August 10, 2010 (Dallas, Tx): Dentists and dental office administrators can establish and maintain a successful Facebook Fan (Business) Page by following the advice in “How to Make Facebook Work for Your Dental Practice.” The no-cost report features practical tips that are easy to understand and follow. Three essential components of an effective plan for social networking are included.
Facebook & Social Networking Tips for Dentists
- The Facebook movie, The Social Network, will be in theaters this October.
- America Has Talent is doing a show on the best of YouTube.
- Tosh.0 has almost 1.5 million Facebook fans.
- Half of all Americans use Facebook.
Listen, Doc, I don’t want to bring you down, but if you don’t see that social networking is deeply embedded in our culture; if you think it’s a fad that you’ve chosen to avoid; if you will not leverage social networking to market your dental practice…you are putting big steel walls around your practice’s potential growth.
And, thing is, just having a Facebook page won’t do the job.
On the Modern Dental Practice Marketing fan page this week, I’m sharing daily tips and insight about social networking and social marketing. I’m not sharing the tips on the MDPM Dentists page because I want to draw people to the fan page. Why? Read More
The Dentist’s Weekend Warrior Marketing Tip
Here is a marketing idea you can implement by 10:00 Monday morning. It is virtually free, and would only take about an hour of your time to set up.
The only catch is you have to act NOW!
As every new school year begins, local communities hold school supply drives. A great way to get exposure for your practice, while serving your community, is to take part in the collection of these supplies.
Here are the 5 simple steps:
1) Call your local family services office or other charity and ask if they are doing a school supply drive. Let them know you want to collect items for them at your office. Regardless of how many collection spots they have or how close the first day of school is, they will gladly accept your help. Ask them to email blast their donors that you are a designated collection spot.
2) Make a flyer to hang up in your office and email it to your patients. The local organization may already have a template.
3) Email your database of patients, post on FB, Twitter and on your Blog. Be sure to encourage others to pass the word along to their friends. If you are in a multi-tenant building, hang your flyers in the hallways and restrooms if possible.
4) Get a cardboard box to collect the donations. You can have your kids or your staff decorate it for you. Somewhere near the box, have some of your business cards/marketing material available so donors are encouraged to learn more about your practice.
5) At the end of the drive, deliver the supplies. Make it a fun outing for your office, and take a camera along. When the drive is over, send out a big THANK YOU to everyone via email, FB, Twitter and your Blog. You can also include a photo of yourself and your staff delivering the supplies.
Be sure to share any success stories with us at info@moderndentalmarketing.com. We would love to share your results with our readers. Pictures are welcome as well!
Writing a Dental Practice Mission Statement & Tag Line
I sell blogs. You sell dental services. Who do we sell to? People. Who pays us? People. Who do our services help? People.
We should never, ever forget that business is about the people, and people want excellent service for their hard-earned dollars. From the initial phone call to the proactive follow-up to the warm personal welcome to the unparalleled treatment in your office, every patient who experiences your dental practice should be chomping at the bit to share the story with all of their neighbors and friends.
Think about what you do that makes your practice different than the one down the road.
When I used to interview dentists before writing content for their websites, I would always ask, “What sets your practice apart from all the rest?”
The answer, ironically, was the same—all the time!
Dentists said, after some thought and hesitation, “You know, it’s our personalized service and wonderful team; it’s the real one-on-one that we give the patients that makes us different.” Read More
Dentists, Websites, Blogs, and RSS Feeds
Lions and tigers and bears, oh my! Technology is not as intimidating as wild animals, and neither is dental marketing. On the contrary, with a good safari guide, you’ll enjoy the hunt and the trophies.
Today I want to talk with you about RSS feeds. You’ve probably seen that little orange icon and wondered, What’s that orange thing?
It’s the RSS icon.
What the heck is an RSS icon, and why should a dentist care? Let me explain.
- RSS stands for really simple syndication.
- An RSS feed provides an alert when new content is added to a blog or website.
- Anyone can add an RSS feed to their Yahoo, Google, or other homepage, or they can bookmark the feed for quick access.
- To subscribe to an RSS feed for a blog or website you like, look for the orange icon, click it, and follow the instructions.
Pretty simple, huh?
Let’s take it a step further. After all, you have a doctorate degree. You like learning! Read More
Dental Website Blog Tips for Great SEO Rankings
Do you have a dental website? A blog? If you’re a blogging dentist, you may already know the importance of SEO and building up backlinks through comments and link swapping. Sounds like Greek to you? It’s not! Here’s a little rundown, a Blogging 101 class, to get you started. I’ll define SEO, blog, blog comments, and backlinks, and I’ll also give you some practical tips for your online dental marketing strategy.
SEO
Search engine optimization, referred to as SEO, is the procedure of making a website or blog attractive to search engines, like Google, Yahoo, and Bing.
Blog
Blog is a word derived from web + log. Essentially, a blog is an online journal. However, in business, a blog is much more. Dental offices can rely on blogs to act as a practice newsletter. Blogs also get a lot of attention from search engine spiders because they are considered news. The bottom line is, blogs do great on search engines and are a practical, effective, and free way to promote your dental practice on the Internet. Read More
5 Excellent Dental Office Promotions for Dallas – Fort Worth Dentists… and a Bonus Marketing Tip for Cosmetic Dentists
Want to grow your dental practice?
Online advertising—a dental website, blog, listings, optimization, and all that stuff—is essential in any modern marketing plan. You must remember, though, the Web is world-wide (thus the www). Let’s take a step back for a minute and thing about who your patients are. They’re the folks who live in your neighborhood, go to the schools in your town, and shop at the same grocery stores you do. Not all of them are plugged into the Internet 24/7. There is life outside of the computer for some.
At Modern Dental Practice Marketing, we plan, promote, and manage events for dentists. Getting people to have fun in (or very near) your office is a great way to show the community that you care. If you have great events, even once or twice a year (if not quarterly), your name will be the buzz of the town! Here are 5 ideas for fun dental practice events that will grow your patient base:
- Easter Bunny Photos – Offer free photos of the kiddos with a tooth-brush toting bunny who, of course, has sparkling choppers. Pass out brushing charts and set the kids up on a cavity-free program while they’re there.
- Arbor Day Festival – Any number of cool presentations about gardening, composting, rainwater storage, etc., and a potting bench for the kiddos to plant seeds. If your office is “green,” let everyone know!
- Costume Contest – Everyone loves a costume contest! Host a parade around a community park, and give the winner a big treat.
- Halloween Candy Buyback – See www.halloweencandybuyback.com for details.
- Christmas Wrapping – Provide custom gift wrapping for a set time and for a set number of gifts (ex. 4). Make sure the tag says “Wrapped with care by Dr. You” and that the folks you’re wrapping for have snacks, drinks, and fun Christmas stuff to do while they wait.
BONUS: Want more cosmetic cases? Realtors are very image-conscious people, and they network like crazy. Plan a realtor appreciation happy hour at your practice after hours. Invite about 25 local realtors, and offer a deep discount on take-home whitening kits. At the event, well stocked with bubbly and hors d’oeuvres, announce an awesome referral program, and provide attendees with welcome packages for their clients.
The goal is new patients for you. Let MDPM make it happen. Call us today at 972-781-8861, or email moderndentalmarketing@gmail.com.
When Dentists Should–and Should Not–Use Facebook
Building a beneficial social networking presence for your (Dallas or Fort Worth area) dental practice takes time. You’ll need to invest in your Facebook account or hire someone like MDPM to do it for you.
That said, many dentists have unrealistic expectations of what Facebook can do for their marketing program. Understand:
- Facebook wil not have much return on investment (ROI).
- Facebook posts are not read by search engines like Google and Yahoo.
- Facebook posts do not help with your website’s search engine rankings.
- You will not get many fans who are not already patients of your practice.
If that busted your bubble, don’t stop reading yet. Facebook can be beneficial to your dental practice marketing if you’re interested in building a unique culture—an inviting, friendly, personal, relationship-building reputation.
In a recent USA Today article, Jeff Livingston of the Irving, Texas practice, MacArthur OB-GYN, hit the nail on the head. He said:
“If you go back two generations, doctors came to your house. They lived in your community. They probably went to the same church…what we’re really doing is going back and creating a more personal experience with technology.” Read More
Hey, Dentist… Which is More Important: Web or Community Marketing?
Why do you have to choose? Truth is, both types of marketing could really boost your patient base—and retention—in the Dallas – Fort Worth area. And never forget, the whole point is to leave an impression! Tried and true, good ol’ boy advertising does not appeal to the younger generation…the technical gurus who invest money in their health and appearance.
So let’s look at the balancing act between Internet and community marketing for dentists:
Internet Marketing for Dentists
- Web marketing should start with a website that ranks well on Google for the keywords your potential patients most often use.
- Beyond that, social networking, like Facebook and Twitter can be beneficial. However, you and your team have to use these resources correctly. Just posting random thoughts on a Facebook Fan Page and Tweeting about an article you read won’t effectively promote your dental practice. At MDPM, we offer one-on-one coaching for you and your team, so you can learn how to fit social networking into your schedule and get the most pop for your posts. There’s a simple formula that’s easy to manage, and you’ll find it highly effective.
- You’ll also need a blog that feeds onto your Facebook page. The blog should be updated with keyword-rich, relevant posts at least once a week. The MDPM dental copywriters can make posts on your behalf, or I can teach you and your team how to write solid blog posts that appeal to dental patients and search engine spiders.
That’s a synopsis of web marketing for dentists. But when you consider that the Internet is international and your practice is local, you can see that community promotions are a necessary component to an effective dental practice marketing strategy—particularly in North Texas towns, like Keller, Colleyville, Southlake, Grapevine, Murphy, and Frisco. We’re in Texas, and what rules Friday nights? Football. That’s right. Read More