If dental marketing were a sport, what medal would your practice get?
One of the things, I find equally frustrating and exhilarating about the Olympics is that it’s only held every 4 years. Spare a thought for those athletes who have to wait four years to compete; often to have their hopes dashed (or dreams realised) in just minutes.
The other interesting phenomenon about the Olympics is the relatively fluid nature of events, by virtue of the introduction of new sports. In Rio this year, Rugby Sevens and Golf are new sports not present in the last Olympics.
A new Olympic sport
To continue on the Olympic theme, I’m proposing a new sport in dentistry – it’s called ‘dental marketing’. Let’s see how the game is played out and how your practice would go if you were participating.
Fortunately, this sport is a little less cutthroat than some of the others featured at the Olympics. For one thing, you don’t compete internationally; you only need to compete locally.
Secondly, there can be more than one winner. The sport of dental marketing can be won by many – dozens of gold medals could be given out in Australia. But that doesn’t mean they’re easy to get…
“So, to win the Gold Medal at dental marketing, you are getting a steady flow of new patients into your dental practice every month (assuming you have the capacity). Your promotional activities are optimised and you are well-represented online… One of the things the judges really like is you’ve made a couple of nice ‘pivots’ in your activities, based on the data. All in a day’s work for a Gold Medal winning practice!”
Medal criteria
I guess if we’re inventing a new sport, we need some rules. To win any kind of medal, there are some basic entry criteria, beyond just being a dental practice.
Firstly, you need to actually engage in dental marketing, which means more than opening your door and putting out the welcome mat. No, your performance will need to be judged on more vigorous criteria to be in contention to win a medal. These include how well you perform at:
- Attracting new patients;
- Keeping existing patients; and
- Knowing where you’re winning and where you’re not.
Bronze medal
To get a bronze medal, you are attracting some new patients each month – you know that and the judges award points against that criteria. But points are deducted by the judges because you don’t really know where your new patients are coming from. Sure, you ask the patients when they come in, but you don’t analyse the responses to get any meaningful feedback.
You are conducting some type of advertising. You’ve dabbled a bit with letterbox drops and online marketing, which you do yourself. You feel that you need to be online but don’t have a strong sense of what return you could get in that space.
You record in the system when someone refers an existing patient and try to remember to thank the referring patient when they next come in. Most of the marketing performance data is captured but you rarely have time to look at it and even then, you’re not sure what you would do with it.
Silver medal
This is quite a good result. The judges liked a number of aspects of your dental marketing. For one thing, you’re doing quite a good job attracting new patients. You’ve used a few different techniques and have found that in your area, online marketing works well. You’ve even learnt to target it to the type of client you’re looking for.
Your staff are friendly and occasionally remember to ask happy clients to refer their friends. When a new patient starts and you know that an existing client referred them, you send the referring client a thank-you card.
You’ve got a system in place where you capture all the relevant marketing data. Initially, you were checking it every month, but now it’s become more of a “when I’ve got time” activity. The judges deduct points for this.
You’ve seen some changes in client response to your marketing since you started with it. What worked well before isn’t working as well now.
You’ve only been able to make fairly minor changes to your activities because you’ve been a bit busy.
One thing that is working is you’ve got some outside dental marketing help because, let’s face it, we can’t all be good at everything. And every great athlete needs a coach.
Gold Medal
“And the winner of the Gold Medal… in the new Olympic sport of dental marketing… representing Australia… is…” [insert your practice name here]. Wouldn’t that be a proud moment!
So, to win the Gold Medal at dental marketing, you are getting a steady flow of new patients into your dental practice every month (assuming you have the capacity). Your promotional activities are optimised and you are well represented online.
You have an effective website that goes well beyond the usual “brochure-style” websites that many dentists use. The sales copy is well-written, immediately describing the benefits for the would-be patient and giving them a compelling reason to take action, i.e. book an appointment online or call.
Your online activities are supplemented with pay-per-click advertising because that’s where new patients are looking for your business. In addition, you have an active social media program that keeps you top of mind with existing clients. You send them regular dental tips that help them in their daily life and you have an active referral program that is well-used.
Importantly, guiding all of your marketing efforts in an integrated system that lets you know what’s working and what’s not. With this dashboard in place, you can easily respond to the inevitable changes that come your way.
One of the things the judges really like is you’ve made a couple of nice “pivots” in your activities, based on the data. Flick the switch here, turn that off over there. All in a day’s work for a Gold Medal winning practice!
Conclusion
So, how did you go? Would your dental marketing efforts receive a gold medal or are you not even making it to the event?
Fortunately, there’s some good news. To boost your chances in the next Olympics, you can start tomorrow – you don’t have to wait four years. Simply identify one of the Gold Medal activities that you’re not currently completing and take some action – maybe get some help.
Like any athlete competing in an event, it might take some time to get to the top of your game, but the key is starting. A journey of a thousand miles starts with one step. Your path to Gold starts with one new activity. When will you start?
This article was first published on The Australasian Dental Practice – July/ August 2016