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Success with web-based marketing, Part III

AIM Marketing

Success at web-based marketing means implementing strategies, both conventional and Internet-based, which direct qualified prospective patients to your website.  It also means having a website that encourages visitors to willingly share with you their contact information. Finally, it means giving the market segment we call Caterpillars and Tire Kickers the means and motivation to remain in communication with your practice. This represents an especially fertile opportunity for practice growth because few of your colleagues bother to keep in touch with this market segment. By capturing visitor information and communicating with them over time, you are, in essence, bringing your website to them, offering you the potential to dominate this highly profitable market segment.

Remember: today’s Tire Kickers are tomorrow’s Trigger Pullers!

Generating the Qualified Patient Lead (QPL) and Converting them into a Patient

As we have discussed, a good looking website and qualified visitors are certainly necessary, but insufficient, to success with web-based marketing. Even if your Internet Marketing Performance Assessment (IMPA) confirms your site is doing a good job attracting, and impressing the visitor with its content, it must also generate Qualified Patient Leads, that is, motivate them to contact you or, at least, request to be contacted by you.

Of Tire Kickers and Trigger Pullers?Studies* have shown that first-time website inquiries may be classified as follows:

  • 20% will take action immediately (we call these the ‘Trigger Pullers’)
  • 20% will not buy at all (the DNRs for ‘do not resuscitate’)
    and
  • The remaining 60% will buy from someone within 12 months. We call this group the ‘Tire Kickers.’

Many people are surprised to learn that this third category is every bit as important as the first, because, if they are treated correctly, they represent a highly profitable source of new patients. The key is to run the race at the patient’s pace.

Generating The Qualified Patient Lead (QPL)

The homepage of your website needs to cater to the Tire Kicker as well as the Trigger Puller. For those visitors who are ready to appoint, be sure you have a Request an Appointment Form on your Home Page and a Unique Telephone Number. Both allow you to track the new patient as originating from your website, which aids in evaluating your website marketing investment.

Converting Tire Kickers into Trigger Pullers

To capitalize on this segment of your market, your website must offer opportunities for the visitor to learn about your practice without having to commit to a visit. Offer special content conveying a high perception of value to your website visitors. In so doing, you convert anonymous surfers on your website into valuable QPLs. To achieve this use sign-up forms and graphics on your home page and throughout your website encouraging visitors to complete a Form to receive information of interest and value e.g. special reports, audio and video emails, tips on achieving and maintaining optimum oral health, etc.

Next Steps

Once you have delivered on your first promise to the QPL, that is, the Special Report, continue to deliver timely, valuable, and frequent (but not too frequent!) communications. This is often referred to as your drip marketing campaign.

Here’s a sample schedule:

  • Day One – E-mail Special Report
  • Day Five – Audio Post Card
  • Day Fourteen – Email #1
  • Day Twenty-Eight – Video Postcard
  • Day Forty-Two – E-mail #2Day Fifty-Six – Email #3
  • Day Seventy – Mail Invitation: Special Offer
  • And so on for the rest of the year…

We recommend a combination of invitation and post card style mailings. The design should be similar, so you reinforce your practice brand in the mind of the QPL. The key to success with this is memorable simplicity.

Emails should include links to your photo gallery, testimonial pages, and other compelling reasons to keep in contact with you, such as attractive Special Offers. Audio postcards are colorful emails that also include a recording of your or a staff member’s voice. This is another way to subtly create a sense of familiarity and comfort in the mind (and emotions) of your QPL.

Communications should continue for up to a year, as it can take that long ‘for a caterpillar to metamorphose into a butterfly’.

By regularly and professionally following up with your website visitors, you have positioned yourself as a trusted expert in the field so, when they do decide the time is right, it’s you they’ll call.

By the way, if you already have a website, all you need to do is add contact forms to it then, just feed the visitors who complete the forms into your communication campaign.

Daniel Bobrow, MBA, is president of the American Dental Marketing Company, a dentistry marketing and patient communications consultancy. He is also Executive Director of Dentists’ Climb for a Cause™. Readers interested in learning more about integrated marketing and patient communication products, systems and services are invited to contact Mr. Bobrow at 312-455-9488 or

DBobrow@AmericanDentalMarketing.com

or visit

AmericanDentalMarketing.com

AIM MarketingSuccess with web-based marketing, Part III
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Marketing Insider: Success with web-based marketing, Part II

AIM Marketing

In this Article we tackle the second key to a successful website, namely, attracting the visitor. Before your website can encourage patients to visit your office, they first must find your website. For this to happen, you need to position yourself so that, when people and businesses in your community are searching for dental care, it’s your website, or a page within your site, that they find. Access Paths

In this Article we tackle the second key to a successful website, namely, attracting the visitor.

Before your website can encourage patients to visit your office, they first must find your website. For this to happen, you need to position yourself so that, when people and businesses in your community are searching for dental care, it’s your website, or a page within your site, that they find.

Access Paths

A simple way to attract people to your website is to include your website address (URL) everywhere prospective patients will see or hear it: on stationery, business cards, external signage, your on-hold message and, of course, on all conventional marketing channels such as: direct mail, TV, radio, billboards, etc.

Another way to get your website noticed is via online search . Online search is sub-classified into free (also called organic) and paid (sometimes termed pay-per-click) search. The advent of social media (Facebook, My Space, You Tube, etc.) is a relatively new and increasingly robust source of website visitors.

The goal all methods of online search is to get your website ranked high on search engine listings when the web surfer looking for dental care enters words or phrases (called keywords and key phrases) that are a match for what your website offers.

Online search, while not new, is assuming an ever greater “local” character. It is also rapidly gaining in importance. Even analysts who work for the Yellow Pages reported way back in 2006 that individuals used the Internet 70% of the time vs. only 30% for the Yellow Pages when searching for a local service.* That percentage will only increase in favor of Internet Search.

*Targetemtm

Pay To Play

A reasonable question to ask (and have answered) is: Should I employ a pay per click strategy and, if so, what should my investment be?

Anyone is permitted to manage a pay per click program. However, it can be a complicated and tedious process to build, maintain and update the list of terms that reference your site. More important, if managed by anyone other than an expert, it can be unnecessarily costly, especially when the wrong terms are selected and the price paid for the correct terms is too high.

When done by a professional, high quality patient leads are captured by purchasing ads with Google®, Yahoo®, Bing® (formerly MSN), and perhaps other search engines. This lets you target people within the desired radius or other boundaries of your office who are searching for the dental services you offer. These are qualified prospective patients by virtue of the fact they have taken the time and effort to find you.

Your goal with a pay per click campaign is to maximize qualified site visits by directing local individuals and families searching for dental care right to your practice website.

When a potential patient searches for, say ‘(your city) dentist’ on a search engine, your site must show up at or very near the top of the SERP (search engine result page).

This was always important, but never more so than now.  Just ask yourself how often you click past page one of search engine results and you’ll get the idea.  And you’re not only competing with your esteemed local colleagues.  There are: dental product, search directories, specialists, insurance companies and more with which to contend.  As many of these represent large commercial interests, they have, often on staff, professionals specifically trained in search engine marketing.

The bottom line on paid web advertising is that it can be a great way to quickly get your website noticed. Even if your site already ranks high for certain search words and terms, it can also help get you ranked more highly for additional terms and phrases of relevance. The only way to know is to try it. Fortunately, there should be no lengthy commitments and you should be able to increase or reduce your monthly outlay with a single phone call or email. NOT JUST WHERE BUT WHAT !!

Web Marketing, Take 2

At the core of…sites qualifying for this moniker are simple, yet compelling designs with well-chosen visuals, and…tools that let users interact with, and construct content in, unique ways. In addition to creating useful sites, the principles behind 2.0 can be used to increase organic traffic to your site, retain visitors and convert those visitors to customers, hence, Web 2.SEO.

Incorporating a well-structured Web 2.0 design into your site will improve search rankings through both improving the informational architecture of your site (cleaner, simpler code makes your site more easily indexed)…(it)…also improves the probability that high-quality sites will link to you. A simpler, more streamlined design will make your site easier to read for engines and users as well…Now, more than ever, you can please both “search bots” and visitors by keeping Web 2.SEO principles in mind when designing your site.

Getting visitors ?With limited space on a site, especially ‘above the fold’ (what a visitor sees without having to scroll down), you should aim to maximize the effectiveness of the visual communication: each graphical element should convey a message, and the textual content should be concise. The more logically organized your site is, the easier for both search bots and web visitors to find relevant information.

Specifically:

  • A simpler 2 or 3-column, central layout structure will convey a simpler, bolder message that communicates more clearly with your visitors. The central column is the ideal place for your key message, with highly targeted and compelling text.
  • Use your top header section to clearly present your site and navigation options to draw in your visitors with a bold, opening statement on what they can find on your site.
  • Keep your navigation simple: this will create a logical structure for your visitors, and translate well into a clean sitemap, which search engines can use to index your site.
  • Local, Local, Local ?Search engines have recently begun to focus more of their attention on their local search directories. As noted earlier, Local Search is growing exponentially, and so is your need to be sure the search engines know the location of your practice, and the community to which it caters.

Whoever markets your website should be adding it to the local search engine maps and directories. Our company had, until recently, used a list of local web directories we compiled over the past years to be sure our Clients’ sites were listed locally. We have now discarded that list as we found a resource that is constantly updating its listing of local directories.

Here it is:http://www.locallytype.com/pages/submit.htm#localsearchenginesus
Google also recently announced its commitment to helping consumers locate and compare local services of all kinds.

Here is an excerpt:

Find and compare local businesses
Many people come to Google.com to navigate the web, but are you aware that you can use it to navigate the real world as well? Over the past few months, we’ve been hard at work making it easier to find and compare local businesses and services right from the standard web results page.

Here’s what we’ve come up with:

From now on, you’ll see this every time you search for a place, business, or other local information. In addition to providing the basic contact information and map locations for several choices at the top of the page, we also show ratings and provide one-click access to reviews on the search results page so that you can make more informed decisions about where you want to go.

What it means for you is, if you are not listed in their local business directory, you may not receive a prominent placement at the top of Google’s search results.

To test it out, type your city, state, and service in Google and you’ll see the map. The businesses that are in this local list are the sudden recipients of a huge gift from Google – qualified and desirable traffic to their site.

A recent article in Clickz.com cited a keynote address by the Internet media and marketing, managing director for Piper Jaffrey who had some interesting points, among these that local search was second only to e-mail in importance on the web. He continued that satellite mapping will become an integral part of local search marketing.

Two Down, One To Go ?While a good looking website and even high traffic are necessary, alone they still cannot guarantee success. The next key link in the success chain is what happens once the patient finds your website, and that is the topic of our next Article.

Whatever your preferences, know what constitutes reasonable expectations, not only from your finished* product, but also from the process.

*In reality, your website should be viewed as a living and evolving instrument in a number of respects.

Accountability

To help ensure error-free implementation, someone must take responsibility for coordinating all tasks and resources. Be careful about “promoting” say, your schedule coordinator to the role of website coordinator. If you do choose to manage the process internally, be certain the person to whom you assign this important responsibility is competent, and has the time and resources to take on the challenge.

Confidence and Competence

It is reasonable to expect that whomever you retain to design your website demonstrates competency so your site is delivered on time, on budget, and as specified. This means your designer will ideally have experience in the dental field, or at least be able to show you sites he has created for other clients, which possess the aesthetics and function you require.

In general, the firm you retain will listen as much as they talk about your website design because, only by listening will they truly ‘get,’ so they can deliver, the appearance and function you desire.

Look ‘n Feel

In choosing your website’s content and layout, imagine your website from the perspective of all who might view it: your current and prospective patients, your team, the media, and yourself.

Most practices are primarily concerned with how their site is perceived by current and prospective patients. If you want your website to be used by patients of record to: ask questions, request appointments, learn more about proposed treatment, receive appointment confirmations, take surveys, offer suggestions, complete paperwork, etc. be sure the firm is experienced with handling such ‘back-end’ functions.  Most websites lack a means for capturing contact information on prospective patients, and an automated means for communicating with them during the ‘gestation period’ when they metamorphose from ‘tire kicker’ to ‘trigger puller.’ As most first-time website visitors fall into the former category, this is an important success component that should not be overlooked.

General Design Considerations

Secure your domain name Careful consideration should be given to naming your site. If you have already established a strong practice brand, the name of your website will closely match your practice name. If you select a URL matching your personal name, remember that, when it comes time to sell the practice, your successor may not value it as highly as you do.  Be sure to consult an attorney, or perform a comprehensive name search, to confirm you have the legal right to use your chosen name.

In structuring the layout of your site consider not only the format of your home page, but also any ?‘landing pages.’ You’ll want a landing page for each of your services as well as a(n):

•Meet the Dentist(s) Page ?

•Meet The Team Page ?

•Photo Gallery ?

•Schedule an Appointment Page ?

•Unique telephone number so you can track and calculate the return on your website? marketing investment ?

•Form visitors may complete to receive a report on a topic of interest and relevance to?  them ?

•Automated direct response communications campaign (more on this in an upcoming? article)?

•Easy to use CMS (content management system)?

•Cost-effective hosting solution, report system, and reliable technical support

Who should build your website?

Look for a firm that:

  • Specializes in the Dental field
  • Guarantees delivery within a reasonable timeframe, although you must be an equal partner in? this process.
  • Is able and willing to test your existing design for efficacy.
  • Offers robust, but user-friendly, reporting
  • Offers references
  • Will assist with selecting and securing an appropriate name for your website

If you get the sense the firm’s representative is reading from a canned script, you may expect to be treated as a commodity, which probably is not what you want. In general, trust your gut.

Pay Now or Pay Later

We usually get what we pay for.  In choosing who should build your web presence, be wary of the ‘free lunch.’  This can happen when the practice chooses to have a friend, relative, student, or someone else perform the project ‘for free,’ at a greatly reduced rate, or ‘on trade.’ Human nature being what it is, the person who agrees to these ‘terms’ will prioritize accordingly. More than one practice has been dismayed to learn the ‘deal’ they made resulted in inordinate delay, an inferior delivered product, or both.

The Post-Purchase Experience

Rest assured that, once your website goes live, you will want to make changes to it. You might even experience ‘technical difficulties’ from time to time. It can be a frustrating experience not to have these concerns and requests addressed to your satisfaction, or within the promised time frame, so ask for references and specifically ask what their experience has been with post-purchase service. ??Caveat Emptor?Tim Healy of TNT Dental warns “If you haven’t received correspondence from companies with names like Liberty Names of America or Domain Registry of America, you probably will. Don’t let the “domain name expiration notice” fool you. Although the expiration date of your domain name may be real, it is NOT a real invoice. The document looks official, and leads many intelligent individuals to send a check for domain name renewal.” This is a form of “slamming,” which changes your service to another company without you realizing what you have done.  Sending a check to such companies constitutes legal “permission” for them to change your service.

To protect yourself from having your domain slammed, “Know who your registrar is, and if you’re not sure, visit www.whois.sc, type in your domain name, and the name of your registrar will appear.

Check it out (and off)

Here’s a checklist to evaluate your site’s performance, and to help judge when your new website is ‘ready for prime time’:

  • Navigation bar at top makes pages accessible and easy to find
  • Site Layout is organized in a familiar pattern with important section at top and left and main content in?  center
  • Professional and clean Look ‘n Feel
  • Page Width not more than 800px (max printable width)
  • Contact Information is ‘above the fold’ for quick viewing and access ?•Quick load time e.g. not too much use of Flash and other animation, which is also a distraction to visitors
  • Interactive features e.g newsletter sign up, free consultation, etc. allows practice to efficiently build?  prospective patient contact list
  • Free offer for visitor to further encourage completion of a Form
  • Means to capture site visitor contact information
  • Follow-up aka drip marketing system to communicate with registered site visitors
  • Site ranks in top results in Google for city and ‘dentist’ demonstrating ‘relevance.’ Goal is to rank in top 3?  results as these listings receive over 80% of clicks.
  • City name is included in the title bar
  • Site meta information included (such as keywords and description) to assist with search engine?  marketing
  • Important words should be in text, not graphical images, which search engines cannot understand.
  • Pay-Per-Click (PPC) program in place, at least until the site is optimized for ‘organic results’, and uses?  ‘best practices’ i.e. are managed by a firm certified to manage the program offered by that ?  search engine.
  • Links for specific services send visitor to specific landing pages where the visitor quickly finds what they?  are looking for
  • Analytics are easy to access and interpret

Fortunately, and unlike, say, printing, where one has either to pay to redo or ‘live with’ errors, websites, are quite forgiving.  This means that, should you change your mind, most changes to your site are easily made. It also means your site does not need to be ‘perfect’ to launch. Applying the same care and attention to detail that you use in planning and delivering treatment will serve you in this process as well.

The next Article will focus on website marketing, that is, attracting qualified visitors to your website.

Daniel Bobrow, MBA, is president of the American Dental Marketing Company, a dentistry marketing and patient communications consultancy. He is also Executive Director of Dentists’ Climb for a Cause™. Readers interested in learning more about integrated marketing and patient communication products, systems and services are invited to contact Mr. Bobrow at 312-455-9488 or DBobrow@AmericanDentalMarketing.com or visit AmericanDentalMarketing.com.

AIM MarketingMarketing Insider: Success with web-based marketing, Part II
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Marketing Insider: Success with Web-based marketing, Part I

AIM Marketing

 Value Defined We all want and deserve to receive value for our investment. Value can mean different things to different people. One might value getting his or her website up and running quickly, while another might be more exacting and patient. One practice might value appearance more highly than function. Still another might prefer quantity over quality of website visitors.

Value Defined

We all want and deserve to receive value for our investment. Value can mean different things to different people. One might value getting his or her website up and running quickly, while another might be more exacting and patient. One practice might value appearance more highly than function. Still another might prefer quantity over quality of website visitors.

Whatever your preferences, know what constitutes reasonable expectations, not only from your finished* product, but also from the process.

In reality, your website should be viewed as a living and evolving instrument in a number of respects.

Accountability

To help ensure error-free implementation, someone must take responsibility for coordinating all tasks and resources. Be careful about “promoting” say, your schedule coordinator to the role of website coordinator. If you do choose to manage the process internally, be certain the person to whom you assign this important responsibility is competent, and has the time and resources to take on the challenge.

Confidence and competence

It is reasonable to expect that whomever you retain to design your website demonstrates competency so your site is delivered on time, on budget, and as specified. This means your designer will ideally have experience in the dental field, or at least be able to show you sites he has created for other clients, which possess the aesthetics and function you require.

In general, the firm you retain will listen as much as they talk about your website design because, only by listening will they truly ‘get,’ so they can deliver, the appearance and function you desire.

Look ‘n Feel

In choosing your website’s content and layout, imagine your website from the perspective of all who might view it: your current and prospective patients, your team, the media, and yourself.

Most practices are primarily concerned with how their site is perceived by current and prospective patients. If you want your website to be used by patients of record to: ask questions, request appointments, learn more about proposed treatment, receive appointment confirmations, take surveys, offer suggestions, complete paperwork, etc. be sure the firm is experienced with handling such ‘back-end’ functions.  Most websites lack a means for capturing contact information on prospective patients, and an automated means for communicating with them during the ‘gestation period’ when they metamorphose from ‘tire kicker’ to ‘trigger puller.’ As most first-time website visitors fall into the former category, this is an important success component that should not be overlooked.

General Design Considerations

Secure your domain name Careful consideration should be given to naming your site. If you have already established a strong practice brand, the name of your website will closely match your practice name. If you select a URL matching your personal name, remember that, when it comes time to sell the practice, your successor may not value it as highly as you do.  Be sure to consult an attorney, or perform a comprehensive name search, to confirm you have the legal right to use your chosen name.

In structuring the layout of your site consider not only the format of your home page, but also any ?‘landing pages.’ You’ll want a landing page for each of your services as well as a(n):

  • Meet the Dentist(s) Page
  • Meet The Team Page
  • Photo Gallery
  • Schedule an Appointment Page
  • Unique telephone number so you can track and calculate the return on your website marketing investment
  • Form visitors may complete to receive a report on a topic of interest and relevance to them
  • Automated direct response communications campaign (more on this in an upcoming article)
  • Easy to use CMS (content management system)
  • Cost-effective hosting solution, report system, and reliable technical support

Who should build your website

Look for a firm that:

  • Specializes in the Dental field
  • Guarantees delivery within a reasonable timeframe, although you must be an equal partner in? this process.
  • Is able and willing to test your existing design for efficacy.
  • Offers robust, but user-friendly, reporting
  • Offers references
  • Will assist with selecting and securing an appropriate name for your website

If you get the sense the firm’s representative is reading from a canned script, you may expect to be treated as a commodity, which probably is not what you want. In general, trust your gut.

Pay Now or Pay Later

We usually get what we pay for.  In choosing who should build your web presence, be wary of the ‘free lunch.’  This can happen when the practice chooses to have a friend, relative, student, or someone else perform the project ‘for free,’ at a greatly reduced rate, or ‘on trade.’ Human nature being what it is, the person who agrees to these ‘terms’ will prioritize accordingly. More than one practice has been dismayed to learn the ‘deal’ they made resulted in inordinate delay, an inferior delivered product, or both.

The Post-Purchase Experience

Rest assured that, once your website goes live, you will want to make changes to it. You might even experience ‘technical difficulties’ from time to time. It can be a frustrating experience not to have these concerns and requests addressed to your satisfaction, or within the promised time frame, so ask for references and specifically ask what their experience has been with post-purchase service. ??Caveat Emptor?Tim Healy of TNT Dental warns “If you haven’t received correspondence from companies with names like Liberty Names of America or Domain Registry of America, you probably will. Don’t let the “domain name expiration notice” fool you. Although the expiration date of your domain name may be real, it is NOT a real invoice. The document looks official, and leads many intelligent individuals to send a check for domain name renewal.” This is a form of “slamming,” which changes your service to another company without you realizing what you have done.  Sending a check to such companies constitutes legal “permission” for them to change your service.

To protect yourself from having your domain slammed, “Know who your registrar is, and if you’re not sure, visit www.whois.sc, type in your domain name, and the name of your registrar will appear.

Check it out (and off)

Here’s a checklist to evaluate your site’s performance, and to help judge when your new website is ‘ready for prime time’:

  • Navigation bar at top makes pages accessible and easy to find
  • Site Layout is organized in a familiar pattern with important section at top and left and main content in center
  • Professional and clean Look ‘n Feel
  • Page Width not more than 800px (max printable width)
  • Contact Information is ‘above the fold’ for quick viewing and access
  • Quick load time e.g. not too much use of Flash and other animation, which is also a distraction to visitors
  • Interactive features e.g newsletter sign up, free consultation, etc. allows practice to efficiently build prospective patient contact list
  • Free offer for visitor to further encourage completion of a Form
  • Means to capture site visitor contact information
  • Follow-up aka drip marketing system to communicate with registered site visitors
  • Site ranks in top results in Google for city and ‘dentist’ demonstrating ‘relevance.’ Goal is to rank in top 3  results as these listings receive over 80% of clicks.
  • City name is included in the title bar
  • Site meta information included (such as keywords and description) to assist with search engine marketing
  • Important words should be in text, not graphical images, which search engines cannot understand.
  • Pay-Per-Click (PPC) program in place, at least until the site is optimized for ‘organic results’, and uses  ‘best practices’ i.e. are managed by a firm certified to manage the program offered by that search engine.
  • Links for specific services send visitor to specific landing pages where the visitor quickly finds what they are looking for
  • Analytics are easy to access and interpret

Fortunately, and unlike, say, printing, where one has either to pay to redo or ‘live with’ errors, websites, are quite forgiving.  This means that, should you change your mind, most changes to your site are easily made. It also means your site does not need to be ‘perfect’ to launch. Applying the same care and attention to detail that you use in planning and delivering treatment will serve you in this process as well.

The next Article will focus on website marketing, that is, attracting qualified visitors to your website.
 

Daniel Bobrow, MBA, is president of the American Dental Marketing Company, a dentistry marketing and patient communications consultancy. He is also Executive Director of Dentists’ Climb for a Cause™. Readers interested in learning more about integrated marketing and patient communication products, systems and services are invited to contact Mr. Bobrow at 312-455-9488 or DBobrow@AmericanDentalMarketing.com or visit AmericanDentalMarketing.com.

AIM MarketingMarketing Insider: Success with Web-based marketing, Part I
read more

Communicating with patients of Record, Part III

AIM Marketing

There are two benefits your practice realizes from getting its patients to submit posts to customer review sites* and your social media. First, people increasingly depend upon service review sites in forming their opinions about a product or service, which in turn, predisposes them to making their product or service selection.

There are two benefits your practice realizes from getting its patients to submit posts to customer review sites* and your social media. First, people increasingly depend upon service review sites in forming their opinions about a product or service, which in turn, predisposes them to making their product or service selection.

Second, these posts, be they on service review or your social media sites, help optimize your website, that is, make it more  popular among search engines that are responsible for presenting your website on their results page when someone searches for a term like ‘dentist’ in your area.  It should be noted, however, that the degree of optimization benefit depends upon the extent to which what is posted is ‘keyword dense’ that is, contains words and phrases you want the search engines to recognize, and contains fully qualified urls, that is, complete website addresses (when preceded by ‘http://’ website addresses are deemed to be ‘fully qualified’).

Here are some of the more relevant service review sites for dentists:

http://www.angieslist.com

http://www.yelp.com

http://www.healthgrades.com

 

Priming The Pump?

Two of the easiest ways to get patients to post to your social media pages, or submit a positive review are 1) having in-office display materials and ‘takeaways’ with instructions for doing so, and 2) sending an email to your patients, preferably, immediately following a visit, inviting them to post or review, or take some action related to your social media presence.

Because these reviews are so valuable, you should consider offering a bit of incentive to yield the desired result. For example, you may wish to emulate what other establishments in your area have done for years only, instead of asking someone to “Drop your business card in the fishbowl to receive a change to win [this or that],” invite them to interact with you online.  Explain that, in exchange for e.g. Liking your Facebook page, “Checking In” to your location through Facebook, posting to your Twitter feed, LinkedIn profile, Facebook page or, even better, videotaping and uploading a testimonial to Youtube, your patient will be entered to receive a valuable award.

Try it. It works!

Photo: Example of an in-office display inviting your patients to like, friend and post to your social media sites.

 

Still another way to ‘build your tribe’ is via eMail:

Photo: Example of eMail sent to your patients announcing your ascension to the world of social media.

 

Another simple way to get people to join your social media sites is by inviting them to do so from your website and email signature:

Photo: Connecting made easy. ?Just embed buttons and icons into your website and email signature.

 

It’s easy to embed buttons and icons for your website visitors to click on to join, like, connect with, or follow you.

 

Responding to questionable reviews

To maximize your ability to respond to what is said about you by others, you will want to register with the more relevant review sites. The extent to which you are able to respond depends on the site. Some require a registration fee, most do not. Some allow you to respond to the review publicly, some only direct with the person posting the review, and some permit neither. In general, the best response is to have far more positive than negative reviews, then let the prospective patient decide for him or herself.

One argument in favor of directing people to post to your Facebook page is the ease with which to communicate and otherwise deal with anything that is posted to it.

So what’s best?

As with so many things, the optimum strategy for encouraging your patients to write nice things about you online depends upon your situation. If, for instance, you’ve yet to receive any Google reviews, that should probably be your first objective, so ask your patients to do so. Once you’ve received say, six or so positive Reviews, ask your patients to post comments on Yelp, Health Grades and, if they’ve registered, Angie’s List. I recommend you always encourage your patients to post to your social media pages, as well as agree to have their video recorded testimonials uploaded to Youtube.

The final piece in the puzzle is being sure your team can effectively communicate to your patients what they must do to post on your behalf.  Be sure your Team knows the sites with which you want patients to interact, and also the names of your various pages.  If you’ve set up your pages correctly, they should be very similar to your practice name, so this should not pose a challenge.

Daniel A. ‘Danny’ Bobrow, MBA, is president of the American Dental Marketing, a dentistry marketing and patient communications consultancy. He is also Executive Director of Dentists’ Climb for a Cause™. Readers interested in learning more about integrated marketing and patient communication products, systems and services are invited to contact Mr. Bobrow at 312-455-9488 or DBobrow@AmericanDentalMarketing.com or visit AmericanDentalMarketing.com.

AIM MarketingCommunicating with patients of Record, Part III
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Communicating with patients of Record, Part II

AIM Marketing

No self respecting discussion about communicating with patients of record would be complete without including social networking. Here are a few statistical tidbits, according to Socialnomics’ “Social media (is not) a fad: It is the biggest shift since the Industrial Revolution.”:  

No self respecting discussion about communicating with patients of record would be complete without including social networking.

Here are a few statistical tidbits, according to Socialnomics’ “Social media (is not) a fad: It is the biggest shift since the Industrial Revolution.”:

 

  • As of 2010, Gen Y outnumbers Baby Boomers, and it is this group that has been raised ‘on’ the Internet.
  • Ninety six percent of them have joined at least one social network.
  • One out of eight couples married in 2009 met on the Internet.
  • It took 38 years for there to be 50 million radios users,
  • 13 years for TV,
  • 4 years for the Internet,
  • 3 years for the IPOD. And,
  • It took Facebook 9 months to reach 100 MILLION USERS
  • If Facebook were a country, it would be the world’s Fourth Largest
  • The fastest growing segment on Facebook is 55-65 year old females

So, if you think social media is just a fad, think again.

Where to begin

The first social media sites to become involved with are Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn. MySpace is another possibility, but may not match your practice demographic as closely as the others. Books and other resources are available on each of these, but the most direct, and least cost, method for getting started is simply to visit each of their home pages, and register for an account.

Facebook and Twitter are extremely popular sites and make it rather simple to create a presence on their platforms. With YouTube you can upload your own videos, as well as link to them from your own website  (you can also view other videos that might interest you, but this will not help grow your practice!)

LinkedIn is used more for business than social interaction, but can be a useful way to get the word out to your patients (most of whom, after all, are involved in some form of business). If you are specialist, LinkedIn can be an especially powerful tool for communicating with referring practices.

As with any new endeavor, getting started can be a daunting proposition. I recommend you budget a certain amount of time per week, and, if possible, delegate the work to someone who is motivated and, with hope, already knowledgeable about, the subject.
Once you’ve registered and set up your profile, you are ready to begin building your tribe that is, inviting people to friend you.

Facebook makes it easy for you to find and invite people to become friends with you (or at least, with your Facebook Profile). We can also thank Facebook for making the word ‘friend’ a verb as well as a noun.

This involves setting up Facebook correctly as well as actively encouraging people to become your Friend. Facebook can also help in this regard, but do not depend exclusively on Facebook to do this job.

Tips for being found by current (and prospective) patients on Facebook

As with search engine optimization, you can grow your practice using Facebook through organic and paid search, and below I offer 5 tips to help you grow organically. Readers are also invited to receive a report presenting tips on setting up a Facebook paid search campaign.

Optimizing your pages within Facebook

Tip #1: Own your Brand. One of the first things to do when setting up a like (formerly fan) page in Facebook is select a name. It seems easy enough, but far too many people try to get ‘tricky’ with their name choices. Some people, thinking in Google terms, go with a name like Dentist – Philadelphia – Cosmetic Dentist – General Dentist – Philly Area Dentist – etc.

This may have been the way of the world in the Google Age, but it just doesn’t work for Facebook. If your practice is called “Dental Associates of Philadelphia,” that’s exactly what your Facebook page should be called! Your practice name is your brand, and that’s how you want to be recognized, so name your page after your practice and don’t change it.

Tip #2: Tell Everyone About Yourself. This is actually one area where the Google way of thinking can help you, and your main website.  The Facebook “About” box allows you to elaborate upon your practice for 250 characters. Use every character and use them wisely. Make sure to mention the following things early and often:

  • Your practice name
  • Your target area: whatever neighborhoods, cities, counties, or region you wish to target
  • Your specialties: mention all your most prominent services

A good rule of thumb is to place as much of the text from your website’s homepage as possible into your “About” box. This will not only help Facebook members see who you are; it can also help your main website’s ranking with Google.

Tip #3: There’s No Such Thing as Bad Info. Here’s another great opportunity to not only to enhance your Facebook page’s performance, but also that of your website. Complete all fields on the “Info” tab. Again, your website can be a great source of content for your Facebook page. Include your address, hours of operation, phone number, and link to your website.

Your Facebook page is also a great place to post photos of your practice and team members. The more useful the information you  pack onto your Facebook page, the more effective it will be, both on its own, and in complementing your website.

Tip #4: Build your Network. As a dental practice, you already have a group of friends out there and many, if not most, are on Facebook. Once you have your Facebook page successfully set up, it’s time to start recruiting your patients to join. If you have an email list of existing patients, send them an invitation. If you have a computer and/or wireless access in your reception area, remind your patients  you are on Facebook and ask them to join your page, (which should be your default page). Most, if not all, your patients will be happy to join your page. You just need to ask!

Tip #5: How to Post, When to Post, What to Post. Now that you’ve successfully set up your Facebook page and built a network of friends, what’s next? It’s time to plan your posting schedule. Tread carefully. Facebook makes it easy for your fans to choose to ignore you. It only takes two clicks for your fan to never see your updates again. If you’re judicious with your posts, this should not be a problem.

The most important thing to remember when posting on your page is that all your friends will see the post in their “News Feed.” Ask yourself whether you think it’s something they would like to see. If you have a new member of your dental team joining the office, Facebook is a great place to make that Announcement. If you ordered pizza for lunch and it showed up 20 minutes late, you may want to reconsider making that post.

To my mind, the art of effective social networking comes into play in the crafting of your communications campaign and content of the messages comprising your campaign.  Your overriding objective is to ensure your friends read your posts and, with hope, derive something of value from them. Posting every once in a while when you see a great article about dental health is a good idea. You can also use your posts to promote your practice (perhaps a Facebook ‘Friend Only’ Whitening Certificate for just before the holidays).

Simply put, when you do post to your friends, make it count.

Summary

As you can see, there’s no shortage of information to consider in crafting your social media marketing strategy, Thepractice that chooses to take advantage of this burgeoning opportunity will more quickly grow their practice. Set a realistic implementation schedule for yourself so you are not overwhelmed by the scope and breadth of the task.

Our next Issue will conclude our discussion about Communicating with Patients of Record by focusing on how to use online review sites such as Yelp, Angie’s List, City Search, DrOogle and Health Grades to grow your practice, which serves to underscore that communication is indeed a two-way street.

Daniel Bobrow, MBA, is president of the American Dental Marketing Company, a dentistry marketing and patient communications consultancy. He is also Executive Director of Dentists’ Climb for a Cause™. Readers interested in learning more about integrated marketing and patient communication products, systems and services are invited to contact Mr. Bobrow at 312-455-9488 or DBobrow@AmericanDentalMarketing.com or visit AmericanDentalMarketing.com.

AIM MarketingCommunicating with patients of Record, Part II
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Communicating with patients of Record I

AIM Marketing

Effective patient communication requires a simple to use content management system and automated means for delivering messages. Equally important are the chosen messages and interval of the communications. The final success component is effective response tracking and monitoring, without which one cannot determine the relative effectiveness of various communication components and strategies. The benefit is a more loyal and valuable patient base, and a more valuable patient means a higher ROI from strategies that generate new patients.

By The Numbers?

If you’re investing, say, $1,000 in a new patient acquisition strategy, and you’re averaging 5 new patients for every $1,000 invested, your cost per patient is $200. Now, if the average annual value of a patient to your practice is $1500, your return on investment (ROI) is easily calculated to be 750% ($1500/$200). Not bad. But what if you could increase that to, say $3,000? That’s right. Your dentistry marketing ROI doubles to 1500%. For the same investment in external marketing, you just shot your ROI into the stratosphere.

Clearly, this won’t happen by itself or overnight. But you may be pleasantly surprised to learn it’s not nearly challenging as you think.  The reason is that most dental practices are nowhere near maximizing their average patient value.

Spread The Word?

One of the simplest, most cost-effective ways to increase average dental patient value is by doing a better job of communicating (and considering adding to) the wonderful benefits your practice already offers its patients. Remember: there’s a lot your patients do not know (and forget) about what you can do for them.

Make The Connection

The first step in cost effectively communicating with your patients of record is to implement a policy of collecting valid email addresses from your patients. There are a number of tactics to help with this. For new patients, it’s simply a matter of incorporating the request into your patient enrollment form (or, preferably, having one of your team do it for your patient while they are in the office. If you do not have an email address for a current patient, your Team Member should be proficient at explaining to the patient how the office will (and will not) use their email address, how it simplifies communications between practice and patient, and how it is ecologically responsible (no need for paper). Of course, if the patient prefers not receiving communications via email, you want to respect and honor their preference.

To collect email addresses of your current patients as they present for treatment or hygiene, the staff should take a few moments to update their contact and health information, and simply request their “preferred email.” If the practice chooses to adopt Paperless Forms and On Line Appointment Requests, a mailing may be sent to, or telephone call placed with, the patient advising them of these valuable new services that eliminate the need for paper forms and which simplifies the appointment scheduling process for the patient.

Keep In Touch

Now that you’re well on your way to capturing patient email information, it’s time to decide what you’d like to share with your patients. Most email services provide the means to perform what are called Campaigns and Broadcasts. A Campaign is a schedule of predetermined communications that are delivered according to a schedule (that can be changed ‘on the fly’) starting from the date the patient is entered into the system. For instance, if I join your practice today, you might arrange for me to immediately receive an online patient satisfaction survey. Three weeks later, you might introduce me to laser-assisted dentistry. One month after that, you could let me know more about mini dental implants. And so on.

Broadcast communications are sent to everyone (or a selected sub grouping) at the same time. For instance, you can send ‘Spring Cleaning’, Back To School, Insurance

“Use it or lose it”, Dental Health Month, or other date-dependent messages. Once the system is in place, you are in control!

Track It

The final success component involves measuring response to your Program in general, and specific communications in particular. Response may be further broken down into Open Rate, Click Through, and Conversion.

Open Rate is the number and percent of total recipients who actually opened your email. Click Through refers to the number and percent of total recipients who clicked on one or more links embedded in your message. To ensure delivery past spam filters and to keep messages short, it is a good idea to ask recipients to click on a link to learn more, redeem an offer, etc. You should also use a unique telephone number on your email communications so you are able to determine how many, and what type of calls are generated as a result of your email campaign.

Conversion is the number and percent of total recipients who actually took the requested action e.g. scheduled an end of year appointment to maximize benefits, came in for their ‘spring cleaning,’ scheduled their Back to School appointment, etc. (Click throughs are often considered to be conversions because it represents some form of action taken by the patient. In our view, this is merely an intermediate step toward the ultimate objective, the former being a ‘suspect’, the latter a ‘prospect’).

About the author

Daniel Bobrow, MBA, is president of the American Dental Marketing Company, a dentistry marketing and patient communications consultancy. He is also Executive Director of Dentists’ Climb for a Cause™. Readers interested in learning more about integrated marketing and patient communication products, systems and services are invited to contact Mr. Bobrow at 312-455-9488 or DBobrow@AmericanDentalMarketing.com or visit AmericanDentalMarketing.com.

AIM MarketingCommunicating with patients of Record I
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Are you ready for the next wave in dentistry?

AIM Marketing

The history of the public’s perception of dentistry may be viewed as consisting of three waves. I like to describe the first wave with the term “Feel Well Dentistry.”  During this wave, dentists were perceived as first and foremost who to call to get you out of tooth pain. 

The history of the public’s perception of dentistry may be viewed as consisting of three waves. I like to describe the first wave with the term “Feel Well Dentistry.”  During this wave, dentists were perceived as first and foremost who to call to get you out of tooth pain.

The next wave, spearheaded largely by the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry (AACD), is “Look Well Dentistry,” where the public began to perceive the dentist as able to improve one’s appearance, as well as alleviate pain.

The third, latest, wave is “Be Well Dentistry,” that is, a commitment to overall health and wellness, which entails eliminating the false distinction between oral and systemic health that persists in the minds of the public, as well as many dental and medical professionals. When all people come to rightly view the dentist as an oral physician, offering the ability to diagnose, treat and prevent systemic illnesses, collaborative care is fostered, and “Be Well Dentistry” is born.

It is not a question of whether, but when this becomes reality.  In fact, the general public has already begun to move in this direction, as evidenced by television programs like Dr. Oz featuring such topics as  Can good oral health save your life?

Let’s get organized?

In October of 2010 an organization was founded in Madison, Wisconsin by Dr. Chris Kammer, whose  father Jack founded the AACD in that same city and which has, since 1984 grown to be an internationally recognized organization of over 7,000 Members.  It is the American Academy for Oral Systemic Health (AAOSH), and it promises to do even more for “Be Well Dentistry” than the AACD is doing for “Look Well Dentistry.”

As its Mission on their website reveals AAOSH is:

…a network of dedicated health care leaders working to change professional ?and public behaviors, and address the importance of oral health as it relates ?to whole body health…AAOSH will bridge the gaps among all health care pro-?fessionals through unprecedented cooperation across all disciplines…based ?on sound research principles. We are passionate about elevating the quality ?of health care, and will work to communicate the mouth-body health link, ?so people worldwide can live healthier, longer and happier lives.

The formation of this organization could not have come at a better time.  Research continues to unequivocally demonstrate connections between the health of the mouth and that of the body, as do plain old common sense.

Do Well By Doing Good?

Those of you who are familiar with Climb For A Cause and The Smile Tree know we tend to use the above adage, attributable to Ben Franklin, quite a bit. It’s basically a corollary to Adam Smith’s ‘invisible hand’, which holds that people tend to do the most good for society as a whole when pursuing their own interests. “Win-Win” conveys a similar sentiment.  We mention it here because offering “Be Well Dentistry” affords you the opportunity to grow your practice while simultaneously helping more patients in more ways, which is a quintessential  example of doing well by doing good (those interested in a more comprehensive treatment of this important topic are invited to visit the Climb For A Cause website, or read Joe Blaes’ article on dental cause marketing).

Having Isn’t Knowing?

Once a practice has committed to learn about, acquire, and offer products and services to help patients and their community lead longer, healthier, and happier lives, it must also determine how to best ‘get the word out’, in other words, conceive and implement a “Be Well Dentistry Marketing Plan.”

The first requirement, as with any marketing tactic, is to effectively translate and package the benefits offered given audiences in ways that first create awareness, generate interest, creates desire, and ultimately, induce action.

Your Three-Pronged Plan

Armed with the ability to truly differentiate your practice, and offer the above-referenced win-win situation, you are ready to conceive and implement your three-pronged marketing plan to build your Be Well dental practice.  The three prongs of you plan are: Physician Referral, Patient Marketing, and Hyper Targeted External Marketing.

Your Physician Referral Strategy

Be Well Dentistry represents one of the best opportunities to collaborate with medical professionals including cardiologists, internists, obstetricians, sleep disorder and diabetes specialists, and, as more manifestations of the oral systemic link become known, this list will grow.  It is all about opening those doors of communication and offering assistance to your colleagues in allied medical fields to improve the health and longevity of the patients they serve by collaborating with you.

Your first step is to acquire your contact (email, mail, and telephone) list, the composition of which depends on which specialists to target which, in turn, depends on what you offer. Another factor in compiling your contact list is geographic proximity. The more convenient it is for a potential referral source’s patients to visit you, the more likely they will. The list may be acquired manually, that is, by referring to printed and online directories, or it may be acquired through a list compiler.

Once you’ve acquired your contact list, the next step is to select your communication channels e.g. email, direct mail, website optimization, social media, etc., and then craft your messages and offers for maximum impact.  In most cases, you’ll want to create one or more landing pages on your website to which prospective and current referral sources may learn about your referral program and patient handling protocol.

Your Internal Marketing Strategy?

You will, of course, want to be sure your internal communications effectively convey to your patients, most of whom will need to be made aware of, these valuable additions to your service offerings.

Communicating with your patients of record, who may not yet know (or care) about the fact you practice “Be Well Dentistry” requires a nuanced approached.  This is because people naturally are resistant to and skeptical of change, even change that is good for them.  So resist the urge to come at your patients like the proverbial bull in the china closet, opting instead to gently communicate over time your transformation to a Be Well Dentistry practice. Email ‘drip marketing’ campaigns, open houses, complimentary screenings involving medical professionals in your referral network (see above), are all good ways to share your commitment to overall health and wellness with your patients

Your ‘Hyper-Targeted’ External Marketing Strategy

?Targeting people known to have, or likely to be at risk for, such systemic conditions as diabetes, heart disease, various types of cancer, sleep disorder, and more is now possible thanks to the availability of compiled list and ‘pay per click’ ads using social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

As with your current patients, it remains important, however, to ‘run the race at the new patient’s pace.’ In other words, not every person you reach will be ready for Be Well Dentistry.  We believe that your communications should also be inviting to those patients, so you will have the opportunity to meet their immediate needs, as well as help them along the path to embracing Be Well Dentistry.

It is, of course, your choice how you wish to brand your practice.  We’ve just found that, by ‘speaking the patient’s language’, and offering choices with which they are comfortable, your practice can actually help move your new (and current) patients from Feel Well and Look Well Dentistry into Be Well Dentistry, which is of course, where everyone deserves to be.

 

Daniel Bobrow, MBA, is president of the American Dental Marketing Company, a dentistry marketing and patient communications consultancy. He is also Executive Director of Dentists’ Climb for a Cause™. Readers interested in learning more about integrated marketing and patient communication products, systems and services are invited to contact Mr. Bobrow at 312-455-9488 or DBobrow@AmericanDentalMarketing.com or visit AmericanDentalMarketing.com.

AIM MarketingAre you ready for the next wave in dentistry?
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Principles of effective direct mail, Part II

AIM Marketing

In our last Issue, we introduced and discussed the components of a successful direct mail campaign, included a Planning Checklist, and shared some of the more profitable target audiences, going into some detail about the pros and cons of targeting new residents.

Now, let’s talk about the more promising, and therefore, exciting, target audience, namely, demographically selected segments of the current population. Other ’boutique audiences,’ such as brides-to-be, employees where they work, and persons with specific medical conditions [see my article on integrative dentistry], will be covered in a future Issue.

The times when only highly capitalized firms could afford to employ sophisticated marketing research and implementation technologies are thankfully behind us. The advent of the Internet, and the ability of companies like AIM to ‘bundle orders’ means any dental practice can, for a reasonable investment, have access to precision targeting, list acquisition, mailer design, print, fulfillment, and tracking services.

A Laser Beats A Shot Gun Every Time, Especially When It Saves Money!

For many years, we’ve advocated targeting at the carrier route, as opposed to zip code, level. A carrier route is a series of physically contiguous addresses used by the postal carrier to efficiently deliver the mail. It is, quite simply, and as the name implies, the mail carrier’s route. Targeting carrier routes offers two distinct advantages over mailing to entire zip codes. First, it permits the practice to be far more precise in identifying and connecting with, only those households that are a ‘fit,’ both in geographic and demographic terms, for the practice. Convenience continues to be the number one factor in someone’s decision to visit a dental office for the first time, so it is nearly always a waste of valuable resources when a practice is constrained by targeting entire zip codes, instead of only those portions of zip codes that are a fit for the practice.

Second, because targeting at the carrier route level allows a competent fulfillment house to do much of the work for the Post Office (by sorting and bundling the mail), the per piece postage rate can be as little as half that of mailing to all (or even part) of a zip code. Because postage often accounts for more than half the cost of a mailing tactic, the savings really add up.

Design, Copy, and Offer(s) That Speak To Your Audience

In designing your mailer copy, selecting graphics, and choosing your offer(s), place yourself in the shoes of your intended audience. The mailer must ‘speak’ to them, that is, get them first to identify with the message by answering the question “Is this (about) me?” in the affirmative. This requires that the imagery, be it a photograph or illustration, represents a person, group, or lifestyle to which your audience can relate. The offer should be likewise appealing to them.

What’s the Frequency (and interval) Kenneth*?

As any good marketer will tell you, once is never enough, that is, repeat exposure of your memorable and compelling message is necessary to break through your audience’s protective barriers (if this does not yet resonate with you, ask how many times you see the same television commercial before you even know what they’re promoting, and I think it will). Our experience dictates a minimum of three, and as many as twelve, identical, or highly similar, mailings to the same person within a twelve-month period to be optimum. We typically recommend an A, A/B, or A/B/C program, defined as follows:

‘A’ Program: mailing to the same Group each month for 12 consecutive months (total of twelve mailers per Audience Member)

‘A/B’ Program: divide the audience in half and mail to each Group in alternating months (total of six mailers per Audience Member)

‘A/B/C’ Program: divide the audience into thirds and mail to each group every third month (total of four mailers per Audience Member)

The decision as to which approach to employ most often is made on budgetary considerations, but sometimes also on the volume of new patient inquiries the practice feels it can effectively handle over a given month (capacity).

*For more on this reference click here.

Issue III will delve into tracking, evaluation, and sound decision-making with respect to dental direct mail strategy.

AIM MarketingPrinciples of effective direct mail, Part II
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Principles of effective direct mail, Part I

AIM Marketing

Direct mail marketing has long been an accepted means for image-consciously, yet cost-effectively promoting ones practice. Its popularity lies in the fact that it offers a focused and controlled method for sharing information about your practice with selected members of your community. Properly implemented, direct mail marketing can mean a steady inflow of new patients, which, by adding to your existing patient base, also increases the success of your internal marketing efforts.

There are a number of audiences to consider reaching with direct mail to grow your practice. These include: new residents, existing residents, Brides-to-Be, families with children, business leaders, employees, and more. Effectively marketing to these different audiences requires an understanding of the kind of services they find appealing. For example, if you want to increase your hygiene production, promote cleanings and preventive dentistry to New and Existing Residents. If you want to increase the number of patients choosing cosmetic procedures, market to the Brides to Be in your area promoting the idea of having “…that perfect smile for your special day.”

As with any marketing program, success at direct mail requires that each program element be performed correctly. To help you with this, we offer below a Direct Mail Program Checklist. Using this Checklist will assist you in identifying and tracking the performance of each element of your direct mail program.

Of the many different audiences for direct mail marketing, the one group which shows the highest percentage response rate is New Residents. The general appeal in targeting new residents stems from the fact that people who move a sufficient distance will likely want a new dentist for themselves and their families. Since all practices lose patients when people move out of town, this is an opportunity to “turn a negative into a positive” by targeting this continually renewing source of new patients. However, a practice desiring to do more than simply stem attrition will want to do more than simply market to new residents.

Issues 2 and 3 will delve into more aggressive practice growth techniques

AIM MarketingPrinciples of effective direct mail, Part I
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