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

Meet the MDPM Team: Gery Laboy, Account Manager and Training Coordinator

One of our goals in 2015 is to help our clients put a face with their contact here at MDPM Consulting. We’re always here to answer your questions, give you an update on your SEO and web marketing progress, brainstorm about your next move, or chat about what’s going on with you and your team at your practice, but there’s a buzzword floating around regarding the trend in online marketing: transparency. So, we’re making it a priority to introduce the faces behind MDPM and give an inside look at just what it is we do every day to serve our clients.

Today, we’re proud to introduce Gery Laboy, who is the training coordinator and account manager here at MDPM.

Full-Service SEO, content marketing, website support, and website design for dentists

Armed with a strong work ethic, an appreciation for communication, and an eagerness to learn, mentor, and provide top-notch service to our valued clients, Gery fills an important and two-fold role at MDPM Consulting.

Gery trains our team of talented SEO copywriters to create optimized, professional, and accurate website and blog content that reflects our clients’ practice philosophies and provides them with the tools they need to reach their target patient audiences. Gery also serves as a resource for our clients by answering questions, solving problems, explaining the web presence creation and management process, and serving as a sounding board for what’s next in the growth of their dental practices/businesses. Read More

U.S. News ranks dentist as #1 job of 2015

Dentistry might be the #1 profession in 2015, but that doesn’t mean all dentists have time to spend marketing their practices online. That’s where we come in.

On January 13, U.S. News released its list of the 25 best jobs of 2015. What was the job at the top of the list? Dentist!

According to U.S. News, “picking a job is personal, and there isn’t one ‘best job’ that would suit everyone. Still, our list of 100 outstanding occupations exemplifies what makes working worthwhile: good pay, manageable work-life balance and good job prospects.”

Of course, all of us here at MDPM Consulting were thrilled to see dentist — the chosen profession of the vast majority of our valued clients — top the charts. The articles (there’s a list of the 25 best jobs and a list of the 100 best jobs) make a few great points about being a dentist, including the following:

  • The best dentists effortlessly balance patient care with turning a profit.
  • The best dentists endure rigorous technical and practical training in a competitive dental program.
  • The best dentists are concerned with their patients’ overall health (including diabetes, oral cancer, and heart disease), not just their teeth.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics expects 23,300 new dentist jobs through the year 2022.

That’s all well and good, but you might be wondering why we’re taking the time to feature this news here on MDPM Consulting’s blog.

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We’ll see you at the Star of the South Dental Meeting!

The Star of the South Dental Meeting will take place at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas, on January 22-24.

Here at MDPM Consulting, we love conferences. We think they’re a great way to stay on the cutting edge of what’s new in dentistry while building relationships within the dental community. In fact, the mission of the Star of the South Dental Meeting is to “provide the opportunity for all dental professionals to gather for continuing education, to experience the latest innovations in dental equipment and delivery systems, and for camaraderie and social events.” That’s definitely a mission we support!

Why? Because MDPM Consulting strives to do the same thing for our valued clients, but in a slightly different way.

By offering complete SEO and content marketing strategies designed exclusively with dentists and dental practices in mind, we provide the opportunity for dental professionals to reach their target audiences (aka new patients) by increasing their visibility and accessibility online. To do this, we utilize the latest industry standards in SEO, content marketing, web development and design, and IT support. Ultimately, it’s our goal to increase the traffic to a dental practice’s website to draw in new patients and — as a result — help our clients become staples in their communities.

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Social Media for Dentists: Keep It Legal, Keep It Ethical

As a professional in the dental community exploring the opportunities and insights presented by social media, you must understand that social media usage carries risks, too. Not that you haven’t always honored legal and ethical considerations for marketing your practice, but the need for transparency is even greater with social media. When we design websites and develop social media marketing strategies, we focus on five critical areas.

If You Can’t Say Something Nice…

Bad reviews happen to even the gentlest, friendliest, most brilliant dentists. Sometimes the complaint is valid, sometimes it’s nothing short of outrageous. Heck, sometimes it’s not even a review of your office—just ask any Dr. John Smith, DDS. If you respond to negative reviews, keep two things in mind. One, everyone will see your response. Everyone. Whether a negative claim is true or not is not immediately relevant.

A combative, insulting, accusatory response can derail your reputation online and offline.

Patients are generally lenient when reading others’ reviews. Most are rational enough to differentiate between a legitimate complaint and a nitpicker. You can acknowledge positive or negative reviews, but be mindful of potential HIPAA violations. Keep it general and empathetic, no names or treatment specifics. A touch of gratitude doesn’t hurt, either.

Don’t Forget the Permission Slips

When we design websites and blogs, our clients often request that we use photographs of their actual patients. Compare to a stock photo, it’s hard to deny the impact of a real-life “before and after” shot, and it’s an awesome way to show off your handiwork. Even so, using patients’ info or images without their consent can land you in serious trouble. Informed consent goes hand in hand with HIPAA and applies to full names, x-rays, photographs, and videos

Oh No, He Did NOT Just Post That

Doing business in the fishbowl of social media essentially means that everyone sees everything in real-time. An online lapse in judgment goes a long way, especially in the age of the screenshot. It’s okay to adopt an online “persona” for your practice, something to create a distinctive voice that speaks directly to your target market. It’s not okay if that persona is the type to share bikini and beer pong pics and suggestive or profane language. Leave religion and politics out of it, too.

A Little Privacy, Please

Some social media websites—I’m looking at you, Facebook—insist on implementing confusing new features and requirements that affect the way you share content and with whom you share it. Social media is dynamic, and you must be, too. The MDPM team works hard to keep abreast of privacy changes and how they affect your professional social media strategy, but it’s up to you to ensure that your separate, personal profile respects these guidelines as well.

It Takes a Village

You might very well be the most social media-savvy dentist in the land, but it counts for nothing if the receptionist is abusing social media in the name of your practice. Creating a clear, comprehensive social media policy protects your patients, your practice, and your privacy. Your policy should include considerations for HIPAA, blogging, personal social media use, and a list of each employee’s responsibility as it relates to social media and online reputation management. Periodically update your policy to reflect regulatory guidelines and/or new social media formats, and have each staff member sign an acknowledgement of the policy.

Be social. Be smart. CEO Jill Nastasia works closely with dental clients to bring their unique vision and voice online. She’s something of a social media ninja and wouldn’t dream of posting bikini and beer pong pics. Questions about social media, blogging, or SEO for dentists? Call Jill at 972-781-8861, or email her here.

Dentistry Gets Personal: Three Ways to Create a Personal Brand

There’s a popular misconception out there that a brand is nothing more than a name, slogan, and look. True, these are important components of branding, but they’re also hugely impersonal. The personal aspects of your brand, which stem from your energy, commitment, and talent, are equally important and significantly more potent in an industry where relationship-building is key.

A Strong Personal Brand Has Visual Impact

Start with an amped-up physical presence, which extends to anything that a would-be patient can see. Examples would include everything from your personal attire to your office’s marketing collateral. Think business cards, brochures, blogs, and your website. I recently read about a dentist who was one of a select few in the state to provide a certain cosmetic treatment. His chief complaint was that another dentist, whose office was more than an hour away from his, was gobbling up the biggest portion of the local market. He was absolutely baffled and unable to understand why his superior training and experience counted for naught in the eyes of his target market.

The problem? His website. Was. Awful. The information was dated and lacked any sort of personality, and his social media presence was non-existent. When asked why he hadn’t invested more in creating an online presence, he haughtily responded that he had been practicing dentistry for more than 30 years, and never had his patients expressed a desire to see a better website, or any website at all for that matter. Think about that timeline.

This is one of the most common shortcomings in dental websites, the idea that the only things patients expect and require of a website is contact information and a smattering of stock photos. Mind you, both of those things are necessary, although prospective patients often award bonus points for using real-life patients’ images instead of generic images. Your website and blog should be imbued with the distinctive qualities and personal appeal that you value so highly in building patient relationships.

Add Intellectual Appeal and Clear Messaging

Raise your hand if you’ve ever found yourself wowed by a drug rep who used an elevator pitch to sell you on the latest overpriced antibiotic. Oh, it’s great and it tastes yummy? That’s nice, but what benefits does it offer your patients? Is it safe? How well is it tolerated in special populations? Your patients might not necessarily want a full-blown clinical discussion of root canal therapy outcomes in lab rats, but that doesn’t mean they want vague non-answers to important questions about the procedure.

What’s more, they don’t want the exact same responses that they’ll find on other dentists’ websites. A few things to consider when developing website content:

  • Do you offer any proprietary procedures or services that set your dental practice apart from others?
  • Do you have a unique branding proposition that explains how you do what you do, rather than just what you do?
  • Do you take a certain view or apply your own vision to dentistry? For example, are you a proponent of holistic or functional dentistry? Do you use “green” products and technology?

Create Lasting Impact

This is easily the most commonly overlooked component of a strong personal brand. It’s a distillation of all those positive patient reviews and the reason why you do what you do. Think about how your patients have described you and your team. Have they used specific phrases and words that stand out from the generic nice? Even friendly is an improvement. Focus on the steps you can take to benefit patients in ways that aren’t necessarily oral health-specific. How have you enriched their lives and the lives of those whom they cherish most?

About the author: Jill Nastasia, CEO and Director of Business Development at MDPM Consulting, is a mother, dental junkie, and firm believer in the value of vision in marketing. To learn more about our services, or to speak with Jill, call her at 972-781-8861. You can also email her at jill@moderndentalmarketing.com.

The Truth About Tech Support: They Know Nothing

Tech Support knows nothing until you communicate with them. Let’s face the carbonation in the soda and the reflection in the mirror. You will need to process information, regurgitate it, and mold your message to achieve issue resolution. Like any healthy relationship, solving an issue with your email, website, or social media page involves a two way street marked with yellow lines, white lines, and possibly some cautionary street signs. It’s called communicating. In most customer service situations, the helper is blind, in the dark, or unaware of your predicament until you transmit what you know to them, so that they can process this and begin searching for a solution. Read More

Dental Swag Bags: That Extra-Special Something

Goody bags, gift with purchase, swag bags–simple gestures that have a major impact on patient satisfaction and loyalty. It’s not always expected, but it always delights. You don’t have to spend a ton to put together a decent bag; a thoughtfully curated selection of small items will do nicely. Your patient won’t hold it against you if you don’t offer giveaways, but a half-baked effort sends the wrong message entirely.

Who Is the Recipient?

The patient, obviously, but let’s get specific. Do you market your dental practice to one or two key demographics–age group, income bracket, lifestyle–or do you serve a diverse clientele? For example, some of our dentists work exclusively with geriatric patients; others cater to the rich and famous. Are they willing to pay a bit more for high-end oral care products, or are they cost-conscious? As for mature patients, you might consider including items (or coupons for those items)  that accommodate limited dexterity. Printed materials are excellent for older patients, whereas other age groups are increasingly less likely to use printed coupons, preferring instead to use offer codes and exclusive digital deals.

What Services Do You Offer?

If you have a specialty or signatures service, you can use it as a starting point. For example, if you want to market cosmetic dentistry at your practice, you might include products and offers related to health, beauty, and body care. If you primarily provide dentures, opt for samples of cleansing solution, adhesive, and denture-safe oral hygiene products. A children’s dentist could include treats both for parents and children–a puzzle, game, or toothbrush accompanied by a special money-saving offer for Mom and Dad.

We’re also getting more requests for e-books these days. When you consider how many people read using their smart phone or tablet, you can see why. Include a QR code or link to allow your patient to easily access your content.

Not Just for Office Visits

Giveaways are an effective tool for strengthening relationships with your existing patients, and they’re ideal for creating awareness among  prospective patients. We’ve seen this tactic used successfully in a variety of settings, including:

  • Bridal expos
  • Fashion shows
  • Modeling and entertainment conventions
  • New student orientations on college campuses
  • School-sponsored events, PTA meetings, and fundraisers
  • Sporting events and marathons bonus points for sponsoring a youth sports team)
  • Community wide health events and screening

We’re always here to help you with the design and printing of your dental marketing collateral. Each item, whether it’s a brochure, appointment reminder card, or letterhead, is created by our talented writers and designers–with your vision, of course.

For more information about our dental marketing services, or to request a consultation, call or text us at 972-781-8861. Located in Southlake, TX, we serve dental practices and small businesses across the country. For the latest dental marketing insights, follow us on Facebook.

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.