TOP Dental Marketing Tips

for Dentists Creating a

strategy tha
t will
help you bl
ow
away last ye
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numbers!

For the Dental Practice that wants to

STAND OUT
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In 1864, the first

piece of direct
mail was sent by
a dental practice...
by telegram!

If you’re curious about marketing, you might find it interesting to know that the first
example of sending personally addressed direct mail to prospective clients dates
back to 1864. The sender? A dental practice run by a father/son team by the name
of Gabriel. According to the Computer History Museum, this particular piece of direct
mail was sent via telegraph to several homes in London, England. The personally
addressed telegrams contained just the name of the practicing dentists, their address,
and their office hours. It was a short marketing message, but due to the high cost of
telegrams, succinct messaging won the day.

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Did they have an innovative practice? Why did they work on connecting with
new patients in their area? According to an ad in the Lancet, Messrs. Gabriel
were establishing themselves as dental experts in their community, and their
dental practice marketing message involved educating their practice neighbors
by publishing a free book on their new invention … artificial mineral teeth.

The numerous advantages, such as

comfort, purity of materials, economy,
“
“
and freedom from pain, obtainable
hereby are explained in Messrs. Gabriel’s
Pamphlet on the Teeth, just published,
free by post, or gratis on application.

You could say that these dentists were the first to identify the value of both
targeted direct marketing and educating their prospective patients on the
benefits of their dental practice in order to increase their income.

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Roots In The Past

Dental practice marketing as we know it traces its roots back to the invention
of the Gutenberg Press in 1450 when we were able to mass-produce flyers
and brochures, but it wasn’t until 1768 when Paul Revere first placed ads
in a Boston paper that the growing dental profession started actively
marketing their dental practices. Ads could be found in newspapers as well
as in publications such as Chemical News (1861), The Lancet General Advertiser
(1864), and Notes and Queries: A Medium of Intercommunication (1866). Shortly
thereafter, in 1867, billboards were first rented. Today, publications and
display ads continue to be widely used, with varying effect.

Making Customers “Want” Your Wares

Although the concept of marketing has existed ever since there was
a method to trade goods between people, it wasn’t until the 1900s that
there became an interest in convincing people that they not only had
a need for a product, but that they had a desire for it!

Dental practice marketing in the early 1900s typically consisted of simple

newspaper ads outlining services, hours of operation, and in many cases
price. Because of the longer workweek, dentists also offered longer hours –
some practices closing for a dinner break, and reopening until late evening,
or offering Sunday appointments. Price was a practice differentiator, and
dental patients could theoretically travel out of town to save 50%. Dentists
unwilling to compete on price addressed their competition in other ways,
often discrediting the less expensive dentists by calling them “Cheap
Advertising Dentists” and themselves “Ethical Men”.

Warm and welcoming messaging began to stand out among dentists

competing on price or reputation, with a New Year’s message
in Pennsylvania by a dentist who’s New Year’s wish was that the
reader not have any tooth troubles … but if they had a need of an
experienced dentist, he was at their service. Another dentist in Texas
had a much more in-depth advertising campaign that emphasized
solutions in a “non-judgemental” and “understanding environment”
with all work completed by the same experienced dentist in his up-
to-date office. An interesting take on stand out branding came from
a dentist in Kansas, who’s newspaper consisted of a thoughtfully
constructed poem directing potential patients to his door. This
messaging was part of the birth of dental practice marketing
instead of simply advertising fees.

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Relationship Marketing guru, father of modern marketing Phillip Kotler, is fond

of the saying “Today you have to run faster to stay in the same place.” and that is
as true (if not more so) in the competitive arena of dentistry as it is elsewhere.
Increasing competition, improved general and oral health, and the mistaken
impression that all dentists are the same, make it even more important that your
dental practice’s marketing efforts maximize your ROI, bring you the new dental
patients that will help your practice grow, and replace the patients you lose
naturally to attrition. Kotler recognized that it costs five times more to market to
and obtain a new customer than it does to keep a maintain a strong relationship
with an existing customer. Your marketing plan needs to address both keeping
your existing patients (who should refer more than 50% of your new patients) as
well as attracting more new patients just like the ones you have.

Messrs. Gabriel may have been ahead of their time, but you have something
these groundbreakers didn’t: 153 years of neuroscience and the work of
countless marketers to find out what works … and what doesn’t.

To successfully market your dental practice in 2017, you need to work from
a data-driven standpoint.

Use a profit calculator to analyze your current topline revenue, cost of goods,
patients-of-record, average monthly new patients versus attrition, plus your
investments in marketing and estimated new-patient numbers in order to
forecast your expected 2017 topline revenue. Will your current rate of income and
investment set your practice up for growth – or will that budget need adjustment?

In 2016 the majority of dental practices were either

experiencing plateaued or declining revenues. Are you certain
that you are not in that group or joining them in 2017?

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Here’s how to set yourself up for Success

You must attract a lot more new patients than the patients you lose (20% annually – that’s 400
on a patient base of 2000) in order to experience an increase in production.

Review your patient acquisition process, the marketing initiatives you have in play, set realistic
budgets and associated goals, and then prioritize areas for enhancement or improvement.

With an anticipated loss of 400 patients, you must attract at least 35-50 new patients per month
just to maintain income.

How are you going to hit your revenue growth goals?

1 Segmentation Using Market Analysis of:

1. 3 Developing your message
3.
a) Target Audience 4 Delivering your message
4.
b) Patient Analysis
5 Closing the call
5.
c) Competitor Analysis
d) Demographics 6 Success Measurement
6.
e) List Development 7 Team Training & Engagement
7.

2 Unique Value Proposition

2. 8 Reassessment & Readjustment
8.

Because you are marketing to women, the language and

design of your materials needs to appeal to women. 5
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1 Segmentation Using Market Analysis
A comprehensive understanding of your
practice neighborhood is mandatory for 2017
marketing success. It allows you to target your
marketing investments to those households
most likely to respond and it will help you tailor
your services to the needs of your potential
ideal new patients ... and communicate in a way
that resonates with your target audience.
It’s not enough to know home value and age
because there are so many other factors to
consider. Competition, buying preferences and
existing market draw areas will all impact which
households you will have the best success with.
You need to know more ... where prospects and
patients live and work, what insurances they
have, and at what stage they are in their lives.
You need to know if there are any physical
barriers to these prospects choosing your
dental office over another, and you need to
know where your competition is and what they
are offering the patients you are both seeking.
1. What do you offer that they don’t?
2. Where are your current patients
traveling from?
3. Which of your services are they most
interested in?
4. What is it about your practice that
makes them keep coming back?
5. How can you get more patients just
like them?
REMEMBER TO IDENTIFY:
a) Target Audience – Who you want to receive
your marketing message might not line up with
who and where you should direct your marketing
efforts. In a perfect world you will spend most of
your time delivering treatments that bring you
pleasure, however, if your goal is butts in chairs,
a full schedule, and revenue growth, you must
tailor your patient-experience to those areas and
the people that you are most likely to attract.
Recognize that over time neighborhoods change.
They grow older. Populations and demographics
shift. You may find yourself with high-end practice
goals in a lower-income demographic. Decisions
need to be truth-based. You need to connect
what’s true about your demographic and what’s
true about your services to have marketing
success.
b) Patient Analysis – Your existing patients
household areas will clearly show your top draw
areas & those with development potential.
Patient satisfaction surveys can help you
identify what your consumers enjoy about
the experience you provide and may help you
identify gaps you didn’t know you had.
This is where you can take an honest inventory
and acknowledge barriers to new-patient growth.
What does your marketing need to overcome in
order to drive practice success?
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Segmentation Using Market Analysis
c) Competitor Analysis – What is your
competition offering? Find out what their
patients are saying, and their hours, services,
credentials, and expertise levels.
> Why would patients choose their
practice over yours?
> What do you offer that your
competition doesn’t?
> How can you make your practice
the one new patients call?
“We’re doing fine. Everyone loves us and our
team.” That might be true but it’s a potentially
dangerous statement when it comes to
realizing practice revenue growth. No practice
can escape the naturally occurring 15-20%
attrition (moving, death, lapsing, indecision,
fear), so knowing what your competitors are
doing to lure your patients away, or to attract
new patients to them is imperative.
(continued)
d) Demographics – Who lives in your practice
neighborhood? Find out everything you can,
from where they live and work to how they
enjoy spending their free time, what their
priorities are, and how you can help them
achieve those priorities through every stage
of their lives.
What do they want and why might they say
no to your services? Identify and address
these findings in order to overcome these
objections in your marketing strategies.
e) List Development – The answers you
receive from a thorough market analysis will
help you develop your target area so you can
market directly to the patients most likely to
respond and call your practice. Messrs. Gabriel
probably had a who’s who book to work with,
but you have to work a little harder to drill
down to the critical information you need to be
successful and attract the specific clientele that
you want to work with.
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2 Unique Value Proposition
Using your market analysis, determine
your competitive advantages over the
other dental practices that are marketing
to your prospects. In today’s insurance-
driven environment, the general public
perceives that all dentists are the same.
Because their preventive exams and
cleanings, diagnostics, and restorative
crowns, bridges, and fillings are covered
to varying degrees, they think that’s what
all dentists do, and unless you tell them
otherwise, they’re not going to know what
additional services you offer. It’s these
differences that make you stand out as
the professional to call when they have
a need. Even if it’s a need that they don’t
know they have.
Every practice has a unique value
proposition, but there are ways in which
your prospective patients are the same.
FEAR is a big reason why
50% of North Americans don’t
see the dentist even when
they have dental insurance.
You can feel confident that when you tell
your prospects (and lapsing patients) how
your team addresses these issues, you will
stand out as the professional to trust.
There are two core reasons that 50% of
North Americans don’t see the dentist
even if they have the dental insurance or
means to pay for treatment – perceived
cost & fear.
How your team addresses dental anxiety
is a key message that you want to send.
When your marketing materials arrive
in the hands of your prospect and you
immediately address an unspoken
need, trust levels instantly increase. This
addresses another issue: lack of trust. The
fact is, consumers are not a highly trusting
bunch. Your marketing campaigns need to
build trust over a period of time.
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3 Developing Your Message
Your message will communicate your
practice vision and how you are different
to the family decision-makers in your
distribution area. How you craft this
message is as important as the message
itself. Because women make more than
90% of their family’s spending decisions,
your message needs to meet their
needs using language and imagery that
resonates. Women prefer to be educated
before they make purchases. They need
to know that the decisions they make
for their own and their family’s care is
a good one. And they need to know that
when they make this decision they can
balance it with all of the other demands
on their lives. Show the benefits to
her personally to resonate with this
buying group.
When writing your message, remember
that only one person will receive it at a time.
Write to that person instead of about them.
People like to feel important, so when you
single the receiver out in your marketing
message, the message will be more
warmly received. Make it personal. Keep
that one reader in mind – her needs, her
schedule, her challenges. Instead of saying
“our patients enjoy...”, include the reader
in the experience with “you’ll enjoy...”, or
even simpler, “enjoy...”. Most people don’t
associate enjoyment with a visit to their
dentist and whether you provide free
beverages, paraffin treatments, or personal
music, give the receiver of your message a
reason to pause and think ... “hmmm, that’s
different.” As mother always said, it’s not
what you say, it’s how you say it.
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4 Delivering Your Message
Now that you’ve done the analysis to
determine how your practice is different
than the rest and have a message to share
with the people in your community that
are the best fit for your practice, you’re
ready to plan your campaign.
Annual strategy, revenue forecasts, and
plans include budgeting for wages, fixed
costs, variables, training … and marketing.
The most successful dental practices
allocate an average of a 5-10% investment
into their marketing mix. This is where
running a profit calculator can be very
impactful to your decisions. Most dentists
sitting with a 2% marketing allocation will
simply maintain revenues for 2017, but
when forecasted out over the next five
years, will find themselves with declining
revenues – and profits.
Having a variety of media – direct mail,
online, billboards, signage, and reminder
campaigns – is a standard for most
practices. You are making this effort
to stand out and how you deliver the
message is a big part of that.
Direct mail is the cornerstone for most
successful businesses. Google is one of
the biggest users of direct mail. However,
not all direct mail is the same. Instead of
a postcard, use an educational newsletter
to present yourself in a different light.
In addition to sharing your practice’s
competitive advantages (your unique
value proposition), a newsletter helps to
humanize dentistry and your team and
overcome one of your biggest patient
obstacles – fear of dentistry. When you
combine warm educational content with
imagery that supports this message, you
add to your to brand awareness while
building a trusting relationship before
your prospect even picks up the phone
to call you.
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FIVE CRITICAL FACTORS TO DELIVERING YOUR MESSAGE:
1. Budget: Set a realistic budget. Allocate
a significant part of your marketing
investment in new-patient acquisition
and front desk training. It’s all about a
multi-channel mix to achieve retention
and acquisition goals. In today’s
competitive market you need to be
ready to go big or go home!
2. Targeted: Use a targeted list created
from the information uncovered in your
market analysis for the best results.
Unless you can afford to support
a long-term awareness campaign,
targeting a suspected high-end area
outside of your immediate vicinity isn’t
the best use of your marketing budget.
Target the audience most likely to
respond for the best results.
3. Consistent: Your marketing goal is
to build awareness of your practice,
reinforce the importance of regular
dental visits, and communicate the
reasons why your practice is the best
choice for your prospect’s family.
When you regularly communicate
these messages, you are building trust
in your expertise, creating a need
where one didn’t exist before, and
presenting yourself as the person to
call when the need is there. Remember,
all consumers are bombarded with
marketing messages on a daily basis.
To break through distracted minds,
consistent marketing is required.
Repetition builds recognition.
4. Educational: The primary decision
makers – women – respond best
when they can make educated choices
for their family. Satisfy them with
information they can use – updates
about your practice, reminders on
important oral health topics, and
news of advances in dental care to
proactively satisfy this need.
5. Format: Print remains King. In the
largest neuroscience study of its kind,
print newsletters were proven to drive
a significantly higher response than
digital media, and newsletters offered
almost twice the engagement of
postcards. But don’t overlook a multi-
channel campaign. The more ways
you can help a prospect and patient
connect with you, the more overall
success you will have.
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5 Closing The Call
Patient-centric delightful experiences will set your
practice up for success
People know if you’re in it for them –
or you. So after you’ve invested in
marketing that’s driving results to your
practice, the front desk takes over. To
a new patient, the person who answers
your phone IS THE PRACTICE. Deliver a
WOW experience every time by ensuring
that everyone on your team understands
your vision, is enthusiastic about your
growth goals, and is trained to provide
superior customer service.
Your clinical team must be engaged and
caring at every appointment but it’s your
front desk that will set the tone from
the very first phone call ... if they answer
and close the call. After scoring 120,000
inbound dental new-patient calls, we can
tell you that less than 75% of calls get
answered live, and less than 50% of those
are converted into an appointment.
As the first point of contact, your front
desk team has the opportunity to wow
your prospects and convert them into
new patients. To do this they need the
tools at their disposal to complete this
critical task. Having a thorough knowledge
of your offers, abilities, and vision will
help your front desk team continue the
educational process.
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THESE FOUR AREAS ARE CRITICAL FOR EVERY NEW-PATIENT PHONE CALL:
1. Greeting: Answer every call live. You may
think that a new patient will leave a
message, but most do not. Remember, on
average, most practices miss 25% of their
inbound calls. And, most convert less than
50% of live-answered calls. That means the
average practice loses 10-15 new patients
per 100 inbound calls.
That brings us to: Always be training. Provide
positive reinforcement, scripts, and tools to
help your team improve. From the moment
your call-handlers pick up the phone, they
build the momentum from your marketing
efforts. A friendly and enthusiastic tone
along with a genuine willingness to help
and attentively listening will establish a
friendly rapport. Using a call-answering
script ensures that your messaging remains
consistent. This script should include
your practice name, the name of your call
handler, and an offer to help. For example,
“Good afternoon, thank you for calling
Kindstar Dental. This is Megan, how may
I help you today?”
2. Reinforcement of Differentiators:
You did the work, so you should continue
to capitalize on it. Ensure that your front
desk team is on point with all of the
messaging you are using and has the tools
to answer the questions that may result.
This continues to build trust in your practice
and increases the confidence of your front
desk team. When your entire team knows
your unique practice attributes and team
credentials, your practice philosophies
and services, and all of your contact and
promotional details, they can confidently
answer questions and will address
objections with ease.
3. Attempt to Appoint: Not all calls will
be from prospects or will result in an
appointment, but every call from a
prospective new patient needs to include
an attempt to appoint. Don’t offer just one
appointment time – create a choice. People
need to feel in control, so when you ask if
they would like A or B, they typically choose
...and make the appointment. For example,
“We have appointments available Tuesday
at 3:00 or if you prefer to come after work,
we can see you Thursday at 6:00.” Again this
addresses the need that most people have
to balance their personal lives with their
professional lives. Your team could capture
additional appointments by asking if there
is anyone else in the family they could make
an appointment for.
4. Overall Call Success: In addition to closing
the caller, your front desk team needs to
capture all of the pertinent information to
ensure that your clinical team can continue
this smooth transition from prospect to
valued patient. A phonetic spelling of your
patient’s name may be necessary – people
love it when you can pronounce their name
without being coached. Their last name
and phone number are also necessary
as well as anything shared during the call
that you may want to know later. If your
website is current, have your front desk
team invite your new patient to take a look
at it and call with any questions. And of
course, every successful call ends with a
genuine thank you.
Remember that people greatly value their
time so avoid sharing too much about the
practice or treatments while sharing enough
to appoint. This is a delicate balance, but
with the right tools and training, your call
handlers will excel at it.
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6 Success Measurement
Most dental practices can improve their
marketing performance by 50% simply by
measuring the success of their marketing
campaigns. When you measure both the
effectiveness of your various marketing
initiatives and your call conversion, you get
a complete picture of your dental practice’s
success. But these measurements work
together. Having the most effective plan in
place is useless if your call handlers aren’t
converting calls, and the best call handlers
in the world will sit dormant if your
marketing isn’t pulling in results.
Many practices believe that their new-
patient conversion rate is about 70-80%,
but when carefully monitored, find out they
are actually converting only 45-55%. That’s
a significant – and avoidable – difference to
your bottom line. Tracking and scoring calls
to your dental practice while attributing the
phone calls to the appropriate marketing
media is the ideal way to give you the data
you need to measure so you can maintain
your trajectory.
As always .. what gets measured
GETS RESULTS!

7 Team Training & Engagement

When you call most major service
providers, you’ll hear a recording at the
onset of the call informing you that the call
may be recorded for quality purposes, and
if you want to know exactly how to support
your team’s success, you’ll record your
calls too. Call recordings allow you to hear
what patients are saying, what services
and conveniences they are asking for,
and what objections – such as pricing or
insurance – your front line team is facing.
When you fully understand and respond
to their challenges, your team will become
more engaged, making them a huge asset
to your practice.

This also allows you to provide your

frontline team with call handling tips and
scripts to help overcome objections and
handle questions with confidence, and it
gives you the ability to make knowledge-
based operational business decisions.

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8 Reassessment & Readjustment
One of the main critical elements of your
success is tracking results. This gives you
the opportunity to reallocate marketing
dollars to the areas that provided the
highest reward. But always be stragtegic.
Never pull the cord too early or allow poor
team performance to carry on. Be mindful
of the importance of an overall marketing
mix and how certain components
will impact another. Some marketing
initiatives are proactive while others are
passive. Don’t assume the less expensive
passive medium is doing everything
for your practice. By monitoring and
reviewing results regularly, as well as
forecasting the impact on overall annual
and lifetime revenue, you will be sure to
avoid making costly mistakes.
Be cautious when changing your
marketing plan mid-stream, evaluate both
individual and overall success by having
true facts and data from call scoring.
You may drop a billboard only to find that
it was building brand awareness while
not eliciting calls, or calls were being
anecdotally attributed to patient referrals
or your website incorrectly, resulting in
a deflated new-patient flow. Consistent
monitoring and adjustment will help you
know that you are remaining current and
attracting the new patients that are vital
to your dental practice’s success.
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We’re not sure what happened to Messrs. Gabriel but they grew from one location
to three, and thanks to their print marketing, we know they continued to develop
a variety of options designed to improve oral health – and comfort – and marketed
these options using educational content designed to address a need. They had
a successful practice for more than 58 years while building their brand reputation,
and when you use the tips outlined here – you could too.

Here’s To
Your Best Year
Ever!

Be the king of your jungle!

Call for a FREE Discovery Session and see how
Patient News can help your practice STANDOUT and GROW!

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