You’re Halfway Through The Year – Are You Where You Want To Be?

As a successful dentist or dental office/DSO manager, who would you like managing your direct mail or website campaign? A jack-of-all-trades company or a DENTAL marketing expert?

My question was spurred by a conversation with my daughter, who works at a very specialized firm within her (not dental) industry. When I referred to another company in that industry as a competitor of hers, she was not pleased. “Mom,” she said firmly. “That’s like comparing any jack-of-all-trades marketing company that works for auto dealers, veterinarians, real estate agents, dentists, whatever, to Patient NEWS! Those companies can’t be EXPERTS in dental like Patient NEWS. Dental is your complete focus. Those others dabble. Patient NEWS is SKILLED and brings more to the table than any of the others. How many create superior dental educational content? How many work with the leaders in your field? You should emphasize that more in your marketing!”

She’s right, and it’s true. We have dedicated our careers to the dental industry. We’ve worked with some of the most successful dentists around. We have focused exclusively on helping dental offices attract and retain patients for the past 30 years with proven results and a pretty good reputation! We are real people who care about our business and our clients’ success. We like to say we are dental people, too, because we are!

Now we are halfway through the year, are you headed where you want? And will it be a jack-of-all or a dental expert to help you achieve your goals? Here’s what you can expect from the dental marketing experts at Patient NEWS:

1. On average, our clients produce over a million dollars more annually than the average dental practice – that’s MORE THAN double industry average.
2. Our clients have had higher-than-average recovery results since reopening after COVID.
3. As of May 2023, our clients are 40% ahead of the industry recovery rate.
4. Our client production has been higher every month in 2023 versus the same period in the previous four years.
   

We’ve worked with hundreds of dental offices on thousands of successful (and a few not-so-successful) marketing campaigns – direct mail newsletters, postcards, websites, paid media – and we’ve listened to and scored millions (literally) of new-patient calls, with thousands of offices connected to Practice ZEBRA^®, our marketing software, and reported on the real results of every campaign.

This means our Patient NEWS^® team has very unique knowledge of what works and what does not with access to hard data – not anecdotal commentary, not pulling patient lists, and not guessing at average production. This allows us to see the actual new-patient production per campaign and beyond.

It also lets us in on what it takes to be successful with marketing and why some programs aren’t so successful. This means we can help guide your dental practice by applying the proven methodologies we’ve crafted and refined and analyzed to ensure that your programs are successful in making your practice stand out in the community and driving your production UP.

We know you have lots of choice when it comes to your marketing partners, but consider the unique benefits of an exclusively dental marketing agency! We very much value the dentists and DSOs that choose us and work very hard to deliver on our brand promise – to make your practice or DSO stand out and grow!

One of the biggest things we do differently is education. We can do postcards, but they just don’t work as well as educational neighborhood newsletters that have a 2X impact over digital marketing AND postcards! My CEO, Wayne Lavery, said today that we should say, “Stop marketing and start educating!” Given that 35-40% of the population haven’t seen a dentist in the last year – some of that is based on uneducated worries about cost, assuming their teeth are “healthy,” or an outdated fear of the visit – and dentists are complaining that not enough patients are booking appointments, doesn’t it make sense that using our formula and format for including educational content will set your practice up to attract the quality new patients you want while simultaneously boosting production?

Again, we are halfway through the year and we see reports from dentists that they don’t have enough patients making appointments and this is something the team at Patient NEWS can really help change if this is a problem at your practice.

Every market has abundant production opportunities! Consider this: The average dental practice has around 2,000 active patients or around 1,500 households – and for most, there are 15,000 households within their realistic drive time and target audience. With natural patient attrition eating away at production, there really are lots of opportunities to add more high-value new patients to your practice – and grow production. Our clients’ stats prove it. When consumers learn more about their oral health via your educational newsletters, they feel closer to you and choose your dental practice. On average, our clients achieve a 6:1 ROI within the first 6-12 months when they run our program as directed.

Building trust is one of the most important things your marketing plan must do. I’m sure you’ve had a myriad of training on how to build trust as a practitioner.

The question is, are those trust-building concepts playing out in your marketing programs? Are you consistently:

1. Visible to your target audience? Visibility, awareness, and being there when others are not – these tactics help build consumer trust.
2. Showing that you care? You can do this by providing a great onboarding experience, proactive value-added direct mail, and a fast, user-friendly website with easy and convenient scheduling.
3. Being helpful? Educational formats, like our newsletters, allow you to share content, share your knowledge, and become recognized, known, and trusted as a dental authority by your community. Not just the shop that has a $1 exam.
4. Being honest? Collect reviews from patients and respond to them – reviews can share your value prop and differentiate your practice.
5. Communicating effectively? Find the households that matter to your practice and be there consistently.

Building trust with patients is a long-game program, just as it is in any relationship. When considering your marketing strategy, consider the “plan” and what you want to communicate to the households surrounding your practice. What do they need to know? How will you set your dental practice apart?

Our tracking and analysis capabilities provide us with very unique insights into what works to drive practice production – insights based on real data and not anecdotal information. We know that for most markets, educational newsletters attract patients far more effectively than postcards. That’s likely because the household decision-maker wants quality information to make good decisions for their family. We also know what doesn’t work.

We are at the halfway point of 2023. Six months from now, we’ll be organizing holiday events and wondering what we’re doing for New Year’s Eve.

Are you on track to hit the production number you set for your practice this year?

If yes, keep doing more of what you’re doing now.

If not, we can help you reassess your plan, find opportunities, and get your boost into play. Here’s why you should listen to the team at Patient NEWS:

• On average, our clients produce over a million dollars more annually than the average dental practice – that’s MORE THAN double industry average.
• Our clients have had higher-than-average recovery results since reopening after COVID.
• As of May 2023, our clients are 40% ahead of the industry recovery rate.
• Our client production has been higher every month in 2023 versus the same period in the previous four years.

Want to get in on this action? Schedule a FREE CONSULT now!

Joanne Bishop