The default approach when creating dental content could be having a negative impact on your desired response. Everyone does it, including you on occasion (or more often than you realize).

David Ogilvy nails the approach in his classic book, Ogilvy on Advertising:

“When I write an advertisement, I don’t want you to tell me that you find it ‘creative.’ I want you to find it so interesting that you buy the product. When Aeschines spoke, they said, ‘How well he speaks.’ But when Demosthenes spoke, they said, ‘Let us march against Philip.’”

There’s more to creating compelling dental content than being “cute” or “creative.” It’s essential that you compel your reader, patient, or client to take action.

Sometimes that action is immediate: “I’m ready to schedule my next dental examination and teeth cleaning…”

At other times that action is a thought your reader has: “I like what I’m reading here. Think I’ll return for more…and schedule when I’m ready…”

Why do you take action?

It’s more than having a “want-to.” Action moves you in the direction of your emotion.

The same applies to your patients and/or clients.

I talk a lot on this blog about emotion. Again, this bears repeating:

“People buy things for emotional, not rational reasons.”

Here are a few approaches you can use to compel action via your dental content (without defaulting to creativity).

1-Create an image

I’m not talking about a photo or a stock image. It’s about compelling your reader emotionally by going for their jugular…I mean… their beliefs.

Your patients or clients function according to their core values. It’s their world-view, their desires, and their goals that propel them.

Tap into that with a more narrative approach. That is, give them an experience that tugs at their emotional core.

If you keep up with marketing dialogue these days you hear about “storytelling.”

Story “sells” not because it’s necessarily creative but because it creates an image of a preferable future or a problem solved.

The Wall Street Journal achieved $2 billion in subscriptions with a promotion that began as follows:

“On a beautiful late spring afternoon, twenty-five years ago, two young men graduated from the same college. They were very much alike, these two young men. Both had been better than average students, bother were personable and both – as young college graduates are – were filled with ambitious dreams for the future. 

Recently, these two men returned to college for their 25^th reunion.”

Got an image “burned” in your mind now? That’s what I’m talking about!

Get the rest of The Wall Street Journal promotion story here.

2-Build suspense (instead of giving away the “plot”)

If you come out “swinging” you’re likely to tire too quickly before your content or copy can gain momentum. Or your reader will be “onto-you” and bolt with a simple click off the page or on the “trashcan” icon.

Music has a crescendo.

Think: Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody.

Speeches build to a powerful close.

Think: Martin Luther King, Jr’s “I Have a Dream” speech.

3-Assemble a “tribe”

Who doesn’t like the feeling of belonging? We love to group around shared values, experiences, and the collective watering hole where our decisions are influenced.

It’s about influence really.

The more your expertise gains a reputation for delivering value the more your tribe will increase.

By “tribe” I’m referring to those who find your dental content to be informative, relevant, conversational, compelling, and benefit-focused.

Picture a campfire or a circle of beach chairs within steps of the surf. Imagine the feeling of warmth and engagement that’s felt by two, six, ten, 100, or more…!

Tribes create viral responses. And viral results are the essence of influence.

Bottom-line: your dental content success is about the action your reader is compelled to take. Stir them to action and they’ll stick with you for the long-haul.