Creating More Value For Patients

And more revenue for your practice

When it comes to physical health, the mouth is the gateway. What goes in affects the whole body, which is not something patients always realize. Helping them understand the connection between oral and overall health, and the fact that a healthy mouth can lead to a healthier life, is a great way to create more value for your patients – and an improved experience with your practice. This leads to improved retention, higher referral rates, increased case acceptance, better reviews, and more production.

When it comes to practice health, communication is the gateway. What goes out affects everyone associated, including staff, dentists, patients, and the community. It’s a fact that successful dental offices recognize and acknowledge.

Of course, there are a lot of important decisions patients have to make when it comes to their dental health, and one of the most important is choosing a dentist. A key tenet of practice success is to first help prospective patients understand their need to prioritize their oral health. Once you’ve accomplished this, your next task is to make your practice their obvious and standout choice for a dental care provider.. And once patients have selected your practice, your next focus should be on creating more value that will enhance their experience and ensure they stay longer and refer more. One of the best ways to accomplish this is by educating your patients about good oral hygiene habits and the treatments that can help them achieve better dental health.. By providing quality education that enables them to make informed decisions about their care, dentists can further strengthen the doctor/patient relationship while also building their reputation in the community. This also helps to attract more awesome team members.

After all, education helps keep patients engaged and committed to their oral health, and it helps generate interest in elective services. Actively engaged patients inevitably impact dental teams, prompting them to feel happy and excited about helping patients learn more and benefit more. Education is also one of the most valuable tools a dentist has in creating beautiful, bright, lasting smiles for their patients, not to mention a thriving dental office. When put simply, education is key!

And it’s not only important for the patient’s sake but also for the dental office. When patients are better informed, they are more likely to visit regularly and be compliant with treatment. This leads to increased business revenue and a more successful dental practice.

So how can you provide more value to your patients and increase business revenue? You need a consistent communication strategy for both existing and new patients, that includes educational content emphasizing the importance of great oral health – and how your services help patients achieve it.

This strategy should include:

• Mailing a customized quarterly patient newsletter to patient homes that features interesting angles on oral health, health-related interest pieces, and fun stuff, like a healthy recipe or staff profile
• Sending a monthly educational email to patients that highlights new products and technologies and their benefits
• Mailing a monthly neighborhood newsletter to targeted households, which is similar to your patient newsletter, but with strong call-to-action content
• Adding educational content to automated communications, such as a review request, to add value and improve reciprocity
• Including quality educational content on your modern, fast website, which is designed to encourage readership, click-throughs, and conversions

Providing prospective and existing clients with an answer to the question: “Why should I go to the dentist?” can be tough. We understand that summing up everything that dental experts – and your practice, in particular – offer in a digestible, easily understood, and motivating way isn’t always a seamless process. That’s where our company can help! We’re experts at creating helpful, educational content that speaks to consumers and we’ve seen time and time again how finely tuned communications make a difference in practice and patient health. Patients need to know why and how regular dental visits are so important, and we not only ensure that messaging around this truth is delivered professionally and effectively – we significantly impact our clients’ practice revenue in the process!

We all know that women make the majority of household dental buying decisions. They want good information to make good decisions for their families. But consider how often you receive dental educational information as an average consumer. Not very often. You may get a random postcard from another dental office that might have an offer, a map, and a headline – but chances are it doesn’t include an article about WHY dental visits are important. You might also see a random article in the news, but there’s no mention of where the best place to get services would be.

 Here’s where a dental office can really stand out in the community. Offices that commit to regular educational communications do differentiate and stand out. Think about it: If you were an average female head-of-household with no connection to the dental industry, would you understand the link between gum disease and other common diseases like diabetes, cancer, or premature birth? Or how easy teeth whitening, crowns, or an implant can be? Does the average household understand how important a great smile is for career success for young adults?

At Patient NEWS, we help dental offices and teams provide quality, reliable information about how oral health affects overall health with content-rich marketing campaigns that are developed around your competitive advantages and key services you want to promote.

If you educate patients about more than their next dental appointment date and time, they will be more likely to return, buy more, and refer their friends. This helps dental offices make more money, which can be used to invest in new technologies, continuing education, and a great environment for patients to visit. It can also be used to build and retain an awesome team!

For 30 years, we have dedicated our careers to helping dentists educate patients on the importance of oral health. Yes, for decades we’ve helped leading dental teams create unique and focused communications that work in direct mail, on custom websites, on social media, in automated patient communications – and our content yields results – our clients are producing 25% more production than the industry average! 

We believe in education and we help you teach patients how their tongue affects not just themselves but also those around them. We also help coach dental offices and teams on how to best communicate with patients, how to effectively attract them to your practice, and how to convert them when they call or visit your website. Helping you succeed truly brings us joy!

Simply put, patient education in all marketing materials is a highly effective communication strategy for your dental office or group. Informative and carefully curated content helps dental offices connect with existing and prospective patients while also creating a superior experience and a stellar reputation in the community.

We’re pacing out of 2022 and into 2023 fast right now. Call to schedule a free consultation – or just order a sample kit of our content-rich dental marketing materials and see for yourself how our experience and skills can make a significant difference in your practice and your revenue, all while creating value and elevating your patient experience!

Joanne Bishop