I like to share with you the power of good dental practice marketing to establish and create your dental practices and to really make it “explode”! This is something we focus specifically at our dental practices website. The thing here is that most dentists don’t realize that the biggest opportunity they can go with is having a killer, automated “turn key” dental marketing system on auto pilot. You can go and use as much education as you want and develop all your clinical skills; but take note of this, if you don’t have an autopilot system to bring in new patients to your patients who pay, stay and ultimately refer to you for the rest of your life, then what happens is that there’s a time where you will always be on that dental treadmill. And what dental marketing can do for you in your dental practices is that it quickly shifts yourself from being in a dental treadmill to actually create a cash machine that works for you every single week, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week practically, or make it seem that way every single month!

Now, as you go with your dental practices, I would like you to ponder upon these questions:

(1) What are you doing to get new patients?

The reality is that as successful as you are, you need to be getting “new blood” into your practice because people will leave your practice for these reasons: they move away; they die; or they just don’t come back because they are inactive or they go somewhere else for any other number of reasons.

(2) What are you doing every single month to generate to get your inactive patient base to become active?

The number one reason why most people stop marketing to their inactive patients is because they think something went wrong or they just stop communicating with them; and so these patients don’t come back. And the reality is that the number one reason why people stop coming into your practice and become inactive is because they feel guilty and they feel like they’re going to be lectured when they come in. So what we do is we actually send out mailers that say “This is a no-guilt dental office”, and it does work brilliantly!

(3) What are you doing to get your existing patients to choose more services?

In your dental practice, you can offer your patients with any kind of services that you have. It can be dental implants, Invisalign, dental programs (an example of this is Wendy Briggs’ “Whitening For Life” Program), etc.

(4) What are you doing to generate referrals every single month?

Now, as crazy as this sounds, but one of the best, unique strategies that you can use is just get your existing patients to refer more patients into your dental practice! Generating more referrals every single month will help you to become more successful in your practice!

In the world of internet dental marketing, you need to have good strategies in getting your website into the top rankings of Google, Yahoo, or in any other search engines in the World Wide Web. This is something that we focus specifically at our dental practice website! Now, how do you get your website on top of these search engines. For this, you may need an expert dental practice consultant. And for me, the man for the job is dental practice consultant Lloyd Irvin, whom I consider a master of internet dental marketing, and one of the best dental practice consultants there is!

Now, who is Lloyd Irvin? He’s just a regular guy, and his journey first started as a master of martial arts. He’s a world champion in martial arts (specifically in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu) and he has one of the best martial arts team in the country. But it came to a point that his school and business was struggling. Trying to figure out to make things better, he ran to a guy named Steven Oliver, who teaches people in martial arts how to make more money and run their businesses better. So, as he was learning more about marketing, sales, and business, he also learned about the Internet. He went for internet marketing specialized for the martial arts businesses and martial arts school. When he started seeing these opportunities on internet marketing, and how people are making more money in there.. this is something he just dove into. And from meeting Steven Oliver, his school drove extremely well into the top 5 schools in the country, and he owes it to all of what he learned in internet marketing. Now as he went into internet marketing, he also found a place in the industry of internet dental marketing… and became an expert dental practice consultant in the business.

I met Lloyd about ten months ago at a Dan Kennedy event, and I’ve heard a lot of good things about him. I had a couple of people who both within one week said “Ed, you gotta meet this guy Lloyd Irvin!”. And so I did. So I walked up to him in the hallway and introduced myself and we had a really short conversation. Then we parted ways, exchanged e-mails and that night I went online and I typed in “Lloyd Irvin”, and I felt like a complete idiot instantly. When his credentials popped up on the screen, I read that he is one of the first Americans to ever go to Brazil and beat a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt on Brazilian turf! He has a black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Judo and Sambo. And to top all of it, he’s also a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Hall of Famer. So after that Dan Kennedy event, we spent two days together and we’ve been e-mailing back and forth. And on the second day over lunch, he started asking me questions… and here’s the thing: I didn’t know the answer into anything he was asking me! I’ll tell you that I, as a dental practice consultant, am the most studied person you’ll ever meet when it comes to internet marketing, and I didn’t know the answers to the simple things he was asking me that he was doing online. So, I had dedicated myself relentlessly to learn more and more about internet marketing and you’ll see it in my newsletters that I just keep talking about it because I was blind before and now I have like seen the light and I just can’t stop preaching about the stuff that he shares about doing things online.

So, like I’ve said earlier, dental practice consultant Lloyd Irvin is the best man for the job when it comes to internet marketing… especially in internet dental marketing! For your internet dental marketing, he will teach you stuff like SEO (or Search Engine Optimization), which if done correctly, can help you get your website into the top rankings of the search engines in the Internet. He can have your website climb to the top spots on the Internet within a matter of minutes. He will also teach you his magic formula, Traffic + Conversion = Cash, and this formula will help you get the biggest earnings that you can have in your dental practice. Plus, he’ll teach you more secrets for your internet dental marketing business that you’ll never find anywhere else! So, if you ever get to meet Lloyd Irvin, he is literally one of the most fascinating people that you’ll ever meet. If you should literally have the opportunity of listening to anything he says, you should take it as verbatim; you should take it as pure gold. He doesn’t talk a lot, so when he talks, it definitely means something. For me, Lloyd Irvin truly is a master of internet dental marketing… and he can be for you as well!

Variable, Full Color, Digital Printing

To develop a successful dental marketing approach in this modern, hyperactive consumer market, it is imperative for general dental and specialty offices to move beyond a generic current occupant presentation. Even the personalized “address label” and/or black and white personalization of letter mailings to current dental patients has its limitations. Variable digital full color printing has significant potential to achieve the internal and external communication goals of many dental practice types including cosmetic, family, and orthodontic.

Dental and orthodontic practices not in a healthy growth mode or that have seen shrinkage in recent months or years require more advanced marketing methods. These practices are not going to be able to compete successfully for the consumer’s attention and dollar without adding to their marketing repertoire.

Overcoming the economic, insurance or consumer issues like denial, procrastination, and oral ignorance requires a higher level of interaction, intensity, and creativity. Variable digital printing puts increased emphasis on the recipient. By putting the recipient “in the concept” rather than as an “adjunct” to the concept, has a stunning effect compared to traditional direct mail.

CONSUMER EFFECT

The personalization inherent in variable printing creates a very unique connection with the consumer recipient – current or prospective dental/orthodontic patient:

• It completely envelopes the dental consumer’s experience

• They are an integral part of the communication not just an afterthought

• It has a connective emotional impact not just a visual impact

• Their name “inside the design” reflects the communicative effect back to them

– The effect is, therefore, much more about them than about you (the dentist or orthodontist)

PERSONALIZATION DIAGRAMMED

View Diagram of concept

COST/BENEFIT ANALYSIS

While initial cost should be considered when choosing a marketing concept, it is really potential results being purchased. If the lower priced product is ineffective, the initial cost becomes irrelevant. Paying 100 percent more for something that actually works benefits the purchaser much more.

As discussed and presented above, variable printing provides the ability to place text throughout the dentistry and orthodontic marketing piece. This unique printing technology and its personalization capability requires a complex and individualized process. Offset printing (thousands of versions of the same exact piece) is cheaper for this reason. While variable printing costs more, it offers much more.

Offset printing offers you savings today – Variable printing offers you more patients tomorrow. Gaining and holding the attention of the 21st century dental consumer requires the use of the best communication repertoire available. Variable printing offers the dentist and the orthodontist the level of intensity needed to overpower the current marketing din.

To avoid the pitfalls of dental marketing mediocrity, put cost in its place. More importantly, don’t give this benefit away to your dental or orthodontic competitors.

RESULTS DETAILED

Response rates are dramatically improved with the personalization of variable digital printing. Dental and orthodontic postcards become signature pieces rather than stacks of printed paper. Offset printing – thousands of printed pieces without personalization – cannot achieve this level of response because of its generic and detached connection with the recipient.

Traditional response rates for Black and White, offset printing, and current occupant mailings are .03% to 1% across most industries. Below are the improvement levels seen once more data, full color and personalization are implemented.

• 44% Response Improvement by adding recipient’s name to the printed page (not current occupant)*

• 135% Response Improvement by adding full color to a printed piece*

• 500% Response Improvement by adding recipient’s name, color, and customizing content to interests of recipient*

*Variable Digital Printing – Industry Results

OFFSET COMPARISON

Offset printing often has a cheaper cost of entry. This elixir of cheaper initial cost is very powerful. Yet, a successful response (and more patients) is what dentists and orthodontists demand. Variable printing of orthodontic or dental postcards requires more initial investment, but if the value of a better response is entered into the equation, cost of entry becomes irrelevant.

For example:

Dental Practice #1: 10,000 postcards for $6,000 is fairly common for offset printing**

Dental Practice #2: 10,000 postcards for $8,000 is fairly common for variable printing**

** These averages include all fees: postage, mailing, full color both sides printing, design, and lead list

A somewhat positive response rate of 0.75% with offset printing/mailing of 10,000 postcards would produce 75 calls. (This response rate takes into account an offset printer/marketer including full color and placing the recipient’s name in the addressing).

In contrast, the variable printing personalization capability creates the potential for 125 to 150 calls. While this level of increased response is an estimate, variable printing only has to increase actual patient numbers by a few more to pay back the initial cost benefit offset printed dental and orthodontic postcards provide. Just a few additional patients would add 7-25 thousand dollars in future income

However, there is another major caveat in this offset printing and variable printing comparison. What if the local dental or orthodontic competition is already doing an offset printed direct mailing? Competition will drive down response rates – variable printing offers the dentist or orthodontist an obvious advantage in this competitive environment.

CONCLUSION

Dental or orthodontic direct mail marketing is always evolving. Orthodontists and dentists need to continue to innovate, not only to stay ahead of their local competition, but also to effectively engage the consumer in this hyper active environment. Most consumers are not aware of the value in modern dentistry and orthodontics.

Breaking through the marketing clutter requires more than what was done yesterday. Variable digital printing will not solve every dental marketing dilemma, but it provides the leg up many orthodontia and family/cosmetic dentistry practices can use to get to the next level.

Sincerely, Dick Chwalek – Niche Dental

I’ve been asked: “What would be better for my dental practice marketing? Should I go for dental practice Internet (or online) marketing, or dental practice offline marketing?” I answer them with “both and/or neither”. It’s your choice to either go for the Internet or go offline on your dental practice marketing. Both kinds of dental practice marketing strategies, whether going for the Internet or offline, have their own advantages.

Dental Practice Internet Marketing :

My prediction for the next three years is that there would be a big possibility that the patients would go for dental practice Internet marketing, where these patients will try to reach their dentists online. We can estimate that to around 80% of the dental patients’ population. If you throw a question to a hundred people, asking them where they would get their directions, research information and choose new service provider, roughly around eighty to ninety of them would say I just had to “google it”. The Internet would spare them the time going from one location to another. For example, if a person would like to see the latest version of a PC system, wouldn’t it be much easier for him to just go and check it out in the Internet in the comfort of his own home, rather than go to his local shop a few miles away? This would save him time and energy in the process. And like in the field of dental practice Internet marketing, it’s much easier for patients to reach their respective dentists online. Reaching their dentist is simply just within the click of a button!

Dental Practice Offline Marketing :

Like dental practice Internet marketing, offline dental marketing has its advantages as well. The traditional way of reaching people still works for dental marketing. For me, I go for the concept of free standing inserts, which is one of the best, most affordable and also cost- effective ways to do external dental marketing. You can target ideal and potential patients, niche or target out your insert, or give an attractive offer to them straight to your office. Going for direct mailing would be a good thing as well. You see, people will always have there mail boxes available, where they would await for any mail to come to their residences, and this will never go away. They will always have their respective mail boxes and read their personal mails.

With these advantages of both the dental practice Internet marketing and dental practice offline marketing, it’s still a matter of personal choice. Go online or go offline in the business. But always remember that it would always differ depending on the area where you live, the advertising rates, and the responsiveness of the area. If you want to find out which one of these strategies would be better, you can “test” it. Dental practice marketing involves testing, and lots of it. But in my opinion, it’s still the best way that you can reach your goals of increasing your income rates. The choice is yours in your business!

As a dental marketer, you should find helpful ways in promoting your business. In your practice, you should get more dental patients. For this, you need to have a recommendation from a dental practice management consulting adviser. In this article, dental practice management consulting adviser Ed O’ Keefe would like to give you the ways to achieve success in your dental marketing business. What the dental practice management consulting adviser recommends is for you to follow these ways all the time in your business.

1st Recommendation: Sub-Niche Your Practice

The first recommendation that the dental practice management consulting adviser would give you is to sub-niche your practice. You can start by promoting other services. In the adviser’s case, they are promoting an “Invisalign” for patients who needs whiter, stronger teeth. He asks his patients what their ultimate goals are, and he has Invisalign as a solution to help them get straighter teeth. But if they want to get straighter, whiter teeth right away, then they can present the whole treatment plan to the patient immediately. So start by sub-niching your practice. Go after your patients with dental problems and have dentistry as the solution for them.

2nd Recommendation: Go For “Lead-Generation”

The second recommendation that the dental practice management consulting adviser would give you is to “lead-generate” through advertising your services. With this you can actually help people identify you as a good dentist by overwhelming them with “before and afters” proof, wherein you can educate them through DVD’s, powerpoints, and online. You can educate your dental patients through seminars, local workshops, or online.

3rd Recommendation: Open The “Floodgates” To Your Dental Patients

The third recommendation that the dental practice management consulting adviser would give you is to open the floodgates to your dental patients. A lot of doctors,with their associates, open the floodgates to their new patients; and the patients just keep coming in to their dental practice. Then 1 out of 10, or 2 out of 10 patients that came in are going to want cosmetic dentistry or more of high-end restorative dentistry. Remember, your objective here is to get that dental patient in your business.

These are the ways that the dental practice management consulting adviser would give you as you go with your business. First, start by sub-niching your practice, then “lead- generate” by advertising, and then opening the floodgates to your new dental patients. Go with these recommendations, and you’ll gain more patients in your practice, and become successful in your business!