Among other marketing concerns I commonly hear from dentists is, “We don’t have time for social marketing”.   Well, as Ivan Misner said in a recent Entrepreneur.com blog post, “Word-of-mouth marketing is always working, it just may not be working in your favor”.

When it comes to word-of-mouth on the web, staying in touch with your online reputation and participating in conversations is more important than ever.

Remember social marketing is amplified word-of-mouth, good or bad.  It pays to participate–or at minimum have someone help you to monitor/manage it.

Read all about it in the Metropolitan Denver Dental Society’s August/September 2009 Articulator Magazine, page 3.

Are you Facebooking, Tweeting or blogging for your practice?  What’s your experience so far?

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.

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.

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.

]]> http://www.dentalrelationshipmarketing.com/2009/01/23/referral-marketing-works-for-dentists-but-don%e2%80%99t-just-take-my-word-for-it/feed/ 0 http://www.dentalrelationshipmarketing.com/2009/01/15/dental-newsletters-%e2%80%93-what%e2%80%99s-better-digital-or-hardcopy-versions/ http://www.dentalrelationshipmarketing.com/2009/01/15/dental-newsletters-%e2%80%93-what%e2%80%99s-better-digital-or-hardcopy-versions/#comments Thu, 15 Jan 2009 16:13:17 +0000 Rita Zamora http://tangiblemarketing.wordpress.com/?p=214

The correct answer is both mediums used together is best. Why? You might ask, “With so many marketing companies now offering e-newsletters, isn’t digital the best option?” The answer is no, for several reasons. Digital or e-communication (as much as I love it) cannot yet completely replace all the benefits of hardcopy.

Tangible newsletters allow people to experience news in a much different way than e-communication. Most importantly, hardcopies allow us to get away with longer articles, more photos and richer content than digital formats.

There is just something more sincere and warm about holding a tangible note, card or letter in your hands rather than scanning it on a screen… For similar reasons, highly personalized hardcopy newsletters are still key relationship and trust building tools.

At the end of the day, you want to be sure your patients have seen and absorbed all you have to convey. Ensure your marketing communication is achieving every important objective by including both email and hardcopy news in your 2009 marketing plan.

Need help with dental newsletters for yourself or your practice? Email rita@tangiblemarketing.com or call Rita (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!

Convert your website visitors into patient appointments and referrals… LinkboxTM is a website add-on that provides valuable marketing tools to any existing website. LinkBoxTM encourages website visitors to contact your practice, as well as refer friends. And because it’s a stand-alone product, LinkBoxTM doesn’t integrate with your current practice management systems in any way – so it’s simple to set up and start using right away.

I especially like the way the product opens the door for dialogue. Consumers today have become so accustomed to sharing their thoughts, opinions and requests through their computer keyboards… This tool gives potential new patients one more way to explore you, and gives existing patients one more way to refer you.

Watch a demo and learn more about their terrific no-risk 30 day trial here.

On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being best, I rate Henry Schein® GURU a 10+. After years of personally presenting thousands of periodontal and dental implant cases to sometimes scared, financially challenged or “difficult” patients, I can say with confidence, “This consult tool is terrific and will begin to return on your investment from the moment you use it”. (No, I’m not employed by Henry Schein®. I just love practical solutions to long time problems).

A specific example of the power of GURU is… A patient is in need of a Sinus Augmentation. Ok, you can use all the good tangible visuals in the market and verbally explain it in succinct detail and still risk the patient not entirely understanding, or easily show the patient a brief animated program illustrating what happens to the sinus floor post tooth loss. GURU’s illustration is the best available in the market, I’ve already seen it cut down on the sinus augmentation explanation time and… bonus, the patient definitively “got it,” he understood exactly what his situation was and clearly saw what he needed to do about it- and scheduled surgery immediately post viewing the program.

There has never been a better visual of a sinus collapse or augmentation- at least that I’ve seen. Further, GURU’s visuals are friendly and professional, and the program is intuitively useful… there’s even an option to email the patient their personal treatment “program”. I love this tool and can’t wait to begin training my client’s teams to implement it in all appropriate facets of the practice.

What are your thoughts?

5 Reasons You May Lose Patients and What You Can Do About It

Today, more than ever, it’s important to retain patient loyalty, build strong genuine relationships and ensure patients know that you accept and appreciate referrals. Here are a few reasons why patients leave their dental providers and what you can do about it…

Feel like you don’t care (they don’t hear from you anymore and think you probably don’t want them as a patient – perhaps because they didn’t do that new crown you recommended last visit?)

Don’t get the attention they deserve (a friend keeps saying how great her dentist is… and your patient isn’t aware that you offer what her friend’s dentist does)

Think you are fee-motivated (they feel like your practice keeps “pushing expensive” implant treatment. Meanwhile they aren’t aware of the risks without this treatment.)

Keep getting solicited by other dentists (they keep getting postcards from other dentists in the area and begin to think it’s time to switch. Besides, they’re not sure you’d care if they left your practice.)

Never hear from you (They aren’t sure they’re getting the service they deserve… the only time they see you is when they remember to call for an appointment).

Today’s marketplace is crowded and challenging (not to mention our current economic situation), so patients require more attention than ever in order to remain loyal, accept higher quality/fee treatments and continue to refer.

Patient newsletter marketing, when done right, succeeds at:

Building authentic and loyal relationships.

Keeping patients informed with friendly, unique-to-your-practice messages.

Reminding patients about recall, treatment/relaxation options, payment/credit arrangements or end-of-year insurance expirations.

Motivating referrals – patients need to know that you, first and foremost, want their referrals, that you appreciate them and perhaps what they might expect in return.

Want to learn more? Contact rita@tangiblemarketing.com