Q&A: Marketing Your Practice by Joy Gendusa

Marketing is a necessary aspect of a thriving dental practice, but too many dentists are reluctant to jump in. Some are afraid it won't work and they'll waste money, while others think marketing their practice somehow "cheapens" it.

Whatever the reason, not marketing a practice costs you patients—and revenue.

Dental marketing doesn't have to be like taking shots in the dark; the trial-and-error has already been done. My company has helped more than 5,000 dentists with marketing, and because we track our clients' results, we know what works and what doesn't.

These are the four questions about marketing I hear from dentists most often, along with the answers and my recommendations. This quiz could help you discover more revenue potential!

1. How do I avoid wasting money on marketing that doesn't bring in new patients?

1. Buy the smallest ads or campaigns possible, so you can test the waters.
2. Advertise once and wait to see if it works before doing more.
3. Target only the people who are most likely to become your patients.

Answer: It's definitely not A, especially in an industry as competitive as dentistry. And B is probably the biggest mistake I see dentists make (and the fastest way to waste marketing dollars), because people don't need the dentist every day. If someone sees your ad once, they may or may not remember your name when they do need dental care. (FYI, they probably won't.) You need to market yourself repeatedly so your practice will be top of mind when that person does need a dentist.

That means C is correct: The best way to avoid wasting marketing dollars is by targeting prospects most likely to come to you.

How do you know who they are? The identity of your target market depends on two things: your location and the services you offer. If you're a pediatric dentist, your target market is obviously people with children. If you're a general dentist who serves everybody, you want to target every household close to your practice (which also helps you save money on postage, if you're using direct mail).

The best part? With a high-quality mailing list, it's easy to target your ideal prospects.

How long do I have to keep marketing before I see an increase in revenue?

1. "Keep marketing"? Just do one or two ads and see what happens.
2. A few months.
3. One to two years.

Answer: The correct one here is B—and woe to the dentist who chooses A! (By "woe" I mean stagnant or declining revenue, for the reasons mentioned above.)

When you start a marketing campaign, generally you'll start seeing an uptick in revenue in four to six weeks. But some prospective patients could hang onto your postcard or ad for months before they actually need you. For this reason, I recommend dentists run a six-month campaign at minimum. A campaign of this size should give you enough data to work with when assessing its performance. After six months, you'll see that the more you market your practice, the more new patients—and revenue—you'll have coming in.

Fig. 1 (p. 78) shows the annual revenue of Dr. Amit Khanna, a Townie who owns Patuxent Dental in Hollywood, Maryland. Khanna bought his practice in 2006 but didn't start marketing until 2009, when he began sending out 6,000 direct mail postcards per month. As he kept marketing—and especially as he increased his monthly outflow, from 6,000 to 12,000 and then added coordinating online ads to those 12,000—his new patient numbers continued to climb.

That's how marketing works: You build momentum. It's a long game—too many dentists forget that.

Can I focus on just referral marketing?

1. Yes
2. No

Answer: This one is pretty obvious, but I hear it so often that I have to address it. Referral marketing is a valuable tool for dentists:

• 92 percent of consumers trust recommendations from friends and family.
• Referred patients bring in 25 percent higher profit margins.

But the correct answer is B. No practice can thrive on referrals alone. If your new-patient numbers are growing, that means that your referrals should be growing even faster. The possibilities for growth are exponential.

Case in point: Fig. 2 graphs the new patient growth of another Townie, Dr. Jason Monroe of Village Green Dental in Aurora, Illinois.

To attract 210 new patients in August 2016, he first marketed consistently for several months to build up his database. Then he ran a referral contest, offering Apple products as prizes.

Referrals are also a way to double down on your marketing spend. One Townie, Dr. Seth Hall of Hall Family Dentistry in Indianapolis, put it this way: "If you're getting new patients from your marketing, you want to also get their families and be able to give them the quality care they deserve."

How do I know whether my marketing is working?

1. Ask new patients how they heard about you.
2. Use online tracking technology.
3. Both A and B.

Answer: C. Tracking is a vital aspect of dental marketing. Fortunately, in the digital age, this task is easier than ever.

For example, you can use call tracking numbers on your marketing materials—dedicated phone numbers that ring directly into your practice, but each call is counted and recorded in the cloud as it comes in. This way, you can see exactly how many calls your marketing generates, plus you can listen to the calls to ensure your staff is handling your leads properly.

Another option is to add online banner ads to your direct mail campaign, so you can see exactly how many people click your online ad to get to your website.

But your front staff is truly on the front lines of your tracking efforts. They should ask new callers how they heard about you. And don't accept just "online" for an answer! Ask more questions:

• Did you see our ad on a website?
• Or did you do a Google search?
• What search term did you use?

Tracking helps you see which marketing channels are getting the best return on investment so you can invest more in them and less in the ones that aren't performing as well.