Amy Morgan, CEO of the Pride Institute

	According to economists, who know these things, the RECESSION IS OVER! Yet, we still are getting massive feedback from dental practices regarding concerns about:

		Conversion of new patient inquiries to first appointments

		New patients and patients of record committing to ideal treatment plans

	It’s because although the financial picture is improving, we all are still dealing with the very real fallout in our day-to-day practice lives. Potential new patients and existing patients are a bit more cynical and skittish about spending money or going deeper into debt. They are saying “maybe,” “later” or “no” to discretionary care. Before you get depressed, at the same time we see struggles financially, there are new models for marketing and branding that are low cost and yield very high rewards. The patients are out there and a smart marketing plan will drive them into your practice.

Developing a successful marketing plan and brand


	Successful marketing today needs to create awareness, engagement and commitment. If you have a website that’s visited nightly by little old ladies surfing the net in Belgium, you may have generated some awareness, but you have no hope of providing these ladies with implants or new dentures. Therefore, whether you are looking to generate more new patients through internal referrals, traditional advertising or Internet (new frontier) activities, the campaign must fire on all three pistons: awareness, engagement and commitment. And when it does, you will see immediate returns.

	The first step in unifying your marketing and communication strategies is to take a close look at your brand: who you are and the promise you make to your community with the intention of never breaking it. When you brand your practice you don’t have to hire an expensive advertising executive to look into a crystal ball and find your advertising slogan like, “World’s Best Cup of Coffee.” Your brand is your vision, your values, what makes you unique compared to the other dentists in your same ZIP code. The more authentic the brand, the more likely the messaging will be consistent. You can create loads of awareness, but engagement is created when people connect to your brand. The additional benefits of having a strong practice brand are:

	Branding differentiates you from all the others. What makes Burger King different from Wendy’s?

	Branding unifies all your communications. If you are a modern, high-tech, sophisticated practice that focuses on cosmetic and long-term health solutions, you better not feature Garfield the cat flossing on your continuing care postcards (unless you’re a pediatric practice and then Garfield works fine).

	Customers are loyal to brands. I’m pretty sure most of you haven’t left Charmin or Northern toilet tissue behind for generics just because of the economy. And they will pay more money for that brand. Whether it’s your favorite shampoo, hotel or restaurant, we love what we love and we do pay more!


	Before you fully define your brand, you need to know WHERE your patients come from and WHO they are, so you can ensure your brand is meaningful to them. Once you are branded and you have a logo that matches that brand, you are ready to market your practice!

	In the old days, when we had to fold, stuff and stamp direct mail pieces or spend a significant amount of money to have a quarter inch ad in the yellow pages, marketing was incredibly costly from a financial and resource point of view. Today’s new frontier (online) marketing strategies are incredibly low in ongoing cost and resource allocation and exponentially touch so many more potential patients that any dentist can market a practice successfully! New frontier marketing includes:

	In defining new frontier, this is where we usually start to lose the baby boomers (don’t worry-I am one of you, too). Considering that boomers grew up using rotary telephones, this whole topic can be overwhelming and create a fair amount of inertia. The great news is that in every dental practice in America, there is at least one team member who is very comfortable with Facebook and Twitter. There also are outside experts, companies that make it their business to understand online marketing. They can guide us ole’ folk toward a new horizon.


	And the truth is…every dental practice must go in that direction. The fastest growing demographic on Facebook is comprised of seniors. Studies have shown that 66% of all medical/dental prospects use the doctor’s website as the primary decision driver as to whether to make an appointment. So if you don’t embrace these new opportunities, you will be left behind. This month, we have called on our experts to help guide dentists and their teams to make the best decisions and gain the best results from their marketing strategies. In these challenging times, there is no greater opportunity for continued success, so read on and grow!

Articles

 According to economists, who know these things, the RECESSION IS OVER! Yet, we still are getting massive feedback from dental practices regarding concerns about:

Marketing: Easier than you think

	The wonderful thing about the beginning of a new year is it allows us to close the door on the past and set new goals and strategies for a positive future.

	Let’s face it, 2010 was a tough one for most. The good news is patients continued to say “yes” and receive the dental treatment they desire and deserve, and a good number of dental offices still experienced many successes (though we had to work a little harder to achieve them).

	So how about we all take a deep breath and say, “So long, to a tough 2010,” and “Hello, to a promising 2011!”

	To get the ball rolling, here is some advice on how to capitalize on the promise of a better year.

Those who don’t study and learn from history tend to repeat it. It is essential to analyze where a practice has been to set the stage for progress. If you and your team experienced new levels of success, it is vital to capture the recipe so you can bake the same success cake again. It is way too easy to generalize what’s good- “I don’t know why we had an increase in productivity, I guess we just had the right number of patients…”

	We never have trouble getting team members to get very specific on the challenges, but specifics on what went right can be much more difficult. To the degree that the team analyzes and acknowledges the systems, staff and processes that contributed to success, is the degree that one can be sure it can be done again.

	At the same time, if there were challenges, confront them! If hygiene cancellations were up and more patients were delaying treatment, then the team needs to brainstorm what issues  were behind the problems and solve them. Everyone has heard the quote, “Insanity is repeating the same behavior, but expecting different results.” It is unfair to set a team up for failure, before the game ever begins.

Smart teams set “SMART” goals for new levels of success. The acronym “SMART” stands for setting goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and trackable. Have you completed an ideal (abundant) budget for cash flow management? Did you then create production, collection, marketing and treatment presentation goals that will support your budget as well as goals for balance and efficiency? Was the team involved in the goal-setting and did they set specific strategies for goal achievement? If the answer is no to any of these questions then you are sending an Olympic team out to compete in their sport with no method of scoring the results! Goals give everyone the opportunity to get focused and passionate about winning.

Reach out and touch your patients. Many of your patients have had a rough year, too. The beginning of the year is a great time to send a “State of the nation” letter/e-mail to your base to acknowledge their concerns and point them toward a positive future. Let your patients know the practice is proud of its efforts to maintain oral health in the most challenging times, there are exciting upgrades planned for the future, and their service and experience is always top priority. Focus patients on the positive and you will benefit from the enhanced relationship through stronger commitment, additional referrals and much more.

Catch your staff in the process of doing something right (or almost right) and recognize, acknowledge and reward their skills and behaviors. Whether through formal salary reviews or informal recognition plans, your team members deserve to be acknowledged and rewarded for their individual contributions. If you treat everyone as median employees, you will get median efforts. If there are superstars on your team (whether you had a tough year or not), they must be acknowledged and appreciated for their efforts and results.

	To dig out of inertia-or even worse, a hole-it requires a happy, motivated team with the right tools to move forward. It doesn’t have to cost a lot-a simple, “here’s what you did that was very, very right,” along with a sincere thank you can go a long way in inspiring a team member! 

	DO YOU HAVE A QUESTION FOR AMY? E-mail your questions and ideas to 

 The wonderful thing about the beginning of a new year is it allows us to close the door on the past and set new goals and strategies for a positive future.  Let’s face it, 2010 was a tough one for most. The good news is patients continued to say “yes” and receive the dental treatment they desire and deserve, and a good number of dental offices still experienced many successes (though we had to work a little harder to achieve them).