Dentists tend to market with a broad brush, so to speak. That’s understandable – the vast majority of people have teeth, and therefore need dental care at some point. But such a broad approach can waste a significant percentage of your marketing investment.
Even though the U.S. economy is enjoying a much-deserved period of growth, many dental prospects can still only afford the basics of dental care. Many others want only the treatment that insurance will pay for. With the trend toward cost-shifting toward the patient that shows no sign of slowing down, even patients with dental insurance will become more and more price-driven.
Be Careful What You Market For
Low-price and insurance-based marketing gets you primarily low case-value patients who yield only incremental return for your investment. You and your staff work too hard for too long for too little.
Beyond the poor return on your investment, that kind of traditional dental advertising brings patients with little or no loyalty to your practice. The lifetime value of those patients to your practice is low.
It’s understandable why dentists continue to market with a broad brush. The prospects described about constitute 70 percent or more of any given market. But they’re not the only prospects in a market, and savvy dentists will do far better to focus on the other 20 to 30 percent.
Better Patients Can Be Yours
There’s a significant segment of almost every market that will yield a far higher return for marketing dollars. That segment is composed of prospects with the ability and willingness to pay more for the right dentist. Moreover, they tend to be very loyal to the dentist they choose to solve their dental problems.
Prospects with discretionary income have different priorities than the run-of-the-mill patient when it comes to choosing a dentist. That they want excellent care and outcomes is a given; that’s what all patients want. Beyond that, they’re looking for a dentist who they like, relate to, and trust. In a word, they’re looking for a long-term relationship.
Building the right perception and engendering trust isn’t something you can accomplish through an occasional newspaper ad and a few postcard campaigns. For one thing, dental prospects overwhelmingly begin their search for a dentist online, which is actually good news. Imagine what it would cost to convey the entirety of your website in newspaper ads!
But the odds are that your website, your social media, your blog, and even your pay-per-click ads aren’t focused on building relationships. They’re focused on getting patient butts in your chairs right now.
Implementing a completely different marketing approach is a tall order for most dental practices. To take just one example, imagine the amount of time required to rewrite the contents of your website. Fortunately, you don’t have to do all that work when you choose to partner with SmartBox.
Discover the Power of Our Patient Attraction System®
SmartBox provides a steady stream of better patients to more than 550 dentists on three continents. Our doctors get to focus on actually doing the dentistry, not riding herd on their marketing.
Visit www.smartboxdentalmarketing.com and click on the “Get Started” button. Schedule your free, no-obligation Practice Discovery Session
.
Following the 25-minute phone call, SmartBox will send you your completely personalized, free, Patient Attraction Roadmap. The Roadmap is yours to use regardless of whether you become a SmartBox dentist.
The key to maximizing your marketing ROI is to get better patients in your chairs. Along with a greater return, you can also make more while working less. And there’s probably not a dentist in practice who doesn’t want that.
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