There’s always someone out there who is willing to sell you the “latest and greatest” marketing technique. And there are always dentists who will rush to buy the latest bright, shiny object, usually because what they’re doing with their marketing isn’t working well enough. People who are drowning will grasp at any lifeline, no matter how unlikely or frail it may be.
The Rush Is On
You only have to follow the news to understand just how often companies rush products and services to market. Usually, that approach uncovers any number of problems with those companies’ offerings – at customers’ expense.
That rush to market is particularly common with internet-based products and services. The number of internet startup companies is enormous – by some estimates, nearly 140,000 new firms worldwide per day. As you probably know from your own experience, startup costs can be enormous. There’s a lot of money going out, but little or none coming in. The pressure to begin generating revenue leads to premature release of internet technologies, and the price is high for those companies – some 125,000 startups fail every day.
That hotshot new dental marketing firm may not be in business in 6 months. Where will that leave you?
Where’s The Proof?
Marketing isn’t subject to the same sort of testing that new medical devices and medications are. That doesn’t mean that there shouldn’t be an objective track record of successes and failures for a marketing approach.
There’s a fairly simple way to determine whether the new innovation that a firm is pitching delivers what’s promised – ask for solid data. If you get answers that include terms like projections or estimates, or phrases like “Our analysis suggests” or “Depending on your market,” be warned. That firm should already know your market and how their marketing innovation will perform. If they don’t have hard numbers, you’re buying an unknown quantity. Doublespeak is no substitute for hard numbers.
The One and Only
The history of the internet is filled with magic marketing bullets that ultimately proved to be necessary, but not so magic. Search engine optimization was touted as the only thing that companies needed to succeed online. That’s simply not true. It’s necessary, but not sufficient. The same goes for online videos, pop-up ads, banner ads, and every other “all you need” innovation.
There’s A Better, Proven, Guaranteed Way
Attracting more dental patients requires a broad-based, integrated approach to online and offline marketing. Ideally, every aspect of your marketing works together to position you as the only logical choice to solve your prospects’ dental problems.
SmartBox Web Marketing has a proven track record of success in helping dentists attract more and better patients. Our industry-leading Patient Attraction System™ is helping more than 550 dentists on three continents succeed on their terms. And, we have hard data to back up the marketing ROIs that our dentists’ enjoy.
Innovation is good and necessary, but dentists should beware before they become early adopters of essentially unproven marketing methodology. Every marketing dollar counts for small businesses, and the vast majority of dentists aren’t in the financial position to throw away those hard-earned funds.