Renegade Marketing By: Ed O’Keefe, President Dentist Profits, Inc.

If you’d like to start attracting higher quality patients, turn your practice into an immensely profitable, low stress operation, become financially independent, free of debt, with more enthusiasm and energy for your private and professional life than you ever dreamed possible…then this article may be the most important one you’ve ever read.

I know what I’m about to share with you seems unbelievable…maybe even a little controversial. That’s why I’ve decided to give you real life examples of the three Cardinal Sins 99% of dentists commit. As you’ve noticed, I’ve used the term “Renegade Marketing” in the title. I’ve done this, because the message I deliver is so far outside the mainstream of dentistry, I have inadvertently become a renegade. You see, I believe with all my heart that 99% of all dentists (the associations, most management companies, and so called “marketing” experts, etc.) are truly lost on some distant planet when it comes to the real way to making money in their practice. They are living with the mentality prospective patients actually care about “image”, or anything dentists have to sell. As you all know, the reality of this business is patients only care about one thing: Getting what they want out of life! Not what you, I, or anyone else thinks they should want, only what they want for themselves. Following are some common mistakes dentists make when marketing their practice.

Cardinal Sins of Dental Marketing
1) Copy-cat Advertising–– Think about it, when you go to run an ad, who is telling you how to do it? Most likely your decision is based on what other dentists are doing or suggestions made by the sales rep who gets paid commission for your ad. So, you run an ad that looks like everyone else’s and don’t get any response. But here’s the kicker: You will be told to keep running the ad because it creates “name recognition”, and that ads take “multiple runs” before they have full effect. Here’s the truth: You can’t multiply zeros! If it didn’t work once, it has 99.5% chance of not working again.

2) Believing Name Recognition, Image Building, and Branding Works for Your Practice–– It kills me to see dentists go through the expense of starting up a practice, and end up thinking, “if I can just get my name out there, I’ll be fine.” The reality is: no one cares about you or your image. Copy this next point down and post it somewhere you’ll see it every day: “There is no correlation between someone knowing your name and what you do, and that person choosing you as their dentist!” For example, aren’t there a lot of people who know you are a dentist, but are not your patients?

3) Thinking Patients Care About Anything but Themselves–– The Direct Mail Association did a survey and found less than 8% of brochures are actually opened. This means 92% of all the brochures you created were completely wasted. All dental brochures say: “Family Dentistry”, “We Care”, or “Been In Practice for __ Years”. Some offices list their services. No one cares! All your patients care about are the benefits of doing care with you as the dentist, such as no pain.

The Ultimate Marketing Success Formula
1. Identify EXACTLY who you want as your patient!
• Age, sex, economic range, and demographic area
• What type of care do you want to provide on a daily basis: implants, dentures, TMD, cosmetic, pediatrics, ortho, family or a combination?

By defining your idea of who you want as a patient, you begin tailoring the direction of your marketing campaign.

2. Find out what patients want. You need to match their psychology exactly.
• What do they fear? Desire? What are they angry about?
• What keeps them up at night?
• What trends are occurring and will occur in their lives?

When patients come into the office, ask them:
• Why did you choose us? What did you like about your visit?
• What would you tell friends about us?
• What other kinds of services would you like to see us provide?

Most likely their answers will surround avoiding pain, anxiety, embarrassment, fear, guilt, loss, maintaining social status, or looking and feeling stupid. Use your patients’ answers to the above questions to improve your practice and to tailor your advertising and marketing messages.

3. Get your message out. You can advertise in direct mail, radio or cable TV, but you should ONLY do direct response marketing. This means if you pay a quarter today, you get a quarter or more back tomorrow. You must measure all results: ad cost, lead cost, cost per new patient, value of each new patient (which tells you how much you can spend), and how many referrals you get per new patient. If you don’t measure response, you can’t know where your money is best spent.

Do they care if you’re professional? Of course, but only after you’ve got their attention, showed empathy through your advertising, and given them a reason to call your office. If they never call your office, your professionalism, how you look, and the fact that you are a very good dentist is all worthless.

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Ed O’Keefe is the president of Dentist Profits, Inc., a marketing company that has taught over 750 dentists worldwide how to attract high quality patients who Pay, Stay, And Refer! To find out more information about Ed O’Keefe, he has provided a FREE REPORT called, “Discover The World’s Easiest Way To Get More Patients In A Month... Guaranteed!” Call toll free, 24-Hour Free Recorded Message at: 1-866-231-9450. The call is FREE!