It struck me a long while ago that there is a need to simplify what marketing and advertising are for a dental practice.
Many of our clients and other dentists were in a state of confusion about what to do to really get the type of patients they wanted and the number of new patients they wanted each month through marketing.
I would hear all the hype phrases and sales talk they had heard from countless marketing salesmen, other dentists, friends, and even patients, such as:
You need SEO to be number one.
Get to be number one on Google, and you will see the patients rolling in.
You need our PPC (Adwords) system and management.
Our mailers are the best.
Public Relations (PR) is the best way to start growing.
Internal marketing to clients with “Care to share” type promotions of all kinds is how to do it.
Make these videos, and all will be well.
Social media is the way to go nowadays, and it’s cheap.
No marketing – just go for word of mouth and grow your practice.
You have probably heard more than these. It’s confusing when trying to decide on what to do, isn’t it?
Let’s simplify it!
There is a common denominator of these suggested ways of marketing: they are all methods of distributing a message.
By message, I mean the information you transmit about the services and benefits of your practice to your target audience.
When salespeople talk to you about the marketing you should do, they rarely mention what should be said in the message to get someone interested enough to call your office. And how to say it, and with what imagery.
The simple rule of successful dental marketing is to create content and imagery that resonates with the target audience and motivates them to contact your office to schedule an appointment.
Truthfully, the harder thing is to make marketing that resonates with its target audience and gets a response than to work out how to distribute it. Any competent marketing company can work out how to get you onto the first page of Google results or mail a postcard.
Ever read a magazine and read all the ads that were in it? Ever watched a TV show and paid attention to all the ads that appear within it? Ever read a newspaper and all the advertising that is in it? Ever gone online and searched for something and read what was on all the websites that you clicked through to? No!!!
What you would have seen, remembered, and even interacted with would be the ads and commercials that resonated with you immediately as you flicked through, turned pages, or listened in.
They got across a message to you that attracted and interested you, and got that idea to you in a fraction of a second. Yes, that’s right! A fraction of a second.
Wow!! That’s a tough one to do. Yes, you are right. It is tough in advertising and marketing to get that sort of response to our messages sent out in large quantities daily. The average person sees and hears many ads per day. Many messages. But only a very few garner his attention.
These attention-grabbing marketing items are called “buttons”. Something a person would react to in some way when seen, read, or heard.
How do you get these “buttons”? By survey and marketing research. Asking people what they need and want, and what they consider valuable.
We at Gileard Dental Marketing are experts in Marketing research. We use marketing research and surveys to develop our Internet and print marketing products. This plays a major role in our success.
Once this data is known, the message can be crafted, and the marketing pieces that are successful can be created, whether they be digital, print, radio, TV, or video.
Any questions, please contact me – I’ll be happy to answer and go over your marketing and simplify your vision of it to help you make a plan for 2017 that will see your practice expand in the direction you want.
All the best for 2017 and Happy New Year.
Keith Gilleard
