Aligning Generosity with Dental Marketing

Have you heard the term Generation G? It’s the marketing strategy that experts claim is highly effective in our faltering economy. Generation G stands for generosity and giving. The philosophy is, a business should show that it is interested and involved, loyal to the community that supports it. To a dentist, this type of marketing involves volunteering and community service.

Many dental practices participated in Halloween Candy Buy Back this past week. Just today, I read that Operation Freedom is weighing all the loot (candy) to send it to the troops. It’s great!

But I want you to think for a moment, what volunteer activity will appeal to your target market? If you see families and children, or if you provide orthodontic services to kids, Halloween Candy Buy Back is a great way to get local families to see your commitment to American troops. Your event could pull in new patients, families who need a general dentist. Another good opportunity for family dentists is to supply the area schools with free mouthguards for their athletes. You could speak on oral health at neighborhood schools and day cares, as well.

But what if your target market is cosmetics or implants or sleep apnea treatment? An event that draws young parents and children won’t be much help to your marketing strategy.

It’s time to regroup and think outside your little box. Read More

Educating the Dental Team for Patient Retention

I’m a mom, and moms talk. The very best marketing you could ever hope to have is word of mouth. So I want to share with you a dental visit I had and two reasons that I did not give the practice a good word-of-mouth referral. My review, when asked (and I was asked), was that it wasn’t the right place for my family.

A few years ago, I made an appointment at a very well publicized dental center that had opened a new location in my neighborhood. When the assistant was taking me back for X-rays, I asked if the center used digital X-rays. She asked me what that meant. Hmmmm. All that fancy decor in the lobby, and the assistant doesn’t know what a digital X-ray is. As I explained it to her, she seemed completely disinterested. It really made me see where the priority was in that office. All appearances pointed to just that — appearances.

Please do not let your team wander around your beautiful office with no idea what a digital X-ray is.

Another instance that was quite a put off happened during the same visit. I was told that I needed my wisdom teeth removed. Now I don’t mind getting a filling, but oral surgery is another story. I asked the associate doctor if he did extractions in the office. He said maybe… Read More

Wait Until You See This!!

This week’s guest blog is by dental consultant Dr. Mayer Levitt of Jodena Consulting. A former dentist himself, Mayer has helped tons of dental practices achieve better profits, retention, and publicity since 1989. In this blog, he discusses the use the iPad in case presentations. You can learn more ways to improve your practice by subscribing to Mayer’s blog.

In my opinion, one of the major ingredients for successful case presentation is to take the time to schedule second visit consultations with your patients and present treatment choices. A picture truly is worth 1000 words–and more and more dentists have become adept at showing photos. I think that a good digital camera is perhaps the most important piece of equipment you can own, and something that in this day and age, you just can’t practice without! Loading these photos into a computer–perhaps even organizing them into a PowerPoint presentation–is a great way to communicate. We have come a long way from showing x-rays (patients have no clue what you are showing them) and drawing squiggly lines on the bracket table cover.

But this technology seems 19th century compared to showing photos on an I-Pad. The vivid LED backlit display makes viewing photos on the I-Pad extraordinary. I have never seen anything so crisp and clear. You can see and touch the photos in intuitive new ways. And using the multi-touch screen to move and drag and enlarge photos is so high-tech and very impressive to your patient.

In preparation for your treatment presentation, take the photos from a little further away than you might normally do, because with the I-Pad they can be significantly enlarged. Your digital photos are imported into the I-Pad directly from your camera either with a camera connection kit or a connector to the SD card.  Use some type of basic photo editing program to perhaps brighten them and clean them up.  The I-Pad can also be synced to your computer so that the photos are stored in both places.

At your consultation visit with the patient, instead of the two of you looking at a computer screen at images that can’t be manipulated, the whole experience becomes so much more intimate for the patient when you sit right next to them  holding the I-Pad and you start moving the photos around. And of course, when you turn the I-Pad, the photos automatically align with the new position of the I-Pad.

I was blown away with the impressiveness of this technology and the cost is pretty minimal–about $450. I predict that once you try this way of presenting treatment, you’ll be as excited as I am and you’re never going back to the way that you use to show your photos. I would very much appreciate your thoughts and comments.

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>


SocialVibe and WordPress = Dentist Websites Giving Back

WordPress is pretty cool. That’s why it’s the blogging service of choice at Modern Dental Practice Marketing — and I do not get paid to say that. In addition to great functionality, customizable templates, and traffic reports, WordPress has widgets, one of which really impressed me.

[yframe url=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SaURsxbpJU’]

When I came across the SocialVibe widget, I was working on my agenda, planning a November retreat for Jill and me. Of course, I noticed that Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, and all the year-end holidays are almost here. Everyone is going to get super busy. We’re also going to have less time and more to do. The thing is, these particular holidays are meant for us to be appreciative, kind, caring, generous, reflective on the quality (the real quality) of our lives and the impact we have on people. For dentists, it starts early. Halloween Candy Buy Back supports Operation Gratitude, the charity dedicated to showing appreciation to US troops on active duty overseas. But we can’t send some candy to a warehouse for others to sort and ship, then call our philanthropic duties done, now can we?

We are blessed, lucky, fortunate — chose your term. We’re that.

Today, MDPM added a SocialVibe widget to our sidebar. We’re supporting Children Helping Children, a charity that gets our American kiddos hooked up with underprivileged kiddos across the globe. Children helping Children not only teaches our richly blessed US kids about the orphans, disease, and starvation other kids face every day. The charity gives US kids a chance to help. And, I love this, it’s not all about money. Sure, Children Helping Children allows our kids to raise money that helps less fortunate children in a very practical way. But the organization also encourages our kids to exchange letters and pictures with the children they’re helping.

I remember having a pen pal in Germany when I was about 10. I mailed her Madonna bracelets, and she sent me scratch-and-sniff stickers with German cartoons on them. Pretty cool. Children Helping Children takes pen pals to the next level.

It’s very awesome.

Now, back to the widget. I installed the SocialVibe widget to support Children Helping Children. Anyone who does the activity associated with my widget will earn money for my charity of choice. The activities are sponsored by big brands. The one I did today for a breast cancer awareness charity was a trivia question. The one for Children Helping Children was a Hotmail ad in which I voted on some commercial clips. It took seconds.

Jill and I want to encourage YOU to add a SocialVibe widget to your sidebar. We’ll do it for you if you’re an MDPM client. Just go to www. socialvibe.com, sign up for a free account, and choose your charity. Whether you support animal rights, organ donation, cancer research, or the arts, there’s a charity for you. Simply send us your SocialVibe logins and the charity you’d like to support. We’ll add the SocialVibe widget to your sidebar, just above the RSS feeds or links.

Come on, guys. It’s free. Let’s get global this holiday season.

Jill Duty

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!

Keeping Patients Happy, Asking for Referrals: The BEST ROI for dentists!

This week’s guest blog is by dental consultant Dr. Mayer Levitt of Jodena Consulting. A former dentist himself, Mayer has helped tons of dental practices to achieve better profits, retention, and publicity since 1989. In this blog, he discusses some ideas for phone etiquette in the dental office. You can learn more ways to improve your practice by subscribing to Mayer’s blog.

As a dental management consultant, I advise my clients on strategies that will attract new patients to their practice. However, I balance the importance of attracting new patients with the essential task of keeping faithful, current patients happy. We should not overlook the importance of maintaining our current patient base.

It’s much wiser, financially, to retain your patients than to lose them and seek new patients.

In a report I read recently, an interesting truth was revealed. You see, patients don’t often leave their dentist in the first few years of the relationship. Instead, they fall off the map after about six years. Six years! Why? The main reason is that the patients who leave began to feel unappreciated, forgotten. At first, they were treated like royalty, but as years passed, they became a number.

How to keep your patients happy:

Praise them; thank them; handle them with care. Let them know, from the moment they walk through your doors, that you and your team are happy to see them again. Give them reasons not only to respect and trust you, but to like you!

Don’t give your patients the six-year itch.

Your current patients return to your office every six months for cleanings and checkups, and more often for restorative or cosmetic treatment. The dollar value associated with each existing patient is huge. In addition, when your current patients are pleased with your practice, they’ll spread the word to friends, neighbors, co-workers, and family. You cannot buy that kind of awesome advertising.

You can leverage the power of word-of-mouth advertising by educating your team to ask patients for referrals.

If you do not ask your established patients for referrals, you are missing a golden opportunity. Here’s the key to making the request professional, consistent, and effective: ask for a referral when a patient thanks you. Read More

How to Get More Fans (Likes) for Your Dental Practice Facebook Page

Okay, we’ve established that you need a Facebook page for your dental practice. We’ve discussed the importance of blogging and how your blog should feed to your Facebook page so that you have current content. You know that you and your team need to become your own fans, then post comments, pictures, and join in conversations.

A Facebook business page is different from a Facebook personal page, though. People you may know don’t automatically pop up in the right sidebar. There’s no Friend Finder. So how can you get more folks to “like” your dental practice’s Facebook page? Here are 10 suggestions. Let’s count ‘em down…

1.       Send an email to all of your patients. I recommend you have a professional dental copywriter compose it for you. The copywriter can also provide a blurb for you to post on your personal Facebook page, inviting friends to become fans (likers).
Modern Dental Practice Marketing has dental copywriters who can help you.

2.       Put your Facebook logo and link on every page of your website, in plain view.
MDPM sets up Facebook business pages for our clients. We always include the Facebook link on the client’s blog and website.

3.       Put your FB link in your email signature.
The MDPM copywriters can write a new email signature for you, if you like.

4.       Display a poster in your lobby that says “Like Us?” with your Facebook username* (short URL).
Where do you get the poster? MDPM can help with that, too!

5.       Put the Facebook logo and your username on your business cards and collateral, right next to your email address.
MDPM does business cards and collateral. Come now, you should not be surprised! Read More

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