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!
