marketing for dental specialists

Dentist Office Marketing Tips and Ideas for April 2021
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Dentist Office Marketing Tips and Ideas for April 2021

Hello, Friends ~

It’s time to welcome Spring and your second quarter. Be sure to review your plans and goals to make this second quarter your best one yet! 

Doctors, if you’re struggling to reach your practice goals – feel free to contact me for a complimentary, no-obligation 30-minute telephone consultation at bhaydenconsulting@gmail.com to see if a coaching relationship is right for you.

Here are some marketing tips and ideas to help you grow your dental practice, exceed your current and potential patient’s expectations, and to have more fun as a team. Surely, less-stress and more fun at the office is something that everyone will appreciate.

Marketing Ideas for April 2021:

Community Spirit Days (April 1-30) What a great opportunity to get your name out there in the community.

  • Neighborhood Spring Perennial Plant Exchange from the office parking lot.
  • Feature a local restaurant each week on your social media page encouraging people to visit their FB page and leave a review.  Do a gift card raffle for each of the restaurants.
  • Find a local charity that you can support.
  • Make your office a donation drop off site for items of need in the community (ie: non-perishable food items, books, etc.)

If you’re looking for Practice Management and Leadership Tips and Ideas for April 2021 Visit Here: April 2021 Practice Management

Educational & Marketing Opportunities:

National Youth Sports Safety Month – All month-long promote sports safety by protecting smiles with mouthguards.

Dental Office Tips and Ideas Sports Safety

Oral Cancer Awareness Month ~ An excellent opportunity for you to raise oral cancer awareness and the need for early detection in order to save lives.  See Oral Cancer Awareness Ideas

Social Media Post Ideas to Improve Engagement during the month of April 2021

National Fun at Work Day: 1st

Vitamin C Day: 4th

National Siblings Day: 10th

National Garlic Day: 19th

Banana Day: 21st

National Sense of Smell Day: 24th

National Superhero Day: 28th

Wishing you all a productive, stress-free, and very Happy April!

If you appreciated these complimentary ideas I  would love for you to please leave me a review/recommendation here on GOOGLE and/or FACEBOOK.  Thank you!!

Don’t miss out on any of the ideas that I share each month.  Are you receiving my complimentary Practice Management and Marketing Ideas in your email each month? If not, please start following us today. If you prefer, send me your email address (to bhaydenconsulting@gmail.com) and I will send you an invitation to follow my blog.

Yours for Greater Success,
~Betty

P.S. Please stop by and say hello to me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and Pinterest

Why Dental Marketing Matters
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Why Dental Marketing Matters

Hello Friends,

What is dental marketing? Do you need to market your practice? Does dental marketing even matter?

Oftentimes, dentists will proudly tell me that they don’t do any marketing in their practice and that they don’t need to market because they’re still growing with new patients each month. Others invest quite a bit of money to attract new patients to their practice. And some, tell me they need to start marketing because their office isn’t growing as they need it to.

It’s clear to me that people define what marketing is and why they would need it or not need it in different ways – in fact, here are a few dictionary definitions of marketing that I found:

“the act or process of buying and selling in a market.”

“The strategic functions involved in identifying and appealing to particular groups of consumers, often including activities such as advertising, branding, pricing, and sales.”

The American Marketing Association defines marketing as, “the activity, set of instructions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.”

From these definitions, we can see that marketing your practice involves so much more than just spending money on advertising. And the offices that tell me they have never done any marketing have been marketing their practice without even realizing it was marketing that they were doing to retain their patients and attract new patients. Why do I say this?

Everything that you do, everything that the patient (and potential patient) sees, hears & feels is a form of marketing. Everything you do or don’t do, matters.

Marketing your dental practice is like planting seeds. Some seeds sprout right away, others may take a while. You may have written some seeds off as a loss and when you least expect it, there it sprouts and produces beautiful results. And some may sprout where you don’t even remember planting.

” If you can look into the seeds of time, And say which grain will grow and which will not.  Speak then to me.”~ William Shakespeare

What are your marketing seeds? Marketing Seeds Include (but are not limited to):

  • Current Patients/Referrals
  • Social Media Platforms
  • Google My Business
  • Online Reviews
  • Direct Mail
  • Patient Appreciation Gifts
  • Staying in Touch with your Patients
  • The Patient Experience
  • Digital Marketing (Website, SEO, Emails, Mobile Devices, Google, Etc.)
  • Your Brand / Culture
  • Community/Charity Involvement
  • Local Business Partnerships
  • You and Your Team
  • Office Appearance (Inside and Outside)
  • Office Systems and Protocols

Take some time today and think about what you are sowing & producing.

Look at your practice through the eyes of your patients and potential patients.

Look closely at yourself, your team, the exterior, and interior of your building, all office systems, your lab, sterilization procedures, website & social media sites, marketing materials, marketing programs and the patient experience. Weeds can sneak in very easily if you don’t work to prevent them or if you ignore them when they are small.

Be wary of these two especially dangerous weeds: Poor telephone call systems and poor team member attitudes. See How to Effectively Answer the Dental Office Telephone & Happy Team

Examine your referral sources & patient retention numbers, this will be a key indicator as to the quality & quantity of the seeds you and your team are planting.

Friends, Do you know how many of your active patients have a future appointment and how many do not? Do you know how many new patients you are welcoming into the practice AND how many patients you’re losing each month?  To help you get that data quickly, like within minutes – if your PMS is either Dentrix, Eaglesoft, or Open Dental you can request a complimentary, no-obligation practice data snapshot here: Game-Changing Awareness from Dental Intelligence  – Within minutes we’ll identify your practice’s strengths and uncover hidden opportunities.  I am happy to assist you with this at no charge and with absolutely no obligation to do anything further with me. 

Who is referring the new patients and who isn’t? And why? Are you known as the go-to dental expert in the community? If not, why?

Do you provide your patients with a consistent & quality experience over the telephone? What about during & after their visit? Are you exceeding their expectations?

Are you and your team members involved in the community? Are you tracking, acknowledging, and rewarding those that refer to you? 

Again, everything matters! 

Don’t give up and please, don’t ignore any of the areas we’ve talked about – you might not see results right away but seeds are being planted, impressions are being made. You never know where and when they will take root and bloom!

Bring in some fresh eyes if you need to, ones that will see, hear & feel what you are missing, and ones that will give you the push and help to get rid of any weeds and plant seeds of greatness daily & consistently!

Doctors, if you would like to grow and improve your dental practice and have wondered what it might be like to work with me and what coaching is all about… please feel free to reach out to me to schedule a complimentary, no-obligation coaching call at bhaydenconsulting@gmail.com.

When considering your office needs and marketing plans, remember to…

  • Know Your Target Audience
  • Set Goals 
  • Create a monthly marketing calendar
  • Track all your marketing efforts. What’s working? What needs improvement? What needs to be eliminated?

Do you enjoy the dental leadership, management, and marketing tips and ideas that I share each month?   I would love and truly appreciate for you to please leave a review/recommendation for me here on GOOGLE and/or FACEBOOK

Have you signed up to receive my complimentary dental marketing and practice management ideas that are sent right to your email inbox each month? If not, take a second and sign up. Or send me your email address (bhaydenconsulting@gmail.com) and I will send you an invite to follow. This way, you won’t miss a single idea

Yours for Greater Success,

~Betty (Dental Coach)

P.S. Please stop by and say hello to me on  Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and Pinterest

 

Dental Office Tips and Ideas for May 2020
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Dental Office Tips and Ideas for May 2020

Hello Friends ~

WOW! Things have certainly changed, haven’t they? I hope that you all are staying safe and healthy. As a dental coach for many different teams, I have spent countless hours helping them prepare to start seeing patients once again.

I understand that some offices have already reopened and others are awaiting their start back dates. Regardless of the status of your office, even with all the changes to dentistry, one thing remains the same – your patients want to know you care, your community appreciates your support, and your employees need to know that you are taking steps to ensure their safety and that they’ll have a job to return to.

The Leadership, Management, and Marketing Tips and Ideas that I am sharing for the month of May will work whether your office is open or closed. Ready? Here you are: (I crammed a lot of ideas in here so surely you will find at least one thing you can implement. Haha)

Dental Office Leadership, Marketing, and Practice Management Tips and Ideas for May:

Dental Coach Betty Hayden Spring Dental Marketing Ideas

Leadership Tips and Ideas –

“Developing excellent communication skills is essential to effective leadership. The leader must be able to share knowledge and ideas to transmit a sense of urgency and enthusiasm to others. If a leader can’t get a message across clearly and motivate others to act on it, then having a message doesn’t even matter.” — Gilbert Amelio

Communication: If your office is temporarily closed, please stay in touch with your employees. Check-in on them with a telephone call or text. Schedule regular team meetings – these can be held virtually from the safety of their homes via Zoom and other platforms.  Don’t assume they know what’s going on, don’t assume they’re comfortable returning to work. Create together a plan for returning back to work.

If your office has already reopened, daily morning huddles are a must, and regular team meetings important. Schedule in advance your monthly team meetings for the year. If we don’t make time to effectively communicate it often doesn’t happen.

See: Tips and Ideas for Successful Monthly Dental Team Meetings and Dental Office Morning Huddle Agenda Tips and Ideas

Here is a fun idea for your team – May 15th is National Pizza Day – If you are back to work, bring in pizza for the team. If you are still at home, have pizza delivered to your employees’ homes as a special treat. Plus, you’re helping to support local businesses.

Learn how to lead your team, creating greatness based on high-performance expectations and principles. Produce more, Collect more, Stress-less, and have more Fun!

Schedule your complimentary no-obligation 30-minute coaching consultation today at bhaydenconsulting@gmail.com.

Dental Marketing Tips and Ideas –

Theme: National Smile Month “We Always Go The Extra Smile”

Focus: Healthy & Beautiful Smiles (Preventive & Cosmetic Services)

Goal: Bring in New Patients, Increase Production & Exceed Patients Expectations

Contest/Raffle – Family Fun & Wellness Gift Basket (Tote/Cooler) – Fill with Lawn games, BBQ supplies, Sunscreen, Citronella candles, Toothbrushes, Paper products, Chalk, etc.

Patients earn entries for Facebook engagement, FB reviews, Google reviews, and for referring new patients.

Videos – Share videos on Instagram, Facebook, and Google about what you’re doing to help keep your patients safe during this time and what they can expect as far as changes when they come in for the scheduled appts. Reassure them that just as you always have – their safety is your top concern.  Share with them what you’re doing to help them smile healthier.

Community Opportunities:  This month makes it very easy to build relationships with some of the local businesses.  Specifically, your Nurses, Police Officers, and Teachers.

During the month of May you have:

Teacher Appreciation Week: 4-8

National Nurses Day and Week: 6-12 

National Police Week:  10-16

See here: Dental Office Appreciation Ideas for Teachers, Nurses, and Police Officers for some ideas on how you can celebrate and acknowledge these amazing people in your community.

Educational Opportunities:

May is Save Your Tooth Month and Root Canal Appreciation Week: 3rd – 9th and Root Canal Appreciation Day: 11th 

What can you do with that? Share with your patients in person or via your social media platforms the importance of saving their natural teeth. Explain what root canal procedures are and how they help.

National High Blood Pressure Education Month 

Are you consistently taking your patients’ blood pressure?  If not, now is a great time to start.

dental office blood pressure betty hayden consulting

Many people see their dentist more regularly than a physician and could get an early warning about high blood pressure when getting their teeth cleaned or having other dental treatment done.

Dr. __ and our team are not only interested in your oral health but your overall health. We take every precaution necessary to ensure that you will leave happy and healthy. We look forward to seeing you soon at your next appointment!  

Practice Management Tips & Ideas:

Friends, if you do not know what your office numbers look like, or how many of your active patients are unscheduled, or how many patients were canceled and not yet rescheduled during COVID, and so many other important key practice indicators; please take note of what those numbers look like. This will help you reopen your practice with a baseline to work from and guide you.  You need to know where you’re at currently to know how to best care for your patients and what your potential for growth is. To help you get that data quickly, like within minutes – if your PMS is either Dentrix, Eaglesoft, or Open Dental you can request a complimentary, no-obligation practice data snapshot here: Game-Changing Awareness from Dental Intelligence  – Within minutes we’ll identify your practice’s strengths and uncover hidden opportunities.  I am happy to assist you with this at no charge.

Social Media Post Ideas to Improve Engagement during the month of May

Side Note: Now more than ever it is important to stay connected with your patients (and the community) via your social media platforms and Google My Business.  Don’t overthink it. Have fun with it. In addition to posts and pictures, create some brief videos to share as well.

Drinking Water Week: 3rd-9th (Share the dental health benefits of drinking water)

World Laughter Day: 3rd (We all can use more laughter!)

National Piercing Day: 16th (Share risks of oral piercings)

Eat More Fruits & Vegetables Day: 21st

National Taffy Day: 23rd (Best and Worst Candy for Your Teeth)

National Senior Health & Fitness Day: 29 

World No-Tobacco Day: 31

If you appreciated these complimentary ideas I  would love for you to please leave me a review/recommendation here on GOOGLE and/or FACEBOOK.

Don’t miss out on any of the ideas that I share each month! Are you receiving my complimentary Practice Management and Marketing Ideas in your email each month? If not, please start following us today. If you prefer, send me your email address (to bhaydenconsulting@gmail.com) and I will send you an invitation to follow my blog.

Keep Smiling and Stay Healthy!!

Yours for Greater Success,

~Betty