Category: Web Marketing

Should Dentists Use Patient Testimonials in Marketing?

According to NeilsenWire, 90% of people trust their friends’ recommendations for services and products. A shocking 70% of Americans trust recommendations they find online from people they may not even know. There are plenty of places to find recommendations online: YouTube, Yelp!, Twitter, Facebook, Google Places, DemandForce… the list goes on and on. These patient opinions on the Internet are indexed by search engines so that anyone can find them – and there’s not a thing you can do about it.

Positive testimonials are great, and in fact, today more than ever, dentists across the nation use testimonials in marketing. But are they supposed to?

I was recently asked this question by a client, and he mentioned that he’d heard some chatter on the issue lately. When I first began copywriting for dentists, writing websites and blogs years ago, one of the most important topics I investigated was the ADA’s guidelines for dental advertising, marketing, and promotions. In my career, I’ve seen a handful of dentists receive a letter from their state dental board stating that particular language or references must be taken off the dental practice website within 10 days. Now, I’ve never seen a dentist actually have his license suspended for an infraction, but it could happen. If you don’t want to get a warning from your state dental board, there are a few things you need to do.

First of all, contact your state dental board or go online and find the bylaws that address marketing and promotions. Most states adhere to the ADA’s guidelines, but some have added stipulations. For instance, in California, dentists cannot use the term “sleep dentistry.” Ohio, Georgia, and Texas are also known to have guidelines that extend beyond the ADA’s mandates.

When it comes to testimonials, all dentists should be very aware that they cannot: Read More

The Essential Art of Self Branding for Dentists

What is self branding? Well, it’s just what it sounds like: branding yourself.

Why do I need to brand myself? That completely depends on what you want out of your future. Some common reasons for self branding are:

  • You’re an associate dentist or partner who will go into private practice at some point.
  • You hope to become a speaker, consultant, author, or celebrity.
  • You want a personal following in case you move your practice to a new location.
  • You are a dental student who will practice with a group, as an assistant, or independently.
  • You are a professional and deserve a professional identity. Your skills are transferable, but make sure that your name is transferable, as well.

All too often, we see partnerships dissolve. Dentists who worked under a practice name move on to establish a private practice of a new name, and they have no history of publicity. No one knows who they are. Imagine being in this situation, but having 400 Facebook fans and 1000 hits on your blog each month. Now that would give you a great place to start.

It’s about being smart and staying ahead of the game. Read More

Social Marketing Needs to Eat a Banana

We’re all so very busy. You know exactly what I mean. I try to get in some yoga or a walk in the  morning, then do my reading at night. On my nighstand right now are a parenting book (I have two teenagers), The Count of Monte Cristo (birthday gift and personal life goal), and UnMarketing by Scott Stratten. It’s the latter that inspired this blog post. I highlighted some interesting points in UnMarketing last night, thinking of you, and I want to share them.

What’s the deal with Facebook and Twitter? Well, social marketing is in a rapid state of evolution. You can literally see it growing. It’s like a teenager! I say social media needs to eat a banana because when I grew two inches one summer, my legs ached like a big dog. My mom, a nurse, made me eat bananas for the potassium. It helped. (On a side note, I looked up Chaquita Banana on Facebook. She has an unused profile, but I added her as a friend anyway.) (Another side note, I am not bananas.)

Scott, the guy who wrote UnMarketing, is a very smart wiseguy, and that’s a compliment. He lends great insight and perspective to how social media works right now. Like a teenager, social media will change quickly. We may not even recognize it as “social media” in a few years. Who knows? But, I figure knowledge is power, so there’s no harm in learning all I can right now.

In the book, Scott wrote that many people join social media sites, like Facebook and Twitter, then give up when nothing happens. YES! I thought. Scott said that social media isn’t media. The term is misleading. It makes you think of TV or radio. He says social media is more social than media. Yep. Yep.

You have to engage to make it work.

I want to invite YOU to read UnMarketing along with me. Go to Facebook to join in the discussion.

I’m going there now to finish up this post! Remember those points I was going to share…

<visit The Business Book Club with ModMark to finish reading this post>


Dear Dentist: Always the Critic? You Need a Creator!

I was drawn into Dr. Larry Emmott’s newsletter, Emmott on Technology, this morning. An article entitled “Dentists Technographic Profiles” shares a brief overview of Charlene Li’s and John Bernoff’s book, Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies. Dr. Emmott shows us the five main profiles that describe how people interact with the web.

He goes on to report that Net32 profiled dentists as such: nearly half are Critics, compared to about a quarter of the general population. A quarter of dentists, compared to only 12% of Americans, are Collectors.

Also…

  • 66% of dentists don’t visit blogs
  • 43% don’t use social networking
  • 93% prefer Facebook of all social sites
  • And here’s the kicker, only 10% of dentists claim to be Creators when it comes to the web. About 18% of the American public are Creators.

Creators are the folks who build and write blogs, produce videos, and do all that original stuff from scratch. Critics like to post responses to comments or rate and review things online. Collectors are the folks who like to gather links and use bookmarks so that everything they like and need is easy to access. In addition to these, Li and Bernoff identified Joiners, Spectators, and Inactives as profiles.

We all probably have a little of each of the six profiles in our Internet personality. I’m obviously a Creator; I write at least a dozen posts a day, build blogs, collaborate on logos, and help with web design. But I also see the Collector in me. As a writer, I have to do a lot of research to come up with fresh blog content, and I have a long list of bookmarked favorites.

If you’re not the Creator type, let’s get together. We’ll round out your Internet profile. I’ll fill in for you so that you’re all things to all potential patients. Modern Dental Practice Marketing is an Internet marketing firm that caters, primarily, to dentists. We build custom dental websites, dental blogs, and dental brands in the graphic design department. Our experienced dental copywriters are word machines… they produce an amazing number of original, interesting, and clinically accurate blog posts each week. Our copywiriting department also composes social networking posts, writes or rewrites website content, and creates press releases, articles, white papers, and more. If you need a Creative side, call and talk with Jill at 972-781-8861.

I’m going to the bookstore now to buy Groundswell. Thanks for the tip, Larry!

Weekend Warrior Marketing Tip for Dentists: Fun Facebook Pictures

What are you doing this weekend? Where are you going? People want to know. Good advertising focuses on the benefit to the consumer, not how wonderful the company owner is. But Facebook turns the tables. On Facebook, it’s all about you.

Sure social networking in business should be more professional than personal, but the point of Facebook is to make you a real person. You’re interesting, right? I know you are.

If small businesses use Facebook only for commercials, promotions, and educating the public, fans will start to slip away. They’ll probably remain your fans, but they’ll block your boring content from their walls, and they’ll never visit your page. You work so hard to get Facebook fans, don’t lose them to boredom — you’re way to cool for that.

The patients who see you during the week know that you don’t wear a tie on Saturday. They know your kids get sick in the backseat of your SUV and your dog begs at the table. It’s life. Share the best of it with your patients, and they’ll love you even more. Hope is, they’ll share your post with friends (who could become your new patients).

This, dear dentist, is a fundamental truth: everyone loves pictures. So throw your camera in the car, or keep your camera phone nearby throughout the weekend. Here are some ideas and samples of  interesting pictures and comments to share on your Facebook fan page:

  • Nature: animals, flowers, local gardens, newly blooming spring trees, deep snow drifts, local lakes or mountains
    • Example: (picture of a squirrels in your backyard tree) “These little guys love to play in the trees outside my kitchen window. They remind me of Chip and Dale…but in squirrel form instead of chipmunk.” (you could link to a YouTube Chip and dale clip here)
  • Pets and kids: your own or those in your family, not strangers
    • Example: (picture of your child washing the dog) “And after this, yes, we are going to brush Fido’s teeth!”
  • Around town: restaurants, festivals,  shops, downtown view, uptown view, parks, schools, etc.
    • Example: (picture of last night’s dinner on the plate before you ate it) “Sal’s has the all-time best pizza in town. Trust me, I’m a connoisseur.”
  • Sports: your kid’s soccer game or ballet class, the local high school football game, your adult hockey team
    • Example: (picture from high school football game, cheerleaders with mascot) “What’s that smell? We skunked the Raiders last night 30-0. Go Bobcats!”
  • Funny stuff: anything non-crude and non-offensive that will spark a chuckle; can be videos you post on YouTube
    • Examples: (take a picture of this: the old Grapevine Opry in town was missing letters, so the sign read “ape in Opry”) “Now showing, King Kong in 3D!”

These things are NOT too personal. Today’s small business owners must be real people to their customers. Read More

Get Popular: Hook Up Your Dental Practice with Google Places

Did you know that it takes a person 9 seconds to type in a Google search query? Google produces results in ~300 milliseconds. (Talk about a super highway!)  Then, the user – your potential patient – chooses the website he likes best in about 15 seconds.

These numbers are based on Google’s extensive research.

Google is the search engine of choice. It truly dominates, accounting for 65% of searches in America. Bing and Yahoo! were neck-in-neck until September of this year, when the two merged. Now Yahoo! gets its search results from Bing. Even with this, Google is the clear leader.

Obviously, your dental website must rank well on Google if Internet marketing is going to be profitable for you.

Google offers quite a few ways to help businesses succeed locally, and the more info you have on Google, the better your search engine rankings will be. The Grand Central Station for your business is Google Places. Your listing can feature an interactive map,blog or website link, business information, hours of operation, your photo gallery, your YouTube videos, and even chatty updates from you – kind of like Twitter updates.

Still don’t quite get it? Check out this commercial about Google Places.

So, how do you set up your dental practice on Google Places? Easy. You call Modern Dental Practice Marketing, and we do it for you.

Okay, if you want to do it yourself, here’s how… Read More