Choosing A Dental Marketing Company
When mistakes in dental marketing are made it’s usually done long before a marketing campaign is even launched. The problem occurs when a dentist or dental group doesn’t ask the right questions when deciding on a marketing provider. This happens just as often when hiring an internal marketing director.
The issue is that the practice didn’t ask the right question. I’ll answer that in a minute. Before I do, I want to define why this happens.
Hire A Dental Marketing Consultant Or Buy Marketing Products?
In the world of dental marketing, there’s a big difference between a “collaborative dentist” and a “product dentist.” Let me explain what I mean.
A product dentist or dental group chooses to buy marketing products from a marketing company or advertising agency. Their purpose is to have a media presence with the goal of delivering new patients.
A collaborative dentist or dental group chooses to hire a marketing strategist that can work with their ideas and bring attention to their brand in the market they serve. They want to be included in the planning and strategy but don’t necessarily want to be involved in the execution. This almost always proves to be a more successful approach.
Why It’s Important To Ask The Right Questions
Product dentists usually ask the following questions:
- What’s the best price?
- How long until I see results?
- What’s the Contract length?
- Can I cancel if I don’t see results right away?
- How many new patients are guaranteed?
Most dental marketing companies have great answers to these questions so they can close the sale. The issue is that those companies only provide one marketing solution they use for every client. If it works, great! But most of the time it doesn’t and it’s on to a new product marketing company. Having to switch marketing companies every three to six months makes the low cost of products very expensive and you still haven’t gained new patients.
So what’s the one question every dentist should ask to have greater success with their marketing?
- What tests are you going to run to make sure six months from now I’m getting the value I expect from my marketing?
The reason this approach is so effective is that it makes the marketing company accountable on the front end. Ask them: What is your plan A, B, C? They must create multiple strategies. Then they have to monitor these strategies and determine what is successful, what needs improvement and what needs to be shelved for another day.
Successful businesses use this strategy every day: Research, Strategize, Plan, Test, Improve, Repeat. As much as technology, consumer behavior, and advertising mediums change, you need marketing professionals able to pivot quickly. They need to make sure you are holding your position at the top of the market.
This strategy can be difficult for some practices to adopt because, in the beginning, it appears to be more expensive. It also requires a certain level of participation. But this is your business and paying attention to the success of the people spending your money should be a priority.
