Marketing to Your Desired Patient Base

I recently had the opportunity to ask a few questions to Dr. Sargon Lazarof who is the owner of Sargon Dental Institute in the very competitive market of Encino, California. Encino is a suburb of Los Angeles, which is one of the most competitive dental markets in the United States.

Dr. Lazarof has managed to build a very high-end cosmetic practice in a very competitive market, so I wanted to get into some detail with him about how he has managed to attract those high-end patients. Without further ado, let's jump into the interview.

Dr. Lazarof, give us a little background about yourself and your practice.

I have owned my practice for 22 years. I do a lot of cosmetic dentistry, dental implants, sinus augmentations and other high-end procedures. I really enjoy helping patients restore their smile to a point where they love smiling again.

What changes have you seen in dentistry in the 22 years that you have been practicing and how have you adapted to accommodate those changes?

One of the main changes that I have noticed in the time that I have owned my practice is the education level of my patients. When I first started practicing dentistry, patients seemed to rely a lot more on the dentist and maybe even trust the dentist more. Now patients have often done hours of research and will come in with a list of questions that they want to have answered. 

Patients who have done their research does not really create a problem if you take time to explain things to patients. When you can answer the questions that the patients have, it builds more trust and rapport with the patients.

Looking back on your years of practice, what are a few of the marketing efforts that you have tried that fell flat?

Before we defined our ideal patient, we tried a few things that did not work at all. They were geared toward the general masses and did not bring in a single patient. 

We advertised on Rite Aid prescription bags for a trial month and got zero calls from that. Looking back on it, it is disruptive marketing that does not give you the chance to really sell, so that is not really surprising that it didn't succeed.

We are located close to Ventura Blvd, so we also tried advertising in Ventura Blvd Magazine and also had zero patients from that marketing attempt. That one is a little bit more surprising that it didn't bring any new patients, but again, we only had the chance to sell on paper in the magazine.

So you learned a few lessons about what not to do along the way. Now tell us what is working to grow your high-end practice.

After we defined our ideal patient and focused on cosmetic dentistry, we also came to the conclusion that the decision to pursue cosmetic dentistry is an emotional one. This means that the best forms of marketing were the ones that would allow us to build emotion. We started doing high-quality emotion based TV ads and it was really successful right from the get-go. We have now been doing our TV ads for more than 10 years, and they are still working great! That is where the majority of our patients come from.

Do you think this would have the same success rate for a practice that doesn't focus on cosmetic dentistry?

I think it would, but I want to emphasize the importance of really defining your target patients and understanding what they are looking for in their decision-making process. Some patients care about a high-end experience with a dentist who is emotionally invested in the outcome of their smile, while others might be more interested in how good you are with children. These are just two different types of patients and there are a whole lot of variations on those. Until you are very familiar with your ideal patient, you are really just throwing things at the wall and hoping something sticks.

Be deliberate with your marketing. If you are trying to attract high-end clients, figure out how to get in front of them with marketing materials that will be what they are looking for. If you are trying to attract the masses, focus on quality and offer deals. I think you get the idea.

Dr. Lazarof, thank you for your time today!