If even you don’t own or operate your own practice, you know how important a good review can be. Let’s be honest, the first thing we do before trying a new restaurant or service is to Google online reviews. We want to know that the business is worthwhile and operated by friendly, qualified owners and employees. However, asking your clients or patients for a review can be a bit like pulling teeth. To obtain a great testimonial, you may need to ask the right questions first.
Category: Reputation Management
Angie’s List Is Now Free
You may have come across Angie’s List. It’s a website where you can find home services like plumbing, HVAC, roofing, concrete, etc. However, the site itself remained behind a paywall of $40 per year until recently. Now that this website is free and open to the public, there are three major search engine optimization (SEO) factors you may want to consider. For instance, if you are a service provider that can use Angie’s List but haven’t been, you may want to start now. Read More
An Honest Talk About Online Reviews
Before the internet gave everyone a resounding voice, we had to trust that people in commercials and infomercials really were consumers and not actors; of course their praises were genuine and not paid for! In the digital age, however, everyone has access to real reviews by real people who have made a purchase and have something to say about it. In the digital age, online reviews are the new commercials, and rankings are the praise. In fact, the majority of modern consumers rely on online reviews before choosing a new product or service. Given their importance, garnering reviews and utilizing them to their fullest potential is one of the most important things you can do to grow your presence online, and in the real world. Read More
Google Updates Google + Business Page Ranking Factors
Check out the updated help page entitled: Improve your local rankings on Google. Google went ahead and added more information on local ranking factors to the page, leveling it up. Prior to this update, there were about 5 paragraphs on the topic, but now there’s nearly double that, including more specific details. How does this affect your local SEO campaign? Read on to find out. Read More
Referrals Are Not a Stand Alone Dental Marketing Tactic
I have been in the business of business development for over 20 years. It never ceases to amaze me when I hear business owners say “I get all my business from referrals.”
Years ago business owners may have been able to get away with relying on word-of-mouth referrals almost exclusively as a business development tactic. The internet has given people an unprecedented ability to check you out even after they get referred to your practice. The result is, you are missing out on referrals if you believe you don’t need a more comprehensive marketing plan. Read More
Obtaining Reviews and Testimonials
If someone tells you to try out a new restaurant or if you’re curious about a new business, what do you do first? In most cases you check online for reviews. After all, you want to hear first hand what previous patients or customers think of a service. As a dentist, your online marketing strategy should always include reviews and testimonials.
Do You Know Your Patients’ Family Trees?
When a patient comes to your practice he/she is looking for a professional who can improve the health and possibly the appearance of his/her smile. As the doctor, how much should you know about the patient’s family tree? Is a patient’s family history crucial for maintaining optimal oral health?
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Cause Marketing for Dental Practices
Today’s dental practice owner is faced with a number of challenges. You wear several hats as a business owner — an entrepreneur as well as a dentist or dental specialist. It is a real challenge to be all of these things at once, which can result in something slipping.
The area that slips is typically the execution of your marketing plan. The problem is this: without an effective marketing plan being executed consistently throughout the year, you will struggle to maintain a steady flow of new patient acquisitions and maybe even to retain the patients you already have.
There is an even bigger problem you face. Nowadays, even when you do all of the right things with your marketing plan — and stay on top of executing your plan — you will still struggle to grow your practice.
The main reason for this is that consumers (potential patients) are overloaded with information and give their attention to only the things that are important to them.
Your challenge is to get and keep their attention.
Assertion
One of the most effective ways to capture and retain the attention of your audience is to appeal to the things they are interested in. In many cases, dentistry is not what they are interested in, even when they need it the most.
The reality is that people have passions — things they connect with on an emotional level. It is through these passions that you will find your most successful dental marketing campaigns. One type of passion is the support of social causes on either a global or a local level. Cause marketing is the way to align your dental practice with the causes being supported by the audience you are trying to reach. Read More
What do you have that other dentists don’t? YOUR PATIENTS! Part 1
The Importance of Capitalizing on General Referrals
Back in April, we answered a very important question in our monthly newsletter: What do you have that other dentists don’t?
The answer: your patients!
Over the next several weeks, we’ll be discussing how your relationship with your valued patients can work for you when it comes to growing your practice. This week, we’re focusing on the importance of capitalizing on general referrals.
As a dentist, referrals can make up a large portion of your patient base. When you receive a referral, you should follow up quickly to take advantage of the patient’s interest. Capitalizing on general referrals accomplishes two things: (1) brings new patients into your practice and (2) encourages current patients to express and share what they like about the care and service they receive with both your office and their network of friends, family, and acquaintances.
Respond Quickly
When someone is referred to you, don’t take a passive approach. After all, a referral doesn’t become a patient until he or she is in your dental chair. Once a referral rolls in, the potential patient should be contacted by your team within 48 hours. If possible, find out what services the potential patient is looking for and, better yet, schedule an appointment for as soon as both your schedule and the patient’s schedule allows. This prompt, friendly phone call gives the potential new patient the impression that you and your team are very eager to help him or her achieve improved oral health and that you value the business. Remember, this call is the patient’s first official interaction with your office, so show him or her that you are a friendly, welcoming, and professional practice that has the best interests of your patients in mind. Read More
Do Good, Do Good Business: Dentists Who Give Back
If we’ve learned anything from the meteoric rise of the one-for-one business model made popular by TOMS, it’s that do-gooders do good business. Not that profit should be your sole motivation for taking on a social initiative, but it certainly helps. The business of dentistry is challenging these days, with practices across the country reporting fewer new patients and difficulty coaxing their existing patients into the chair for anything less than a dental emergency. Adopting a social cause looks good, does good, and feels good for dental teams and patients alike. Here are a few dentists who’ve nailed it.
Dr. Steven Ellinwood and Dr. Todd Briscoe of Fort Wayne, IN engaged in a friendly competition to see whose practice could raise the most nonperishable food for a local food bank of their choice. Dr. Ellinwood, whose office chose the Associated Churches of Fort Wayne to receive donations, is no stranger to giving back to the community. Ellinwood participates in several charitable events each year, including canned food drives, bowling fundraisers, glove collections, and a Halloween candy buyback program. Dr. Briscoe’s team championed a smaller food bank nearby.
Cleveland dentist Dr. Michael Stern made headlines when he hosted the first Dentistry From the Heart event in Ohio. For an entire day, Dr. Stern and his team offered fillings, cleaning, and extractions free of charge for more than 100 patients. Since 2001, Dentistry From the Heart events in 48 states have provided treatment for 45,000 people, valued at $8 million. The event, along with other DFH events in other states, generated major publicity and spots in the local paper, magazines, television stations, and blogs. Learn how to host an event in your state here.
Using the same one-for-one business model as TOMS, BOGO Brush donates one toothbrush for each eco-friendly bamboo toothbrush purchased. When you consider that Americans toss 450 million toothbrushes each year, you can see why the 100% biodegradable BOGO Brush is so popular. Brushes are available singly or in a yearly subscription.
Consider partnering with the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry and its Give Back a Smile program. Give Back a Smile provides restorative dentistry for men and women whose teeth have been damaged or knocked out as the result of domestic violence. “Whenever I looked in the mirror I saw a monster. Today, I see a beautiful woman,” says one recipient, who lost a tooth and an eye at the hands of her ex-boyfriend.
I couldn’t resist including this one. Dr. Ken Harris of Riveredge Cosmetic Dentistry split all proceeds from the sale of his “Nothing But a Smile” calendar to two cancer charities. The calendar, which featured nude images of a well-known rugby player and several male patients, ranging in age from 22-74 years old. Only in England.
How does your practice give back to the community? Leave a comment below.
About Jill: Jill Nastasia, CEO and Director of Business Development at MDPM Consulting, is a mother of two and a dental devotee. Questions about marketing, social media, or branding? Contact Jill at 972-781-8861, or send her an email.