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Tom
Orent
Dr. Tom Orent, a 1982 graduate of Tufts University School of Dental
Medicine, was a founding member and has served as the President of the
New England Chapter of the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry. Dr.
Orent has been a guest lecturer at Tufts University School of Dental
Medicine, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Brigham Young University,
Illinois State University, New York University, New Jersey Dental School,
and has been a member of the faculty at Boston University Graduate School
of Dentistry.
Accredited by the AACD in 1990, Dr. Orent has served on the Ethics Committee
and currently serves as an Accreditation Examiner. Dr. Orent also writes
a column for, and served as the Editor of the Journal of the AACD. Dr.
Orent serves a member of the editorial advisory boards for The Profitable
Dentist Newsletter, and The Practice Builder. He is also a frequent
contributor to Success On-line Magazine.
Dr. Orent lectures internationally with " 1000 Gems Seminars TM". He
created "1000 GemsTM in 1988, and has authored four books and numerous
articles ranging from Esthetic Dentistry and Practice Management to
TMJ and Extreme Customer Service. His publications have been sold in
20 countries around the globe. Dr. Orent practices Esthetic Dentistry.
To receive Dr. Orent's FREE "1000 Gems e-letter", weekly
clinical, practice management and marketing GEMS delivered by e-mail,
sign up at www.1000gems.com, or, e-mail
orent@1000gems.com. Or, fax
508-879-4811 with your name and e-mail address, or mail requests to:
Gems Publishing, USA, Inc., 12 Walnut St., Framingham, MA 01702. Just
write, "Gems e-letter".
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What is Marketing?
Marketing, in the broadest sense of the word, is letting people know
what you have to offer. Roger Levin once defined marketing as "forty
or more consistent, simultaneous, positive messages." An effective marketing
campaign is one that conveys what you have to offer, and to whom.
There are two categories of marketing: external and
internal. Internal marketing creates and maintains interest on an
ongoing basis with your patients. External marketing reaches out to
those who don't use your services, yet. Though we'll focus here on external,
it should be placed second on your priority list. Take advantage of
internal marketing since you already have a following of happy folks
who know and trust you. Internal marketing will help to keep them abreast
of new developments in dentistry, as well as new treatments being offered.
For example, perhaps Mr. Jones has absolutely no interest
in whitening, but his granddaughter's adult teeth just came in with
embarrassing brown decalcifications. If you have an internal marketing
program in place, he will learn that you have a solution to his granddaughter's
problem.
Be certain to review, revise and upgrade your internal
marketing strategies before undertaking a new external marketing campaign.
Otherwise, you'll waste your hard-earned dollars when your practice
isn't able to handle and manage the influx of new patients that will
beat a path to your door. If you aren't prepared, you'll never get to
realize their awesome potential and they'll never have the opportunity
to choose services from which they may derive great benefit.
Why Should I Advertise?
Good question. You should consider external marketing (advertising)
if you fall into any of the following categories:
- You're considering selling the practice within the next five to ten years.
Your practice has been an outstanding source of enjoyment, pride and
financial support over the years. However, your new patient flow has
declined as of late with new, younger practitioners opening up shop
and the increasing proportion of managed care patients. This is a
critical time because anyone interested in purchasing your practice
will take serious note of your overall production and new patient
flow.
- You're in the middle of your career - ages 30 to 50. Overhead is continuing
to rise, collection has plateaued or is declining, and your take-home
is waning. It's now simply a numbers game. If you need a boost in
production and collection, one excellent avenue is to increase your
production and new patient flow through advertising. If you've got
the extra chair time, a couple of additional new patients each week
can dramatically increase your bottom line. Keep in mind that the
fixed overhead for the month has already been paid so you'll incur
only a slight increase in supplies and lab. Other than that, the only
significant increase in overhead will come from your advertising --
which you'll monitor carefully, tracking your ROI (Return On Investment).
- You've seen the light and decided to focus on a specific area
of practice. Perhaps you've recently returned from the American
Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry's annual sessions and have made a commitment
to increase the number of porcelain veneer cases. Or maybe you just
purchased the Halimeter and are primed to start your own "Fresh Breath
Center." Whatever your interest, target marketing can aid in bringing
you just the right kind of patients and can be incredibly effective.
- You're close to bringing on an associate or partner, but can't quite
sustain another doc. There may be tremendous benefits available to
you, however, you can't support the extra provider quite yet. It's
often a catch-22. There are days when your staff knows they've postponed
or lost treatments because they couldn't schedule the appointments
fast enough with you. Yet, if you add another doc too soon, you'll
both starve! If you feel that your practice is at a point where your
patient production and flow is more than sufficient to sustain your
income, advertising may also be able to assist you in generating patients
for your associate.
Regardless of which of these stages your practice is at or what has led you to consider beginning a marketing campaign, external marketing can be an excellent tool to open up new opportunities and new business for your practice. There are many marketing mediums that can be effectively utilized to your advantage. The most common ones are yellow pages, newspapers, coupons, direct mail, radio, magazines, television, and Web sites. Keep in mind that these mediums vary in cost, size of potential audience, frequency, ability to target a specific market, level of savvy required to be effective, and most importantly, results.
When planning a marketing program, the two basic pillars of success are to be sure that you know who your target market is and to decide what you are willing to offer to bring those potential patients in. And remember, a comprehensive marketing campaign is multi-faceted, built over time, and requires both effort and a financial investment. But when you are able to find marketing tools that work for you, the process can be a lot of fun and the results can definitely be outstanding.
Check out the next issue of the Online Angle for Part 2 of Dr. Tom Orent's special focus on marketing.
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