Relationship-Focused Dental Marketing

Archive for the ‘Referral Marketing’ Category

Motivate patients to refer by providing positive, memorable service experiences.  You can help your referral invitations to stick, even long after the patient’s last check-up, by making your message tangible.

Experts agree about 60% to 65% of the population are visual learners. Visual learners relate most effectively to written information, diagrams and pictures. Whether you illustrate your referral request in letters, postcards, business cards or emails, the moment you make your message visual or tangible you’ll increase your effectiveness and your referrals.

When was the last time your patients heard from you?

You remember the phrase, “Never mix business with pleasure” … However, with good old word-of-mouth producing today’s most effective dental marketing results, we may need to rethink that phrase.

Do you find socializing, nurturing relationships and being personable a pleasure? If so, consider mixing a bit of “pleasure” with your business.

Referral marketing – requires quality relationships in order to thrive.  Quality relationships involve trust, loyalty, authenticity and some type of mutual sharing.  They aren’t one way or one dimensional.  It is possible to establish and maintain a “professional” business relationship with someone, whether it is a patient or a colleague, and still share a bit of personality with them.

For example, share that you are feeling melancholy because you are taking your daughter off to college this weekend.  Tell them about the volunteer effort you just returned from, or how excited you are because you and your wife are expecting your third son.

Keep in touch with patients, and not just twice a year when you see them for check-ups.  Initiate additional contacts on a regular basis via email news, Twitter tips, hardcopy newsletters, etc.

Social Marketing – setting up a Facebook page and posting nothing but dental facts is like candy-coating medicine that tastes bad. Not very fun.  The word “social” exists in social marketing to express the fact this medium should be treated like no other marketing medium in the past.

Whether Facebook or a newsletter, patients enjoy learning about people—and they socialize, interact and build relationships with people, not things.

Patients won’t refer their friends to you because of your Cerec© technology.  Rather they’ll refer to you because of your relationship, the way you make them feel and the trust they have in you.

So go ahead, be personable.  Mix a little fun in with your marketing and your interaction with your patients.  Keep in touch on a regular basis, be authentic, have a genuine interest in your patients as individuals, and watch your word-of-mouth referrals grow.

This video by Erick Qualman on his term, Socialnomics, is informative– a bit fast, so don’t hesitate to hit the pause button if you miss something.  Of particular interest is the comparison of time it has taken for various mediums like radio and TV to reach 50 million users when compared to today’s mediums.  These stats are representative of the viralness of Social Media.

Consider then the benefits (and risks) of this amplified word of mouth for you and your dental practice …

The fastest way to halt future patient referrals is to do nothing. When patients receive no recognition or response from you, they wonder if they sent you a “bad” or unwanted referral.

Be sure to say thank you to patients who take the time and energy to refer friends, family and colleagues to you. Sustainability of any referral program relies directly on acknowledging quality referrals.

• Express your thanks in writing with handwritten “Thank you for your referral” notes.  Show gratitude in a timely manner.

• Consider extending referral gifts when appropriate (note, always check with your local dental regulators before issuing referral gifts or rewards).

Offer extraordinary thanks for extraordinary referrals. If you have a patient who refers a lot of quality referrals to you, deliver an extraordinary expression of your appreciation back to them.

Followers, friends, I’ve spent the last several weeks absorbed in updating my ebook The Referral System How-To Guidebook For Dentists.   I vowed to treat my ebook like a living document and to update it regularly.  After all the main benefit of an ebook is the fact you can continuously enhance it.

Meanwhile I’ve launched this relationship-focused dental marketing blog site and I look forward to getting back to providing timely dental marketing tips and relevant information for you.

“As one dental client of mine said, “It’s not about hanging your shingle out front and waiting for new patients to come in the door anymore”. How true… Likewise, the future shows limited opportunity for sustained success with yellow page ads, newspaper ads and TV commercials. In addition, how many companies can continue to ethically contribute to landfills with wasted paper that some direct mail campaigns produce?

Today we have an abundance of fresh (environment friendly, green) marketing options available from internet marketing to social media to blogs- and referral marketing of course. The major difference between the direction marketing and advertising is headed, from that of the past, is conversation. In the past much of marketing and advertising sought to “target” new clients with specific messages. Think one-way communication. For example, you (the consumer) see what I have to tell you and then you call me (the business owner) and become my customer.

In the future (in fact, it’s happening already), the most successful marketing and advertising will be a two-way conversation. One in which businesses share authentic, relevant information with potential clients… information which allows the potential new client to research, share, interact or participate with- before they make a decision about whether they want to become your customer or not .

Some practitioners will see “conversation” marketing as a burden. For those business owners, it was easier to invest in the biggest yellow page ad or cut a check for direct mail. All that was required was building the ad and they would come- maybe. In the future, the dentists who enjoy conversation, are comfortable sharing their personality/authenticity, and are willing to invest time and energy in getting to know others will find marketing a breeze.

In the end, marketing as a conversation will allow patients to more easily find their ideal dentist. Likewise dentists who participate in marketing as a conversation will find they are more apt to attract their ideal patients- it’s truly a win-win for everyone.

What’s your opinion?

Last week, the Rocky Mountain News closed its Colorado doors. As newspaper subscribers and advertisers continue to drop away, and additional newspapers fold, where do you think dentists will invest their advertising dollars?

Hopefully not in TV, with the use of DVRs, who watches commercials anymore? Note: I’m not even going to acknowledge the phonebook. My prediction is the internet and social media. Advertising and marketing is continuing to move in the direction of pull not push. Even the word pull sounds inappropriate… instead how about permission based, relationship focused, social and visible marketing where both personality and purpose matter.

The marketing of the future will allow patients to effectively “shop” a practice before their first visit. New patients will likely choose the most authentically appealing dentist they can find. Whether by word of mouth, referral or internet search, people will want to peruse research and literally see their potential new dentist online before committing to a first appointment.

They’ll want to see video of the doctor, hygienist and office décor. Patients will expect to get a feel for the personality of the practice to determine whether it is the best fit for them. Does this mean the days of going to see a doctor without knowing what to expect are gone?

Need dental marketing help? Email rita@tangiblemarketing.com or call (303) 807-3827.

Remember when people were saying, “Someday every business will need a website”… or someday everyone will have a cell phone and email account?

Today, the new “must have” is a Facebook page. Are you on board yet? If not, what are you waiting for? Here are the statistics:

Growth

• More than 175 million active users
• More than half of Facebook users are outside of college
• The fastest growing demographic is those 30 years old and older

Engagement

• Average user has 120 friends on the site
• More than 3 billion minutes are spent on Facebook each day (worldwide)
• More than 3.5 million users become fans of Pages each day

If you haven’t yet embraced Facebook then you probably don’t know that other dentists, health care practices and even hospitals are getting established as we speak. The cost is free, plus your time or a team members time to maintain.

Set up a page, post photos, practice events, etc. Show some personality; however be sure to keep your postings and content consistent with your practice philosophy or brand.

Need help with referral marketing?  Email rita@tangiblemarketing.com or call Rita (303) 807-3827. Oh, and look me up on Facebook!

If you’re like most dentists today you’re probably wondering how you can get more quality new patients without having to invest thousands of dollars. In one of my most popular blog posts “Recession Marketing for Dentists, What’s Hot & What’s Not” I shared the following recommendation:

Invest in referral marketing. If you don’t already have an organized referral program, get busy and create one. Actively promote your program- not just twice a year by word of mouth when patients are in your office. Be sure to promote the fact that you want referrals the whole year long. Ask verbally and in writing (No you won’t come across as a pest or seem desperate because most people are busy with life and won’t likely remember the last time you asked, even if you ask them many times per year). Make sure you invite referrals verbally, and also put your invitation in writing. Tangible forms of promotion help visual learners (about 65% of the population) to remember to refer. If you’d like to know more about this, check out my Referral Guidebook and learn step-by-step how to create a successful turn-key system for your practice.

But don’t just take my word for the uberpower of word-of-mouth marketing. Here are a few of my favorite experts, dental marketing gurus, thought leaders and a few non-dental related quotes to help inspire and motivate you today:

Have comments to share, questions to ask or need dental marketing help? Call Rita at (303) 807-3827.

To thrive in these economic times it’s best to focus your marketing dollars on retention, case acceptance, word-of-mouth and referral strategies. Concentrate your efforts amongst those who already know and trust you rather than attempting new patient acquisition from unknown and potentially skeptical audiences.

What’s hot: Invest in improving the patient experience. Now is the time to impress patients, as more than ever they will scrutinize everything you do and say. Consumers are paying more attention to everything they spend their money on. Some may question whether they should keep spending their money with you or go elsewhere. Invest in training for you and your team and be sure your patient relations skills are finely honed. There has never been a better time to implement new techniques to increase your case acceptance rates.

Invest in referral marketing. If you don’t already have an organized referral program, get busy and create one. Actively promote your program- not just twice a year by word of mouth when patients are in your office. Be sure to promote the fact that you want referrals the whole year long. Ask verbally and in writing (No you won’t come across as a pest or seem desperate because most people are busy with life and won’t likely remember the last time you asked, even if you ask them many times per year). Make sure you invite referrals verbally, and also put your invitation in writing. Tangible forms of promotion help visual learners (about 65% of the population) to remember to refer. If you’d like to know more about this, check out my referral guidebook and learn step-by-step how to create a successful turn-key system for your practice.

Invest in your online reputation. Google yourself regularly and see where your website rates. Also be sure to police yourself… confirm the first few pages of your search come out clean, accurate and don’t contain any negative patient feedback. It makes no sense to invest in search engine optimization if you don’t even know that negative patient feedback could be found alongside your name.

Consider investing in social media. While not for everyone, when done well- and authentically, participating in sites like Facebook and other social spaces gives you an opportunity to get your name and face in front of potentially influential networks. Have fun with it. If you know nothing about social media, ask someone on your team who enjoys this to help you. Again have fun, but at the end of the day be sure whatever you or someone else posts about you maintains your personal and professional brand and represents you well.

In this economy, what’s hot now is the return you’ll get from marketing investments related to customers/patients who already know you.

What’s not hot: Investing in brand building or awareness marketing such as radio, television or expensive magazine ads. The first problem is that these mediums are not generally geographically focused. The second problem is they require much repetition and thus very large investments before they penetrate enough to work. Even in good economies these mediums can be expensive and risky investments. With a population scrutinizing every dollar, becoming more skeptical about who and where they buy from and holding-off unless it’s an emergency, it’s better to avoid these types of marketing vehicles for now.

Have a question or comment to share? Email rita@tangiblemarketing.com. I’d love to hear from you!