If you missed Colin’s very well-attended presentation at the AAO meeting in Los Angeles on May 5th, here’s a quick recap.
Colin looked at 5 common misconceptions:
- Google Ads (PPC/AdWords) is a bidding war.
- More starts will solve MOST of my problems.
- The most important metric in my practice is my case start percentage.
- “Big Chain” orthodontics is my biggest threat.
- My education and credentialing are my biggest differentiating factors.
He then proceeded to thoroughly demolish those misconceptions.
Google Ads Is NOT A Bidding War
PPC isn’t a bidding war, and if you don’t optimize, you will pay the “dumb tax.” Your Quality Score is a HUGE determinant of what you’ll pay per click.
The person above you, or three or four spots above you, with a better Quality Score can be paying less, sometimes even half, of your per-click cost. If you’re paying three times the amount of the #1 ranking PPC dentist, he’s getting 65 percent of the clicks for a third of what you’re paying. Or to put it another way, you’re paying 3 times what he is to get 10 percent of the clicks.
It’s not a bidding war, it’s knowing how to do it.
More Starts Are NOT Better
So many orthodontists and dentists that they think they need more starts, more starts, more starts. And the truth is, they have no idea. It’s hard to win the “race to the bottom” of attracting just more starts that only want “will my insurance cover this?”
Increasing your average patient value from $3500 to $3670 means the average practice doing 50 starts per month will collect another $100,000.00 this year. What would you look like another with $100k in your pocket this year?
Following the 80/20 rule, attracting higher value cases is working in your 20%. This equals substantially more free time for you while producing the same numbers. How many orthodontists and dentists spend too much of their time catering to patients that don’t aren’t the right fit for your practice?
It’s not about more patients, it’s getting the right, better patients.
Big chain dentistry is your BEST friend
These “big chains” actually HELP you as a private practice because they give the contrast to your differentiation and uniqueness – your unique selling proposition.
You’ve almost certainly had cases come to you that were messed up at the big chains.
You’ve almost certainly heard the horror stories.
How you position yourselves in the market with better service, higher levels of care, and better quality is exactly the difference that the better patients you want to attract want to see.
Become The EXPERT To Stand Out
Everyone’s favorite subject is themselves. So when dentists and orthodontists talk about ourselves, prospects don’t care.
The credential trap is thinking because you have the latest technology that you’re going to be better than everyone else. The patient just knows they have a problem and a pain that they need to get the solution to. They don’t care HOW you solve it.
It’s like the mouse vs the cheese – most dentists think they need a new mouse trap, the shiny newest, latest model. You don’t need a new mouse trap, what you really need is better cheese on your trap.
You’ve got to let your patients know you are the expert by understanding your patients and letting them know you understand them. When you talk about yourself and your credentials, patients don’t care about that until it relates to them.
So, You DON’T Want To Mess With All This?
That’s understandable; you didn’t get into this business to become a marketing guru.
SmartBox is a practice growth firm that helps convert your marketing investment into bottom-line profits. We do everything to help your practice attract, convert, and retain the case starts/new patients you want.
Discover what SmartBox can do for your practice. Schedule a Roadmap call, an investment of time about equal to what you need to place a crown or an implant.
Following the call, we’ll send you completely personalized Roadmap to the future you want.