digital marketing
Try Free-Flying Content Creation and Watch Your Dental Marketing Soar
Sometimes you do it just for the sheer joy. That’s what came to mind as I watched the bird soaring overhead.
Call it your “sweet-spot” or your “wheelhouse.” The expertise you have gives you a certain freedom that you can use to your dental marketing advantage.
The Mississippi Kites nesting high in the branches of our backyard tree “get it.” This species of bird, common to my region, appear to fly because they can but also because it’s such a joy.
I’ll sit on my patio watching them. They freely ride the thermals in the summer sky – dipping, gliding, soaring.
Freedom with no agenda
Marketing is a strategic endeavor. Seldom do you share content, a tweet, a Facebook post, or an email without an “agenda.”
What would happen if you took a “just-because” approach? And what would that look like?
The kite (bird) soaring above my neighborhood experiences a kind of “just-because” freedom you should pursue in your dental marketing.
Picture this…
When you have something to say or share, why not send an email, publish a blog post, post on social media for the sheer joy of doing so.
Share your knowledge and expertise without expecting anything in return.
That might initially seem like a waste. After all, you earned your position, built your practice or business with your bare hands and buckets of sweat. Right?
I don’t blame you for wanting some credit. And certainly the best credit comes in the form of compensated services.
These days, people flock (speaking of birds) to authority. This is vitally true in the online, digital space via your web content.
Let the R.O.I. (Return On Investment) take care of itself.
The R.O.I. of your online, digital content extends way beyond your intentions. You can SEO-it, measure it, analyze it – and I recommend doing that within reason.
But the ultimate test of your investment is how useful you are to your reader or page visitor. Once they give you their time and then their trust by returning for more of your content you are on the way to a new kind of marketing freedom.
I’ve said it before, the days of building a dental website, setting-it-and-forgetting-it are gone! You must return again and again with consistent, useful stream of content to see a return.
Why?
Web visitors are easily bored, overloaded with information, saturated with industry-speak, and hungry for useful, authoritative expertise.
It’s your “wheelhouse.” Grind it out!
I’m not suggesting that you make content creation a daily, heavy “grind.” Quite the contrary.
Rather, approach it like the Mississippi Kite soaring above my backyard. “Fly” free, my friend…!
Free up time and resources to freely create free content. These days nothing builds authority and showcases your expertise more than marketing via relevant, useful content.
- Launch, re-launch, or replenish your current blog or article page. Give more attention to your ongoing content feed than you do the eye-candy design temptations or word-count concerns common to dental website design. Consistent, useful content holds your readers attention and delivers value. If they trust your expertise they’ll more likely give you their time and business loyalty.
- Provide multiple channels of content access. It’s safe to assume that some are readers (blog posts, enewsletters, email, ebooks, Twitter, Facebook posts, etc.). Others are listeners (audio content, podcasts, audio chats, etc.). And some are viewers who prefer visual content (YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram, webinars, etc.). Know your “tribe.” Patients and clients come in all flavors and so should your content (and how it’s delivered).
- Expect and ask for feedback. What you ask for can be measured. Reviews, shares, mentions, retweets (on Twitter) – these are votes for (or sometimes against) your services and the content you use to promote them. Ask, survey, and turn those nuggets of vital feedback into more useful content that serves your growing “tribe” of patients and clients.
Freedom isn’t necessarily “free.” But it is freeing to soar above the noise of today’s marketing landscape.
Freely create content or hire someone to do it for you. Whatever you do, give some “wings” to your expertise. The sky’s-the-limit!
How to Add Some “Suspense” to Your Dental Marketing Content and Increase Your Influence
Out of the corner of my eye, all I saw was a dark flash outside my studio window. And then a few tufts of feathers floating upward in the breeze.
The suspense hung in the air as I searched for the cause of all the commotion.
It’s easy to miss the point of why you create content for your dental marketing. And the bigger issue might be what’s really missing.
As far as I could tell the bird never saw it coming. The “it,” was apparently the small white cat with said bird in its mouth (Poor, lil’ thing…the bird that is).
The plot unfolding outside my studio window was thick. Suspense works that way.
What’s the point of your dental marketing content? Even more revealing – what’s the plot?
A random flash of dental speak here and there isn’t a plot.
Why?
People expect that. So, let’s talk expectations for a moment.
Web searches turn up hundreds, even thousands, of results for dental services. Depending on the size of your locale those search results can be even higher.
I write a lot of dental website content for clients. And my curiosity remains high about how effective it really is when all’s-said-and-done.
Potential dental patients, new patients, or those seeking your dental services, etc., arrive at on your website for one reason.
Something worked in their search query.
Keyword rich copy is essential. But…
I’m realizing there must be more to keep them ON your website. And more important – returning again and again.
Don’t cop out saying – “Well, they scheduled…or hired us…so my website must have done it’s job.”
Sure, a scheduled appointment adds to your dental digital marketing win-column. I’ll give you that.
What is of equal importance is the relationship you’ve only begun to develop with that new patient or client.
Is the suspense (or lack of it) “killing” you?
Who is helped by typical, outdated, status-quo, overly technical, feature-heavy, dental web content? And why is that a necessary question?
Imagine someone arriving on you dental website and experiencing something entirely fresh, out-of-the-box. What would that look like?
Glad you asked!
The new brand of dental web copy that adds a little suspense, keeps them returning for more, and sharing what they found so your dental practice or dental industry business achieves greater influence.
That’s a lot to comprehend. Allow me to break it down.
Your new brand of dental website copy or digital marketing content isn’t about your services.
“But I’m in the business of providing dental services,” you say. Correct! You are.
Yet, that’s not the only reason why people do business with YOU!
Remember those thousands of web search results?
You are hopefully among them. And the only reason you or another local practice or business showed up where you did in the rankings has everything to do with this.
One, you paid for your ranking with ads or any of the common, trendy approaches that work but also devour time and cash flow.
Or…
Two, you’re nowhere near the top of the search pile because you didn’t invest in the latest, trendy SEO technique.
Or…
Three (and here’s something to think about and repeat lavishly), you achieved a higher ranking than most because you know the value of a content-rich website that consistently provides useful, relevant content for those searching for your services.
It’s not only what you do or provide. It’s also about showing up consistently with information that showcases your authority or expertise.
- Launch or re-launch your dental blog or dental articles page. It’s the most cost-effective and long-term beneficial strategy to maximize all that dental-speak that you think can only be posted on your services pages.
- Use your blog to communicate the information potential patients or clients are searching for about solutions for their dental health or dental business.
Your new brand of dental website copy isn’t really about YOU.
“But I’m the founder, the dentist.” Right. You are!
And everyone expects you to talk about you.
How about your About Us page? You know, that page where you talk about qualifications, educational achievements, CE credits, and on and on.
There has to be more.
- Tell readers less about your qualifications and more about what it’s like to do “business” with you. For example, what does an appointment look like from start to finish? What’s your personal treatment philosophy? How does a consultation move step by step? And what are the outcomes people can expect?
- Invest your dental marketing copy in those descriptive processes that build the “suspense” about what it’s like to work with you and your team. The return on that investment has the potential to be greater than a quick glance and…”Oh, sounds like every other dentist or dental service provider in my search results.”
Suspense can transform your dental marketing efforts. Use a bit of it to increase your value in the eyes of those searching for precisely what you provide.