Tag: websites for dentists

Rule #1: Everyone’s time is important, not just yours!

No Time to Say Hello, Goodbye, I’m Late, I’m Late, I’m Late!!!

Do you ever feel like the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland?

We all have busy schedules, and sometimes we wake up early, go to bed late, and fill every free minute with work. It’s all part of investing yourself in your business. Today, communication is “easier” than ever; we have smart phones with email and texting; we have instant messenger; and we have social networking. While these tools make communicating more convenient, they can be a mixed blessing. If it’s easy for your patients, colleagues, contractors, employees, family, and friends to get in touch with you, you’re going to have a lot of people expecting your response.

When it comes to customer service, empathy for the client or patient is imperative. While your time is invaluable to you, theirs is also to them. Here are a few tips to help you stay on top of communication and keep everyone feeling special, without sacrificing all of your precious time:

On your website, don’t include your personal phone number or email address. Funnel calls through your office line. Hire an after-hours service so that a human handles calls when you are not in the office, or you can invest in an office cell phone and pay employees an on-call wage for answering calls after hours. If a caller has an emergency, the person answering the phone can use their best judgement for offering your cell phone number. As for emails, funnel them through a main office account. I recommend you set up a Google email account for the office, since Google never fails. Domain-based email can be a real headache. Read More

What Sets Your Dental Office Apart?

I have asked this question thousands of times through the years: What sets your dental practice apart from others? Funny thing is, most dentists (if not all) say that one-on-one attention and customer service make their dental practice better.

“Better” is a bad word when discussing dentists. I know that you have a respected peer relationship with other dentists in your area. However, you’re a dentist and I’m a dental marketing expert. One of us has to consider your peers competition. Let it be me.

My point is, the attention and service your team provide to patients may be head and shoulders above your competitors’, but: A) no one will know until they become your patient; B) so the only time it matters is in word-of-mouth or testimonial marketing; C) surely there is something else that truly sets you apart – something measurable or tangible. Find it. Show it off.

Ask yourself:

  • What training and certifications do you have that others may not?
  • What experience do you have (even life, not career, experiences) that others do not?
  • What training and experiences do your team members have that others may not?
  • What technology does your office offer that others may not?
  • Do you have before and after photos or videos for your marketing?
  • Are your labs extraordinary, or do you have an in-office lab?
  • What conveniences do you offer? (parking, online forms, payment plans, kids’ play area, etc.)
  • What comforts do you offer? (anesthesia, sedation, ergonomic chairs, sunglasses, iPods, neck pillows, paraffin hand treatment, etc.) Read More

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!