Latest / The Word of Mouth Podcast / The 3 Lists Every Dental Practice Has (and Almost Nobody Uses) | WOM 028
Transcript
- Jeff: Welcome back to the word of mouth podcast, your weekly dental marketing podcast where old school is the new school. I'm your host, Jeff, and I'm joined today with my co-host Troy. Troy: Hi Jeff. Awesome. So last week we promised the people we're gonna Jeff: Awesome. So last week we promised the people we're gonna talk about owned traffic. We didn't quite get to it at the end of last week, but let's break down, kind of summarize what we talked about last week. So we talked about paid, or organic, earned, and owned traffic and what the difference is. Do you wanna give just a a a true thirty thousand foot overview of what those are? Troy: Sure. Paid is exactly what it's what it sounds like. You are paying for eyeballs and these are strangers that that you are simply paying whatever the the media source is to to get in front of them. Organic oftentimes come from the same traffic source as Google or or social media but it is it's traffic that that you're not directly paying for it is it they're just they're coming to you through their search actions. earned is kind of a hybrid or it's kind of a bridge between maybe the the organic and and what we'll be talking about today owned but it's something where you have created authority or or some other connection with with the audience that that allows you to to have more credibility in their eyes because of some again connection or authority or something that you've you've identified you've earned the the the ability to be in front of them with an added measure of credibility So is that is that high enough for you, Jeff? Yeah, that's Jeff: Yeah, that's perfect. so today we're gonna talk a little bit about how organic and earned drive people towards becoming that owned traffic asset for a business. So basically the way to break it down is a dental practice has three naturally occurring owned lists. So just by having patients coming into your door. I guess if you're a new practice, you may not have this, but any existing practice that's seeing patients on a regular basis has three lists. They have an email list, which is the most common. That's what everyone thinks of when they think of owned traffic. But dentists also have a text messaging list and a mailing list. And all of those are places where patients have given you permission to contact them. That's the definition of an owned traffic source. Troy: Yeah, that's exactly right. And once you the the reason why we say that they're owned is that you have the ability to communicate them or communicate with them directly. You're not needing to go through some other medium or needing to have some other mechanism that that that allows or facilitates that communication. And so let's just clarify Jeff: And let's just clarify, when we're talking about some other mechanism, we're talking about like YouTube subscribers. A lot of people would say or might think that that is like an owned traffic source, but because you have to post the videos and rely on Google's algorithm to surface it out to those subscribers, you don't own it. That might be more of an earned type of traffic source, but the owned traffic source is a place where you can press a button or put a stamp on a letter and it will get to that person. Troy: Yeah, no, great clarification, Jeff, great clarification. And so th you kind of hinted as to why it's important, you know. Well you know, of course, not not rocket science here. That's exactly the the reason why it's so valuable is because you can determine when, you can conter determine who, and you can determine what message you're going to send. and and that's what makes it very unique. You use the example of YouTube. Well I can I can send something out to YouTube. I can post a video. I have no idea who amongst my subscribers or who amongst the the people that have viewed my previous content are actually going to see it. I don't know when they'll see it, if at all. I can control the message, but there's just I I'm I'm relying on on YouTube and I'm relying on kind of the marriage of YouTube. YouTube and that that particular target audience in order to get my message to them. Owned, there's n there's none of those barriers. It is direct communication, which introduces a very different strategy and opportunity than exists in any of those other traffic sources. Yeah, most practices I think Jeff: Yeah, most practices, I think the average practice has fifteen hundred active patients. That's patients who have been in the last eighteen months. And they may have thousands or tens of thousands, depending on how long the practice has been in business of inactive patients, patients who have dropped off. And some of those are no longer relevant. they don't necessarily live there anymore, but you can still press some of these people for referrals. So It's not like everyone who's moved or doesn't come to your practice for whether they have a reason or not, is completely dead or or to put it bluntly, useless to your practice in terms of of growth. And so there those those lists exist. The permission has been granted, but that permission is often Troy: So they those those lists exist. The permission has been granted, but that permission Jeff: underutilized or just completely ignored. Troy: Yeah, and and and if you ask and and as as we've talked with dentists about about the communication they have with their patients, what we find is it's primarily the automated reminder sequences, appointment reminder sequences, or or if someone hasn't been in or missed an appointment, the reminder to you know, hey, call us and set up an appointment, or you know, let's reschedule the appointment you just missed. They're very transactional. They also are almost universally Just a a templated piece of communication, generally via text, that doesn't really offer any value, doesn't really have you know a strategy beyond just, hey, we are hoping to catch those who have either forgotten or for whom a you know the text nudge might be might induce some psychological you know or sociological response that gets them to take the action, either booking an appointment or remembering. During their appointment that they might not otherwise take. But that's really the extent. I mean, obviously, I neglected many will send out some sort of automated birthday greeting, or you know, some will even mail out a greeting. So, you know, that's really the primary universe we see of communication with these own lists amongst the dental practices that we talk with. And to your point, when you Think about hey, this is a person with whom I can communicate, this is a person with whom I have some connection. What should I be saying to them? When should I be saying that? How should I be saying it in a way that increases my authority with them, increases the relationship that we have with one another, increases their loyalty? you know, what what can I be doing in this communication that just deepens the connection that we have in order to you know engender a greater value in for of that list in my you know in my practice and there's a lot of different opportunities there. Jeff: Yeah. And I think that that gradient of kind of how a patient or a potential patient interacts with you is very informative. They start out as a complete stranger. They may come across your practice on Google. They may get referred by a friend. And then they move sort of to an acquaintance where they they know your practice more. And that's where the referral accelerates that process, where they feel like, hey, I have a common friend with this person versus nurturing a complete stranger who just came in. From Google. And eventually they become a patient. They know you. They they trust you because they've sat in your chair, they've they've seen you, they've gotten your content. That that trust to develops along this gradient. And you can probably pretty much assign the gradient to how close, how close of a relationship you have with that patient, to how price sensitive that patient is, to how willing they are to accept treatment. They just slide along that same gradient. The more the patient trusts you, the easier they are gonna be to work with you from a business perspective and treat as a patient. Because one of the biggest complaints we hear is that not only is it frustrating to not cover recover those expenses and and bring in those big cases from a revenue perspective, but it's also really tough to watch those patients refuse treatment that you know they need as a clinician and know that they're getting less less treatment because they're price sensitive or they have insurance dependencies or or whatever else. And so just developing that relationship allows you to make more money, which is a good great goal, but also be a better clinician. Troy: Yeah, and I think that you kinda hit the nail on the head. They there there's just a different profile. You know, they if if we look at those that come in via paid, most practices are are are recognizing that there has been a a change in the nature of a lot of the patients that come in via those channels where they are just increasingly transactional. They just they just view the delivery of of these of dental services as a commodity. You know, maybe it's less so with organic where they're looking a little bit more at the quality of the care that they're providing and you know earned likewise. But it's really when you're able to foster these relationships, and that can happen of course in clinic, but there's an opportunity also through these communication channels if if if you're developing your strategy the right way to foster that, to encourage that. And it's not just, you know, we we kind of think of these kind of communications as how can I ask for more. And you know, what we like to tell people is think a little bit more, how can I give more? How can I provide more of the things that I want them to understand while they're in the chair, recognizing that while they're in the chair, you know, a lot of people they just want to get out of there. You know, it's it's in it's a place where a lot of people have anxiety or busy or whatever else, where in a different setting they might be receiving some of that, the benefits of treatment that's provided. proposed in a very different mindset. And so just recognizing that kind of the grading or continuum of of that relationship that you have from price sensitive to to trusted authority. Things change along that along that line. A lot of people, a lot of dentists recognize that as they really develop these communication channels to enhance that relationship driven perspective in in Their patients, money just becomes less of an issue. It was an obstacle because there wasn't a relationship that greased the skid, so to speak. Whereas once they have that, you know, a a more authoritative relationship, trusted a relationship, you know, suddenly the care that they need becomes more palatable because it's not a money question. It's a quality of life and a trust question. So you know. that's that that's one of the big advantages and so you know now one of the challenges is okay I've got my patience is there are other opportunities to you know to to start fostering this owned universe of contacts in a way that that expands it even in advance of them coming in and and there's some real great opportunities there as well yeah and Jeff: Yeah. And we don't want to dismiss the power of especially organic and earned a traffic. Pay traffic is going to naturally just be harder to convert them because they're looking for a cleaning special. what we tell a lot of the clients we work with who are running ads, maybe with other agencies, is ads work best if you have some sort of offer to entice them to take that action. You are paying for that click, and so you want that click to drive something. So you have to offer them something that's worth making them take that action. Whereas with organic, you're getting them coming to you. They're still strangers. They don't really know who you are. They may not be the best fit for who you're trying to foster your in your practice in terms of the types of patients, but at least they're kind of coming to you and and finding you in a natural way, which allows you to start developing that relationship. So I would say organic kind of brings strangers. you can drive from organic to earned traffic by having authority content that could be something like PR or podcast appearances or white papers that you're putting out or seminars maybe that you're teaching Troy: Seminars maybe that's Jeff: in the community. Some of these earned things that build credibility, those create more of that acquaintance stage. And then finally, once they are patients, like you touched on Troy, driving that that relationship further so that they do develop that ability to accept treatment for themselves, but also to bring in referrals and develop that kind of cooperative mindset, not necessarily combative, where it feels like with a lot of these price sensitive patients, they're coming in and you already know you're gonna kinda have to fight them. But if you have the your favorite patients are the ones who come in and you just know we're trying to get you the best oral health possible. And we're a team. Like you want the best oral health. I wanna get you the best oral health. And those are the those are the appointments that dentists all look forward to versus the ones where they know they're just gonna be trying everything that they can to get this patient through through a treatment plan. Troy: Yeah, you're right. And you know, as we as you look at interaction with, you know, organic patients, you you mentioned earning and and it isn't necessarily purely lineal, because there are opportunities to you know, when there are those connections, quite honestly, even with paid ads, but there's there's strategies that you can put in place to try to capture their information and get permission to reach out to them on an ongoing basis. And so I think part of the message is not only the value of Those earned Of those apologies, owned traffic, the the value of those lists. But also thinking through the two sides of that coin, which is how do I better leverage the value of that, of those lists? You know, how do I optimize that in terms of the outlook for the practice? But also the other side of the coin is how do I put in strategies to grow my own list so that it isn't extremely exclusively my current patients or you know are patients that have lapsed, but also prospective patients and and just just connections that I have that I can you know deliver value to and you know and and and and foster those over time. So so those are the the you know the two pieces there is yes it it increases value, but there's also an opportunity to increase your your own list with if you have the right communication strategies. Jeff: Yeah, owned traffic doesn't have to be active patients. We see that, I would say, almost exclusively as the case for a lot of the dentists we start working with. But as we start developing out some of these earned traffic opportunities, we can grow that list by adding those people who were still prospective patients to an opportunity to get a newsletter or create value in those ways or through networking opportunities, going out into the local business owners and maybe offering a partnership through kind of the in-house plan or something along those lines where you're developing an owned traffic where you have that network that's yours. You have the ability to reach out to them personally. That's how you grow a a practice kind of the old school way. Like we say at the beginning of every podcast now, old school is the new school and people are tired of being pitched to and paid ads. Troy: that's how you grow a a practice kind of the old school way. We say at the beginning of every podcast now, old school is the new school and people are tired of being pitched to and paid ads. Jeff: They just want someone that they can have a human connection with. Troy: W and and to be clear, yes I I I guess I would say maybe yes and no on that. We're still we know what transactions look like, but we're also open, especially in something like you know, dental care, to a relationship. Too many dentists and too many people have gotten to a place where they only think in terms of the algorithm. How do I, you know, sort of navigate the the Google algorithm in a way to connect with more people? and you know, there's a place for that. Paid ads there is a place for them, but if we think about it the other direction and say, how do I apply that same kind of critical thinking to people? You know, we we like to say that you can have marketing that starts with algorithms or marketing that starts with people. And what we're really talking about with with these communication strategies and systems is starting by saying, How do I provide value? How do I provide connection? How do I grow a a an association or relationship or networking that really serves both people. And if that's the focus of, hey, I want to provide good value to those people that I'm interacting with, whether they're my current patient, laps patients, new prospective patients or or network partners. There's a lot of interesting opportunities there to be very creative. You know, I th I think it's Zig Ziggler that said you can, you know, get anything in the world that you want if you get help enough other people in the world get what they want or something along those lines. That that relationship, that people focused of what do people need. To have better outcomes relating to their oral health, to have a better understanding of how things fit together and that type of thing. If that's the way that you're approaching communication and connection, the opportunities and kind of what it looks like just changes. And that's what really building and leveraging that own list, that's that's where the that's what the opportunity is. Jeff: Yeah. And it comes from sending out education content to some of your inactive patients or your prospective patients. We talked a little bit about a newsletter. More personalized referral campaigns. these are the kinds of things that we've seen and and even presenting what treatment you offer in a new way. And so maybe your patients don't know you do implants or they don't know you do sedation dentistry or they don't know you do orthodontics. And so just letting your patients know. Hey, this service is available from the same person you get your teeth cleaned by and who you've come to for years, who you trust. They do these things too. And we're good at And and so having having some of those things that you're you're sending out regularly, Troy: Yeah. and so having having some of those things that you're you're sending out regularly. Jeff: of course, communication like birthday texts and making them just a little bit nicer than maybe the templated send off of happy birthday blank. Those are all good ways to continue to nurture that list and develop that people-centric approach to marketing as opposed to kind of algorithmic and kind of maximalizing the the dollars you can squeeze out of these people rather than thinking about that how can I add value to these people's lives who have trusted me with their oral health. Troy: yeah, I I think you're exactly right. And and really, you know it it it it it It it's simple, it's not easy. You know, we fully acknowledge that. So let's just the simple part and something that you can do this week. Is really dive in and think about who are your best patients. And not best patients just because they are accepting treatment, but best patients in terms of those that you connect with, those who see results in their, you know, in their dental health that, you know, that really improve their lives and that align with kind of your vision of of of dentistry. And and have try to develop some clarity on what those the the the characteristics of those. people are, then then take a step back and think, what do I want to tell them? I mean if if if I had a half an hour to just talk to them philosophically about dental health and oral health, you know, what are some things that I'd I'd want them to understand just because it it helps their, it will help their quality of life. Whatever you come up with is information that you can share. That's information that they're in all probability going to be interested in hearing. And even if it's not everybody, that's that you know, that's where you can really start this week to say, how do I make my communication with my own lists better? You know, how do I make it more valuable? And so, you know, again, we said the nice thing about own lists is you can determine who you're speaking to, you can tune you can determine when you're speaking to. Speaking to them, and you can can determine what you're saying. Pay attention to those three. You know, that's that's where the power of this really comes in: is making sure that you think through all those three. And once you start, you know, consistently sending out valuable information that's focused on those three kind of questions. we've just seen that it really makes a big difference in terms of getting that flywheel that we talked about, getting that flywheel started. The trust increases, referrals increase, reactivation increases, connection with other community members increases. It it's all fostered by just doing the right thing and and communicating that valuable information. Jeff: Yeah. A and as an example, I left my old dentist's office because we moved twenty five minutes north and I was already having to travel south to them, so they went from a ten minute drive to a thirty-five minute drive. So I just needed to find a new dentist anyways. But a couple of weeks ago I got a text from that said, Hey, you haven't been back in twenty four months. We'd love to see you again And that was it. And we work with a client who had some of these automated reminders set up. They were going out to inactive patients. when we came in, the first thing we ran with them was a reactivation campaign. And it's a sequence of several emails. Not all of them are just, hey, we miss you, come back. a lot of them had value related to the practice built in. And they saw a hundred thousand dollars and like fifty appointments come through their door in just as a result of that campaign. Troy: And so that's what Jeff: And so that's what we're talking about Troy: we're talking about. Jeff: is the difference between just sending out generic kind of templated campaigns and sending out something that feels more personal and feels more intentional from your dentist, trying to create value in your life. And that's not to toot our own horn, but that's that's why we're here talking about this, is because we've seen the value, we've seen how almost borderline miraculous the results are when you just do something. And and it's hard, like you mentioned. It's it's not easy. It's simple, it's not easy, but when you do what people won't, you'll have what people can't. Troy: And amen. don't have much to add, but it's not only get it right, but do it consistently. Jeff: Yeah. So if that sounds like something you'd be interested in, you're in the right place. This podcast is where we talk about strategies like this every week. Please subscribe, leave a review. we'd love to connect with you in the comments on YouTube or also anywhere where you get your podcast. If you'd like to book a call and see what these kind of campaigns and strategies look like for your practice, the link will be in the description. we'd love to connect and we look forward to seeing you next week.