Whether you’re a DDS or DMD, that may not be enough to be a successful dental professional in today’s competitive market. While earning an actual MBA in Marketing may be overkill, ramping up your knowledge of some of the basic (and not-so-basic) dental marketing strategies and techniques may be necessary to help your practice grow.
WHY IS DENTAL MARKETING SO IMPORTANT?
Owning a dental practice means you are, by default, a small business owner. No matter whether you’re a software developer, a jewelry designer, a restaurant, or a dental office, every small business needs the same basic knowledge of business management to be successful. If you don’t understand the accounting portion of your business, you’ll run out of money (or at least not be very profitable). If you don’t understand leadership, you’ll constantly lose employees. And if you don’t understand marketing, you’ll have problems attracting enough customers (aka patients).
As recently as 20 years ago, dental marketing was viewed as taboo by many dentists. Back then, as a good dentist, you built a practice on your good name alone. This new world is different. Your peers understand marketing and many are doing it well, scooping up your potential new patients because nobody knows you exist. In this digital world, you can no longer count on word of mouth to completely fill your schedule.
WHAT SHOULD YOU KNOW?
Although your Marketing MBA may be imaginary, there is a specific curriculum you can follow to make sure you cover all the bases and have a well-rounded knowledge of how to promote your practice effectively.
THE IMPORTANT OF A WELL-PLANNED STRATEGY
Too often I see doctors go after a tactic – a shiny new high-tech way of asking for a referral, or an automated social media product. Instead, you should start with a strategy that considers every part of the new patient funnel – brand awareness, lead generation, lead conversion, new patient experience, retention, and referrals/advocacy. Simply making the phone ring is NOT a marketing strategy. Too often I see doctors who don’t achieve their best ROI because they do not maximize the leads their dental marketing generates.
I recommend you start your strategic planning with a classic SWOT analysis, which is a summary of your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Consider your hours, services, technology, training, insurance/in-house dental plans, and general reputation. How do you fare next to your competition? Comparing your listed strengths, you should be able to identify a combination of three things you do better than anyone else. If you’ve ever read Traction – and if you haven’t, I strongly recommend that you do – this is called your “Three Uniques.” Once you identify them, they become your competitive advantage. (And P.S. — being “nice” or “gentle” is not a competitive advantage.)
HOW TO BUILD A MEMORABLE BRAND
I’m not exaggerating when I tell you that a memorable brand takes years to successfully create. But in the long run, it is far less expensive than relying strictly on lead generation marketing without a strong brand. Once established, your dental branding speaks for itself, and you won’t have to lean on new patient specials or other short-term tactics to generate leads. However, until you clearly define your brand and cement the concept of who you are (your Three Uniques) in the mind of your target, you will need to supplement your new patient numbers with traditional lead generation techniques such as pay-per-click (PPC), social ads, and direct mail.
Don’t forget that community outreach is also a huge part of your brand image. People do business with people they like. Your office has to be warm, welcoming, fun, and outgoing in the community. Participate in local festivals. Speak at the local long-term care facility. Join the chamber of commerce or the Lions Club. You may be the best darn restorative dentist out there, but if nobody likes you, you’ll always struggle to find patients. There are always good alternatives for your target patient, even if you’re clinically better.
HOW TO CONVERT LEADS THROUGH OPEN COMMUNICATION AND ENGAGEMENT
When a patient calls from a marketing tactic, well-trained representatives of your brand help convert the lead with polished and practiced communication skills. Ongoing communication with your existing customers/patients then keeps those leads in the practice to continue to generate revenue for you. Call training, SMS marketing, emails, social media engagement, special touches when a patient returns for more care – these all go towards keeping someone in the practice because they feel connected to you.
THE MARKETING STRATEGIES THAT WORK BEST
When it comes to effectively marketing your services, even those that are highly specialized such as All-On-4 implants, there is no one “right” strategy to employ. PPC, social media ads, geo-fencing, and direct mail are all very targeted strategies (especially compared to broad-reach tactics like TV, radio, and magazines of the old days) but can be expensive. On the other end of the spectrum, you can also get measurable results without spending as much. Search engine optimization (SEO) for dental websites is a long-game strategy that always has the best ROI once it takes hold. Organic social media is another low-cost strategy that can be executed in-house by your team. Reviews cost nothing to ask for. Same with referrals.
To improve your ROI, it doesn’t hurt to ask your patients what media they engage with. Do they watch YouTube or Netflix? Do they click on dental PPC ads? What social media ads actually get their attention? What influencers do they follow on social media? In other words, go where your target audience tells you they hang out.
WHICH METRICS OR KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS (KPIs) YOU SHOULD TRACK
There are many (almost TOO many) metrics you can look at to evaluate your marketing activities. Keep it simple by focusing on what I call your “Critical 5 to Thrive”: the number of leads you generate, the number of leads you convert to patients, your retention percentage, the percent of new patients you get from referrals, and your ROI per marketing strategy. Set a goal for each, measure monthly, and adjust your strategies accordingly.
THE MISTAKES YOU NEED TO AVOID
The only thing more important than learning how to do dental marketing right is avoiding how to do it wrong. The three biggest mistakes inexperienced marketers make time after time are, in no particular order…
- Not having a plan. In the early years of marketing, doctors often “throw tactics at the wall to see what sticks,” wasting money.
- Not measuring the impact of their campaigns. You can’t fix your marketing if you don’t know what’s broken.
- Resorting to cookie-cutter tactics, simply because it’s easier. Today’s consumer absolutely knows what is authentic and what is generic, and I promise you, they don’t respond to generic.
HOW TO EVALUATE AND HIRE THE RIGHT MARKETING COMPANY
Dentists who understand marketing principles will know the right questions to ask before hiring a partner agency – we’ll explore those in a future article. Those who don’t are often taken advantage of or don’t choose the right tactic to meet their marketing goal. You don’t have to personally do the marketing, but you do have to know how to be a good overseer of the end product.
HOW CAN YOU “EARN” YOUR MARKETING DEGREE?
An MBA in Dental Marketing doesn’t exist in the real world, but it is possible to expand your knowledge. Look for seminars, podcasts, and articles from the most respected experts in the field. Not to toot my own horn, but I do go out of my way to share helpful marketing insights whenever and wherever possible. Feel free to visit our website, goldenproportions.com, and dig into our blog and other resources!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Xaña Winans is the CEO and founder of Golden Proportions Marketing, dedicated to the growth of dental practices. Her agency provides goal driven, full service solutions including branding, website design, advertising and digital marketing. Visit goldenproportions.com to learn more.
Xaña is a board member of the Academy of Dental Management Consultants and has been awarded a Fellowship in the International Academy of Dental Facial Aesthetics. She lectures and publishes regularly about dental marketing.
FEATURED IMAGE CREDIT: Docstockmedia/Shutterstock.com.
