TO STAY AHEAD OF THE COMPETITION T€¦ · money will come. “The easiest way to make money is to not try to make money,” he says. “When you’re only focused on the bottom line

MAKE YOUR

DENTAL PRACTICESTAND OUTTO STAY AHEAD OF THE COMPETITION

These tips, from implementing targeted marketing campaigns across digital platforms to focusing on offering an exceptional patient experience, will help your practice stand out from the

growing number of competitors so you can attract more patients, enhance practice productivity and increase your bottom line.

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THE FIRST APPOINTMENT When patients visit your practice for the first time, you don’t want to rush them through the appointment. That’s why Dr. John Flucke schedules new patient exams for 90 minutes rather than 60.

“The way we schedule makes a big difference,” he says. “It allows us to explain things and educate patients about what we’re doing. If you’re in a corporate office and completing new patient exams in 30 minutes, you really can’t differentiate yourself.”

It’s becoming more and more difficult to own a successful dental practice.

High overhead costs, dental school debt and reduced insurance reimbursements all make money tight, which is helping to fuel the popularity of dental service organizations (DSOs). DSOs offer access to equipment, technology and practice management resources at a reduced cost and give dentists the ability to focus on the clinical, making it an attractive option that’s leading to more consolidation and, ultimately, more competition for general dentists who opt to practice on their own.

As more DSO-run practices move into local markets, traditional dentists are starting to struggle, as they find it difficult to differentiate themselves and attract new patients to their offices. And the challenges they face start with their online presence—which is often lacking.

“It used to be everybody knew the dentists in the community. It’s not that way anymore,” says Andrea De La Cerda, director of vertical marketing for Scorpion, a full-service technology and digital marketing company. “Gone are the days when dentists would rely on word of mouth to get referrals. The fact is, dentistry is becoming more

consumer driven. Consumers are researching their options for oral health just like they would evaluate any other product or service they search for online.”

This all might seem a bit daunting, but there are ways you can make your practice stand out and build a healthy base of loyal patients who accept treatment and refer. Finding what makes you unique, providing a top-notch patient experience and implementing effective marketing strategies are all ways to position your practice for success. This all starts with examining your practice to identify where you already excel.

Determine what makes you different and focus on it

Most general dentists offer the same six or seven services, De La Cerda says, which is one of the reasons it can be so difficult to stand out. The solution? Take a service that will attract your ideal patient and start focusing your marketing efforts around it. Determine what makes you different, whether it’s a process or technique you’re using or the experience the patient receives while in your office, and craft the language in your digital marketing efforts to reflect that.

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MAKE YOUR DENTAL PRACTICE STAND OUT TO STAY AHEAD OF THE COMPETITION

Adding an educational blog to your website and investing in pay-per-click advertising are examples of ways to get your message out and attract more patients to your practice, De La Cerda says.

One of Scorpion’s clients, pediatric practice Adventure Dental, has been working to do exactly that. Drs. Amy Monti and Shandra Pepper wanted to position their office as the go-to pedo practice in their area, but it was a struggle. They were not only competing with other pediatric offices, but with GPs as well. With the help of Scorpion, they’ve updated their website to better reflect the fun, high-tech environment the practice offers,

THE IMPORTANCE OF A GOOD TAGLINE Your tagline should tell people what makes your practice different, says marketing consultant Danny Bobrow. Sit down with your team to come up with a strong tagline that delivers your message, then use it. Have team members say the tagline when they answer the phone, and make sure it’s included on your website and marketing materials.

increased the number of positive online reviews, and leveraged a blog that highlights their pediatric expertise.

“Our blog is a powerful tool for educating patients,” Dr. Pepper says. “We’re seeing that people are very interested in the content we’re sharing, and it’s helping us build more exposure for Adventure Dental.”

Dr. Julio Hernandez, another Scorpion client, wanted his practice to be known for high-end cosmetic dentistry. From the beginning, he set out to appeal to young, upscale patients in Miami willing to pay for cosmetic services such as veneers, ortho and implants, as well as skin services such as Botox injections, chemical peels and laser skin treatments.

While he was successful at first, he soon realized his website wasn’t attracting the patients he really wanted. He hired a marketing firm to help him boost his online presence and grow his brand, but he still wasn’t happy with the results. Finally, he found Scorpion, the company that turned his digital marketing efforts around. The team helped him build a website that better reflected his practice and launched pay-per-click campaigns to move him to the top of search results for those high-dollar treatments.

The team also created a practice blog and leveraged social media to raise awareness about his standout services, including a new skin care treatment known as PDO thread lifts now offered by his practice.

“PDO thread lifts are a relatively new service area, and we’re trying to corner that market,” he said. “We started blogging about this topic and promoting our services on social media. As a result, we got more people coming in asking for PDO thread lifts.”

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The lesson here? Let patients know what services are available, but don’t try to sell them on these services the entire time they’re in the practice. Educate your patients and start building connections. That will make your practice stand out, and ultimately get more patients to accept treatment.

Get your message out there

Of course it’s critical to drive patients into your office, and to do this you need to spread your practice’s brand, identity and message. There are

START TEXTING Many of your younger patients prefer to communicate via text, and having a system that allows you to send and receive texts can be a huge differentiator, Dr. John Flucke says. But it’s also important to keep in mind some patients might prefer email or even phone calls. Take note of patients’ communication preferences and then honor them when reaching out.

Be nice

Of course offering a unique service is only one part of positioning your practice for success. Offering patients high-quality care and a comfortable experience in your office is just as important.

Simply treating patients the way they want to be treated will go a long way in fostering loyalty and even generating referrals, Dental Products Report Technology Editor Dr. John Flucke says. That means training your team members to not only be friendly to patients, but to remember their names and details about their lives. Taking the time to get to know your patients builds connections and helps you stand out from practices that don’t.

“When patients fill out reviews to let us know how we’re doing, a lot of them say they’re amazed that everybody knew their name by the second visit,” Dr. Flucke says. “It’s really important to create that type of culture in your practice.”

It’s also important to do the right thing, Dr. Flucke says, even if that means redoing a case that didn’t turn out exactly how it should—for free. Instead of always worrying about your bottom line, focus on creating an exceptional patient experience and the money will come.

“The easiest way to make money is to not try to make money,” he says. “When you’re only focused on the bottom line and production goals and having to diagnose so many crowns a day, patients sense that. I remember a patient asking me during a new patient exam if my staff had a whitening incentive. That’s because at the last practice she went to, every person she came into contact with tried to get her to bleach her teeth. She felt like she was being pressured, and that was ultimately the reason she left.”

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THE POWER OF REVIEWS Increasing the number of online reviews you have can drive more patients to your website and in the chair, which is exactly what pediatric practice Adventure Dental experienced after working with Scorpion.

“We now have over 200 Google reviews, and we couldn’t have done it without the help of our marketing partner,” said Dr. Shandra Pepper, co-owner of Adventure Dental. “Their platform made it easy for us to send out review reminders through text and email.”

Blogs offer a way to educate patients and to market the services you provide, while pay-per-click ads move your practice website to the top of search engines faster. Remember, the competition to convert patients starts on the web; if they can’t easily find your practice online, they’re not going to call and schedule an appointment.

“We tell dentists to be open to promoting a blog post or video that has value to their audience. Putting a budget behind these posts on social media will ensure that more of your target audience will see your message,” De La Cerda says. “Capture your unique differentiator in pay-per-click advertising as well. Your story can be stretched across many platforms at the same time to be the most effective.”

But just adding to your marketing budget isn’t a complete solution. There are so many ways you could be spending money that it is easy to waste money in the end. To avoid this, Scorpion’s technology uses predictive analytics to optimize paid ads in real-time. Many dentists we talk to are either not thinking about this at all or are trying to optimize their buys manually, De La Cerda says. The SAM technology compares data from multiple clients as well as variables such as time of day, day of the week, type of device, and geographic area to optimize clients’ digital campaigns in real time to make the most of the money they are spending. To stay on the cutting edge De La Cerda believes dental practices should keep a watch on how their digital marketing investments are performing, and find a marketing partner that can leverage the latest technology to optimize their digital marketing spend.

“Let’s say a dentist like Dr. Hernandez wants to promote Botox injections to differentiate himself,” De La Cerda says. “He would communicate that story through paid ads. At the same time, SAM is targeting individuals in specific zip codes at times

many avenues for doing this, but none are more important today than making sure your practice’s messaging reaches patients online.

One of the best ways to market your practice is to create a rich digital experience, Scorpion’s De La Cerda says. That means having a modern website that loads quickly, is easy to navigate, provides the information patients need, and makes it easy for patients to contact your office to ask questions or schedule an appointment.

A strong social media presence on platforms such as Instagram and Facebook is also key to getting your practice noticed, De La Cerda says. Video, for example, can be very effective. Video has one of the highest conversion rates, and offers a great way to capture the practice culture and share your authentic brand story. Photos can be effective as well, especially when you post pictures of your team members and happy patients (after you get their permission, of course).

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SUCCESS WITH PAY-PER-CLICK Dr. Julio Hernandez of Miami based Biscayne Dental & Facial Aesthetics worked with Scorpion to attract patients who want higher end services, including ortho and skin care, to his practice using pay-per-click ad campaigns. These services bring in thousands of dollars per patient, and represent a great opportunity for practice growth.

“I’m seeing more people come in for orthodontic services,” he said, “and they’re even coming from farther away. That’s saying a lot considering there are probably hundreds of orthodontists in just a 5-mile radius in Miami.”

of day when the ads are most likely to convert new leads to his practice. Not only are we creating the appropriate story, we’re targeting the people who want to read about it when they are ready to receive it. That improves the patient experience, which doesn’t start when they walk through the door. It starts when they’re online looking for services.”

Show patients you care

While joining a DSO is becoming a popular option for dentists, these offices can lack a connection with the community which is something GPs can excel at, says dental marketing expert Danny Bobrow. Let community members know you care about them, and want to find ways to help both inside and outside the walls of your practice. Cause marketing is one way to do that.

“Cause marketing is a process by which the pursuit of a socially responsible goal has an unavoidable consequence of achieving one or more business goals,” says Bobrow, who is also the executive director of Climb for a Cause and

The Smile Tree. “And when you aggressively promote a worthwhile cause, you’re doing more good for that cause.”

You can work with organizations such as Bobrow’s or even go through the process of building your own cause-based foundation—an endeavor that is a lot of work but also can be very rewarding. Whatever route you choose, find a cause that resonates with you, your team members and your patients. Getting buy-in from your team and finding a cause patients will want to support will have the biggest impact.

Show off your technology

If you’ve invested in technologies to improve practice efficiencies or the patient experience, make sure patients know about them, Dr. Flucke says. When patients walk through his practice, they see all the various technologies he’s invested in, from digital caries detection systems to intraoral scanners to cone beam systems.

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“We use technology as a marketing tool,” Dr. Flucke says. “I want patients to know they’ll receive state-of-the-art care in a facility where people treat them like they’re a friend.”

Not only do patients see the technology, Dr. Flucke and his team members also take the time to educate patients about it. They talk to them about how the technology might shorten the procedure or lead to better outcomes. Patients appreciate the fact they’ve invested in technologies designed to improve their experience, and that helps them stand out from other practices.

Adopt an oral-systemic link practice model

The link between oral and overall health is clear, and dentists who embrace this link in their practice will be able to provide patients with better care—earning loyalty from existing patients and attracting new patients in the process.

“Adopting specific modalities and protocols in your practice will remind patients that taking care of their teeth and gums doesn’t just save their smile, it can also save their lives,” Bobrow says. “Dentists can

do a great deal to increase their value to patients as well as get noticed by the media by extolling the virtues of an oral systemic practice model.”

It’s time to stand out

To be successful, dentists have to differentiate their practices from the competition—which will only continue to grow. Determining what you do best and building your brand story around that practice differentiator is vital to your success, but you also have to create a stellar digital experience that cuts through the noise and inspires patients to schedule an appointment. Then, find ways to create an exceptional customer experience during that appointment. That’s how you stand out and win patient loyalty.

The days of attracting patients to your practice solely by word of mouth are long gone. Smart, targeted digital marketing is the best way to set yourself apart in an increasingly crowded industry, and is how you’ll attract the type of patients you want so you can grow your production numbers and your bottom line.

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TO STAY AHEAD OF THE COMPETITION T€¦ · money will come. “The easiest way to make money is to not try to make money,” he says. “When you’re only focused on the bottom line