Dental Marketing Strategy
How to Become Your Own Marketing Expert
By Fernando Diaz-Lundstedt


When it comes to marketing, many people (dentists included) consider it a complex, confusing activity better left to the Harvard M.B.A's and high-priced advertising agencies of the world.

But if you think you have to wear a three-piece suit and work on Madison Avenue to be a top-notch marketer, think again. When it comes to your own dental practice, you can (and should) be the #1 marketing expert. All it takes is an understanding of some marketing fundamentals and the willingness to pay attention to the world around you.

The main purpose of marketing is to identify the appropriate markets for your products and services and then open up a conversation with those markets. For dentists, that means identifying the segment of your community that could benefit from your dental services and communicating with them in a manner that motivates them to want to do business with you.

Becoming a marketing whiz doesn't require a college degree in marketing. And it doesn't have to cost an arm and a leg. To develop your marketing skills to their fullest, I recommend the following:

Stay current with new developments in the field of marketing.

In the old days, you could get by with the doorknob flyers, mass mailers and the occasional magazine ad. Thanks to the Internet and other new technologies, however, many of the traditional marketing tools are rapidly being replaced. For example, printed newsletters are increasingly becoming more costly and less effective than online communications. At the same time, direct mailings to mass markets are giving way to more efficient, highly-targeted e-mailings.

To stay current with emerging marketing trends:

• Commit to reading one marketing book per quarter. The bookstores shelves are full of marketing books that address the needs of small businesses and professional practices.
  
  
• Attend a marketing seminar at least once a year. You can pick up many good ideas in a half- or full-day workshop.
  
  
• Have the latest marketing news delivered to your "e-doorstep." Web sites like www.individual.com allow you to automatically receive customized news and information (via e-mail) on subjects of your choosing.
  

Know your target audience.

One of the best ways to learn about your target market is to see how other businesses market to them. Study the media and the messages they use to promote their products and services. What do they do that might apply to your practice?

Keep in mind that women are increasingly making the dental services decisions throughout American households. For that reason, I frequently browse women-oriented Web sites like oprah.com, momsonline.com and chickclick.com. I also scan magazines like Vogue and Vanity on a regular basis. The more you know about your target audience in general, the better you can communicate with them in their language.

Expand your horizons.

Creativity experts say that the best new ideas in an industry often come from outside that industry. The same holds true for dental marketing. Sure, you can pick up good ideas from dental magazines and industry journals. I'm not suggesting to ignore them. The trick is to supplement industry ideas by scanning entirely different fields and finding ways to apply their best ideas to your dental practice.

Study your competitor's marketing materials.

In addition to the message, pay close attention to the look and feel of your competitors' marketing materials. What impression do they convey to you? Do the materials instill confidence and make you want to learn more about their products and services?

Sign up for your competitors' newsletters, visit their Web sites, get on their mailing lists, and pay attention to their advertising. There is nothing wrong or unethical about this -- it's just plain good business sense. Besides, you can bet that they are doing the same thing to you.

Pays attention to what works.

There's an old saying that "nothing succeeds like success." To get good at marketing, study what works -- starting with yourself. What kind of marketing messages get your attention? What turns you off and what do you respond to? More important, why?

Pay attention to long-running ads and ad campaigns. Advertising costs a lot of money, and companies won't continue an ad unless it gets the desired response. If an ad keeps running for weeks, months or even years, something about it must be working. Study the ad and try to identify what might be motivating people to respond to it.

You don't have to be a genius to practice good marketing. Simply open your eyes and your mind, be receptive to new ideas and learn to think outside the box. Above all, pay close attention to what matters to your patients. Know what they want and how they want it and then deliver on those expectations.

Book Recommendations

Here are three excellent books to get you thinking like a true marketer:

• "Word-of-Mouth Marketing," by Jerry Wilson (John Wiley & Sons, 1994)
  
  
• "The Guerrilla Marketing Handbook," by Jay Levinson (Houghton Mifflin, 1995)
  
  
• "Selling the Invisible," by Harry Beckwith (Warner Books, 1997)