Dental Marketing 47 - If I Become a Client What's My Involvement?

Dental Marketing 47 - If I Become a Client What's My Involvement?
New Patients, Inc. is a full service marketing company that works exclusively with dentists to market their dental practices. Our dental marketing services include: print media marketing, direct mail marketing, dental website design, SEO (Search Engine Optimization), internet marketing, mobile dental website design & online marketing, Social Media Marketing (Facebook, Blog, YouTube & Twitter), radio advertising, TV marketing, dental web video marketing, dental marketing plans for dentists and radio advertising.

New Patients, Inc.
4966 S. Rainbow Blvd.Suite 110 • Las Vegas, NV 89118
Telephone: 866-336-8237 Email: info@newpatientsinc.com
www.NewpatientsInc.com

Dental Marketing 46 - Turn Callers into Patients

Dental Marketing 46 - Turn Callers into Patients
New Patients, Inc.
is a full service marketing company that works exclusively with dentists
to market their dental practices. Our dental marketing services
include: print media marketing, direct mail marketing, dental website
design, SEO (Search Engine Optimization), internet marketing, mobile
dental website design & online marketing, Social Media Marketing
(Facebook, Blog, YouTube & Twitter), radio advertising, TV
marketing, dental web video marketing, dental marketing plans for
dentists and radio advertising.

New Patients, Inc.
4966 S. Rainbow Blvd.Suite 110 • Las Vegas, NV 89118
Telephone: 866-336-8237 Email: info@newpatientsinc.com
www.NewpatientsInc.com

Dental Marketing 45 - Call Tracking Numbers

Dental Marketing 45 - Call Tracking Numbers
New Patients, Inc. is a
full service marketing company that works exclusively with dentists to
market their dental practices. Our dental marketing services include:
print media marketing, direct mail marketing, dental website design, SEO
(Search Engine Optimization), internet marketing, mobile dental website
design & online marketing, Social Media Marketing (Facebook, Blog,
YouTube & Twitter), radio advertising, TV marketing, dental web
video marketing, dental marketing plans for dentists and radio
advertising.

New Patients, Inc.
4966 S. Rainbow Blvd.Suite 110 • Las Vegas, NV 89118
Telephone: 866-336-8237 Email: info@newpatientsinc.com
www.NewpatientsInc.com

Why the internet and properly done direct mail make the perfect combination 


You have heard us say in our articles, in our books, in these newsletters, on stage, and in our online CE, the three foundational staples of a long term effective marketing strategy are:


Good internal promotion
Dominant internet strategy
Dominant Direct/Targeted strategy (mail in the vast majority of markets)


You have heard us say this for years. It was true 10 years ago, 5 years ago, last year, right now, and it is going to be true next year, 5 years from now, and 10 years from now.


But why?


Why does the internet and properly deployed direct mail work so well together?
Why is the internet/mail combination so predictable market to market?
Why is this combination, the #1 go to combination for almost every dentist?

The internet and properly done mail are awesome together because they are complete and total opposites.


Together, they create a passive/aggressive strategy. Keep reading. It will make perfect sense.


The internet (your website) is a passive advertising medium:


Think about it for a moment. By itself, what does your website really do? Your website just kind of sits there doesn't it? Without something driving visitor traffic to it, what good is it? Well, honestly, without something driving traffic to it, the biggest benefit is having a place for your existing patients to find your phone number when they want to call your office. Other than that, it is kind of useless at generating new patients.


A promotion medium which relies on something else to generate impressions is called a passive advertising medium.


Don't get us wrong, we love the internet as an advertising medium for dentists. We build websites, handle all of the updates, SEO, Social Media management - everything. But, the truth is, your website is a passive advertising tool. Your website becomes much more valuable if something else is driving traffic to your website.


What are some ways you can drive more traffic to your practice website? 


1. SEO/Social Media - Get local people who are actively looking for dental services to find your website link in the list of competition on the first page of a Google search. That's one way to drive traffic to your website. In this case, the potential new patient traffic you are receiving is somewhat targeted geographically. Google knows where the search is being made and your practice has to be within "X" distance of the searcher. This is still somewhat passive. You are still waiting for someone local to want or need dental services to the point of using their phone or computer to find them. This is a worthwhile investment. Eighty percent of surfers select from the organic listing of a Google Search result page.


2. PPC - Pay Per Click: In addition to SEO, you can pay more money to get your website link in front of local people using the internet to find dental services. Again, all of the competition is on the same Google screen. Your message will get mixed in with many others. PPC can be an effective way to promote a dental niche (like sedation, implants, cosmetic dentures, etc). You would almost never try to promote family dentistry using PPC. This is still somewhat passive. You are still waiting for someone local to want or need dental services to the point of using their phone or computer to find them.


3. Offline Advertising. Things like mail, newspapers, magazines, billboards, radio, or television. There are dentists out there who don't believe in offline promotion any more. This is surprising to us because literally EVERY popular commerce website they have ever visited, they initially learned about through offline advertising! Didn't you learn about the following websites initially through offline promotion?


Amazon, Overstock, Yahoo, WebMD, EHarmony, Match, heck even Google runs a TON of offline advertising. Why?


Simple: Offline advertising drives TARGETED consumers to their websites, and that's what they want. Properly targeted potential new patients, is what the owner of a dental practice should want as well! This is a good example of following the lead of some really big companies to help you promote your dental practice.


Key: Match your passive promotion (your website) with the right aggressive local offline promotion.

So which offline advertising should you marry up with your website? Well, you could choose the print media, billboards, radio, or television or a combination of any of them. Why does mail get the nod?


Because mail is infinitely targetable! Mail is a LOT cheaper. Results with mail are significantly more predictable market to market than an of the other offline choices. Properly targeted and deployed direct mail is an aggressive advertising medium.


Mail is not passive like your website. The recipient does not request it, it just shows up. Mail is delivered to the home where it has the chance of being seen/read by multiple people. Mail is tangible (you can touch it and feel it, it has value). Mail has a long shelf life (what we call "legs"). We have clients who still get calls to their tracking numbers from mailers that were deployed over 3 years prior. Properly targeted, designed, and deployed direct mail is an aggressive advertising medium.

Passive helps aggressive. Aggressive helps passive.


When you drop 5000 external mailers on the local population about 65% of the total call volume will come from the tracking number on the mailer. But that's only 65% of the people who were interested after getting the mailer. The other 35% go to your website, do a little research, and if they like what they see - they call from there.


The website helped receive and process the remaining 35% of the mail responders.

You have to have both. You cannot just rely on a passive strategy. You cannot just rely on an aggressive strategy. Together, passive/aggressive creates magic!

So, the next time someone calls you Passive/Aggressive - say "Thanks!"

Howie, Mark, Heather, Lee, and everyone here at NPI would like to wish you and yours a wonderful holiday season.


Take a look at our NEW website http://www.newpatientsinc.com!

Do you have a topic you would like covered in an upcoming newsletter? Ask here.

Just email either Howie Horrocks (whh@newpatientsinc.com ) or Mark Dilatush (markd@newpatientsinc.com ) with your topic. We will get them into the newsletter.

If any of you need us, just call 866.336.8237. We will be here for you.


Got questions? Want to learn more?

You can reach Mark & Howie at:
Howie: whh@newpatientsinc.com
Mark: markd@newpatientsinc.com
Check out our latest dental marketing book

Dental Marketing 44 - How do I use the referral system?

Dental Marketing 43 - What kind of offers work best?

Dental Marketing 42 - What kinds of photos should I use?

Marketing Quotes - Dental Marketing Agency

“Think big and don’t listen to people who tell you it can’t be done. Life’s too short to short to think small.” – Tim Ferriss Quote from sideqik.com collection

Dental Marketing Company

“If you’re looking for the next big thing & you’re looking where everyone else is, you’re looking in the wrong place.” Mark Cuban - Quote from sideqik.com collection

Dental Marketing Services - Marketing Quotes

“What you can’t measure, you can’t improve.” Quote from sideqik.com collection Dental Marketing Agency – Marketing Quotes

Dental Marketing Agency - Marketing Quotes

Today, it’s more important than ever for consumer brands to build relationships and reputation with potential and current customers. – Kurt Uhlir
Quote from sideqik.com collection.

Dental Marketing Company - Marketing Quote

 What happens online is you are constantly dealing with invisible audiences.  -Danah Boyd 
Quote from sideqik.com collection.

Dental Marketing Services - Marketing Quotes

Creating unique content isn’t enough. Your brand has to create purposeful content and be intentional about reaching your customers in the communities they’re already a part of. – Kurt Uhlir Quote from sideqik.com collection.

Dental Marketing Quotes - Content marketing is not...

Content marketing is not simply a campaign or a tactic, it’s a commitment.

– Valerie Uhlir | Ethereal Innovations

Quote from sideqik.com collection.

Dental Marketing Quotes - Most marketers create good enough...

Most marketers create good enough & then quit. Greatest beats good enough every time. 
– Seth Godin
Quote from sideqik.com collection.

Dental Marketing Quotes - Winners vs. Losers

Winners vs Losers – winners say “it may be difficult but it is possible” 
- Sideqik
Quote from sideqik.com collection.

Marketing Quote - Saving money by elminating...

“Saving money by eliminating marketing will never build your business.”
Quote from sideqik.com collection.

Marketing Quotes - Advertising is just one part....

“Advertising is just one part of a marketing plan. If that’s the primary pillar of your marketing strategy, you’re doing it wrong!”

Quote from sideqik.com collection.

Marketing Quotes - Word of Mouth Marketing...

“Word-of-mouth marketing has always been important. Today, it’s more important than ever because of the power of the internet.” Quote from sideqik.com collection.

Dental Marketing 41 - Can I talk with Mark or Howie?

Dental Marketing 40 - Does NPI do newsletters?

New Patients Inc - June 2015 Newsletter

Call Tracking Revisited

We've discussed call tracking in previous newsletters, and in our latest book, Unlimited New Patients, Volume Three. We also discuss the subject at length in our online Marketing Summit Series and in practically all our live presentations.     

Why do we talk about this so much and for so many years now?   
  
Because with proper use of call tracking you're basically getting the "Keys to the Kingdom." 

What do we mean by that?

What is Call Tracking?    

Briefly, it's when you attach a unique phone number to your outbound marketing. That could be a mailer, a radio spot, TV spot, anything really. This unique number forwards to your regular office number. The call is time stamped and recorded. There is also a lot of other information that gets recorded. Valuable information!    
  
All of this data is stored on a website. The doctor (or your marketing company) can log on to the site and see all the calls that came from each marketing effort. The calls can be played back. The doctor can hear how the staff handles new patient calls and can take corrective action if needed.    
Most of all there is no guesswork as to the exact source of the patient referral.

Life before Call Tracking    

Before the advent of call tracking, it was difficult to know if the practice marketing efforts were actually working. Dentists and practice managers often relied on their "feelings" about how the radio spots, or the mailers, or the website were working. Or they would rely on the front desk person's "feelings" about how well the marketing was performing.    

Feelings are a lousy way to arrive at management decisions.   
  
Or they had to rely on notoriously inaccurate data in their practice management software. The patient was asked how they heard about the practice. Do you think that's going to be accurate? Twenty five years of result tracking has told us, "No, it's not accurate. Not even close."  
  
And even that data (as lousy as it is) can be missing if the patient referral field was just left empty. 30% of the time there's nothing in that field. Or the wrong source was credited. For example, patient hears the radio spot which led them to the website and when asked, the patient says that the website was how they heard about the practice. This isn't accurate is it?   
  
All of this results in bad data being entered and acted upon, which results in bad (and costly) management decisions.     

Call tracking can eliminate the bad data and dependency on "feelings." It can show you how many new patient calls you're missing (it's 19%!!!). It can arm you with the knowledge that your front desk is expert at converting callers to patients, or it can alert you that the front desk needs help or training. It can show you where you are needlessly losing out on new patients and wasting marketing dollars.

But there's a Problem    

The results of a month's long study we did revealed that even though call tracking produced a treasure trove of useful data, the doctor was often too busy with running the practice and doing the dentistry to even listen to any of the phone calls. Or too reluctant to take any corrective actions.    

The doctor had "the Keys to the Kingdom" but couldn't (or wouldn't) make the time to use this valuable management data!

Is there a Solution?   

YES. This is what's known as a 'cliff hanger.' The solution will be announced in our next newsletter. Be sure to tune in for an exciting announcement.


Take a look at our NEW website www.newpatientsinc.com
  
Do you have a topic you would like covered in an upcoming newsletter? Ask here. 

Just email either Howie Horrocks (whh@newpatientsinc.com) or Mark Dilatush (markd@newpatientsinc.com) with your topic. We will get them into the newsletter.
 
If any of you need us, just call 866.336.8237. We will be here for you.


Got questions? Want to learn more?   

You can reach Mark & Howie at:
Howie: whh@newpatientsinc.com
Mark: markd@newpatientsinc.com
 Check out our latest dental marketing book

Dental Marketing 39 - Call tracking and call management?

Dental Marketing 38 - Why does NPI do what it does?

Dental Marketing 36 - Select NPI for Marketing

Dental Marketing 37 - Best NPI Client

March 11, 2015 - NPI Newsletter

 

Oh Google - You've Done It Again!

We've always wanted to channel Mr. Magoo to start our newsletter. We can now check this one off of our bucket list. 


At the end of this newsletter you can see a reference link with an excerpt from the link. We will use this newsletter space to help you determine what these new Google changes mean specifically to your dental practice.

First, let's go through some terminology.

A: Responsive Website = A website that "morphs" in size depending upon the device the viewer is using to look at your website.
B: Non-Responsive Websites = A website that does not "morph" in size depending upon the device the viewer is using to look at your website.
C: A Mobile Website = A website specifically built for smaller viewing devices (tablets & cell phones)

Let's see how easy we can make this. In general......

• If you have A above - Google will not penalize you after April 21, 2015
• If you have B above WITHOUT having C above - Google will penalize you after April 21,2015

• If you have B&C above - Google will not penalize you after April 21, 2015
• If you are an NPI internet client, there's a 90% chance you are perfectly fine with what you have. 
• If you are an NPI internet client with an older website, it might be a good time to speak to your advisor about an upgrade.

What exactly does "penalize" mean?
In short, it means Google is now going to rank websites based on their mobile friendliness. You might imagine them bringing forward all mobile friendly websites first, ranking them, THEN ranking all mobile unfriendly websites AFTER the mobile friendly websites.
Many dental websites are going to lose competitive search positioning after April 21, IF they do not already have a mobile friendly internet solution. 

How do I see if my website is ok?
The fastest thing to do is just bring up your website at the following link. https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/ 

Let Google tell you if you are mobile friendly.
Is this all bad news?

No! If your website is mobile friendly, you are perfectly fine. Your local competition might not be! If you are all set to go and your competition is not, your website positioning will stabilize and improve. Their positioning will drop.

As always, if you have any questions at all - feel free to reach out to us.
Reference:

Starting April 21, we will be expanding our use of mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal. This change will affect mobile searches in all languages worldwide and will have a significant impact in our search results. Consequently, users will find it easier to get relevant, high quality search results that are optimized for their devices.
http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.be/2015/02/finding-more-mobile-friendly-search.html 

If any of you need us, just call 866.336.8237. We will be here for you.

Got questions? Want to learn more?
You can reach Mark & Howie at:
Howie: whh@newpatientsinc.com
Mark: markd@newpatientsinc.com

New Patients Inc - March 2015 Newsletter

Effective promotion is a team sport

 

Most of you know, we (NPI) don't do ANYTHING with client marketing dollars until we test it, tweak it, retest it, and it proves to be worthwhile (good return) and perform consistently well, market to market.

We (New Patients, Inc.) are launching a new service soon. Conception of the new service came from three sources.

1.     A large statistical variance between client office call conversion rates. We have clients getting 200+ phone calls in a campaign year, converting over 50% of those phone calls. These clients are ridiculously happy. We have clients getting over 200+ phone calls in a campaign year, complaining they aren't getting enough new patients. Same number of inquiries - two different offices - two different outcomes.

2.     An enormous statistical variance in client calculated ROI values after the first year. Same number of phone calls. One office tracks sources and understands ROI well. Another office believes they are tracking well, but are not. Same volume. Two different outcomes.

3.     Our clients. We received request after request from both the dentist/owner and team members. We let them know we would test everything and get back in touch with them.

The objective is to bridge the gap from incoming phone call to good patient in the chair. In other words, increase conversion, increase compliance, & improve ROI outcomes.

While the data and some more subjective materials/findings/trends poured in during testing, it became fairly obvious (to us anyway), the starting point of the operational side of the business of dentistry - has quite a few challenges. Here are the highlights. We hope the following result data opens your eyes to take action and ultimately helps you.

 

·      Practice owners ignore the process of conversion

·      100% of practice owners refused to quantify or listen to incoming calls from advertising themselves, until a detrimental issue was identified and communicated.

·      30% of practice owners still refused to listen to incoming calls from advertising even AFTER a detrimental issue was identified and communicated.

·      10% of practice owners disengaged with the service after a detrimental issue was identified and communicated.  They blamed the service personnel who uncovered the problem.

·      Nearly one fifth of your potential return is being wasted

·      19% of calls from incoming advertising did not get answered by a representative from the office

·      About 80% of these missed calls were due to the office being closed on the day the call came in

·      About 20% of these missed calls were due to being closed at lunch time and not having the phones covered

·      Less than 50% of owners were willing to make changes to have the phones covered on their day off and during lunch

·      4% of the uncovered potential new patient calls left a message.  The rest (96%) just vanished.  0% of the teams took the initiative (initially) to look up the caller ID in their call tracking software to re-engage the potential new patient.

·      Almost 30% of the test practices had capacity issues.  They were booked too far        ahead and had too few openings for new patients, leading to poor conversion.

·      Virtually all of these practice owners understood the problem after it was presented to them

·      Slightly less than half were willing to do something concrete about it

·      0% of the offices (at the start) correlated the advertising source information collected from listening to the calls, to update their pm software properly

o   0% of the offices had a clue what their first level ROI was

 

Summary: If you want more bang for your buck from your advertising dollars (no matter what company does your marketing for you), start paying attention to conversion.    

The job of your advertising is to get a human being interested enough in your dental practice to pick up their phone and hit 7 numbers on the keypad. Good marketing doesn't stop when the phone is connected. 

I hope this helps some of you take a MUCH closer look at how things actually are working (or not) in your dental practices.  

Do you have a topic you would like covered in an upcoming newsletter? Ask here.

Just email either Howie Horrocks (whh@newpatientsinc.com) or Mark Dilatush (markd@newpatientsinc.com) with your topic. We will get them into the newsletter.

 

If any of you need us, just call 866.336.8237. We will be here for you.

Got questions? Want to learn more?   

You can reach Mark & Howie at:

Howie: whh@newpatientsinc.com

Mark: markd@newpatientsinc.com

Dental Marketing 35 - Why choose NPI over anyone else?

New Patients, Inc.
4966 S. Rainbow Blvd.Suite 110 • Las Vegas, NV 89118
Telephone: 866-336-8237 Email: info@newpatientsinc.com
www.NewpatientsInc.com

Dental Marketing 34 - If I become a client of NPI...

New Patients, Inc.
4966 S. Rainbow Blvd.Suite 110 • Las Vegas, NV 89118
Telephone: 866-336-8237 Email: info@newpatientsinc.com
www.NewpatientsInc.com

Dental Marketing #33 - Am I the only dentist that is confused...

Dental Marketing #33 - Am I the only dentist that is confused about optimizing my website?

 New Patients, Inc.
The marketing firm exclusively for dentists

New Patients, Inc. is a full service marketing company that works exclusively with dentists to market their dental practices. Our dental marketing services include: print media marketing, direct mail marketing, dental website design, SEO (Search Engine Optimization), internet marketing, mobile dental website design & online marketing, Social Media Marketing (Facebook, Blog, YouTube & Twitter), radio advertising, TV marketing, dental web video marketing, dental marketing plans for dentists and radio advertising.

New Patients, Inc.
4966 S. Rainbow Blvd.Suite 110 • Las Vegas, NV 89118
Telephone: 866-336-8237 Email: info@newpatientsinc.com
www.NewpatientsInc.com

Dental Marketing #32 - I never spent any money on promoting...

Dental Marketing Video #32 - I’ve never spent any money on promoting my practice, but I need more new patients.



New Patients, Inc.
The marketing firm exclusively for dentists

New Patients, Inc. is a full service marketing company that works exclusively with dentists to market their dental practices. Our dental marketing services include: print media marketing, direct mail marketing, dental website design, SEO (Search Engine Optimization), internet marketing, mobile dental website design & online marketing, Social Media Marketing (Facebook, Blog, YouTube & Twitter), radio advertising, TV marketing, dental web video marketing, dental marketing plans for dentists and radio advertising.

New Patients, Inc.
4966 S. Rainbow Blvd.Suite 110 • Las Vegas, NV 89118
Telephone: 866-336-8237 Email: info@newpatientsinc.com
www.NewpatientsInc.com

Dental Marketing 31 - Spending the money on marketing but not getting the expected results?

New Patients, Inc.
Marketing Services For Dentists
4966 S. Rainbow Blvd.Suite 110 Las Vegas, NV 89118
Telephone: 866-336-8237    Email:  info@newpatientsinc.com