Friday, February 28, 2014
Gone are the “Mad Men” days of creating a clever advertising campaign and then sitting back and watching your profits increase. People are getting smarter—and more immune—to the thousands of marketing messages they receive on a daily basis.
In today’s digital age, it’s not all about broadcasting your dental services to current and potential patients through various forms of media. It’s about engaging with people and creating relationships. With the rise and popularity of social media, online videos, review websites and the like, marketing your business has evolved to require collaborating and interacting with your patients, not just throwing more overstimulating advertisements in their already-exhausted faces.
Recently, there has been a dramatic shift in how people go through the buying cycle process, including paying for dental services—especially cosmetic services—if they are not covered by insurance companies. It is now more complex than ever before to sell directly to your patients because they are getting savvier on the internet. You are competing with many other “obstacles” in their way, including online reviews, social media comments, competitors found in the search engines, etc. Marketing and advertising to your patient base is now just one path among many along the long purchasing journey.
Gaining Patient Loyalty
With this shift in the marketing world, you need to rethink patient loyalty, which starts with the relationship. Research has shown that it is five to seven times less costly to keep a loyal customer than to acquire a new one. Earning true customer loyalty goes beyond offering the best dental service at the most affordable price through a successful promotional campaign. People can do their own online research these days and find out if you have a positive reputation, give exceptional customer service, and are present on the social networks they frequent. Therefore, you must be diligent at developing these personal (sacred) relationships and earning the trust of your patients.
When you think about customer loyalty, try to imagine yourself in your patients’ shoes. What would you look for in a dentist? What are your concerns and misconceptions? What questions would you have for them? What would you want to know more about? You need to have a better understanding of your patients’ needs, concerns and future wants, and then you can address them accordingly.
To help develop and strengthen your relationships and increase loyalty, you need to be where your audience is, and engage with them. People want to know they have a strong, personal bond with their dentist. They like to feel as if their doctor really cares about them and will have time for them. When you give your personal attention to your patients and interact with them through various mediums, not only will you impress them that you’re present in their lives, but you will also start to earn their trust, and ultimately, their loyalty.
How to Engage With Your Patients
- Get curious about the people who walk through your doors. Find out what they like, what interests them, what moves them, what entertains them, what scares them, etc. The more you know about your clientele, the better you will understand them so you can better deliver helpful content they seek. You can do this by having meaningful conversations in-person at your office, posting a poll or survey in your email marketing campaign and/or social media posts, or designing a fun, creative contest.
- It’s not about being every place all the time; it’s about finding where your patients are, and then participating with them through that platform. It may be through your blog, your Facebook or Twitter page, or your YouTube channel. It’s about helping your patients and producing the content they want to know about.
- Learn to “listen” to your audience through the popular social networks. Find out what questions or misconceptions they have, and then provide an answer or correct them with beneficial information. Find out where they like to “hangout” and then observe their behaviors, posts, and comments to get your creative juices flowing for your content development strategy.
- To keep the conversations going and the engagement flowing, tell your patients what to do next in your content. If you’re writing a blog, ask them to post a comment. If you’re on social media, ask them to ‘like’, +1, or share it. If you’re talking to them through a YouTube video, ask them to leave a question below you can answer in your next video. But remember, you always want to be consistent and reliable in your engagement efforts; otherwise, you could lose their trust.
- Get everyone in your office on board. Engaging your patients goes beyond the dentist. Your staff members are constantly interacting with people on a daily basis. Be sure you communicate to them the value of building relationships and providing the best possible dental experience for each patient. Everyone who works with you should be on the same page, know your brand’s vision and mission statement, if you have one, and be participating in this group effort.
In the end, as a dentist, you want to provide your patients with the best oral healthcare and dental experience in hopes that they will both return time and again, and have such a positive trip to your office that they will refer you to their family and friends. To achieve these goals, you need to build and grow your relationships over time by engaging with your patients.