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Marketing Dentistry
Dental Marketing
By William Howard (Howie) Horrocks
Call Toll Free 866-DENT-ADS (866-336-8237)
Are you trying to attract every dental patient in town? Or do you just want the right ones?
And who are the "right ones? "
Let's be honest. The "right" dental patient understands your treatment plan, wants what you're offering (in whole or part) wants it now or soon, has the ability to pay and pays for it (whether they use insurance to help them or they pay out of pocket - doesn't matter). And it would be nice if they also told their friends about you. That's the right patient, wouldn't you agree?
So, where do you find them? The process obviously starts way before they call. It presupposes that you are trying to reach them (some dentists learned the false idea in dental school that telling people how you could benefit them was a crime against humanity). It also presupposes that you are talking to the right people, have the right vehicle and message and of course have the clinical skills to deliver the goods.
It's a choreographed operation. It starts with a clear identification of your target market. Following that you have to know what to say to this market that will get them to pick up the phone. After that it's you and your staff's demeanor and systems and finally, your clinical skills.
But at first it's dental marketing. Marketing is about perceptions - only not your perceptions - it's their perceptions, which YOU CREATE - knowingly or unknowingly. Great marketers knowingly create, manage and control those perceptions. The accidental and uneducated marketers also create perceptions - usually the wrong ones.
That's good dental marketing - skillfully and knowingly creating the correct perceptions for the correct target market. It's about identifying, locating, communicating to and attracting the people who will buy what you want to deliver. (And avoiding people who call you at 3 AM on a Friday night, oddly allergic to everything - except Percodan. )
The problem is this: the perception that most dentists think they need to create and communicate is not what causes a positive response. What you think they want and what you think will get them to call, often doesn't work.
Why is that? Because you are a dentist - with your practice goals, your education, your continuing education, your knowledge of air abrasion, laser, instant orthodontics, painless injections, your vision of what dentistry could be and should be, your anxiousness to tell the world and your experience in creating miracles and changing people's lives
- and they are not.
They haven't a clue. You can turn them into extroverted dynamos who can change the world with their smiles - but they just want what their insurance covers. Add to that the fact that, left to their own devices, most dentists write their marketing for other dentists.
It's a perception problem. Tough problem. Let's see if we can navigate through this.
Identifying the people you want
There's a huge amount of available data about demographics, psychographics and profiling. Great. Go crazy with it. But what's the bottom line? You want to give your message to people who can afford what you're selling. You can send your marketing message to a family of four with an income of $50,000 a year and they won't call.
It doesn't matter that they've responded to surveys telling us pastel colors turn them on or they make love to their wives/husbands five times a week (yeah, right) or they're going to buy an SUV next year or they think cosmetic dentistry is cool. Doesn't matter because they can't afford it - at least not yet.
Although they are probably great folks with swell dreams, we'll wait until they improve their economic situation. In the meantime let's focus our marketing message on people who can afford to make their smiles attractive.
Ditch the psychographics data and find the people who have the wherewithal to buy what you're selling. Do this: Target household incomes of $75,000 and up. (Note: NOT house values - it's household incomes you want - big difference).
How do you do that? Look in the Yellow Pages under "Mailing Services." You're looking for a mailing list broker. Select one who has been in business for several years. Tell them what kind of person you're seeking. Answer: It's folks who earn $75,000 a year and up. (Note: if you are in rural Indiana then you may want to lower that figure. If you are in Orange County, CA you may want to raise it. )
Tell the broker you want everyone who earns this much who reside in the zip codes near you. If you are an established practice have your computer list the patients you've served and the zips they live in. If you are a new practice select zips within a 20-mile radius of your practice.
Unless you are a "destination practice," like Larry Rosenthal, Bill Dorfman, Michael Kozarski, or Tom Orent (love those guys!) you will probably have anywhere from five to twelve zip codes you draw from. Give the broker this list.
They will tell you there are 50,000 people (or whatever) in the zip codes near you who earn $75,000 or more. This is your universe. These are the people - the only people, other than your own patients - that you want to target. You will live and operate in this changing universe for the rest of your professional life.
What do you do with this universe?
Send them mail.
In 12 years of trying to discover what people respond to, the vehicle of direct mail has been the best return on investment for my clients. That's not to say that radio, TV, print ads, newsletters, public appearances, Yellow Pages ads, signage, billboards, alliances with cosmetic surgeons and all the rest don't work - they do. (If done correctly. )
But, for a singular marketing vehicle, direct mail is the clear winner. We always do a direct mail program for our clients no matter what else we do for them. We don't do coupons. We don't do free exams. We don't make our clients look foolish. We simply use the right vehicle to send the right message to the right people.
This is the hard part. Now that you know who to talk to, what do you tell them that will cause them to pick up the phone and call?
To illustrate the difficulty in communicating this to you, imagine this: you've gone through LVI, PAC Live, Pankey, The Lorin Library, 1000 Gems, you've seen Gordo 10 times, you've seen and listened to Howard's MBA tapes over and over, you subscribe to all the great newsletters, you are totally plugged in man! As you should be! You have loads of knowledge.
Then a young dentist, just out of school, asks you how to do veneers. They're asking because the word "veneer" never came up in dental school. What do you say? I'm told that it's not really all that difficult a procedure, but there's a whole lot to know about it, isn't there? Where do you start?
I can't teach you in this short article how to be an advertising copywriter. But because you all are pretty good students I can give you the basic message and you can take it from there. It will be up to you to craft this into an impactful communication.
What I'm going to tell you is something I'm almost certain you won't want to hear. Even I don't like it. But I learned long ago that ignoring the marketplace in favor of my own little world vision is a foolish thing to do. Please don't shoot (or ignore) the messenger!
The mainstream of dental patients you need to connect with are also those who will provide you with a continuing income. This boils down to FAMILIES. Your marketing message needs to communicate to women (89% of all dental appointments are made by women) and this gets down to families. You can't have women if you don't have families.
What does this group want to hear and what messages get them to respond? By actual real world tests over a 12 year period here's what you tell them: That you are; accessible, friendly, competent, won't hurt them or make them feel guilty because they've neglected their teeth, will treat them like family, will provide the latest dentistry, will do it in the minimal time necessary, have up-to-date training and equipment (high tech is a HUGE selling point) and you make it easy to pay. You don't have to be the cheapest as long as they know they are getting value, (in fact, high fees are not a turn off if you can deliver the value).
My agency works with many docs who want to do big cases. We get them there - eventually, but they uniformly start out working with families. In fact the best dentist I've ever seen - he does loads of veneers and big cases - and he does over a million a year - solo! - has a TOTALLY family image. There are plenty of big cases to do when you focus on families.
It's the perception he creates, manages and controls. The families come in and when they leave they look like they just walked out of LVI or PAC Live. And they pay full fee. But they wouldn't have received the life changing benefits of modern dentistry if they hadn't first picked up the phone.
Yes, he's got the treatment presentation down cold, has a great staff, he's done the CE and is a great clinician, and has the high tech toys. But none of that ever comes into play, and nothing happens, until the patient calls.
This starts with the selection of the correct target market, creating and managing the public perception of your practice, choosing the correct vehicle, crafting the message, and finally, how well you service people.
Don't try to educate people with advertising. It doesn't work. Your goal in advertising isn't to educate, it's simply to attract. After they arrive you can do all the educating you want. Your first goal is to get the right people to call. They will call if you speak to their concerns.
For more information click Marketing Dentistry
Or Call Toll Free 866-DENT-ADS (866-336-8237)
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By William Howard (Howie) Horrocks
Call Toll Free 866-DENT-ADS (866-336-8237)
Are you trying to attract every dental patient in town? Or do you just want the right ones?
And who are the "right ones? "
Let's be honest. The "right" dental patient understands your treatment plan, wants what you're offering (in whole or part) wants it now or soon, has the ability to pay and pays for it (whether they use insurance to help them or they pay out of pocket - doesn't matter). And it would be nice if they also told their friends about you. That's the right patient, wouldn't you agree?
So, where do you find them? The process obviously starts way before they call. It presupposes that you are trying to reach them (some dentists learned the false idea in dental school that telling people how you could benefit them was a crime against humanity). It also presupposes that you are talking to the right people, have the right vehicle and message and of course have the clinical skills to deliver the goods.
It's a choreographed operation. It starts with a clear identification of your target market. Following that you have to know what to say to this market that will get them to pick up the phone. After that it's you and your staff's demeanor and systems and finally, your clinical skills.
But at first it's dental marketing. Marketing is about perceptions - only not your perceptions - it's their perceptions, which YOU CREATE - knowingly or unknowingly. Great marketers knowingly create, manage and control those perceptions. The accidental and uneducated marketers also create perceptions - usually the wrong ones.
That's good dental marketing - skillfully and knowingly creating the correct perceptions for the correct target market. It's about identifying, locating, communicating to and attracting the people who will buy what you want to deliver. (And avoiding people who call you at 3 AM on a Friday night, oddly allergic to everything - except Percodan. )
The problem is this: the perception that most dentists think they need to create and communicate is not what causes a positive response. What you think they want and what you think will get them to call, often doesn't work.
Why is that? Because you are a dentist - with your practice goals, your education, your continuing education, your knowledge of air abrasion, laser, instant orthodontics, painless injections, your vision of what dentistry could be and should be, your anxiousness to tell the world and your experience in creating miracles and changing people's lives
- and they are not.
They haven't a clue. You can turn them into extroverted dynamos who can change the world with their smiles - but they just want what their insurance covers. Add to that the fact that, left to their own devices, most dentists write their marketing for other dentists.
It's a perception problem. Tough problem. Let's see if we can navigate through this.
Identifying the people you want
There's a huge amount of available data about demographics, psychographics and profiling. Great. Go crazy with it. But what's the bottom line? You want to give your message to people who can afford what you're selling. You can send your marketing message to a family of four with an income of $50,000 a year and they won't call.
It doesn't matter that they've responded to surveys telling us pastel colors turn them on or they make love to their wives/husbands five times a week (yeah, right) or they're going to buy an SUV next year or they think cosmetic dentistry is cool. Doesn't matter because they can't afford it - at least not yet.
Although they are probably great folks with swell dreams, we'll wait until they improve their economic situation. In the meantime let's focus our marketing message on people who can afford to make their smiles attractive.
Ditch the psychographics data and find the people who have the wherewithal to buy what you're selling. Do this: Target household incomes of $75,000 and up. (Note: NOT house values - it's household incomes you want - big difference).
How do you do that? Look in the Yellow Pages under "Mailing Services." You're looking for a mailing list broker. Select one who has been in business for several years. Tell them what kind of person you're seeking. Answer: It's folks who earn $75,000 a year and up. (Note: if you are in rural Indiana then you may want to lower that figure. If you are in Orange County, CA you may want to raise it. )
Tell the broker you want everyone who earns this much who reside in the zip codes near you. If you are an established practice have your computer list the patients you've served and the zips they live in. If you are a new practice select zips within a 20-mile radius of your practice.
Unless you are a "destination practice," like Larry Rosenthal, Bill Dorfman, Michael Kozarski, or Tom Orent (love those guys!) you will probably have anywhere from five to twelve zip codes you draw from. Give the broker this list.
They will tell you there are 50,000 people (or whatever) in the zip codes near you who earn $75,000 or more. This is your universe. These are the people - the only people, other than your own patients - that you want to target. You will live and operate in this changing universe for the rest of your professional life.
Choosing Your Vehicle
What do you do with this universe?
Send them mail.
In 12 years of trying to discover what people respond to, the vehicle of direct mail has been the best return on investment for my clients. That's not to say that radio, TV, print ads, newsletters, public appearances, Yellow Pages ads, signage, billboards, alliances with cosmetic surgeons and all the rest don't work - they do. (If done correctly. )
But, for a singular marketing vehicle, direct mail is the clear winner. We always do a direct mail program for our clients no matter what else we do for them. We don't do coupons. We don't do free exams. We don't make our clients look foolish. We simply use the right vehicle to send the right message to the right people.
Crafting Your Message
This is the hard part. Now that you know who to talk to, what do you tell them that will cause them to pick up the phone and call?
To illustrate the difficulty in communicating this to you, imagine this: you've gone through LVI, PAC Live, Pankey, The Lorin Library, 1000 Gems, you've seen Gordo 10 times, you've seen and listened to Howard's MBA tapes over and over, you subscribe to all the great newsletters, you are totally plugged in man! As you should be! You have loads of knowledge.
Then a young dentist, just out of school, asks you how to do veneers. They're asking because the word "veneer" never came up in dental school. What do you say? I'm told that it's not really all that difficult a procedure, but there's a whole lot to know about it, isn't there? Where do you start?
I can't teach you in this short article how to be an advertising copywriter. But because you all are pretty good students I can give you the basic message and you can take it from there. It will be up to you to craft this into an impactful communication.
Hard Won Knowledge
What I'm going to tell you is something I'm almost certain you won't want to hear. Even I don't like it. But I learned long ago that ignoring the marketplace in favor of my own little world vision is a foolish thing to do. Please don't shoot (or ignore) the messenger!
The mainstream of dental patients you need to connect with are also those who will provide you with a continuing income. This boils down to FAMILIES. Your marketing message needs to communicate to women (89% of all dental appointments are made by women) and this gets down to families. You can't have women if you don't have families.
What does this group want to hear and what messages get them to respond? By actual real world tests over a 12 year period here's what you tell them: That you are; accessible, friendly, competent, won't hurt them or make them feel guilty because they've neglected their teeth, will treat them like family, will provide the latest dentistry, will do it in the minimal time necessary, have up-to-date training and equipment (high tech is a HUGE selling point) and you make it easy to pay. You don't have to be the cheapest as long as they know they are getting value, (in fact, high fees are not a turn off if you can deliver the value).
My agency works with many docs who want to do big cases. We get them there - eventually, but they uniformly start out working with families. In fact the best dentist I've ever seen - he does loads of veneers and big cases - and he does over a million a year - solo! - has a TOTALLY family image. There are plenty of big cases to do when you focus on families.
It's the perception he creates, manages and controls. The families come in and when they leave they look like they just walked out of LVI or PAC Live. And they pay full fee. But they wouldn't have received the life changing benefits of modern dentistry if they hadn't first picked up the phone.
Yes, he's got the treatment presentation down cold, has a great staff, he's done the CE and is a great clinician, and has the high tech toys. But none of that ever comes into play, and nothing happens, until the patient calls.
This starts with the selection of the correct target market, creating and managing the public perception of your practice, choosing the correct vehicle, crafting the message, and finally, how well you service people.
Don't try to educate people with advertising. It doesn't work. Your goal in advertising isn't to educate, it's simply to attract. After they arrive you can do all the educating you want. Your first goal is to get the right people to call. They will call if you speak to their concerns.
For more information click Marketing Dentistry
Or Call Toll Free 866-DENT-ADS (866-336-8237)
tags: marketing dentistry,dental marketing, new patients, dental market, internet dental marketing, dental advertising, dentists marketing, dental practice marketing, marketing dentistry, marketing for dentists, advertising for dentists, dentists advertising, dental marketing plan, cosmetic dentistry marketing, dental marketing ideas, dental office marketing, dentist advertising, new dental patient, dental marketing consultant, dental advertisement, dental website marketing, new dental patients, advertising for dental, dental marketing company, dental advertisements, dental patient marketing, dental practice advertising, dentist advertisement, new patients inc, dentist advertisements, advertising dentistry, advertising for dentist, attracting new patients, cosmetic dental marketing, dds advertising, dental ad agencies, dental advertising agency, dental implant advertising, dental marketing companies, dental marketing consultants, dental marketing strategies, dental marketing strategy, dental marketing tools, dental office advertising, dental web marketing, dental website advertising, dmd advertising, internet marketing for dentists, marketing a dental practice, marketing your dental practice, marketing for dentists, dds marketing, dmd marketing, dentist website marketing, direct marketing ad for dentists, attract new dental patients, dental marketing services, attract new dental patients, direct mail marketing for dentists, direct mail advertising for dentists,endodontist,root canal specialist,periodontist,dental implants,gum treatment,periodontal,dentistry,orthodontist,braces,prosthodontist,dentures,dental intenet marketing,marketing dentistry
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