This time of year many practices are embracing the holidays with decorations in the office, holiday music in the waiting area, and gift exchanges among the staff. But this year, you could be the best Santa ever. You could give your entire practice a gift – one that lasts well beyond the holiday season and extends into the new year!
This gift won’t fit under the tree, but it will make everyone in the office happy and free up time now spent on things that don’t directly lead to increased revenue and customer satisfaction. You don’t have to wrap this present, but it will morph in concert with changes in your practice, adjust to accommodate new or better services you offer, and make your patients feel more personally valued. In case you haven’t guessed, I’m talking about giving your practice the gift of professional marketing.
You may be thinking, “I do my own marketing and it works just fine. My practice has a website, a Facebook page, and we even send out a newsletter. Why should I spend money on a professional strategy when this is something I’m already doing and it doesn’t cost me a penny?”
First: Is it really true that it doesn’t cost you anything? Think about who updates your Facebook page and who writes the newsletter. If it’s someone on your staff, then it is costing you, and probably more than you realize. Not only are you paying a salary during the time your staff spends doing something they did not sign up for and are not professionally trained to do, you are taking those team members away from doing something they ARE trained to do—caring for patients.
Second: How do you really know your DIY marketing efforts are really paying off? Are you tracking the appointment requests coming in from the website to ensure that each one receives a prompt and adequate response? Is the Facebook page being updated and monitored on a routine basis? Is someone responding to comments and reviews on other platforms? Are you sure that the content of the newsletter is always fresh and relevant? Unless you can answer “yes” to all of those questions, you’re probably not getting the most out of your current marketing.
A professional marketing team would answer yes to those questions and be able to quickly implement changes that would improve new-patient outreach outcomes and make existing patients feel more connected to your practice. A professional marketing team can offer solutions that will allow your practice to interact directly and automatically with existing and prospective patients via e-mail, text, and phone. A professional marketing team knows what today’s patients want to learn more about and how to say it in a compelling manner. A professional marketing team could expand your online presence to other forms of social media and would know which venues would be the best fit for your practice.
If you’re looking to grow your practice now and for years to come, a professional marketing team already knows the best ways to do that. If you are not already working with a reliable company to develop and employ a comprehensive marketing strategy, the holidays offer a perfect opportunity to do so. You may have a bit of extra time during the holidays to think about strategies that represent your practice best when it comes to attracting new patients and keeping current patients engaged. It can’t hurt to at least look into a professionally managed strategy, can it? It might just result in the best present you ever gave.
Happy Holidays from all of us at My Dental Agency!
