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Patient Acquisition in the Digital Age
D o u g l a s S l i g t i n g – A s c e n t P r a c t i c e G r o w t h S t r a t e g i e s
d o u g l a s @ a s c e n t p g s . c o m
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Speaker Disclosure
Douglas Slighting has been paid an honorarium by Henry Schein One to teach a continuing dental education session at this conference.
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Better Diagnosis = Better Results
Not all starting points are equal
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What are the initial factors that determine how effective your marketing will be?
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What are the initial factors that determine how effective your marketing will be?
• Brand Foundation
• Internal Marketing
• Push Strategy
• Online/Digital
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What are the initial factors that determine how effective your marketing will be?
• Brand Foundation
• Internal Marketing
• Push Strategy
• Online/Digital
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• The quality of your brand - how you tell your story
• The level of brand equity already built
• The growth goals of the practice
• The marketing budget
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Initial factors – Brand Foundation:
• The quality of your brand - how you tell your story
• The level of brand equity already built
• The growth goals of the practice
• The marketing budget
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Initial factors – Brand Foundation:
• Correct brand implementation
• Brand equity within the buying community
• Evolving goals and budgets
Ongoing factors – Brand Foundation:
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• The quality of internal marketing systems
• How well your team has been trained in marketing/sales processes
• The consistency in correct implementation
• Analytics from past internal efforts
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Initial factors – Internal Marketing:
• The quality of internal marketing systems
• How well your team has been trained in marketing/sales processes
• The consistency in correct implementation
• Analytics from past internal efforts
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Initial factors – Internal Marketing:
• Regular training
• Consistency/Accountability
• Analytics and improvements
Ongoing factors – Internal Marketing:
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• The demographics in your potential buying community
• Available media outlets
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Initial factors – Push Strategy:
• The demographics in your potential buying community
• Available media outlets
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Initial factors – Push Strategy:
• Narrowing your audience
• Analytics and improvements
Ongoing factors – Push Strategy:
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• The level of online competition and sophistication in your buying community
• The quality of your social media experience
• The quality of your online reputation
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Initial factors – Online/Digital:
• The level of online competition and sophistication in your buying community
• The quality of your social media experience
• The quality of your online reputation
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Initial factors – Online/Digital:
• Analytics and improvements – Outperforming the competition online
• Dedication to a correct social media experience
• Proactive commitment to your online reputation
Ongoing factors – Online/Digital:
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1. Online competition
2. Social media experience
3. Online reputation
1. Online competition
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Are you easy to find?
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1. Dentist
2. Dental
3. Cosmetic Dentist
4. Dental Practice
5. Dental Office
6. Teeth Whitening
7. DDS
8. Dental Implants
9. Invisalign
10.Dental Clinic
11.Pediatric Dentist
12.Dentistry
13.Family Dentist
14.Children’s Dentist
15.Teeth Cleaning
16.Emergency Dentist
17.Dental Crowns
18.Tooth Extraction
19.Periodontal Treatment
20.Dental Veneers
21.TMJ Treatment
22.Sedation Dentist
23.Dental Services
24.Dental Crown
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Are you easy to find?
Your city +
1. Content
2. Popularity (Traffic)
3. Reputation
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Why does Google rank one business over another?
3 primary factors determine your ranking:
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1. Content
2. Popularity (Traffic)
3. Reputation
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Why does Google rank one business over another?
https://www.brightlocal.com/research/local-consumer-review-survey/
3 primary factors determine your ranking:
vs. your competition [
1. Content
2. Popularity (Traffic)
3. Reputation
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Why does Google rank one business over another?
3 primary solutions:
vs. your competition
SEO
SEM
Reviews[
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SEO – Search Engine Optimization
• The process of making web pages more attractive to search engines
• All driven by relevancy comparisons to other web pages with similar content
SEO primarily focuses on:
• Content
• Links
• Citations
• Meta-data
• Site structure & programming
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SEO – How Competitive is your marketplace?
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SEO – How Competitive is your marketplace?
Higher scores need more:
• Keywords
• Citations
• Link building
• Content creation
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SEM – How it works:
• Ad spend is the monthly budget set aside to pay Google directly
• Each time someone clicks on your ad the budget is debited
• You bid for clicks against your competition
• The amount debited depends on your competitive market
• Number of clicks depends on the size of your budget & competitive market
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SEM – How Competitive is your marketplace?
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Reviews – Why they matter in local search:
• People prefer reviewed business, so Google prefers reviewed businesses
• People prefer well-reviewed business, so Google prefers well-reviewed businesses
• Only well reviewed business appear in the search “Best Dentist” (4 stars or higher)
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2. Your social media experience
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What is the role of your social media?
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• 1. Create a sense of community with your patient base
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What is the role of your social media?
• 1. Create a sense of community with your patient base
• 2. Provide potential patients with a view of your personality
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What is the role of your social media?
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• 1. Create a sense of community with your patient base
• 2. Provide potential patients with a view of your personality
• 3. Build trust with potential patients through reviews
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What is the role of your social media?
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• Determine your vision and post everything to that idea
• Triple check everything before you post – reduce errors
• Stay away from controversial topics
• Stay positive and professional
• Highlight community involvement
• Make it personal – stay away from canned content
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Social media content tips:
3. Online Reputation
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• 86% of consumers read reviews for local businesses
• Consumers read an average of 10 online reviews before trusting a local business
• 78% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. (91% of 18-34 year olds)
• 40% of consumers only take into account reviews written within the past 2 weeks
• 57% of consumers will only use a business if it has 4 or more stars
• 80% of 18-34 year olds have written online reviews
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Why is reputation management so important?
• The number of reviews matter
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Why should you generate many reviews?
• A business needs at least 40 reviews before they are credible
• You need more reviews than your competition
• Positive reviews are more impactful than negative reviews
68% are impacted by positive reviews
40% are impacted by negative reviews
• The average star rating is the most important factor
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• ASK!
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How do you generate reviews?
• 70% of those left a review. 30% did not.
66% of consumers have been asked by a business to leave a review
• Use a review generation service – Direct them towards Google or Facebook
Top 3 Search engine Market Share Worldwide:
• Google: 92.62%
• Bing: 2.62%
• Yahoo: 1.78%
• 89% of consumers read businesses' responses to reviews
• Nearly all (96%) of 18-34-year-olds read review responses
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Why should you respond to all reviews?
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• 50% Visit the website
• 19% Search for more reviews
• 15% Contact the business
• Keep in mind, 63% of consumers are reading reviews on Websites compared to 45% on tablets and 57% on phones
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After reading reviews, what do people do next?
Conclusion
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• Better diagnosis = better results
• Marketing falls into 4 objectives:
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Summary
1. Brand foundation
2. Internal
3. Push Strategy
4. Online/digital
Online/digital factors for success:
• Analytics and improvements – Outperforming the competition online
• Dedication to a correct social media experience
• Proactive commitment to your online reputation
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Q & A
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Patient Acquisition in the Digital Age
D o u g l a s S l i g t i n g – A s c e n t P r a c t i c e G r o w t h S t r a t e g i e s
d o u g l a s @ a s c e n t p g s . c o m