Showing posts with label dental consultants. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dental consultants. Show all posts

Sunday

Niche Dental Periscope - Flashback - May 2018

*** I talk Twitter -- How We Think And Community Influence:

Twitter Marketing for Dentists:

1) Creating Local Community
2) Building Trust
3) Developing Loyalty
4) Increasing Value
____________________________

Additional Content

Welcome to Tuesday, May 21, 2018

Niche Dental Twitter Marketing for Dentists Hour!

———————————
How the program ended yesterday, Monday, May 20, 2018
M My approach is very conducive in helping dentists create a scope of awareness much more prominent than any posting of dental tweets ever can. It's a very intimate approach that forgoes the "international" value of tweeting. Dentists must be very local to get value on Twitter. ———————————

The value of local on Twitter for dentists that is what I'll tackle now. It's great to get Twitterers from all over the world to follow you. But for dentists, the value is tangential only. More followers anywhere can attract followers form near as well, but a circuitous route.

Local Twitterers are the main reason for dentists to be on Twitter. The SEO benefits are marginal compared to the other powers Twitter gives dentists. By using my Twitter services, which makes gaining local awareness the most vital part, dentists will get much greater notice!

Think about the local community and how many connections your dental practice has developed. Have you connected with 5%, 25%, or over 90% of community members and businesses? I'd imagine it's in the single digits. What if your reach could be doubled in a year? It's quite possible!

My approach is simple but consistent, frequent and continuous. I reach out directly to all local Twitterers. As long as their content does not conflict with the dentist's values, I develop a "barter" relationship via Twitter with local content providers, media and businesses.

Twitter is a very dynamic place. People appreciate when others recognize what they are doing. Whether it's a like, reply, mention or retweet, any positive comment goes a long way. What my approach does is piggyback with that reality, and turn it into a reciprocal relationship.

Dentists must utilize the dynamism of the interactions Twitter makes available to them. Merely using Twitter to fire off messages into the ether has much less effect than directly referring to other Twitterers. It is like sending emails to random, mostly bad email addresses.

Most every moment spent on Twitter should be focused on reaching out to local Twitterers. These people are often the best promoters in the area, on and off line many times. They are there to get their message heard, have many followers, and can help dentists gain a wider audience.

For dentists local Twitterers must identified, and interacted with a lot more. Twitter should be looked at less as technology, but more of a local community meeting place. When it comes to the dental practice Twitter, it makes more sense to reach out than to teach dental care.
-----------------------

That's The End Of Today's…

Niche Dental Twitter Marketing for Dentists Hour!

Sincerely, 
Richard The Chwalek

Please contact me, RTC, via this email address:

–– Eco@nichedental•com for more info on my recognition to reciprocation strategy.



Also on Facebook.

Wednesday

Tactilely Impressive Dental Postcards, Attracting New Patients to Your Office!

Express Dental Marketing Tactilely Provides...




Value boosting dentistry, high-impact, personalized dental postcards and direct mail are a powerful way to interact with the consumer, neighbors, a specified audience. Postcards are almost unavoidable communication, and can be better targeted than most other marketing for dentists strategies.

Express Dental Marketing creates the most appropriate and effective campaigns for family, general, cosmetic dentistry practice and specialty orthodontic office.

While direct mail isn't magical, dental postcards and other mailers are best used in way that complements the consumer reality. Dentists need to gently but regularly nudge consumers out of  avoidance, delay and denial habits. A consistent direct mail campaign will keep consumers from remaining complacent and staying away from the dentists office even longer.

Success Achieved by Focusing On A Refined Audience and Ideal Patient



A targeted demographic list will often greatly influence the dentist's or orthodontist's success rate. A consistent dental postcard campaign sent to consumers who are most able to access dentistry services (using demographic criteria such as income and location) will create more cost effective results.

Express Dental Marketing Helps Determine The Best List

Dentists and Orthodontists should realize that high-value services are more likely to have success in this or any economy. People who need a lot of dentistry and/or want a total cosmetic smile makeover, or want to straighten their smile are looking for the right dentist, orthodontist and will pay whatever it takes once they find him or her.

Rather than waiting on the consumer to come around to your way of thinking by happenstance, dentists and orthodontists need to be out there, uncover and 'create' healthier and happier people today.

CONTACT Express Dental Marketing Now!

At Express Dental Marketing Oli will create the type of campaign that best suits your practice and service strategy. Choose from many ready to go postcard designs and budget-simplified campaigns or ask him about other options for your dental office.



Sales@ExpressDM.com

CALL 1+888.380.0020

Find out more at ExpressDentalMarketing.com

Posted by
Dick Chwalek

Facebook link YouTube link gplus_64 blogger_blogspot_photo.jpg Twitter link

Tuesday

Personalized Dental Postcards: Power for Improving the Consumer Reality of Dental Care Value

There are many ways for dentists to market their dental services. Direct mail like postcards and other mailers, have a huge advantage over other forms of communication. It is much more likely to be seen, reviewed, and touched by your target audience!

Express Dental Marketing - Personalized Power
Personalize the Vital Value of Your Dentistry
CALL 1+888.380.0020 • Email Contact Express Dental Marketing

Express Dental takes direct mail to an ADVANCED level with...
• Powerfully Personalized
• Targeted Concepts
• Turnkey Implementation
• Fast Turnaround
• Consistent Simplicity
• Expertise Underneath

Powerfully Personalized

Personalization is what sets us apart from almost every other dental direct mailer. Utilizing variable digital printing each recipient of your mailings will see their name prominently displayed throughout the piece and “within” the design. Combined with Express Dental’s creative concepts and deep dental marketing expertise, this powerful form of one-to-one communication will significantly enhance the influence dynamic.

Rather than making the consumer feel like you are just looking for some anonymous consumer, this advanced style of marketing greets each recipient personally. While your competition continues to put forward a cold, impersonal mass marketing impression, take your dental marketing to the next level!

The Results Speak For Themselves!

-- As much as a...

• 44% Response Improvement by adding recipient’s name to the printed page (not current occupant)*
• 135% Response Improvement by adding full color to a printed piece*
• 500% Response Improvement by adding recipient’s name, color, and customizing content to interests of recipient*

*Variable Digital Printing Industry Results provided by Xerox

Click to see Personalized Postcard Presentation/Diagram.

NOTE: Express Dental personalized postcard direct mail fees include all printing and mailing costs including postage. Other direct mailers often add fees after you are drawn in by their stripped down priced promotions.

Express Dental fees include all these items:

• Complete Personalization
• Full Color BOTH Sides...
-- Some printing promotions offering only full color front, and ONLY black ink on back
• 110-LB High Quality Paper
• Digital Addressing
• All Postal Paper Work
• Zip Code and Carrier Route Sorting
• Delivery to the Post Office
• Targeted Mailing list...
-- The right lead list can improve your response 60% to 70%.

REVIEW: Variable Printing Dental Marketing White Paper

Get Personal with Your Desired Audience Now
CALL 1+888.380.0020 • Email Contact Express Dental Marketing

Targeted Concepts

There are many places online where you can get “dental postcards” –– from cheapo and flimsy to very dull and uninspiring. Express Dental raises the bar on creativity with superior consumer relevance.

Consumers, whether currently seeing a dentist or needing to see a dentist, want to know things have changed since they first visited the sterile and often fear laden dental office of their childhood. They want for themselves and/or their children something better, refreshing, and focused on all their dental health needs. They want dental visits to be comfortable and convenient. They want cosmetic dentistry and orthodontic solutions when they want them. They want to go to a dentist that “gets it” when it comes to what they expect, need, and want!

Most importantly, Express Dental understands many consumers are putting off visits to the dentist for entrenched reasons. Denial of need, procrastination and low value perceptions are significant dental health compliance obstacles, but the consumer will not begin to overcome them without a message targeted to dispel their out-dated impressions. Whether they have a toothache or are aching for a straighter, whiter smile, Express Dental offers a steady hand with advanced creativity.

Remember a high value, targeted consumer lead list can improve your dental mailing response by 60% to 70%. Trust Express Dental to develop your list to fit your desired audience, which is already included in our pricing.

Take your dental marketing to a much higher level of consumer relevancy with pinpoint accuracy.

Oli Gonsalves is a Niche Dental Co-Consultant


Target New Revenues Now
CALL 1+888.380.0020 • Email Contact Express Dental Marketing


Turnkey Implementation

Plain and simple: You provide the campaign and financial parameters along with your practice information and photos/images. Express Dental Marketing does the rest.

Saving time and management headaches are major objectives when running a dental practice, whether as a sole proprietor or a multi-doctor, multi-location group. Express Dental Marketing has created a system that turns new patient acquisition into five easy steps.

  • Fill out order form
  • Provide your information
  • Make payment
  • Approve the final product
  • Answer many NEW PATIENT calls!

Turn the Key Now for More Patients
CALL 1+888.380.0020 • Email Contact Express Dental Marketing

Fast Turnaround

I need more patients fast! The dentist or orthodontist with this request has located the ultimate source for their dilemma. Express Dental Marketing can put patients in your practice within as little as three weeks!

Choose targeted, creative, and effective advanced dental marketing, direct mail designs in minutes. Express Dental compiles your information and prints in a matter of days. Within a few weeks you are seeing new patients and racking up more revenues.

Turn Up The Volume on Revenues Fast
CALL 1+888.380.0020 • Email Contact Express Dental Marketing

Consistent Simplicity

Consistency is as close as you can get to a marketing sure thing. Consumers have a lot of decisions. Families, adults, teenagers, young and old, men and women all prioritize. Making dentistry a higher priority in their lives requires a consistent presence.

Express Dental direct mail is like the Yellow Pages with a personal valet that provides effective reminders about what can be done to improve dental health and smile appearance. This personalized, proactive, high quality, “how about now” approach is the simplest way to reach the harried, waiting-for-a-better solution dental consumer.

Simplify Consistent Marketing Revenues
CALL 1+888.380.0020 • Email Contact Express Dental Marketing


Expertise Underneath

There are postcard printers with dental “themed” cards. There are direct mailers with a few dental “designs”. There are marketers with some generic “tooth brushing” and “apple a day” images. In contrast, Express Dental Marketing has a deep foundation in dental consumer communication strategies.

What will family dentists, cosmetic dentists, and orthodontist specialists get from this substantial foundation of dental marketing expertise? These dental practitioners will get complete-effect marketing products that target:

  • Their most desired patient group. Plus...
  • The fence sitting (waiting till my dental health gets very bad) consumer
  • Is there a dentist that understands my fears consumer
  • The “Show me the value” dental skeptic
  • The “Wow me with something cool” consumer
  • The mom, dad, parents who want the best for their families

Dental marketing consultant Dick Chwalek of Niche Dental and NicheDental.com provides the expertise for the Express Dental personalized direct mail concept. Dick also provides custom writing when requested by Express Dental clients/dentists.

For Marketing with Dental Expertise Built-in
CALL 1+888.380.0020 • Email Contact Express Dental Marketing


Also Posted at NicheDental.com

Wednesday

Northern Dental Alliance, Christensen Dental Consulting June Webinars.

Gayle Christensen
12 June 2012: Two Webinar Topics

Strategic Scheduling Webinar
 9.00am until 10.00am (CST)

--- Presented by Gayle Christensen

Take (and keep) control of your schedule and capture the "treasure" that is hidden in your patients charts.

Customer Service Webinar 
 12.30pm until 1.30pm (CST)

--- Presented by Gayle Christensen

Give your practice a competitive edge with unparalleded customer service that comes from the heart.
__________________________________________________

14 June 2012: Two Webinar Topics

Keep 'em Coming Webinar
 11.00am until 12.00pm (CST)

--- Presented by Gayle Christensen


Give your practice a key advantage when it comes to retaining new and existing patients. Learn easy and effective methods to improve your skills with this vital component to your practice's long-term success.
Financial Victory Webinar
 1.00pm until 2.00pm (CST)

--- Presented by Gayle Christensen

Increase your collections and smile all the way to a healthier bottom line!

19 June 2012: One Webinar Topic

The Power of Documentation Webinar
 1.30pm until 2.30pm (CST)


--- Presented by Lorraine Dudley

Reduce your risk of exposing your practice to potential harm by using powerful documentation and insurance management tools.

______________________

---------------------------

Gayle owns Christensen Dental Consulting, Ham Lake MN

Gayle is also a Northern Dental Alliance member

Also Posted on GayleChristensen.com

______________________

RePosted by

Dick Chwalek, NicheDental.com

Dick's a Co-Founder and Member of the NorthernDentalAlliance.com

Cheap & Easy: Great Dental Marketing Or #1 Match.com Search Term?

The perfect dental marketing is cheap (almost nothing) and easy (works with little thought put into it). Much like good, lasting and healthy relationships. What were the qualities of your perfect match?

Coincidentally, I read in USA Today recently that the most used search phrase on Match.com is "cheap and easy". There you have it - confirmation you need to stay in the zone of missed opportunities.

Wake up... Wake up! Back to reality dude.> Maybe Cheap and Easy; is neither great (or even good) dental marketing or words attributable to Match.com.

For example... I was in Las Vegas a couple years ago doing a dental marketing seminar. Near the end of my talk was a Q/A session. One of the first questions was a dentist asking, how much are postcards?

My answer today would have been... "Doctor, when the first question a patient asks is how much you charge, how much do you think they value dentistry or your expertise? If your marketing is based on price - you are most likely going to get little from the 'relationship'.

Your patients' relationship with their dental health will determine much of what they will accept and how they will comply to your recommendations. Effective dental marketing goes beyond clicks, impressions and conversions, it creates a connective relationship with your audience.

Unless dentists decide marketing is as vital as the dentistry they recommend and want to provide, very little will be communicated about the value of dentistry as compared to every other service or product consumers are confronted with.

Dentists need to STOP WAITING for patients to 'come around' and search them out -- of the blue. Otherwise, advertising of competing services, issues like dental fear and other 'delay and denial tendencies' will continue to diminish the consumer's dentist visit eagerness.

Once dentists find themselves behind the eight ball of ever-diminishing new patient numbers grasping for "cheap and easy" solutions fits the warped perspective they’ve created. This is similar to dental patients/consumers who have let their dental health go.

While $9,000 might seem like a lot to pay for 6 to 12 crowns or a few implants, coming in 5 or ten years earlier the cost might have been less than 1/10th that. Likewise, after dentists have survived without a comprehensive plan for many years, it is hard for them to upgrade even when they are confront with a dire situation.

Some day there will be DIY dentistry that consumers can download off the Internet, and they can bypass the professionals. What do dentists and consultants really know that I can’t figure out myself at 1/10th the cost?

Then again… Perhaps, both good dentistry and good marketing require something beyond cheap and easy to get "complete, lasting" results.

Something like… Being consistent about your communication and serious about its value in developing a successful, long term relationship with your dental patients. Rather than blow your entire dental marketing budget on a big burst of direct mail postcards or using them solely or any one BIG Online THINGIE, match up a few strategies to create an entire matrix of elements that will engage, remind and persuade.

I've seen a comprehensive strategy do wonders. It is not cheap. And yes, it can be complicated. When you can solve all the dental problems people have for less than most people expect and can explain and implement the solutions in 15 minutes or less, I will be right there with my cheap and easy solutions to every communication issue surrounding the delay and denial of dental care acceptance and compliance.

Back in the realm of reality, this is how dentists can improve their new patient situation. Start with a budget of 1 to 2% of gross practice revenues - then move towards 4% to 7% within 6 to 12 months. Dentists whose dental marketing has always been under the radar will need to prime the pump more significantly.

The Campaign Elements• Regularly send postcards or other direct mail
• Develop an external advertising element that is 24/7 or nearly
• Converse with your audience and patients in a familiar environment
> Use a medium that the consumer ‘welcomes’ into their lives like a newspaper, magazine or radio.
• Yes, be online - with a website and use search advertising
> Just don't expect the Web to have all the communication angles covered.
• Locate in many online spaces
> Add an online connection every so often.
*Just make sure your website is more than a postcard with a phone number. Because…

DENTAL WEBSITES ARE NOT ABOUT TRAFFIC!
This is the biggest farce of online dental marketing. Thousands of visits is an online mirage for most office websites. Patients are the goal. Converting is a term used by those focused on online advertising. Their 'conversions' are the tip of the iceberg - it is the beginning of new patient development.

Use the medium in the right way - not as if it is about what you, the dentist, or web developer like or expect. Dental postcards are simplified because they are not 'requested' by the consumer. Websites should be created for the patient looking for the right practice/solution/environment. Being succinct is something English Majors demand and what salespeople want because the sale (or the conversion) is their focus.

Dental Websites are for dental patients who have one major concern - their own - usually complicated with emotion and anxiety. That means deep, individualized content for the various 'patient profiles' who will often want/need significant value proof to move forward. Succinct, short and sales copy is pathetic at improving the likelihood DENTAL consumers will do any more treatment than what they self diagnosed and/or their dental insurance will cover - previous to their 'conversion'.

As to conversions - those web visitors are the 'emergency dental patients' of online marketing and every time another dentist weaves their way to the web - they are fewer of them per dentist, which produces a swirling vortex of diminishing (converting) returns. Slam bam succinct conversions - promoted by English Major anal retentiveness and Web Designer sparse copy for site speed and for the artistry to breathe - usurp the value the web affords - limitlessness to do everything necessary to get more people to be healthier.

Technical knowhow in these specialties is more about exactness in the aggregate - not about how individual people deal with dentistry. The rules of writing and web-knowlogy need to conform to the reality of the human condition when considering dental treatment.

If a 'call to action, phone number and a beautiful design were the solution, over 10 years of online dental marketing would have improved these statistics: National Dental Health and Even High Income Households are still sitting on the dental visit sidelines.

Extraction from this whirlpool of narrowness requires more than analytics and statistics. Successful relationships are developed by using multi-platform and multi-level communication experience. While every website should have a good dose of web geek sleek, salespeople slam bam and writer pride insight -- including mine -- avoid the trap that dental sites are like any other site - which they are NOT.

Dentists should develop their websites as if they are focused on one kind of patient/one person. NO ONE READS THE ENTIRE WEBSITE!

If I have fears about going to the dentist, I am focused on how you are going to make me COMFORTABLE and not cause me PAIN! Show me the comfort. Tell me the stories of how patients felt like they were floating on HUGE clouds of FLUFFY PAINLESSNESS.

Change is a Coming - Deal With It!

The super secret and totally guaranteed marketing solution has saved a few practices - but they lack reality, which does little to change the reality of the dental consumer. That 'reality' is covered with anxiety, misperceptions, mistrust and denial and fairytale flim-flam marketing is not likely to change things.

What I do takes more time to ramp up and will cost more than most dentists plan on spending. This approach might require postponing college for all but your favorite child or at least going without that iJet you want, which Apple is introducing in 2025. Then again, if you can find that easy and cheap solution to a bazillion patients, I will eat my Apple iJet once it is delivered.

Invest in your future to avoid missing the boat on the next stage of dental care awareness. Otherwise, consumers will continue to drop through the 'cancelled their dentist visit again' trapdoor and descend into the 'dental disease has caught up to them' dungeon.

To Conclude: Cheap & Easy… Time to Meet Dental RealityGoing cheap into the night and taking the easy way out to lunch has done very little for dental health in this country. Dentists taking the same path with their marketing foster a lack of understanding in the value proper dental care provides and the vital reasons for regularly visiting the dentist.

My recommendation to dentists: communicate with the same assertiveness, professionalism and comprehensiveness put into the dentistry you provide and want patients to accept. Any other emphasis or strategy lacks the power to change the dynamic that has created the situation you are in.

Article by Dick Chwalek
NicheDental.com

For more direct guidance…
CALL 866-453-1026 • Ext 251




Featured Strategic Marketing Partner

A Consistent and Scalable strategy sets EDM apart from other marketers
Dental Postcards, Mailers, Patient Newsletters, Keep In Touch Marketing

March Seminars for Dentists


Need answers? Staying viable and healthy during a crazy economy. Solving every day business challenges. Achieving Legal Wellness. Better Dental Team Communication. Attracting New Patients. Employment Issues.
Get the right answers from Northern Dental Alliance members. The only obligation, reserve your spot--limited seating!
This hybrid, dual topic seminar on March 13, 2009 will present successful strategies for dentists and dental practices to develop and protect their personal and business investment.
Pertinent and specific information to build your success repertoire. Plus a box lunch for your convenience and nourishment.
Seminars Presented by Northern Dental Alliance

11:45AM Presentation 

  • Presenter: Dick Chwalek - Niche Dental

  • Topic: Communication is Everything • Preparing Patients for Out-Of-Pocket Value

  • Summary: See Below

1:00PM Presentation 



> Presentation Summaries 


Communication is Everything: Preparing Patients for Out-Of Pocket Value

Dick's talk will focus on building value in your services and expertise. His approach is based on preparing the consumer to choose a higher level of value by creating a connective communication structure.  The consumer is too often behind the curve on what is available and why paying much more can be worth it. Rather than letting insurance be their guide and making sticker shock your sidekick, position your recommendations to be the undeniable and unavoidable solution. Make the macro-economy irrelevant; standout so those who will pay for value know you are there!
Key Communication Concepts Covered
  • Communication is Health, Expertise and Revenue

  • Building New Communication Routes

  • Prepare Consumers, Your Patients

  • Creating A Framework

  • Avoiding Generic

  • Being Specific  



Legal Wellness in Dentistry • The Value of Prevention

Michael will discuss in his session the assessment of a dental practice’s “legal wellness,” with a special emphasis on insurance audits, recordkeeping, and the importance of employment agreements.
The session uses and refers to a legal wellness” checklist, which can also be a resource for dentists to discuss, and potentially prioritize issues, with their legal counsel.

Remember to RSVP • Lunch is provided

Event Hosted by Rick Epple, Epple Financial Advisors

Dentists Get Personal Financial Tools for Whipsawing Economy

Dentist CE Course: Financial Preventative Care
Making the most out of your financial opportunities...
Location: Renstrom Dental Studio
Date: February 17, 2008
Gathering Time: Appetizers 6:15 PM
Program Time: 6:30 – 8:00 PM

This short, timely course will be given by Rick Epple, Senior Financial advisor at Epple Financial Advisors in the Renstrom dental laboratory seminar room. Rick will cover ways to maximize financial opportunities, implement effective succession and retirement plans, and  achieve financial independence.

At this dental seminar, dentists from the Twin Cities MN area will be presented with ideas and strategies that you can use to build a financial future, enabling you to live the life that you always dreamed of. Rick will discuss a model for making smart decisions, common pitfalls, avoiding and escaping the financial alarm trap, resources to count on, and much more.

Care for your future just as you do for your dental patients! There will be no cost for attending and all dentists are welcome to attend. Hope to see you there!

Rick is a Northern Dental Alliance Member.

To RSVP and find out more about the Dentist Financial CE seminar at NDA.

Find out more about Rick Epple, CFP - Financial Advisor for Dentists in MN and other states.

Tuesday

Dental Marketing Consultant Presents Seminars in Nashville

In late November Niche Dental president and marketing coach Dick Chwalek presented two seminars in Tennessee. The first seminar was for junior students at Meharry Medical College, School of Dentistry. The evening session was presented to area dental specialists, general dentists and dentistry residents at the home of Nashville oral surgeons Brian and Tania Howlett.

Dick would like to thank Dr. Walter Owens who invited him to speak and introduced him to students.

Visit Niche Dental on Twitter.com

Monday

Dental CE Breakfast Seminars

The Topics

  • Practice Transition Strategies and Dental Implant CE
Seminar Date/Time

  • November 14, 2008 and December 12, 2008  (Fridays)
  • Call or Email to Reserve Your Spot/For Specific Times
Where To Be

  • 1000 Twelve Oaks Center Drive (394 and 494)
  • Suite 101
  • Wayzata, MN 55391
--- No Cost but Seating is Limited - Up to 12 Dentists
--- Reserve A Spot NOW!
--- Breakfast & CEU Certificates provided

CLICK HERE to send email to sign up for this Dental CE Breakfast Seminar
or
CALL 866-556-6213 and leave a message or talk with a member.

Sponsored by Northern Dental Alliance, Bank of America, Renstrom Dental Studio, and Aftco Practice Transitions

Dental continuing education is vital for the health of your patients, business and life because... What You Don't Know Can Help You!
Northern Dental Alliance is presenting specific and relevant strategies throughout the region as individual members, as a group, via our website, and other Internet technologies to get you the right information at the right time. Put your patients, dental practice, and personal goals on a secure foundation.

Saturday

Value and Advanced Dentistry

Working with dentists and dental laboratories since 1996, I have actually learned something that might be helpful. Most dentists know these things, but few consumers get the depth of what is going on in today's dentistry.

Most consumers see a cool new dentistry technology promoted on some TV news segment and that is all they get: 3 minutes of glitz with nothing to sink their teeth into. Unless they need it or pursue it within a few months of the broadcast - the concept evaporates from their knowledge base. Extreme makeover shows are a boost to the cosmetic possibilities of advanced dentistry; porcelain veneers got their 15 minutes of fame.

Yet even these 'popular' hits are seen by a small portion of the population and the depth bottoms out very quickly. While the value of a 'Hollywood smile' is greatly enhanced, the true value of advanced dentistry is almost non-existent. Of the 100 million people in the U.S. that need more dental treatment than they are getting, maybe 1 million people are going to get, or ask for anything, cosmetic. Many might want cosmetic dentistry changes - but few come in for that and say, "I want to look beautiful".

But if consumers knew all the things that are possible and how much more healthy they could be - even reducing their chance for a heart attack or stroke - the tide might turn. Right now the tide is mostly on the cosmetic WOW rather than on restorative and renewing VALUE. As a marketer, I know the value of WOW - but as a father and someone who focuses specifically on dentistry as a marketer, I also know that WOW can get in the way of what is really important.

Consumers not overtly interested in the "cosmetic" too often see this WOW as a reason to discount the value of what is underneath. When it comes right down to it, WOW is not what they will value. Getting in between this dichotomy (of the WOW that excites us and the lasting value we really need/want) and making headway is not easy.

What dentists should do to improve the value gap...
Start communicating in a wider sphere. It is not one mailing sent in vacuum of value ignorance. It is not a dental website consumers see before the their value base is improved. It is getting out in front of the consumer and pro-actively, consistently stating your position; whether it is a series of postcard mailings or walking back and forth with a sandwich board in front of your dental practice.

Otherwise, sit back and watch things happen the way they will without you doing anything. Of course, each choice has a cost.

What consumers should do to increase the value of their dentistry...
Ask for more than what you got yesterday. Do not assume your dentist is doing everything they can do or that is possible. Even ask how they work with their dental lab to make sure your treatment is how it should be. Let cost and insurance be a guide - but make sure these 'guides' do not entrap you in a valueless experience.

What I will do...
Be more concerned about dental care than dental marketing. Explain real value better and be more creative than simply hitting the superficial WOW button. Think beyond the status quo even though upsetting this applecart is fraught with difficulty as well.

While advanced dentistry provides many great obvious benefits, most people need its basic health improvement components. To get your attention, dental marketing will often 'suggest' it is all about whiter, beautiful smiles.

Yet just as beauty is skin deep, realize it is the next level of what we are doing that is more important. The higher value of dental marketing is when it gets you to visit a dentist or your dentist sooner than later. Thinking beauty rather than cavities can put people in a better mood to move forward and throwing in some health reality is effective for others.

While dental marketing is a small piece of the solution - it can help tip the balance in favor of action over inaction. This faster action can save teeth, smiles and maybe even lives.

Posted by Dick Chwalek of Niche Dental