In an ideal world, dentists wouldn’t even have to worry about things like marketing budgets and the strategies to follow just to keep attracting enough patients through the door. Marketing in most cases is best left to marketers, just like creating beautiful smiles is best left to dentists. However, when the people who are in charge of keeping teeth healthy and smiles pretty decide to take on the task of growing a business themselves, it pays to have an understanding of marketing and business development.
A dentist who owns their practice has to wear many different hats besides that of a doctor. On the same day, they can be the CEO, an HR person, a dentist-technician, and yes, sometimes even a marketer.
Wearing multiple hats is something that comes with the territory and is on the radar of doctors participating in the Fast Growth Practice mastermind. Why? Because that’s what the doctors behind the private advising program have developed tools to overcome in their own professional lives. Power couple Nathan Jeal and Bao-Tran Nguyen are both accomplished dentists who decided to take it a step further and develop multiple locations.
Over the past decade in practice they have been careful to take detailed notes, and have compiled an enviable library of documents and processes related to the business of dentistry. Most impressive of all, they have developed a program to share what they’ve learned with dental colleagues who are facing the same challenges,
The problem many dentists have with marketing is the same problem other business owners have: how much should they spend, and will they know they’re getting a return on their investment?
With Nathan and Bao-Tran, there’s no other way around it; marketing is one of the four cornerstones upon which fast growth is achieved. So while budgetary constraints might affect the scope of a practice’s marketing activities, the inventiveness, creativity, and hard work that go into it don’t have to be affected by the budget.
An example of this is what Nathan describes as a mix of “outrageousness and omnipresence.” While it’s obvious that there is no way to physically be everywhere at a point in time, the concept suggests there is value in being in as many places as possible with a message that stands out from the crowd.
It’s easy enough to think of places to be seen, whether online or in physical spaces. However it’s the “outrageous” part that gives some extra value to what Nathan and Bao-Tran are trying to impart here. While it’s not uncommon for a dentist to give away teeth whitening, it’s much less common for them to give away 100 teeth whitening packages. It’s about stepping outside of one’s comfort zone to try something new and unusual even if that new thing is using something old, such as radio or even TV.
That’s the real lesson to be learned here. Marketing as an industry is sometimes prone to fads, self-grandeur, and a lack of self-reflection. Going back to the basics is sometimes the quickest way to get to the desired destination. Traditional media are still very much in use, whether it’s during the daily commute or while people are at work. In fact, studies show that over 270 million Americans listen to the radio each week.
When aiming to be omnipresent and cover as much ground as possible with marketing, dentists who want to see their practices grow quickly cannot afford to be careless. They have to choose the options that are available to them, but they also need to make sure results are generated and tracked so there is accountability for the money invested.