Welcome to Bite Size Dental Marketing. Today,
I have the lovely Ian. Ian, you look great. No,
we're live. You look great. Your hair looks wonderful.
How's South Africa? It's getting cold here, but
as I'm watching all the South Africans on the
screen, they're starting to shed the layers and
get their jacket off. Our nation goes from doing
not a lot of work to begin with and then to doing
less work. I need to tell you how comforting
that is as a business owner who employs about
20 South Africans. It's incredibly comforting.
And every time I hear it, even though I'm like,
is it 20 % of a joke? Is it 70 % joke? No. Rest
assured, Eric, you have your flock. You know
your fluff. Yes, I do. Here lies my problem.
What do you want to talk about today on this
Dezimba? It's got a Z. Dezimba. It's got a Z.
It's got a Z. So what I want to talk about today,
Eric, ties back to a book that we have been doing
as our book club that we've been having at the
agency. Talking about story brand. The story
brand. Building a story brand. And this has been
one of my favorite books. And if... Is there
anybody out there that is just trying to understand?
I encourage dentists too, but other marketers
too. If you're just trying to understand some
of the secret sauce of actually understanding
customers, consumers, dental patients in this
point, how they think, and how you should position
yourself in marketing, this is a great book to
look at. It's a good one. It even changed my
perception. I mean, I've been in marketing for
four and a half, nearly five years now. And reading
this has even opened my eyes to, well, I haven't
actually thought about it that way. And today
I want to dive into that a little bit with you
on how dentists and dental practices should be
thinking about their practice and business and
the message that they are putting out. Before
we jump in, I have a question. What do you think
most offices do today? Because I mean, they're
not thinking about... this book right they're
not thinking through the journey but are they
because i would say they're focused on either
the services they provide or the technology correct
correct they're telling you how great they are
which sounds like everyone's doing it so it sounds
like you should too exactly but it's not that
we we need to change the way that we're thinking
because i admit fault here too i was in that
for very long and now understanding if bring
marketing back to psychology and what we should
be doing. It's so obvious, which we'll get into
in a second. But to answer your question, yes,
the technology side, a lot of we've been in business
for this many years or we have the largest. There's
many smiles. We've seen this many people. We
have even the continued education. I understand
that is important. And to dentists, I know you
need that to become a better dentist. I've never
seen a patient or heard of a patient that went,
I was so happy that my dentist had done this
many continued education courses and therefore
I chose them. It's good to have under your belt.
When I'm past the initial barrier of deciding
if I want you to be my dentist. So all of these
things are great. I don't want people to confuse
that with what I'm saying here. To have all of
those things is still social proof of who you
are as a business. But when I'm scrolling my
phone or I'm on my desktop and I'm going through
trying to decide to which dentist I go to, my
brain is working a little bit different to how
I think most people are doing it. And that is
actually tapping into what are the problems that
you are solving for this patient and how are
you differentiating yourself. in helping a patient
get from point A to point B. It is as simple
as that. It doesn't sound simple. Okay, we can
break it down. So how do we think as human beings?
What do we think with? I mean, we think very
survival -based, typically, especially when something
is new. And that means fear, desire. I mean,
and that goes into a ton of other things. Wanting
to fit in, having enough money, consumption of
food, social presence, all of those type of things
tap into... the hierarchy of what matters to
us as human beings. And what I've seen again
and again is when patients actually decide who
they want to go to, we either think with our
wallet based on the calls that we have listened
to where people say, do you take my insurance?
Do you take my insurance? What plans do you have?
What options do you have? Or the desire of wanting
to achieve something. I have a wedding coming
up. I have a missing tooth or missing teeth and
I want to eat a steak again. And if you're just
telling me, We've been in business for 40 years.
The need that I have that I want you to solve
is not part of that value proposition that you're
actually putting forward to me. I do care you've
been in business, but I care more about me first.
Exactly. And what this book tells us is, and
many brands do this, you're sending so many different
messages at once of who you are that it becomes
overwhelming. to the patient. It's good that
you have tons of services. It's good that you
believe in holistic dentistry and you believe
in no anxiety dentistry and you believe in...
Yes, go ahead, Eric. No, I think it's great that
you have the latest DeTero scanner, but I don't
care. I think I might care at some point when
you... Once we decided on a treatment... Now,
keep in mind, I'm now in your chair. So I'm already
past the journey. But now I care because I see
your confidence and competency in your craft.
And now I see how you're applying newest technology.
But yeah, I mean, just because you do crowns
and you have the newest seric and ateroscanner,
that does nothing for a prospective patient.
Exactly. Especially if that message is coming
through with a bunch of other stuff on your homepage.
Yeah, it's messy. We also have in -house plans.
We have all of these services. We also have these
funding options. We also have this special going
on right now. dentistry from the heart and it's
for family dentistry but we also do dental implants
and and we see kids but not too many kids and
we love to do ortho but not all the ortho yeah
no it gets really messy like in in our desire
to push the the paradox is you know not to sum
things up too early in the episode we're pushing
so much information that we're putting a cognitive
load on the consumer to decide if this fits them
or not. Exactly. And that's tough. And it's about
figuring out you as a dentist, what is the message
that I want to put out there? What is one of
the most important things that I want to communicate
to a new patient coming to my practice? And what
I'd seen with... With some of our clients, Dr.
Kaboudi out in Beverly Hills did this perfectly.
He said, Ian, I want to be the dentist that people
understand they don't have to have dental anxiety
when they come in. Everything is geared on my
website and on the homepage and how we position
ourselves as, we'll take care of you. You don't
have to worry about dental anxiety. We've been
doing this for many, many patients. Here's a
bunch of testimonials in understanding. This
is why we do the type of dentistry we do and
why we have a passion for helping people that
have dental anxiety. The message is super, super
clear. But on the other side of the coin, you
see some of the offices that are, they also want
to push that, but then they also want to promote
all of these type of treatments. And they also
want to make sure that the in -house plan is
happening. They also want to make sure. And again,
those things are great once you have a patient
through the door, but initially we need to think
about it differently. So step one, Make sure
that the messaging you want to put out there
is clear and that it's focused on one, maybe
two goals that you would like to position yourself
in within the public sphere. The second point
that I get into here is then you need to have
a clear mission statement or clear verbiage or
clear communication on how you are addressing
the problems that people are having. within that
category that you selected so for instance don't
tell me that dental implants and replacing missing
teeth and all of that like we do that we've been
doing it for so long we have the best placement
and all of that how about hey eric would you
like to eat a steak again you said serving my
need right would you like to smile again you
know would you would you like to be proud of
your smile i think that's such a great line you
likely have some amount of shame around not smiling
or you know covering your smile things like that
and yeah it's it's a more powerful message when
you break it down then you know we do crowns
hello and make making it about the patient that's
another thing that the book really gets into
is what we usually do and the examples we've
used are we try and make ourselves the hero so
the business is trying to say how amazing they
are and i mean if you look at video games if
you look at the movie we like the the main character
or the game, the person you're playing, because
you are the hero in that story. You are living
through the eyes of that hero. And that's why
we love to watch the stories and to play. We
project ourselves onto these people and onto
these characters. Do you like to be the hero
when you're saving an office? In my own story.
And what businesses tend to do or dental practices
in this case is they try and make them the hero
of the story instead of thinking about... What
do I need to do to position this patient as the
hero so that they feel empowered when they come
to this practice? And that, again, is something
that needs to flow in the verbiage that you have
from your website to your social media to the
way that you're interacting with new patients
when consultations come. How do you start? How
do you go from, that's great, Ian, but, you know,
two companies ago built my website. Someone's
posting. social media for me. How do you go from
where most practices are today to honing in this
very well crafted message? So to answer your
first question, where I would start is looking
at what I currently have and seeing how often
am I just talking about my own business and how
often am I actually speaking to the needs and
the solutions of what my patients will require
and making them the hero in the story. So, and
I mean, we did this exercise as an agency, going
through a website and seeing, okay, here we're
talking about the practice. Here we're talking
about the practice. Here we're talking about
the practice. Okay, this entire page is just
saying things about, this is why you should come
to us. This is why you should trust us. This
is why we have the best technology. This is why
we have this. And then figuring out, well, how
can I make this more about my patients? So at
a bare minimum, I would start with the website
because I think that's kind of your home base.
of what the rest of your marketing material will
reflect or bleed into. So it's not an easy task.
So that's what I'm saying. At the bare minimum,
just look and try and figure out, hey, okay,
so Ian said that I need to stop just talking
about the practice and look at how are we actually
addressing the needs, the fears, the desires,
the real solutions that patients want. It will
stand out to you very quickly. It sounds like
a difficult exercise, but once you know this
detail and this way of thinking, Any business
you look at now, you can immediately judge and
gauge whether or not they wrote that with the
customer in mind or the patient in mind, or if
they wrote it because they're just talking about
themselves. Who's out there doing it right in
our space? Like when you look at their site,
who's got it honed in? So Cook Street Village
Dental, Dr. David Thode, he actually recently
welcomed his first child to the world. Congratulations,
doctor. He's the kind of dentist that I feel
from the start. He had his message thrown in
and when he had joined us, he's like, this is
how I want to be seen. And this is what's important
to me. And when I think of the brand he has,
he always said that the worse someone's mouth
is, the more welcome there are in his office.
Like he wants to be the place where if every
dentist has said, that's too much or this is
too complex. He's the guy that wants to say,
please, I welcome you. Come on in. And what a
lot of people have when they're at that point
is severe trauma, probably in some shape or form
of thinking about themselves, being embarrassed
about their smile, being embarrassed to smile
in front of other people. And what he said is,
I want to make sure people know this is a judgment
-free zone, that you don't have to have dental
anxiety and you can make sure this is a safe
space. And if you pull up his website, I'll...
cookstreetvillagedental .com is the website for
those that want to have a look. Yeah. Out of
the gate, a judgment -free zone. Exactly. Yeah.
Exactly. A safe space for all of your dental
needs. Then there's a video that shows you the
new patient experience and what you can expect.
You meet the dentists. And the next one is, how
can we help you? Are you embarrassed of your
smile? Do you have missing or broken teeth? Are
you afraid of going to the dentist? Even his
services, when you drop down from the main menu,
I need my teeth cleaned. I need to repair my
teeth. I need to replace missing teeth. I want
to perfect my smile. I want to straighten my
smile. So immediately the approach of this website
is everything about, hey, Eric, what do you want?
What do you need? And here's how we can help
you get that. When I think of who does it, well,
I like the one you mentioned there. I also like.
Dr. Brittany Dickinson out of Lakeview, Chicago.
She has a company, Sugar Fix, and when you land
on her site, it says, what makes you smile, right?
And then it leads to her Discover Bespoke Restorative
Dentistry. Now, that sounds highbrow, right?
Because that's what she's doing. I mean, and
then it jumps you. Dr. Dickinson loves designing
smiles. And yeah, she does cleanings, and yeah,
she does. ortho and all this other stuff but
but she's narrowed her message down to solving
this very specific problem that her potential
consumer has and i like that she's on that end
very nicely i think that's another one to to
look at if someone who's now she's not going
to be for everyone and but that to me is the
fear that we have to get past as marketers and
as business owners is by part of the reason we
push out, I do crowns and I do implants and I
love to do Invisalign. I've been in business
at this. We're trying to widen the net to make
us more appealing to everyone. For years and
years, your parents taught you, trying to please
everyone, you're going to please no one. It's
a paradoxical marketing problem in that The narrower
we focus our message, the broader the appeal
because we begin to look very put together. We
know our audience and we become easier to relate
to. And it simplifies the conversations we start
having with offices or, you know, with prospective
patients. That to me is... The fear part that
we have to get over as marketers is, I want to
put all that somewhere on your site. It should
not be on your homepage. And niching down, there's
no problem with that. Because I think the conversion
rate, exactly to what you said now, if you start
to narrow in and you have a clear message, your
potential of conversion is also going up. Because,
for instance, I know Eric loves well -designed
leather boots. He loves a pair of boots. If Eric
goes to a site, and I'll do this exercise with
you, they have these boots, they have women's,
men's, indoor, outdoor, this, the widest selection
that you've ever seen, or a company that says,
we have a premium crafted boot that is customly
fitted to your shoe size and is delivered in
this way and whatever for the man that likes
the outdoors. In which example does Eric go?
this is the brand for me or no, I'm just going
to go with try and find something. For sure.
Because I assume I can order whatever leather
I would want made or whatever. Well, so sure.
No question. Another client for me that I think
did this really, really well is funny enough.
Also up in Canada, Calgary is Reflections Dental
Group, Dr. Ashish Mehta. His whole approach is
I'm a boutique dental practice. I'm not everyone's
dentist, but I could be yours. I could be the
right one for you. And if you open up his website,
it's reflectionsdentalgroup .com. It starts off
with one patient, one chair, exceptional care.
And immediately that boutique, small, non -conveyable
dentistry style. And as you scroll through the
homepage, you will similarly see that. We're
dedicated to your smile. Here's what other people
are saying. Here's the way that we do. Here's
the three steps in which we're going to help
you and the time we're going to take to see you.
The messaging here is you're not just going to
be another patient on a conveyor belt. We're
going to take the time to actually get to know
you. You're not going to be rushed. You might
pay a bit more, but it's going to be worth the
experience that you're going to have compared
to the DSO down the road. That is from the start
something he wanted to achieve. And at the end
of the day, I think he did that really well in
what he put out. Well, Ian, I mean, we've covered
what we're looking for. We've covered some ideas
of how to get there starting with your site and
a couple of examples. I mean, I think that's
a good, might be a good place to wrap it up and
get back to December. Can I summarize briefly?
I would love to summarize briefly. Please. As
you know, I love to do. Briefly or summarizing?
Can those two things be said in the same sentence
with me? Maybe not by us. So number one is stop
telling multiple stories at once and find what
your story is. What is important to you as a
dentist and your dental practice? Don't be scared
to niche down and focus on what truly matters
to you in the production of your practice and
how you want to be seen. Your brand. Find that
message. Number two. Stop talking about yourself
all the time. Figure out what actually matters
to a potential new patient and make sure that
the messaging on your website is representing
that. Not in a way that's constantly saying how
great you are and the practice is, but the actual
problems that you're going to solve for the patient,
whether that be medical or financial. Help them
choose you through the value that you're going
to give them. Not because you tell them to choose.
And then the final thing is to be the guide in
the story that you're trying to tell. Don't try
and be the hero. Be the guide and help them through
the social proof that you put out there to the,
I mean, the reviews that you're getting into
the office, the messaging that you're putting
out to the videos and the pictures. Be the guide
to them so that they are the hero in their story.
And then tell that story once you've gotten the
messaging done. That is your bite. Have you stopped
it? Have you stopped it? No. That's your bite.
That was your bite of diddle barking.