Focus on a niche within the greater industry universe you occupy. Tap into their pain, problems, and search for relevant solutions. Write, broadcast, email, market to that…consistently!
Showing up on their consciousness “radar” on a regular basis will nestle you into their thinking when they need the help you provide.
Online search these days revolves more and more around your intent. What kind of intent?
Your intent to help. Your online presence that’s branded, so to speak, with a particular library of useful content.
Invest in your influence
Desiring to have influence and being able to consistently deliver on that desire are two different things. For example, as a copy/content writer and content strategist I’m an investment to my previously mentioned consultant client.
I collaborate and create content for her “brand.” She has invested an amount of her marketing stake in my skill to research and write content.
Many dental professionals, dentists, and dental industry business owners desire to expand their influence. And they take a step into the content marketing sea.
Then they become weary. Why?
Consistent content curation, content writing, and content publishing takes time. For most, it’s time you as a professional do not have.
Outsource content curation and creation to other skilled professionals. Locate a go-to copy/content writer, resource them financially, and set them free to consistently stoke your influence via your brand’s content.
Your name is still the one in lights. The content shines on your behalf.
It’s a better approach than a random blog post or digital article here and there. Consistency reveals that you’re dialed in, available, and in tune with your “audience.”
And the quality is also no longer an issue. Although being there with consistently, useful content holds the top spot.
Influence transcends many things. And I’d have to agree that (given the current season where I live) politics is one of them.