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
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