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
PLUS - Build Value into, and Be Consistent with, your dental marketing...
Consistently Attract New Patients with Personalized Family or Cosmetic Dentist Postcards!
Dental Logos With Standout POWER and Custom Dentistry Websites Too!.
Tuesday
Website SEO For Dentists: Exposed!
SEO is working for some dentists and dental practices. But be wary of the HYPE! Dental website SEO is a 'well' of potential that cannot be fully understood or controlled – even by the dentist website SEO experts – because it is always evolving and not necessarily doing more for the money spent.
Make sure the dental website SEO well you are lowered into provides enough financial liquidity to pay back your investment not just a very long rope wrapping around your dental marketing budget.
Website SEO is NOT like dental treatment that has an upward trend of improvement over time – it is more like shifting sands of value with many areas of quicksand for your marketing dollars. Make sure you get the whole picture for your dental website strategy not just a service with a bunch of over-hyped promises. Your dentist web site strategy should focus on what YOU need, not mostly what SEO needs!
Your dentistry has a value that should standout from the GIMMICKS dental SEO firms have in their quiver. Make sure the dental practice Website SEO firm’s belief in their own service is not more overblown than their knowledge of other dental marketing services that might be more valuable to you.
Secondarily, dental SEO merely WAITS for new patients to search… so you end up fighting for the same limited patient base your dentist competitors are. Plus it is getting even more difficult to get those new dental patients as more of your dental practice competitors join in the online and SEO fray.
This means rather than enhancing the overall supply of patients, you are paying more and more dental marketing dollars for fewer patients than the first dentist that did SEO. While I do see issues with its SINGULAR potential for driving patients to your dental practice, SEO can help you gain a foothold in the dental advertising environment.
SEO – search engine optimization – the “free click” concept – is very seductive for many dentists. It is the “Free” dental PR of the web. However, there is REAL WORK involved. Either you do the dental web site search engine optimizing or your dental Webmaster does.
Dental SEO is an ongoing process. You also need to be wary of the many pitfalls and gimmicks that might hurt the high ranking potential of your dental web site. Think of effective dentist SEO as keeping ahead of periodontal disease with your patients. There are good days where you feel good about what has been done – but if nothing is done for months – much of the value is lost. Search engines change their rules and algorithms, and the basic technology of tracking results transforms constantly.
Effective dental website SEO is a matter of valuable content, updating, and some technical formatting and structuring. This is not all about “meta tags” as it was in the early days. Some SEO groups can even get your site blacklisted: using various schemes like “link farming” and “keyword slamming”. These are very shallow dental SEO strategies. Be sure the strategy is also about valuing your dentist expertise not just finding “a dental website”.
The most vexing dentist web SEO issue: there is no way to really quantify the value of any specific strategy that will get you at the top consistently because of all these variables. Unless they assess many aspects of their dental marketing, dentists will just pay more until “it happens”.
Finally, to gain the upper hand in this online dental advertising environment, it makes sense to have a decent offline proactive dental marketing campaign. Use SEO to gather up dental patients who are already out there searching for a dentist, but make sure you are ALSO introducing more people to the value of your dental practice brand through an external marketing strategy, a dental direct mail program for example. Even sending a few hundred or a thousand dental postcards a month, which direct consumer directly to your dental web site not to search for any dentist.
Remember dental SEO is a regressive strategy unless you are priming the pump with a proactive – get more consumers to log online – public (and patient) dental marketing communication campaigns. Avoid the quicksand of one trick pony dental advertising strategy. Get the right dental communication mix, Integrate!
Sincerely, Dick Chwalek - Niche Dental President
CALL 866-453-1026
Dentist Marketing Coach and Dental Consultant
NicheDental.com
PLUS - Go Proactive with your dental marketing...
Dental Logos With Standout POWER, Stationery Design, Dentist Websites Too!.
Grow Your Patient Base Fast with Personalized Dental or Orthodontic Postcards!
Make sure the dental website SEO well you are lowered into provides enough financial liquidity to pay back your investment not just a very long rope wrapping around your dental marketing budget.
Website SEO is NOT like dental treatment that has an upward trend of improvement over time – it is more like shifting sands of value with many areas of quicksand for your marketing dollars. Make sure you get the whole picture for your dental website strategy not just a service with a bunch of over-hyped promises. Your dentist web site strategy should focus on what YOU need, not mostly what SEO needs!
Your dentistry has a value that should standout from the GIMMICKS dental SEO firms have in their quiver. Make sure the dental practice Website SEO firm’s belief in their own service is not more overblown than their knowledge of other dental marketing services that might be more valuable to you.
Secondarily, dental SEO merely WAITS for new patients to search… so you end up fighting for the same limited patient base your dentist competitors are. Plus it is getting even more difficult to get those new dental patients as more of your dental practice competitors join in the online and SEO fray.
This means rather than enhancing the overall supply of patients, you are paying more and more dental marketing dollars for fewer patients than the first dentist that did SEO. While I do see issues with its SINGULAR potential for driving patients to your dental practice, SEO can help you gain a foothold in the dental advertising environment.
SEO – search engine optimization – the “free click” concept – is very seductive for many dentists. It is the “Free” dental PR of the web. However, there is REAL WORK involved. Either you do the dental web site search engine optimizing or your dental Webmaster does.
Dental SEO is an ongoing process. You also need to be wary of the many pitfalls and gimmicks that might hurt the high ranking potential of your dental web site. Think of effective dentist SEO as keeping ahead of periodontal disease with your patients. There are good days where you feel good about what has been done – but if nothing is done for months – much of the value is lost. Search engines change their rules and algorithms, and the basic technology of tracking results transforms constantly.
Effective dental website SEO is a matter of valuable content, updating, and some technical formatting and structuring. This is not all about “meta tags” as it was in the early days. Some SEO groups can even get your site blacklisted: using various schemes like “link farming” and “keyword slamming”. These are very shallow dental SEO strategies. Be sure the strategy is also about valuing your dentist expertise not just finding “a dental website”.
The most vexing dentist web SEO issue: there is no way to really quantify the value of any specific strategy that will get you at the top consistently because of all these variables. Unless they assess many aspects of their dental marketing, dentists will just pay more until “it happens”.
Finally, to gain the upper hand in this online dental advertising environment, it makes sense to have a decent offline proactive dental marketing campaign. Use SEO to gather up dental patients who are already out there searching for a dentist, but make sure you are ALSO introducing more people to the value of your dental practice brand through an external marketing strategy, a dental direct mail program for example. Even sending a few hundred or a thousand dental postcards a month, which direct consumer directly to your dental web site not to search for any dentist.
Remember dental SEO is a regressive strategy unless you are priming the pump with a proactive – get more consumers to log online – public (and patient) dental marketing communication campaigns. Avoid the quicksand of one trick pony dental advertising strategy. Get the right dental communication mix, Integrate!
Sincerely, Dick Chwalek - Niche Dental President
CALL 866-453-1026
Dentist Marketing Coach and Dental Consultant
NicheDental.com
PLUS - Go Proactive with your dental marketing...
Dental Logos With Standout POWER, Stationery Design, Dentist Websites Too!.
Grow Your Patient Base Fast with Personalized Dental or Orthodontic Postcards!
Friday
Is Leasing A New Dental Office In Your Future?
Making a big decision like leasing a dental office is fraught with many long term issues. While there is some potential for you to get it all right - one miscue can set you back in many ways not just financially.
I was contacted a couple weeks ago by someone who actually helps dentists around the country to get the best deal on their lease. George Vaill, a dental office leasing expert, has one of those unique and niche oriented business concepts that get right down to business. There is no huge fee and you can save money as well and avoid the headaches of trial and error, which can last many years in this case.
As of yet, none of my dental clients have worked with him - but it can't hurt to see what is possible. Why open your new dental practice and generate negative and long lasting cacophony of coulda, shoulda, woulda voices in your head.
Being your own hard-nosed dental office lease negotiator might have been what you minored in at Alma Mater U, but if not, why would you want to start the learning prowess in this situation?
GEORGE VAILL DENTAL OFFICE LEASE NEGOTIATIONS
34 Edward Drive • Winchester, MA 01890
Link here to his site... Dental Office Leasing: Contact George Vaill
Sincerely,
Dick Chwalek - Niche Dental President
Dental Marketing Coach and Consultant
NicheDental.com
PLUS...
Standout with Personalized Dental or Orthodontic Postcards!
Create The Dentist Expert Brand And Get the Dental Logo You Need.
I was contacted a couple weeks ago by someone who actually helps dentists around the country to get the best deal on their lease. George Vaill, a dental office leasing expert, has one of those unique and niche oriented business concepts that get right down to business. There is no huge fee and you can save money as well and avoid the headaches of trial and error, which can last many years in this case.
As of yet, none of my dental clients have worked with him - but it can't hurt to see what is possible. Why open your new dental practice and generate negative and long lasting cacophony of coulda, shoulda, woulda voices in your head.
Being your own hard-nosed dental office lease negotiator might have been what you minored in at Alma Mater U, but if not, why would you want to start the learning prowess in this situation?
GEORGE VAILL DENTAL OFFICE LEASE NEGOTIATIONS
34 Edward Drive • Winchester, MA 01890
Link here to his site... Dental Office Leasing: Contact George Vaill
Sincerely,
Dick Chwalek - Niche Dental President
Dental Marketing Coach and Consultant
NicheDental.com
PLUS...
Standout with Personalized Dental or Orthodontic Postcards!
Create The Dentist Expert Brand And Get the Dental Logo You Need.
What Makes A Dental Website Work?
Search Engine Optimization, or SEO for dentists is a hot topic in dental website marketing. While being high on the search engines has its advantages, it is not much different than being the first ad in the yellow pages many years ago.
With a HIGH SEO RANKING for your dental website, you will get more window shoppers, but not necessarily very many patients or at least those who will understand and appreciate--in timely manner--the value you will present them.
Rather than merely cranking up the number of "scanning eyeballs" also make sure you are moving towards an integrated and patient attracting dental marketing strategy.
Here the main elements you need to be successful dentist online:
1) Present your best "real people" smile makeover photos or videos not dental cases alone.
2) Have testimonials of dentistry patients saying many different things about their experience, their dentist and their new confidence.
3) Present various elements that include the dentist (you) with patients, about who the dentist is in real life, and other elements such as dental pr (dentist on TV video, etc.)
See What Arthur Freedman - Hartford CT Area Cosmetic Smile Makeover Dentist Says.
Sincerely,
Dick Chwalek - Dental Marketing Coaching
Call 866-453-1026
NicheDental.com
With a HIGH SEO RANKING for your dental website, you will get more window shoppers, but not necessarily very many patients or at least those who will understand and appreciate--in timely manner--the value you will present them.
Rather than merely cranking up the number of "scanning eyeballs" also make sure you are moving towards an integrated and patient attracting dental marketing strategy.
Here the main elements you need to be successful dentist online:
1) Present your best "real people" smile makeover photos or videos not dental cases alone.
2) Have testimonials of dentistry patients saying many different things about their experience, their dentist and their new confidence.
3) Present various elements that include the dentist (you) with patients, about who the dentist is in real life, and other elements such as dental pr (dentist on TV video, etc.)
See What Arthur Freedman - Hartford CT Area Cosmetic Smile Makeover Dentist Says.
Sincerely,
Dick Chwalek - Dental Marketing Coaching
Call 866-453-1026
NicheDental.com
Thursday
Dental Advertising: Consistency Rules the Day!
Whatever you think of dental marketing, it has a value to the consumer. It reminds, cajoles, influences, and encourages them to do what they need to do, want to do, and would make them happier.
Being consistent means you get to the dental consumer when they are "ready to do something". While it is no longer true now -- remember the days when the car ads overpopulated the newspaper? Why do they need to market that much anyway? Most of us would think. Then 18 months later when you were in need of a new car - there was not enough of them.
Cars and dentistry are different, but consumers are always the same. They need it when they need it and not any sooner - so dental marketing has to be consistent. Your dental practice always needs to be out there and top of the mind when they start looking.
However, there is subset of this dental consumer group that will put things off until someone reminds them or informs them of some new value provided. "I won't buy a new car till they get 100 mpg!" "I would get a smile makeover if they could do it without causing me pain!"
Unfortunately, once this "new value" is discovered and publicly marketed a few times - if at all - most dental consumers never hear about it again. Like now everyone who will ever buy a car has one!
Be consistent about your dental marketing and you will be successful! Of course, I believe my strategies work better then other dental marketers and also add long term value to your dental brand - but however you do it - do it!
Sincerely,
Dick Chwalek - Dental Marketing Consultant
CALL 866-453-1026
and Ask about my proven Dental Marketing: Connective Communication system!
Being consistent means you get to the dental consumer when they are "ready to do something". While it is no longer true now -- remember the days when the car ads overpopulated the newspaper? Why do they need to market that much anyway? Most of us would think. Then 18 months later when you were in need of a new car - there was not enough of them.
Cars and dentistry are different, but consumers are always the same. They need it when they need it and not any sooner - so dental marketing has to be consistent. Your dental practice always needs to be out there and top of the mind when they start looking.
However, there is subset of this dental consumer group that will put things off until someone reminds them or informs them of some new value provided. "I won't buy a new car till they get 100 mpg!" "I would get a smile makeover if they could do it without causing me pain!"
Be consistent about your dental marketing and you will be successful! Of course, I believe my strategies work better then other dental marketers and also add long term value to your dental brand - but however you do it - do it!
Sincerely,
Dick Chwalek - Dental Marketing Consultant
CALL 866-453-1026
and Ask about my proven Dental Marketing: Connective Communication system!
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