Does Advertising Your Practice Really Work?

How to Successfully Track Your Marketing to Ensure You Get the Most Out of Every Dollar You Spend on Advertising

If you're like most practices you' ve probably experienced some frustration with marketing and you might be pouring time and money into strategies that aren' t paying off as you' d like.

Frankly, if you have a sneaking suspicion you' re not getting a total return on investment (ROI) from your marketing dollars or you' re not converting as many calls-to-appointments as you should or could be you' re probably right.

You may not feel 100% confident your marketing approach is as effective as it could be.

And it's no wonder.

Many dentist's have feelings of doubt and uncertainty when it comes to marketing their practice because cutting through all of the marketing clutter is time consuming and expensive.

But, spending money on advertising and marketing that doesn't work isn't a necessary evil of doing business.

After reading this report you'll learn the 3 biggest problems most practices face when building a marketing strategy, how to target your marketing more successfully and how to design offers to generate more appointments.

You'll also learn how to effectively track results to replicate your success, maximize successful strategies and avoid advertising that doesn't work and drains your marketing dollars.
With the right information you can build an extraordinary marketing strategy well worth every penny you put into it.

Here's a challenging topic to think about.

Many Dentists dismiss the notion of using traditional advertising methods to promote their practices services. "We tried (radio/tv/newspaper/direct mail/website) and it didn't work for us" is a frequently heard response. Other Dentists, however, are thrilled with the results they're able to get using these methods.

What makes the difference?

There are clear, consistent reasons why these methods don't work for some Dentists. In a nutshell, they all boil down to three problems:

• Insufficient or misallocated budget
• Poor targeting and message —wrong demographics and/or weak offer
• Bad tracking - little or no tracking of conversion metrics and results

If you can get these three things right, your chances of a successful advertising program will shoot up dramatically.

All three problems are linked, but let's look at them one by one.

Problem 1: Insufficient or Misallocated Budget

While just a few years ago dentists needed to be aware of only a few media outlets and marketing strategies to promote a practice, today you must be well-versed in a wide range of media options and strategies. 

As your number of marketing options grow and as new technologies emerge it can be very difficult and expensive to cut through all the clutter to find a marketing approach that really works for your practice.

Here are some of the major categories to think about:

1. Television
2. Radio
3. Print Publications
4. Internet
5. Direct Mail
6. Signage
7. Product Placement 
8. Sponsorships

Many Practices find spending on marketing of any kind to be a burden.  In this situation, advertising may be just one of several tightly allocated spending areas, and dollars spent on advertising may vary over time.  If you're in this boat, advertising may only occur when extra funds are available.

Here's a rhetorical question.

Can you afford to neglect your marketing or put off spending for your practice as the dental market becomes more competitive and patients have an ever increasing plethora of options to choose from?

You've heard the cliché, pick your battles, well it applies to your marketing strategy when it comes to putting together a marketing budget be sure to spend wisely. 

But, don't lose sight of the fact that dollars spent toward marketing should pay off and if they do you'll increase your patient flow which will allow you to build a stronger marketing budget in the future.

The cat on a hot stove analogy.

Have you ever seen a cat jump on a hot stove?
If you have, you probably heard a terrible screeching noise and watch the cat high tail it out of the kitchen.  

Once a cat jumps on a hot stove you'll never see the same cat jump on a hot stove again, but the funny thing is, you'll most likely never see the cat jump on a cold stove or any stove ever again, for that matter.

So what does a cat on a hot stove have to do with your marketing budget?

If you're like most practices you've probably been burned on advertising or at least had a marketing plan flop, but try not to be like a cat on a hot stove and never try anything again because it didn't work. 

If anything, you can say your dollars were well spent to find out what doesn't work and try something else.

The Thomas Edison Example

Here's a quick look back at history:

From 1899 to 1909 it took Thomas Edison 28,000 tests to create the first functional alkaline storage battery.

Edison later was asked if the 28,000 tests he had conducted on the storage battery had been a "wasted effort." He replied, "What do you mean, wasted effort? I now know 28,000 things that won't work."

Obviously you can't afford to try a thousand marketing strategies or even a hundred, but the point is valid.  Marketing is a lot like science it requires trial and error, split testing and a willingness to explore.  Once you find the right formula it will pay off big time!

Look carefully at what resources are available and what'll give you the best bang for your bucks.
Another critical component of building a marketing budget is your ability to track specifically what advertising is working and measuring your inquiry to appointment conversion…

This will allow you to pin point what strategies are working, what needs to be tweaked and where not to spend money.

We'll talk more about this later, so keep reading to learn how to effectively track your marketing, and identify what works, what doesn't, and how to get more scheduled appointments from your marketing effort.

Work to get the best deals and make the most of your budget.

Don't be afraid to negotiate with ad sources, advertising space costs are a negotiable commodity.

Here are some tips for negotiating to get the best deals:

Expect to pay a premium for a small, short term ad buy. Expect to receive discounts if you're buying more volume or ad space over a longer duration.

• Do your best to negotiate a deal on your initial buy because then you can always demand at least as good a price if not better in the future.
  
• If you do an initial ad buy and find decent response but the ad price is too high to achieve your targeted return on investment (ROI), then you're in a position to go back to your ad source and tell them that based on your response, you're now ready to buy more if they can reduce the cost for you so you can hit your target ROI.
  
• If you can't negotiate a discount for your advertisements try to get them to throw in bonuses and extras.  Many times ad sources are inclined to give some extra exposure for free than to give a price discount.
  
• Find out if advanced payment will earn you a discount.

Here are more aggressive techniques an office manager can use when dealing with an ad sales person.

• Tell your sales person flat out, I can't pay more than X amount then wait to see if the sales person cracks and gives you a discount (wait several days if you can afford to).
  
• Tell your sales person, you can get the same exposure somewhere else for less money.
  
• Question their level of service and question their ability to help you generate the response you need for your practice.
  
• Talk to multiple people from the company you're planning on buying ad space from and see if their pricing is consistent.
  
• Verbally commit to buying and then ask for extra exposure or bonuses right before you sign a contract.

Obviously you don't want to alienate or abuse your ad sources, but always ask for a discount - the worst thing they can say is no.

No matter what the budget, any campaign can be a dud if it's not properly targeted.

Start your marketing strategy knowing what type of patients you want to reach, develop a compelling offer that gives them a reason to schedule an appointment and put the offer in front of those target patients in such a way so they'll take action.

Simple, right, but not always easy to do.

Every newspaper, magazine, TV and radio station will give you a media kit listing what kinds of people they reach (demographics) and when. These kits are tremendously valuable tools, use them.

After all, if you want to target affluent families who can afford _______  you don't want to spend money on an ad campaign hitting lower income families.

Your target market must be small enough - or somehow reduced - so
the resources you can and will commit can have big impact.

The "big fish, small pond" approach is best for anybody operating with limited
resources - and who isn't?

Think about how much money, time and energy is lost hitting targets that don't matter.

Smart resource allocation can transform your practice's marketing success almost overnight. After all, you have a finite amount of hours and dollars. You must use them wisely.

In marketing , DISCRIMINATION is a good word. You must discriminate. This means excluding the majority of people and delivering your marketing message to a carefully selected minority; High Probability Patient.

Let's take a very basic example: assume you're promoting your cosmetic dentistry practice, teeth whitening, ____ and ______ . You transform ordinary and sometimes terrible looking teeth into beautiful sparkling smiles, and you want to promote your services in an affluent neighborhood in your area.

One of the "sloppiest" things you could do would be to send a bulk mail post card campaign announcing your teeth whitening service - blasted out across three or four zip codes in the region. Cheap, semi-effective but still wasteful.

The smarter thing would be, to first, separate the homeowners from the renters. Then break out the homeowners by value or income, possibly by subscription to "wellness”(Self/Oprah/Men's Health) type magazines. Then direct all of your resources at these precisely chosen, ideal patients.

Be aware of differences between regions and even from town to town. No 'standard' ad method will work the same in all areas. In some cases radio or television may be a better way to reach prospective patients, and in others print may do well.  You need to try them and track to find out what works best for you.

Here's a little secret most ad agencies and marketing gurus won't tell you.

At least half the marketing battle is won via list selection, demographic targeting and ad placement, NOT creative... ie... copy, message, offer etc.

A weak or mediocre ad placed in front of the right audience will generate more response than a great ad placed in front of anyone and everyone.

Marketing is a lot like combat strategy.

A sharp focused point of attack at a well defined group will require less effort and resources (people, ammunition, supplies) and allow a greater chance of success than a broad frontal assault.  Broad frontal assaults drain battalion resources and reduce the chance of an army's victory.

Of course the ideal marketing approach is to align your target group of prospective patients, the medium or method of communication and your message.

It's all about focus and alignment.

Use this focus diagram when planning your marketing approach:

Let's look at each scenario.

Quadrant I.  Waste:

 If your marketing strategy has a diffused target and a diffused message you'll waste precious time and resources with little or no return. This is total flop unless you somehow get lucky.

Quadrant II. Confusion:

If your marketing strategy has a diffused target and a focused message you'll get misunderstanding and indifference from the audience you put the message in front of.

You'll also get confusion and frustration internally because the marketing people”don't understand why the newsletter, brochure, letter or advertisement they spent so much time and creative energy making didn't work. Ultimately this results in a minimal to mediocre return.

Quadrant III. Mediocre Results:

If your marketing strategy has a focused target and a diffused message you'll get mediocre to good results because you don't have to be creative with your message if you're putting it in front of people who are predisposed to your offer and have a need or want for your service.

Quadrant IV. Great Results:

If your marketing strategy has a focused target and a focused message you'll get great results because you're actively aligning your compelling offer with an audience that has a demand for your service.

Now let's talk about creating a compelling offer.

Here's a quick 3 step checkpoint you can use when creating a compelling message or advertisement.

Ad Checkpoint I. Does your message pass the, I should hope so! Test?

You'd be amazed at how ridiculous some advertisement claims actually sound.

Whenever you make a claim, ask yourself if the prospect will immediately echo this response:

"Well, I should hope so!"

For instance, an insurance agency faxed an ad giving the following reason to choose them over their competitors: We will be there for you when you have a claim.

Well I should hope so!”You're an insurance agency! Isn't that what you do?

Statements like this have as much meaning as the hair salon or barber telling you, your hair will be shorter after it's cut or worse yet the dentist saying, your teeth will be cleaner after coming to the office for a cleaning.

Avoid pointless claims and it will improve your effectiveness immediately.

Ad Checkpoint II. Does your message pass the, Who else can say that”test?

The question is not who else can do what you do. The question is who else can say what you say. And, the answer to that is "just about anybody and everybody".

Does your yellow page ad, newspaper ad, newsletter or brochure look virtually identical to all of your competitors?

Try This:

Look at your ad and compare it to your competitors'ads. If you can cross out your name on your ad and replace it with the name of your competitor or vice versa, and the ad is still valid, you failed the test.

You did not distinguish yourself from your competitors. You failed to differentiate your practice. You look like everybody else!

The sad truth is almost everybody is saying the same thing.  Everybody is delivering the same message.

While this seems to be the way to do things, because that's the way everybody else is doing it, it's definitely the wrong approach if you seek exceptional results.

Ad Checkpoint III. Does your message pass the, The Specificity Challenge?

You need to quantify your claims. Practices generally fail to create a compelling case to set an appointment. Instead, they merely list services or ask prospective patients to act without justifiable reasons. Quantify your practice, ask yourself these questions:

1. How are you different?
2. Compared to other practices, how do you stack up?
3. What advantages do you offer and why are you able to offer them?

Distinguish your practice from the competition, as if you were building a legal case like an attorney.

Ok, perk your ears up and read carefully - this is very important.

The 5 steps to building a well organized offer for generating new appointments:

Most prospective patients need to be led through 5 steps in your advertisement before they'll take action and schedule an appointment.

Here are the steps:

Step 1. Awareness of a need and/or want
Step 2. Selecting the thing that fulfills the need/want
Step 3. Selecting the source for the thing
Step 4. Accepting the cost and the source's price
Step 5. Finding reasons to act immediately

Let's look closely at each step.

Step 1. In some cases a you may have to educate patients on a need or want (especially with new products or services).

Reminding people they do have, for instance, stained teeth or gums that bleed or sensitive teeth or cavities and they've tried frightening amounts of tooth pastes, gels, expensive electronic brushes and other products to no avail, and deep down inside they want healthier teeth and a smile they can be proud of is critical to your message. 

As strange as it may seem, you cannot always automatically assume the public is interested in this.  Reminding, educating or even re-educating your audience of their needs and wants will strengthen your offer.

Step 2. After you've addressed the need/want you then present your service as the viable, effective, accepted, credible, safe, gentle, treatment for various problems.

Step 3. You've addressed the need, you've presented your service and explained how it fulfills the patients need/want, now present your offer.  Be sure to distinguish your practice's offer from competitors.  Here are tips to make your message more interesting:

• Before and after photos
• Dramatic stories from satisfied patients
• Shocking statistics

Step 4. Address the issues of fees, costs, affordability, insurance, convenient location, painless and timely procedures, acceptance of major credit cards and how your staff handles all the paper-work.

Step 5. Give them a reason to take action immediately.  Push the prospective patient over the edge so they pick up the phone and call to make an appointment and keep it.  This is where most offers lose their punch. 

You've invested a lot of and money to get your message in front of people, don't be subtle at this point; ask them to take action.  Again, go look at your competitors'ads in the yellow pages or newspaper, see how many stop short of asking you to take any specific action, or, if they do, they offer no good reason, incentive or reward for doing it. 
A lot of dentists' advertisements say things like:

• New Patients Welcome
• Financing Available
• ZoomIn Office Whitening

These are all good things to say, but a better way of saying the same thing and asking the patient to take action would go something like this:

• New Patients Welcome
  Call 555-1212 now to learn about our New Patient Program”and schedule a FREE New Patient Consultation (call now because complimentary new patient consultations are only available to a limited number of patients each week)
  
• Financing Available
  Call 555-1212 now to learn about our Patient Financing Program”and request a FREE special report about our unique Patient Financing Program
  
• Zoom In Office Whitening
  Call 555-1212 now to schedule an appointment Zoom”In Office Whitening and request a FREE special report 5 Easy Steps For a Lasting Bright and Healthy Smile

Problem 3: Bad Tracking

So you've spent time, energy and resources to get a good number of ads out to your target market and you designed a compelling offer to generate more appointments…

How do you know if the ads worked and what should you be tracking?

Before launching any advertising campaign give yourself a goal or a projected target number of appointments you plan on getting as a result of your efforts.

Calculate how many new patients you must get in order to break even on your campaign.

Start by analyzing the net value of a new patient.

The true value of a new patient is the amount of money generated by the new patient in the first nine months in your practice - less the cost of providing the dentistry (variable costs).

Take the gross production of your new patient and subtract lab fees, dental supplies and collections losses, to net out how much money goes into paying both your fixed and variable expenses.

A successful marketing strategy will generate more net income than it costs to build and maintain.

Ask yourself this: What if for every $1 you put into an ad campaign you got back $3 –how many more dollars would invest in the campaign?

Here's a handy chart to help you give you a rough estimate of the net value to of a new patient.

Now let's do a simple break even example:

Let's assume the net value of a new patient after you subtract lab fees and variable expenses is $600.

Your marketing budget is $500/month for a total of $6000 a year (which is extremely low).

Divide your cost of marketing by the net value of a patient to get your break even number or target response rate.

$6000/$600 = 10

In this case you would need to get 10 new patients to pay for your marketing.

Find out what's working and where you have gaps.

Unless your ad contained a specific offer and/or your front desk staff is very diligent about asking How did you hear about us? It is difficult to accurately track how many people see or hear any given ad and respond to it.

Be careful not to be held hostage by the advertising sources that promise a lot and under deliver on response. 

Don't expect your ad source to accurately track results; many times their idea of results and yours are two different things. It's up to you to take ownership of tracking results to really find what works and what doesn't.

Don't rely on your front desk team to do it. It's an unnecessary burden on them and it takes them away from what they should be doing, which is converting the inquiries into appointments.

A strong long-term marketing strategy allows you to answer these critical questions…

• What method(s) are you having the most success with (yellow pages, newspaper, direct mail, referral, website, newsletter, radio, television)?
  
• How much are you spending on each method on a monthly basis and how many inquiries do you get as a result of each?
  
• How many new patients do you need in order to pay for your marketing?
  
• What is your cost per lead?
  
• What advertisements or offers generate the most response?
  
• How many inquiry calls do you receive each week?

• How many new patients do you get each month from referrals?
  
• How many visitors go to your website how long do they stay and what do they look at?
  
• What is your call-to-appointment conversion ratio?
  
• What is you appointment-to-walk-in ratio?
  
• When during the week do you receive most of your inquiry calls?
  
• What zip code(s) do the majority of your patients reside in?
  
• What is the most common objection or cause of patient attrition?

If you can accurately answer all of these questions with confidence you probably have an efficient marketing system generating the kind of results you want. And you can control patient flow and production at your leisure.

If you're not able answer all of these questions confidently, obviously you need to work on it, but don't for one second think you're alone.

When it comes to marketing, most businesses don't know dollar-for-dollar what advertising works and what doesn't.

They simply know they need to advertise so they throw something out there in hopes it'll stick. Use the ideas presented in this report to start tracking your marketing results. Take it step-by-step until you have mastery over each conversion ratio, response rate and break even number to tweak the dials of your marketing for optimal results.

The best way to track the success or failure of your advertising is to do it digitally.

Here are 2 great tools to use to track your marketing:

I. The Internet allows you to track everything. Incorporate unique webpages (URLs) into your ads and monitor how many visitors you get to your website.

This will show you precisely how many people were compelled to respond to your ad and where they came from. 

Be sure to use different web addresses for each campaign if you're running multiple strategies.  This is called split testing. It will allow you to hone your marketing by determining which method and message is most effective.

Here's an example of how to run a split test using a web address in your ad:

Ad 1.
Get Dr. Jane Doe's FREE Insider Tips For A Lifetime of Youthful White Teeth
Go to: www.greatteeth.com/tips1

Ad 2.
FREE Report: How To Have Sparkling White Teeth Without Sacrificing The Things You Love
Go to: www.greatteeth.com/tips2

Notice the headline changed and there is a slightly different web address (URL) in the ad for tracking purposes.  In this case, the webpage you drive them to would be a request form and you could automatically email the prospective patient their report. 

You would then simply monitor which headline generated the most response and bingo, you've just found a proven headline you could run on your next direct mail campaign.

Another quick tip on this strategy…

All of those people who respond and take advantage of your FREE Report would then automatically go on a follow-up list and receive a special offer giving them some kind of incentive for scheduling an appointment in the next 14 days.

Your follow-up response would be something like this:

Dear Sue,

Recently you requested our special report entitled: How To Have Sparkling White Teeth Without Sacrificing The Things You Love

I hope you enjoy reading it and get a lot out of the teeth whitening tips.

Because you requested our report and may be considering a teeth whitening procedure in the near future I wanted to let you know about a special we're running that will be available to you for the next 14 days:

Special offer goes here

Address the issues of fees, costs, affordability, insurance, convenient location, painless and timely procedures, acceptance of major credit cards and how your staff handles all the paper-work. (Remember step 4)

Call 555-1212 now and you'll also get a FREE Whitening Kit with your appointment through this special limited time offer.

Sincerely,

Dr. Jane Doe; DMD

Ok, it's time for the most valuable tool of this entire report.

This is a tracking method that has been subtly under the radar for years, which is now emerging, and most advertising sources don't want you to know about because they're afraid you'll find out what little response you're actually getting by advertising with them.  Other ad sources and marketing companies are overjoyed by this emerging method because it gives them an opportunity to showcase the results they're able to generate.

II. 98% of new patients dial your practice's phone number to set an appointment so why aren't you tracking your phones?

Your in-bound phone calls are the most important components you can track to determine if your marketing is really working.

Most people don't even realize you can track calls or they thinks it's too hard to do at their practice, but it's really simple…

You should track every advertisement, newsletter, website and radio spot to determine how many phone calls you get from each source and then calculate how much each phone call costs your practice by dividing your cost of advertising by the number of calls you receive from each marketing approach.

Let's look at an advertisement-to-call conversion example:

Assume you pay $120/week for 13 weeks (total $1560) for an ad in your local paper and you get 10 phone calls from prospective patients interested in scheduling an appointment.  Your cost per lead would be:

$1560/10 = $156

This number is important to track because you're able to determine if you're getting the target response necessary for a return on investment.

You can easily get these conversion numbers on your own and track your in-bound telephone calls by placing unique tracking phone numbers in all of your advertisements to monitor response rates.

Keep reading, you'll find out how to put tracking numbers in your ads…

By tracking your calls you'll not only be able to monitor your marketing (what's hot and what's not) and determine cost per lead, but also monitor phone inquiry-to-appointment conversions.

Now let's take a look at an inquiry-to-appointment conversion example and tie it all together with your marketing investment:

Remember in the hypothetical example, you paid $1560 for your 13 week newspaper ad and you received 10 calls and your cost per lead is $156.

But just because someone calls doesn't mean you secured an appointment and earned that patient production.  Let's say 6 of the 10 actually convert to an appointment.

Now you're cost per lead goes up 60% from $156/lead to $260/lead and your call conversion is 6 out of 10 or 60%.

And of course, you want to determine your return on investment…

Estimated net value of each a new patient is $600 X 6 patients = $3600

You've spent $1560, grossed $3600 so your net is $2040.  Not bad!

Obviously, these are hypothetical numbers, but you would follow the same logic to track your marketing.  As you start to do it over an entire year you'll see trends, gaps in your marketing and where you can leverage your resource to get more patients.

Tracking enables you to cut through all the marketing clutter and develop a plan that guarantees results.

But it all starts by using a tracking number…any advertising organization or marketing expert who dissuades you from tracking your in-bound calls is one to steer clear of.

So how do you start tracking your calls?

Request more information or register for your own unique call tracking number:

It's very easy to set up and the cost is nominal compared to what you'll pay for advertising, direct mail or radio.

You'll pay a low monthly fee for tracking numbers, you won't have to disrupt your existing phone system and it doesn't require any additional lines.

By the way, this system also records all calls and captures caller information which is invaluable for future marketing purposes.  This will really help you stretch your marketing dollars and get the most out of your advertising.

Conclusion

In just about any kind of marketing you can think of, the bottom line is the same: If it works, keep doing it until it stops working, then try something new. If you don't know if it's working for you, find out.

Track, track, track!

Building a maintaining a successful marketing formula will ultimately allow you to spend more time with the patients you want and keep them coming back and referring their friends and family.

The best way to find out is to use a call tracking phone number in all of your advertisements and newsletters.  Also, monitor the activity of your website.  Incorporate call tracking numbers and unique webpages into direct response marketing and give prospective patients a reason to take action, pick up the phone an call your office today.

If you haven't tried it yet, give it a shot. Take the time to run tests and track to find out what works rather than waste your money.

Copyright © 2007 New Call Solutions All rights reserved.

Resources:

For more about how to track your marketing and in-bound call activity go to: www.newcallsolutions.com

For more about direct marketing strategies go to: www.dankennedy.com

References and sources for ideas revealed in this report:

http://www.dankennedy.com/cblog/

http://www.pricingexpert.com/index.php

www.perrymarshall.com

http://www.internetdentalalliance.com/roi_chart.htm

http://www.howtoincreaseprofit.com/blog/podcast.html

The Ultimate Marketing Plan by Dan Kennedy
A highly regarded marketing consultant, author of numerous books, writes sales letters and speaks regularly to a wide variety of business groups on marketing issues has trained, counseled and mentored countless number of people to millionaire status.

Breakthrough Advertising by Eugene Schwartz
Some people say, it's the greatest book ever written on direct marketing and advertising —was republished by Boardroom Inc. This legendary direct mail publishing giant built its business based on Gene's wisdom.

High IMPACT Selling Seminar by Bill Brooks
A 2-day sales training seminar offered by The Brooks Group a sales and sales management training firm.

How to Sell at Prices Higher Than Your Competitors by Larry Steinmetz, Ph.D.
This is a pragmatic, no nonsense explanation from the nation's foremost authority on selling products and services at prices higher than your competitors.  It could also be seen as one of the best resources to learn how to beat the pants off of a salesperson and get them to lower their price.

Copyright © New Call Solutions 2007

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