Latest / The Word of Mouth Podcast / Why Digital Marketing Is Failing Most Dental Practices (And What Comes Next) | WOM 021
Transcript
- Jeff: Welcome to the Word of Mouth Podcast, your weekly podcast breaking down the marketing and growth of independent dental practices. I'm your host, Jeff, and I'm joined today by my co-host Troy. Troy: Good to be with you, Jeff. Jeff: Awesome. this week we heard from one of our loyal listeners that they have been consuming a lot of our content and they are frustrated that their current marketing isn't working. They said something to the effect of maybe I just need to be patient, trust the process. The goal isn't top of funnel leads, it's really the high value, bottom of funnel patience and growing the practice that way. So today we want to talk through our process, how it's different. why we came to the conclusions we came to about what the next phase is for dental marketing. Troy: Exactly. And and it's what we experienced with some of the the work that we were doing with our own clinics before, but it's just been amplified by our conversations with you know, hundreds of dentists that that what the the digital focus and oftentimes the exclusive digital approach that dentists have been taking for a lot of years, it it it's not working anymore. it's not working in terms of the quality of of patients that it's attracting and even from a volume perspective, volumes down for a lot of practices as as competition ramps up. So there is a different way. it's it's about building something that has some sustainability and that's really what our focus is is what what drives reliable marketing results and results that compound over time. And so that's why w why we've come up with the systems that we've come up with. Jeff: Yeah, the inside out framework is all about getting revenue to make your practice growth sustainable. And so it starts out with getting some short term wins and then transitions into kind of the longer term strategies that create that sustainable growth. And it's and it's sorry. And it's interesting because if you look at the history of dental marketing, you have kind of like the early stages up until like the nineteen seventies where it was all just word of mouth. You kinda in your community, the people that you knew, that's how you grew your practice. And then with the advent of the telephone and billboards and advertising, you kind of had this movement into directories. So you had the yellow pages, you had billboards. You were trying to start to inorganically attract people into your practice. And then you move into the two thousands and you have kind of websites as a digital business card for the practice. It's a place where people can come get your information. That moves into SEO and then eventually into paid ads. And that's kind of where we've been for the last fifteen, ten, fifteen years. Troy: It's exactly right. And as you look and say, okay, so what's the next frontier? You know, there that transition you were talking about, there was always a you know, technologically there was a next. And, you know, on the one hand you could look and you say, Well, maybe, you know, AI, you know, AI driven search or or or even just AI chat may be that next opportunity. It it it's The problem is is it doesn't allow sort of the billboard, you know, the the modern day billboard that the digital search has provided. So yes, it'll be a part of the answer. but I think more and more people are starting to realize, wait, there there just isn't there isn't an obvious next step. unless you sort of say all things go full circle. Now where are we back to? Well Those practices that have continued to build really strong word of mouth systems, not only with their patients, but connections to both their their neighborhood or their local community as well as kind of affinity communities, people that they're connected with otherwise. Those that have really focused on connection, you know, it's it it remains the golden days of dentistry. And those are the practices that are really flourishing. And the reality is it's very, very difficult for another practice to come in and dislodge those practices that are really well established in in their community. and we we call it a moat and that kind of connection based marketing effort, which oftentimes is not as you know, strategic or intentional as it might seem. But it it is nevertheless a focus. It's the way that they do the way they do business. Those are the practices that are really flourishing and you know, there's a lesson to be learned there. Everyone says, Hey, our best our best patients come from word of mouth. Wonderful. What are you doing intentionally to build that type of you know, patient flow? Jeff: Yeah, and like you said, it comes full circle. The people are craving relationships. We kind of replaced relationships with social media, and now people are saying, I want to get back into the real world, into those connections. there's been a movement on social media about hosting and trying to bring people into your home to increase that connection. And so those friendships, the places where historically the the human to human contact has been the most important. are is the place where we're seeing that movement back towards connection. And dentists were a place where historically there was quite a connection. You see them twice a year. They're normally very close to you geographically, more so than most other service providers, like a a plumber or even your physician. There's just not that same connection. And so dentists have an excellent opportunity to take advantage of those movement back to connection, away from kind of that digital arm's length interaction to connection and relationship driven business, which is kind of how the inside out framework be came about. Troy: Right. Y you're exactly right. You know, and we talk a lot about community and what community is, is just those people, you know, geographic proximity certainly is a an element of of it, but just those people w with whom you have connection and expanding that from a professional standpoint and providing those dental services, that just is a great opportunity and and it's one that's challenging because it's not something that dentists have have paid attention to as much as they should have, nor do they have marketing agencies that are really giving them the roadmap, much less doing the work for them in terms of you know, of those kind of on the ground marketing efforts. So that's, you know, at the again at the heart, it's really saying, okay, looking at a dental practice, how do we start systematizing the efforts to not entirely replace the digital But recognize that the digital really should be the amplifier of what you're doing that has sustainability and and has some protectability. you know, whereas on digital you can be going great until someone comes in and says, I'm gonna pay three times as much. You know, now what are your options? you know, that that spaghetti can turn off as easily as it can turn on. so Jeff: Absolutely. So as promised last week, we're gonna go through the four pillars of the Inside Out framework. And it starts with a great way to increase kind of immediate revenue or very short term revenue in a practice. We've seen practices jump thirty thousand, fifty thousand, ninety thousand dollars in a thirty to forty-five day period by implementing this first kind of pillar. Troy: Yeah, and it's really just reconnecting with those patients that have been in to see you but have just drifted. you know, people are busy, dentists aren't most people's favorite thing to do, so it's one of those things that a lot of people can find a pretty good pretty easy excuse to not go and do. But at the same time, everyone's very aware of the importance of oral health. people are aware of the the quality of their smile. There there's a lot of reasons for them to engage with dentists and for them to consistently be in office, taking care of their their or their oral health and their smile. they just need sometimes a little bit of a nudge. So those those outreach efforts to reactivate those that have drifted that you haven't seen for twelve, fifteen months, oftentimes that's a great way to start creating a little bit more relationship because those that come back in are not just they're they're they're different than a lead you'd get from digital. They are a higher quality, they're more loyal, oftentimes they're more prepared to, you know, to accept treatment plans. So it's a really high quality patient because you already have a relationship. Jeff: Yeah, and I I think about my friendships personally, there there's a lot of times where if no one is willing to be the first person to reach out, the friendship kind of withers on the vine. Being willing to be that person to reach out, There will be a lot of patients who will actively seek you back out, and those are your great returning customers. They set recurring appointments. But there's also a ton of patients who won't actively set return appointments and they're not coming back in for treatment. They're you're not the top of their mind, but a simpler reminder from you, just like a simple reminder from me to one of my friends, allows for that relationship to continue. And that's like you said, Troy, that's what drives that connection and that trust is built because you have an existing longitudinal relationship. It's not the first time you're seeing them, even though it may be the first time in several months. Troy: Yes, and and it's important also to just recognize as you're reaching back out that th that there's strategies to it. you want to make it feel you know, to some level personalized or you want there to be some incentive associated with it. You know, we I get we see a lot of automated sequences in you know, with c in clients that we work with that are kind of the standard Hey, we haven't seen you for a while. We'd love to see you back. You know, a text or whatever. And and there just isn't, you know, there's there's not a whole lot of thought. oftentimes it's it's helpful to really think through: hey, is there something that we can do that reduces the barrier that might be keeping them out? Now it may be financial and there might be some limitations on what you're really able to do in that respect. But there may be just some kind of some paradigm or, you know, hey, hey, I know it's you know, you're worried about coming back in, but you know it's we we try to make I try to make it easier for you to come in. You know, there's a lot of different campaigns and it's not a one time thing. It starts with an initial campaign, but it becomes part of who you are, where you're making those connections, you're continuing to reach back out in different ways because people are gonna respond to different messages. So that's pillar one is just let's not lose people. that we already have won in the past. They've already been in to see us. We haven't seen for a while. Let's win back. Jeff: Yeah, there's that classic marketing statistic that a patient you already have won is five times cheaper to retain than to go out and win a new one. So reactivating stalled patient, that's pillar one. pillar two is reducing money and time leaks. Troy: Right. And and so when we look at you know, any dental practice, there's going to be places where revenue is being lost, and that can come in the form of phones not being answered or not really being answered effectively in terms of setting getting those appointments set. It may be that the way that we are either setting the appointments or our reminder series are producing a lot of no shows. it may be that when they do show up. We're not doing a great job of of making treatment recommendations. You know, we might be missing some opportunities to to recommend treatments that would be good for our patients. or we may be presenting those in a way that just doesn't lead to the kind of conversions that we'd you know that we'd ultimately like. And that might even be in the follow-up side of things. Again, retention and reactivation are another place that that there's leaks. So looking to say where are some of those opportunities to just bend upward the curve of of of the the revenue gains at those different inflection points. and so that's really on the money side the leaks that we're talking about. Jeff: Yeah. We use a software that with our clients that tracks their phone calls and provides coaching and then allows us to say what campaigns are generating what and it's been surprising to see what campaigns work and what don't work in different markets because the variability is quite quite pronounced. But then also just listening to some of the phone calls and saying This is a person who has not received adequate training in terms of conversion. And with a little bit of training, you bump up those percentages. If you're getting a hundred phone calls a month and you're only bringing in 20 new patients, well, you're vastly underperforming clinic average KPIs and so or key performance indicators, and you bump that up to 40, now you've doubled your effective revenue opportunities. Troy: Yeah, for sure. And and it's same thing on the time. there's certain things that that we see practices focused on where there isn't a foreseeable a significant foreseeable return on the efforts that they're undertaking. And it you know, it's really a function of saying, Okay, are we doing are there tasks that we're doing that we're spending time on that you know, that just really aren't aren't per productive aren't effective. Are there efficiencies that we can create, whether it's through automations or you know, streamlining some operations where we can capture a little bit more of that time. You know, are there just any of those pieces where we can claw back some of the time? Because what that does when we have a little bit more time to spend is that's what opens the portal to be able to make some of those more personalized outreaches and really connect with you know, both patients as well as the community in more more authentic and direct ways. Jeff: Yeah, and this is a place where we see ad spend in particular when we talk about the amplification, a lot of times we're talking about amplifying a positive message, but we've seen it a lot in practices that are ineffective in sort of their conversion. They miss they ten calls come in, they miss four of them. And so the dentist says, Well, we just need to spend more on ads. Well, they double the ad spend, but they're still only answering the phone six or eight times because that's the capacity their front desk has with their current systems. And so they've they've amplified their spend and their their waste because they aren't looking at the right metrics. They're trying to just pour more in. And if you've got a leaky bucket, no matter how much you pour in, there's a lot of of waste that goes out. And so plugging some of those holes is the second part of of the inside out framework. Which takes us to go ahead. Troy: Right. Right. And I no, I was just gonna say the you know, and that really does lead to the ability for you know, to focus on what we refer to as our pillar three or targeting higher value patients. Once those plugs are filled, both time and you know, just the the the patient journey, it allows you an opportunity to really focus efforts and resources and concentrate strategies on. getting higher value patients. And as we move that average patient value up, what that does is that reduces our need for to continue to get some of the lower value patients, whatever those sources might be, whether it's through insurance, you know, certain and certain insurance plans, or on the paid ad kind of general promotional-based, general dentistry marketing, it allows us to to reduce dependency on those and really focus on those that are more profitable. And oftentimes you'll see a reduction in in the average number of patients a practice is seen and an increase in the revenue and even more so the profitability by focusing on those higher value patients. Jeff: Yeah, it's something that we've seen across basically every industry we've ever worked with in terms of marketing and business development. If you market to everyone, you're marketing to no one. Picking what kind of cases you want to focus on for your practice, whether that's Invisalign or sedation or sleep dentistry, picking that allows you to narrow the focus and create a emote, like you mentioned, around that thing. The kinds of people for whom that kind of dentistry is important will naturally flow to you, as well as a lot of other kinds of people. If you look at Apple as a great example, Apple initially marketed to kind of graphic designer, hipster type of people. But there was also other people who liked the simplicity who may not have fit their ideal kind of target demographic, but that still flowed into Apple and it's allowed them to create. this ecosystem that's that's really dominated the market in a lot of respects, where Windows kind of said, We're gonna be everything to everyone and they've lost a lot of market share because they're not being specific about who they're trying to attract. Troy: Yeah. And and we should probably just make a a bit of a clarification. When we're talking about targeting, that's you know, we're really saying we're not talking about becoming a specialist. What we're talking about is in terms of broadcasting messages, especially when we're talking looking at paid ads, you know, and other digital platforms, emphasizing expertise in some of those higher value services. Draws comprehensive patients. You know, that is what attracts and resonates with folks that are that are looking for something more than just, hey, this is a friendly dentist. They're looking for the authority, somebody that they can trust long term with their dental care, and and maybe even near term if they have some needs that they you know, that they've been dealing with in in some of those service areas. So it's not a function of saying we are no longer interested in br bread and butter dentistry, but It is recognizing that when you're targeting that bread and butter dentistry, there's a lot of danger in that because that is where we see the most competition. And that competition generally is producing more promotional type marketing, which is what now a lot of those that profile of person that's looking on Google ads and picking a dentist there, they've been conditioned to expect the $79 cleaning. And so if we're in there. And that's kind of where we're focusing our efforts or who we're targeting. It's just a tough space. So Jeff: it it becomes a race to the bottom where y you're you're just not getting the right people in. But you do get some of those bread and butter cases in and if your website acknowledges we specialize in implants or we specialize in Invisalign, you'll have patients who naturally need those things. And so not only are you attracting those people for those services specifically, but your existing patients, the people you're treating every six months, will also be able to convert. It's Shocking how many dentists we've spoken to who have said, I've lost patients who just didn't know I did X service, who didn't know I did Invisalign, who didn't know I did implants in-house, and they went to a specialist. And y you can pick those kinds of cases to target, and you might lose some to a specialist, but if you're clear with your messaging, you're gonna catch a lot more of those people who are in your practice already. Which goes back to pillars one and two. Troy: Yeah, yeah. So again, it's not a function of picking a specialty because now nowadays and and people more and more are expecting that they can get comprehensive care. There certainly may be certain cases that that they would need to go to you know, a specialist for an oral surgeon or an endodontist for b you know, a unique set of circumstances, but they really more and more people are Appreciating the fact that they can go to a dentist and that relationship can cover, you know, whatever it is, 80-90% of the universe of dental needs they have. So it's it again, we just want to emphasize this isn't about saying I am only going to be a you know an implant practice. It is emphasizing your authority, building that authority and targeting. those particular people that are looking for those uses because it not only amplifies it in terms of the marketplace, but also, like you say, Jeff, increases the awareness and the trust that your current clients have that you can provide that kind of comprehensive care. So Jeff: Yeah. And it's that trust that really moves us into the fourth pillar, which is amplifying your word of mouth. And this is certainly the longest burn component of the inside out framework. It's kinda like a flywheel. It's heavy, it's hard to get started, but once it's going, it it goes. It it is what really creates a very sustainable growth in practice. We had one client we worked with who they had one specific patient who in like sixty days, sixty to ninety days generated twenty three new referrals for their practice. And so if you do develop that trust, you have the authority, those patients who come in and feel and identify with you, they really connect with you, they're gonna recommend everyone they know. Troy: Yeah, and and and one thing that's really important is that we have to look introspectively as well. We aren't most of us are not evangelists for service providers. You know, it's just it's not the way we sort of view our world where hey, I'm really looking for opportunities today to tell people about my dentist or, you know, my electrician or whatever. That's the that's not the way that we're wired. So what practices really need to do, and part of what this pillar for is all about is let's get better about building systems that encourage that. And that's not only within just our practice, you know, so we have all of those patients and certainly amplifying our per patient referral rate, huge opportunity. But we're also in communities where there are other professionals where we can, you know, develop you know a cross networking. opportunity or cross-referral opportunity where we we're referring them to the sir are referring people that we know to the services that they provide and vice versa. There's also of course within you know either in within healthcare or healthcare adjacent there's opportunities to create create relationships that can generate referrals. So we're not talking about just badgering your own patients more and more, although We do want to badger the right way, but it's just taking a broader view and saying, how do we create community that then wants to refer to us? And and that's what that and again to your point, Jeff, it a lot of it does just take some some time and some some consistent effort. But it's the type of thing that once those relationships are established, unless a dentist screws it up. They're long term relationships, you know, they're just kind of the ones that keep on keep on feeding the practice. Jeff: And let me give you a personal example of me with my dentist. I I went in Loved my dentist. and he sat down with me after my second visit and he just said, Hey, I noticed you're on this insurance plan. Do you mind telling me how much that costs you? He knows I'm I'm self-employed, I run a business, so I wasn't getting it through my employer. Do you know do you mind telling me how much it costs you to to get insurance through this plan? And I told him it was about six hundred dollars a year for me and my wife. And he said, Well, let's let's talk through our office plan. And for the o in office plan, it ended up coming out to about four hundred and fifty dollars for just me and my wife. And when our daughter gets to a place where she needs treatment, she can be added on for for pennies on the dollar. And it it was just that relationship coupled with being able to talk to me openly and honestly about what's gonna be best for me. He ended up saving me money. I feel like I'm getting better treatment and have better coverage for my dental insurance needs. And it's something that I recommend to basically everyone. I've become an evangelist because of that relationship. And it you can create that same kind of education component, with with friends who work in different industries, who may own their own businesses, with with other people who are coming into your your practice, whether it they're patients or they know people, but it It's the network effect where you just keep putting out that the information and keep connecting with people and that creates that word of mouth magic. Troy: Yeah, and a and again, the key point is it has to be intentional. If there is a strategy to it, you know, identifying those opportunities, executing on you know, the strategies that are developed. so it isn't easy. You know, that's why agencies don't do it. It's why you know, a lot of dentists have gone away from it, 'cause it was sure a lot easier to s you know, set up a website and and pay a few grand a month for Google Ads and you know, and and just have the business the the marketing piece of the business run itself. Well, you know, for most practices, that that's not the future. you know, that's just not what the what the outlook suggests is gonna be successful moving forward. People making connections with people always will win. It is hard, it does take time, it does take effort, but it also is unquestionably going to to work if that's you know, why the way you build your practice, you know, and your practice has to stand up with the relationship you're, you know, you're trying to trying to build. You know, you can't go out and try to build all these relationships and say, hey, send me your your friends and family, have them come in and have it be a really negative experience. You know, that obviously isn't going to work. So, you know, there's there's both parts to it, but but it it is the way that will continue to work regardless of what comes down the road. it will always work. and so a lot of dentists expressed us concern that hey we're already have seen changes. No, this isn't you know this isn't my dad's dental marketing world anymore. you know we've already seen changes. What's coming in six months? You know, like what's next? When you know are is are Google ads going to completely dry up. And you know, no one knows for certain exactly what six months down the road's gonna look like. Other than we absolutely know for certain that creating more relationships, deepening your word of mouth systems, absolutely will always pay off. Jeff: No question. And it's it's not something like you said, it's the things that are not necessarily easy or 100% scalable. But AI, we see a lot of practices using AI to scale their clinical side of things, but have largely avoided AI on scaling their marketing side of things and getting that involved and and allowing this the things that are coming, the new technologies that are allowing this to be scaled, it's in this case, I think the technology that's going to change dental marketing isn't going to change the way dentists market in terms of creating a more efficient method of of marketing. It will change the way they market in terms of like we talked about, moving them full circle back to that relationship. And the the dentists who are on top of that and creating those relationships now create equity that just moves year after year and creates value for their practice long term. Troy: Yeah. So those are the really the four pillars. You know, it's reactivating patients that have drifted. It's looking at ways to plug revenue and time leaks, targeting higher value patients, and finally really building out your word of mouth system stack so that you are just month after month increasing the flow of word of mouth patients to your practice. Jeff: Yes. So if you've made it this far in the podcast, thank you for sticking with us and listening to us talk about this. If this is something you'd be interested in finding out what it looks like for your practice, you can book a call in the description. It's no pressure. This is just talking about what this looks like for your practice. This this isn't for everyone. and so it it would be kind of see if we are a good fit and and What does this look like for growing your practice? Would your practice be able to be successful with this? we appreciate all of the comments that people come and leave on the YouTube version of the podcast. You can find us at opkey on YouTube, or you can find us wherever you get your podcasts and subscribe, leave a review. We would love to hear from you and hear your feedback. thanks for making it this far, and we'll see you in the next one. Troy: right, good work.