A Million Dollar Marketing Opportunity For Every Dentist! By: Ed O’Keefe President, Dentist Profits, Inc.

The other day, while rummaging through a bookstore, I came across Tom Peter’s book “Re-Imagine”. A chapter in this book really woke me up to the fastest growing population with the most discretionary income that just happens to be the most overlooked money making market––baby boomers.

In Tom Peter’s book, he reveals by the year 2010, the number of people between 18 and 44 years of age will decline by one percent. During this same time, the population of people over the age of 55 will increase by 21%.

A more startling statistic, and here is where we face the huge marketing opportunity, is the number of people between the ages of 55 and 64 will increase by a whopping 47% or more. What does this mean? It means if you are not actively marketing to baby boomers, then you are leaving a ton of money sitting on the table. The baby boomers are getting older fast and living longer than ever imagined. This means if you get a patient at the age of 60, they may have 20-30 or more good years as a patient in your office.

Let’s look at some of the things Tom Peters has to say about this age group and how this applies to dentistry:
1. “new mature” are numerous. (In the United States, Boomers, those born between 1946 and 1964, number almost 80 million people.)
2. They are astonishingly wealthy.
3. They have decades of productive, free spending, “wild” years left.
4. They are now being ill served by commercial enterprise. (The older they get, it seems, the more steadfastly enterprise seeks to avoid their custom.)

Every dentist who caters to this crowd really must re-evaluate how much money, time, customization, and effort they are putting forth for this target market.

For example, we have slogans that say, “We cater to cowards” or “Gentle Care Dentistry for the Entire Family”, but we leave out, “We cater to seniors” or “Committed To Helping Baby Boomers Look and Feel Younger!”

I’m not a big fan of “slogans”, but I hope you get my point. The seniors and baby boomer populations are growing at a rapid pace, and U.S. businesses (including dental and other professional industries) have not done enough to cater to this market.

So, here’s the good news: If no one is strategically marketing to baby boomers that means there are millions of dollars to be made in your area alone with this one market. And, since the return on investment of getting just one of these patients is so great, you can “outspend” your competition with average to good marketing and advertising. The really good news is if you use outstanding marketing you can create a huge patient base that pays big money for big cases…with little objections.

Not Your Typical Geriatrics
Seniors and baby boomers want to feel in control and look great more than ever before. Plus, cosmetic enhancing procedures have become more publicly acceptable and well known thanks to TV shows like Extreme Makeover. Dentists’ offices need to be on a mission to give any baby boomer or senior who wants to feel and look younger the smile of their dreams! Use testimonials from satisfied patients to show potential patients how others are using dentistry to look younger.

Old century thinking was that “growing old gracefully” meant “giving in to nature”, and thus losing your luster, vibrancy and youthful appearance. No more. The older generation is rewriting that old adage, “Age before beauty,” everyday! What the saying really should be today is: “Age and beauty”.

Yes! Almost every baby boomer and senior out there is secretly saying to themselves, “I wish I still looked like I used to,” “I wish I…” or “Gosh, if only I….” The new marketing must take a step in the direction of encouraging them to look at the possibility of looking and feeling younger, more attractive, that it is possible to have a new sense of energy and to smile with such beautiful, youthful confidence their friends will be accusing them of finding the fountain of youth!

Personally, I think a shift in focus from what used to be painful and only a necessity to what now can be a source of youthfulness, freedom, confidence, and beauty is what dentistry needs.

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! If you felt this article was valuable and you’d like to get more information, Ed has set aside a free report that reveals, “How To Get More New High Value Patients In A Month Than You Now Get All Year…Immediately Without Doing ANY Work! Guaranteed!” To get this free report all you need to do is call our toll free, 24 Hour Recorded Message at 1-866-231-9450.