THE DENTAL MARKETING GUY

This is a critical question in our marketing efforts. If you’re not seeing an increase in new patients, production, and ultimately take-home pay, what good is SEO? I’ll work with you to make sure that SEO is going to get you new patients.

This discovery phase should take place before you invest a penny in SEO. I call this process “Velscoping your keywords.” It’s the first step in determining what kind of new patient flow you can reasonably expect from our SEO efforts. Velscoping your keywords puts you in control, by providing a forecast of what SEO means to your practice.

If we agree to proceed with SEO, we’ll continue to monitor the ROI of your SEO marketing efforts. We do this by discussing your new patient flow (and sources), and oftentimes pulling reports from your practice management system, such as Open Dental.

It’s important that you’re comfortable with the entire process because your cooperation and collaboration allow me to best serve you.

People tend to prefer to do business with those that they know, like, and trust. While word of mouth referrals provide the path of least resistance in reducing perceived risk (on the patient’s part), referrals can’t help you attract the myriads of new patients who are searching on Google.

When your prospective patients search on Google, they don’t know how to differentiate you from other dentists. They lack the trust factor that comes with a patient referral.

We need to identify what kind of pictures, words, and videos your prospective patients want to see and hear. An understanding of consumer psychology is paramount in discovering what type of message to portray on your dental website.

You’ve probably heard of other dentists dropping a postcard campaign or some other form of dental marketing, where they received many “price shoppers” and difficult to deal with patients. I help you avoid these types of patients.

We want to craft a message that subtly discloses what types of patients you’re looking for. The way we craft testimonials is one way we accomplish this. Another way is through video. The creation of a clear headline and sub-headline is one way to deter nightmare patients. For instance, if you're offering dental implants as your core offering, you can make this clear from the start.

We have only a few seconds to adduce some evidence that you’re a top-level dentist, drawing your prospective patients into a marketing funnel. It’s my goal to help you grow your practice on your terms. This means consulting with me in a 15, 30, or 60-minute brainstorming session about what marketing efforts you’ve tried in the past, and what kinds of marketing ideas might be interesting to you in the future.

The most common snare for dentists looking for marketing services is what I call the “pay and pray” method of marketing.

It’s natural to delegate your marketing (particularly with SEO), but sometimes full delegation can lead to a lack of accountability with your marketing company.

The pay and pray method of marketing seems efficient and the theory makes sense. Paying a company to entirely handle your marketing can seem appealing, but we've learned better at my dental marketing firm.

Your involvement and participation in crafting a unique, helpful message is critical to your marketing success. If you’d like to learn more about how and why my dental marketing services are highly regarded by dentists all over the country, feel free to schedule an appointment with me on my contact page.

Trust.

When people feel a sense of familiarity with your office, your team, and you, website visitors tend to call you.

Many dental patients aren’t sure what they’re looking for in a dentist until they see it. That’s where I come in. We’ll work together to identify commonalities between all your favorite patients.

We want to avoid patients who are “price shoppers,” or don’t really value your standard of care or clinical expertise. We want to attract dental patients that you get along with. Patients who stay, pay, and refer.

Yes. No other marketing company for dentists has been featured in as many marketing AND dentistry publications on the topic of dental marketing as my own marketing analysis. My marketing analysis is the result of years of marketing experience with dental practices. It helps us form a smart, low-risk dental marketing strategy.

I love emphasizing our strategic approach to dental marketing. As I once put it in a blog post I wrote, "measure twice, cut once." This is the philosophy of my dental marketing agency. Everyone who works with me at Dental Marketing Guy understands that dental professionals need to know what they're getting into before agreeing to pay for marketing services. With my approach, you'll always be fully informed with the data on what types of advertising and marketing techniques will work best for you and your dental team.

One of your biggest referral sources will be happy patients, particularly those who came to learn about your practice through search engines.

This might seem counter-intuitive, at first. The reason why a patient from Google refers more often is due to the fact that patients who come from word-of-mouth referrals tend to come from the same social circles (on average). They tend to know each other. After a couple of degrees of separation, your word of mouth slows down.

When you introduce media-generated new patients (such as new patients from Google), they tend to be new movers to the area. They also tend to know a completely different set of people. This principle of including new patients who aren’t close-knit with your existing patients is what spurs practice growth through word of mouth.

For many dentists, one patient who knows many people is all it takes to open up the floodgates of new patient referrals.

Some dental marketers specialize in word-of-mouth marketing for dental offices. Often referred to as "ground marketing" in the dental industry, it is a form of advertising without paying for advertising. For instance, you can set up a booth at local events and promote broader community awareness of your dental practice. If you'd like more information on this style of dental marketing, feel free to contact me and I'll give you some free tips!

Due to the high demand for my services, I can’t guarantee that I am available in your area. However, it never hurts to schedule an appointment! Before our call, I will let you know if I have a client in your area. That way, you’ll know right away.

Depending on what kind of marketing services you’re looking for, I will refer you to one of my colleagues who is excellent at dental marketing. This way you can know that you got a referral from a real marketing professional!

Dental Marketing Tip: Ask the dentist marketing agency you're assessing what they think of 3 or 4 of their competitors. Their answers might allow you to gain more insight into their marketing philosophy than working with them for months.