What are the most common dental marketing questions? As a
dental marketing coach and consultant working with many different dentists over the course of a year, I see many similarities with dentistry and marketing.
Dental patients also have many questions that my dentist clients need to answer. Some are more easily dealt with; others are more delicate or problematic. Dentists can often only answer in generalities. To dental patients, it might sound like avoidance, but usually it falls in the legitimate category of “we need to do a complete oral exam to make sure”.
Yet we all desire
simple answers with an
inexpensive cost to go with it. For my consumer cohorts and me, it is dental care. For you and my dentist clients, it is dental practice marketing. However, we also want to get a high level of value and realize that complexity and unknowns are part of life.
To build value and avoid causing mistrust, both of us –
dentist and
dental marketer – need to effectively enlighten each other’s constituencies. They need to know how to determine when value should take over from a pure cost perspective and when complexity requires us to do more than throw mud at the “solutions” wall.
Let’s see how these two perspectives, dental care and marketing, compare.
Frequently Asked Questions Comparison
--- Actual dentist provided the consumer questions for this TOP list.
1. Why doesn’t dental insurance cover more of my procedures? (I ask because because your expertise and my dental health is only valuable up to a point.)
1. How come your fees for dental marketing are higher than I was expecting to pay (and do not reflect the low value I put on this type of service)?
2. Is this dental treatment going to hurt in any way?
2. Can you guarantee that my first dental postcard mailing will work?
3. Is this dentistry procedure necessary?
3. Can I do less
dental advertising and still get a good result?
4. My child needs braces. What do I need to do? (Asked before an exam)
4. I need to attract more dental patients. What do I need to do? (Asked without knowing your entire situation, real budget, etc.)
5. What age should my children start their dental care?
5. I have never marketed my dental practice at all or not very consistently or proactively; I have been opened for 2 months to 30 years. Where should I start?
6. Why do I need dental x-rays?
6. Why should I do a
dental marketing plan?
7. Why do I need to come every six months to get my teeth cleaned?
7. Can I just do one
direct mail dental postcard and then see what happens?
8. What is periodontal disease?
8. Why do I need
consistent dental marketing to keep my practice healthy?
9. Am I a good candidate for Invisalign braces?
9. Should my dental practice just stick with the same old, same old (my dwindling referral network, etc.) and not try anything new since it could be risky?
Complexity/Value VS Simplicity/Cost
Dentistry is often complex. Yet consumers want simple answers. Your education and training, the professionals you employ, and the products and technology you use require significant financial resources – especially if you want to offer latest, greatest dental service.
And even though consumers "want" these new, amazing dental treatments, they often expect it to have very little impact (at least obvious) on their wallets. This large value and reality disconnect squeezes things quite a bit. Without assertive communication (dental marketing) the opening for success will stay very small and probably get smaller.
Dental marketing has its complexities as well. Yet almost anyone can do it, even dentists— without a state dental board and health officials requiring they do 75 hours of dental marketing CE each year. This – I can do it on my own if I want AND the reality of time needed, increased trial and error potential, and constant changes in dental marketing techniques – creates a value disconnect as well.
How many hours do dentists spend on their own marketing to "save money" but then their trial and error rate is double or triple that of a middle-of-the-road dental marketer? Yes it might cost more "out of pocket" to get the results you really want, but is that not what you tell your patients. I do have an idea of how we could make things better -- develop a dental marketing insurance plan. Think of the bureaucratic marketing bliss we could achieve. I will send you the appropriate forms as soon as they are available.
How Can We Solve This Dentistry Dilemma?
First, decide what is most important. Is it value or cost? Should we avoid complexity (and hope for simple answers when they are not there) or go beyond simplistic marketing of dentistry and be more creative in addressing the challenges?
Once you make your decision, start communicating it consistently: whatever “it” is. Dental marketing in a consistent way is 50-90% of success. Of course, “success” depends on your competition, what methods are employed, and the frequency. (That darn complexity again.)
Next, consider what your value is and what person or entity can best develop it throughout your communication system (you, someone you know, a dental marketer, dental consultant, etc.).
Finally, rather than following the herd – be creative so you standout consistently. Choosing the generic – often the cheaper but little standout value – dental marketer – means at some point you will be (or continue to be) thought of as any dentist – which means your value will be generic and only covered by dental insurance.
DENTAL FAQ #10
> Both of these are mine.
10. Is there a dentist near you that has extra training and knowledge like you do (from sources like
LVI,
AACD,
Pankey,
John Kois,
Peter Dawson,
AGD, and
dental labs AND does
smile makeovers,
dental implants,
neuromuscular dentistry,
dental exams,
crown and bridge dentistry,
porcelain veneers,
braces, and/or
smile whitening) but charges less than you do and will achieve the same value and result as you do?
10. Is there any place I can get dental marketing cheaper – but will also put the same level of value into my message, image,
dental website writing,
dentist brochure,
cosmetic dentistry postcards,
dental practice logos,
dental PPC online advertising,
dentistry stationery, and
dental websites SEO?
> I like building value because simplicity is boring and contributes to the dumbing down to the lowest common denominator of what is possible. More importantly, your patients deserve all dentistry has to offer. When you are ready to get them that level of care, we should talk.
Sincerely,
Dick Chwalek - Niche Dental President
CALL 866-453-1026 ext 251
Dental Marketing Coach and Dentistry Consultant
www.NicheDental.com
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