 |
|
Dental Marketing Overview How
To Professionally Market Your Dental Practice You Can Learn How to Have A Steady Stream Of New
Patients Coming Into Your Dental Practice… without spending a ton of money
on advertising and marketing. By Christopher Shunn
My name is Christopher
Shunn. Shortly after graduating
from college in 1978, I entered the dental laboratory industry.
I worked for two years as an in-house dental laboratory technician and
ceramist. I open my first
commercial laboratory in 1981 in Provo, Utah.
Over the next 15 years I owned and operated 14 different dental laboratories
in 4 different states. I did all of my own marketing and as a result, I
met and worked with several hundreds of different dentists. In
1981, the complex in which I
worked included the offices of Dr. Gordon Christensen, and Clinical Research
Associates. I had several
occasions to visit with Dr. Christensen and discuss the impact that advertising
was having on dentistry. I believed then, as I do now, that the right kind of marketing and advertising has the potential to benefit dentistry. Most people do not fully appreciate the tremendous advances that have been made in dentistry. Most people do not understand the relationship of good oral health and total body health. Likewise, most people are not aware of the health advantages of taking care of their teeth. A physician, Charles Mayo, co-founder of the world-famous Mayo Health Clinic, once said about dentistry that "People who keep their teeth live an average of 10 years longer than people who lose their teeth." Sharing such important insights on the importance of dentistry to our health could do wonders for the entire dental profession. The latest oral-systemic disease connection research is full of information that demonstrates the tremendous importance of good oral health to our total health and longevity. Several years later I was working with The Summit to Save a Fee-For-Service Dentistry. Dr. Gordon Christensen gave the keynote address. In his remarks, Dr. Christensen stated that not only was advertising and marketing acceptable, but advertising and marketing is necessary if we are to solve the problems facing dentistry. Dentistry could be doing so much more to raise the perceived value of dentistry. Every dentist everywhere would benefit. Since
1979, dentists have spent untold millions
and millions of dollars advertising and marketing their dental services. In 1979, the dental
industry faced a number of image problems.
Most people didn't like going to the dentist. Most people believed that
dentistry was painful, expensive, and not related to their health. Only about
50% of Americans visited a dentist in any given year. One
of the Biggest Problems Facing Dentistry in 1979 Was the Perception That
Dentistry Is Not Related to Our Total Health. The dental industry has
been advertising for over 25 years. The dental community collectively has
spent millions and millions of dollars on advertising. You may have spent
thousands, tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of dollars on
advertising and marketing your dental practice. What effect has your advertising had on your
practice? What effect has other dentists' advertising had on your practice?
And, more importantly, what effect has all of the advertising of twenty-five
years had on the problems and challenges facing dentistry? What effect has marketing and advertising had on the
dental profession? Now in
2007, the dental
industry still faces the same image problems problems that we faced in 1978. Most people still don’t like going to the dentist. Most
people still believe that dentistry is painful, expensive, and not related to
their health. Only about 50% of Americans will visit a dentist this year. The Problems of Dental Advertising Shortly after graduating from college, for a brief time I sold advertising. In college I was fascinated with the theory of advertising and marketing and the power of mass media to influence people's opinions and buying habits. In the real world, however, I found advertising to be full of lies and false promises. After just a few months I found it impossible to sell advertising without compromising my ethical standards. I was not willing to make promises to advertisers that about their advertising that I believed in my heart were untrue. Advertising is expensive:
Advertising is Insanity. One of the worse aspects of advertising is that it generally attracts the wrong kinds of patients.Advertising pits one dentist against every other dentist in the community.The real high cost of advertising and marketing is the long-term loss to every dentist resulting from the short-term gain of a few dentists.To be effective, most advertising requires some form
of an offer or discount. Dentists That Are Offering Discounts On Exams, X-rays,
and Cleanings Are Only Hurting Themselves and Their Profession in The Long Run
It is extremely difficult for one dentist to charge his or her patients for a procedure when another dentist down the street is offering that same procedure for Free. It is also difficult to charge full price later for a service that you now give away for free or offer at a discount. Are you offering free teeth whitening? What if a dentist in your area began offering free crown and bridgework? How would that affect your practice? The Biggest Marketing Mistake You Can Ever Make One of the biggest marketing mistakes that you can make is offering a discount to new patients only. If anyone deserves a discount it should be your existing patients). Phone 801-616-3554 for a free report: The Preferred Patient Program. The
Problems Facing Dentistry What are the problems that face dentistry today, in
your opinion? What are the
problems facing your dental practice? The Number One
Problem Facing Dentistry Is the Fact That Physicians Do Not Refer Their
Patients to Dentists The problems facing
dentistry today result from a failure to effectively educate and communicate
the values and benefits of modern dentistry to our patients and prospective
patients. We could add a failure
to communicate to physicians and others as well.
If Consumers Don't Appreciate the Importance of Dentistry to Their Health, We Have No One to Blame But Ourselves. We
have spent millions and millions of dollars promoting our own self
interests. We should have been promoting dentistry and educating
consumers about the importance of dentistry to their health. We should
have also been promoting and educating the importance of good oral health to
physicians. Physicians should be referring their at-risk patients to the
health care specialist for oral infection. The oral systemic connection
research clearly shows an established link between infection in the mouth and
a host of illnesses and diseases including: Altzheimer's, Diabetes,
Respiratory Disease, Heart Disease, Strokes, Colon Cancer, Pancreatic Cancer,
Arthritis, Low-Birth Weight Babies, and more. We have spent millions and millions of dollars promoting our self
interests. We should
have been promoting dentistry and
educating consumers about the importance Instead of Spending Millions and Millions
of Dollars on Self-Promotional Advertising That Pits One Dentist against Every
Other Dentist, We Should Have Been Spending Money to Educate Consumers About
the Values and Benefits of Dentistry. Every Dentist Everywhere Would Be Busier. Instead of Fighting for Market
Share,
Dentists Should Be Focusing on Expanding the Dental Marketplace by Educating
Those Who Rarely If Ever Visit A Dentist.
The Better People Are Educated and
Understand the Values and Benefits of Dentistry and How It Relates to Their
Health,
The More Willing They Are to Accept and Pay for Dental Treatment. What Effect Has Advertising Had On the Dental Profession? The answer is that
after 25 years and having spent millions of dollars on advertising, dentistry
is not much better off than it was in 1978. Consumers are no better informed now then they were over
twenty-five years ago. We have done little to change the negative
preconceptions that people have towards dentistry. What we have done is
created the perception that dental services have little of no value. We
have created price shoppers who are looking for a bargain in dentistry. The right kind of
advertising & marketing could have made enormous advances in changing
public views about the importance of dentistry. The
Problem Is That Most of the Advertising Dollars Are Spent on Self-Promotional
Advertising. In self-promo type ads,
the dentist placing the ad is trying to convince patients to choose his or her
dental practice instead of some other dental practice. Self-promotional
advertising pits one dentist against every other dentist. This wrong kind of
advertising may result in a short-term gain for the advertising dentist--but a
long-term loss to the profession. There is a better way.
You can take the high-road approach to advertising. Ads that educate can
change negative perceptions about dentistry. Instead
of Spending Tens of Thousands of Dollars on Self Promotional Advertising to
Grow Their Dental Practices, Dentists Should Pool Their Resources and Focus on
Promoting Dentistry. If We Spent
More Time Communicating the Values and Benefits of Modern Dentistry to
Consumers, Every Dentist Would Benefit. Many dentists complain about the problems associated with expensive advertising, low-priced dental ads, the proliferation of marketing, and the incursion and control of dental insurance on fee-for-service dentistry...but no one is doing anything about it. Dentists continue to act as if it is every man for himself...instead of cooperating together to effect some positive change. It is unfortunate that most state, local, and the national dental organizations do not support more cooperative educational marketing programs. We could do far more t o advance the cause of dentistry wit a lot less money if dentists would pool their resources and support advertising and marketing that educates consumers about all of the health benefits and cost-saving offered through modern dental care. If dentists ever began uniting in this way, every dentist every where would be busier and not feel the need to do self-promotional advertising. Don't look for this to happen anytime soon. The good news is
that individual dentists that take this high road approach in advertising can
distinguish themselves from the self-promotional advertisers.
By using ads that
educate, you can be recognized as a knowledgeable professional.
If you are doing any
advertising, you should seriously consider changing the focus of your message
to one that educates consumers about the values and benefits of modern
dentistry. You will be doing something good for consumers and dentistry. If you would like
some ideas on how to promote the values and benefits of modern dentistry or a
free review of your current ad campaigns, give us a call.
You can receive a free marketing analysis of your current marketing
efforts. You will also receive a
free 45 minute personal coaching session to help you determine if our program
is right for your office. How
Do Patients Choose a Dentist, And How Can You Influence Them To Choose
Your Dental Practice? Radio
and TV Less than 1% Everyone knows that
word-of-mouth advertising works best. But how do you get patients to refer? To learn how to get
your existing patients to refer, you need to attend our full-day seminar, SMART
Dental Marketing. You will learn How
To Develop A Referral-Based Dental Practice.
Or you can sign up for our Affordable Dental Marketing Coaching Program
(more information on this below). You
can learn how to get your existing patients to refer their friends, family
members, neighbors, and co-workers to your dental practice.
There is something, however, that works even better. Referrals from other health care professionals
(physicians, cardiologists, OB-GYN's, chiropractors, optometrists, etc. is the
most professional way to market your dental practice. Referrals from
physicians are much
better than referrals from your existing patients for the simple reason that
physicians can potentially refer many more new patients to your practice than
the average patient. The Affordable Dental
Marketing Coaching Program can help you with virtually any type of marketing
that you would like to do, whether it is direct mail, yellow page advertising,
magazine ads, or radio and television.
We can show you how to get the most out of every marketing dollar that you are
spending. However,
most of our marketing programs focus on how to develop a referral-based dental
practice. Referrals, or
word-of-mouth advertising is the best way to grow your dental practice.
Our program has been developed during the past 25 years.
While working in the dental laboratory industry, I had the opportunity
to work with several hundreds of dentists.
I was able to observe my laboratory dentist-clients.
Many of them had developed very successful dental practices without any
advertising. Over the years we
have refined referral strategies and developed new marketing strategies
designed to help generate new patient referrals.
The is the right way to market dental services. Affordable Dental
Marketing offers a full-day seminar to teach dentists how to develop a
referral-based dental practice. The cost of the seminar is less than what one
new patient is worth ($495). At this seminar, you will learn how to get
hundreds of referrals from your existing patients. You will also learn how to
get your staff to help market (refer) to your practice. You will also learn
how to get other health care professionals to refer to your practice--and so
much more. When you sign up for
our Comprehensive Dental Marketing Program, you and any of your staff can
attend any of our Affordable Dental Marketing Seminars Free. For more information phone 1-801-796-3561. Are
You Serious About Growing Your Dental Practice Without Spending A Lot of
Money? If you are serious--you
need to give me a call. What Is A New Patient
Worth? How Many New Patients
Would You Like Next Month? What Are You Currently
Spending Per Month Now On Marketing And Advertising? How Much Should You Be
Spending On Marketing And Advertising? Do You Have A Marketing
Budget? Or Are You Winging It? How would you
like to add an increase of $125,000, $250,000, $500,000, or more to your
dental practice this year? What would you be willing to pay for a comprehensive marketing
program and full support team to help you accomplish your new production and
income goals? Would you pay $25,000? That would be a bargain. What if you
could get a comprehensive marketing program to help you add massive amounts of
increased production, unlimited support, and an unconditional guarantee--all
for just $2,400 total for one full year. You would be crazy not to do it. The Comprehensive
Affordable Dental Marketing Program works. This effective program is
a bargain and is very affordable. Other
clients in the past have paid as much as $2,500 per month. Now You Can
Get The Same Information...Plus A Special Bonus Offer...For Just $200 Per
Month. We will give your a wealth of information on how to develop a
referral-based dental practice, save money on your marketing and advertising,
increase the results from every marketing effort, and much more including:
Special Bonus Offer: Exclusive
Participation in TheSmileDentist.com Marketing Program. TheSmileDentist.com is
an affordable marketing program with proven results. This program is available
to just one dentist in your area. The cost of this program is normally $150
per month for your exclusive marketing area (up to six zip code exclusivity). This is a complete marketing program that is affordable, exclusive, and
can help grow your dental practice fast in a professional manner.
TheSmileDentist.com
is included free when you sign up for our
One-Year Comprehensive Dental
Marketing Package. Visit:
www.TheSmileDentist.com to learn
more. Is This Program For
Real? Does It Work? Will I Really Get A Minimum 5 to 1 Return On My
Investment? Can I Talk To Some Other Dentists Who Are On The Program? To help you decide if
our marketing services are right for you, there are several things that you
should do:
In order to qualify for this program, you must be capable of producing a minimum increase of $150,000 in the next 12 months. If you qualify and you are serious, we will work with you until you make a minimum increase of $150,000. Have a great day, P.S. Please give us your comments and feedback. Email to: info@marketingdentistry.com Coming Soon! The Ultimate Dental Marketing Program We are in the process of finishing a new Internet-based marketing
program which will blow the socks off of any marketing you have ever done.
This will be the best value in town as far as generating new patients
for less cost. Imagine having 100 to 150 businesses in your area
referring their customers to your dental practice. Phone 1-801-616-3554 |