Dental marketing near the end of the year slows down for most dentists. This gives many of you time to look back on the year and evaluate your practice as well as prepare for 2013. As you get ready to close down your practice for the holidays and the year take time to evaluate these top business metrics. These key dental metrics are critical measures of not just the amount of money coming in, but the sustainability and longevity of your practice.

Dental Marketing Checklist for 2012

#1 Patient Loyalty

# 2 Recall -

# 3 Communication

# 4 Online Reviews

#5 Campaigns

Call to learn more or get started 800.556.2580

Why Your Dental Marketing Online Reputation Matters

Why does dental marketing online matter so much? Simply put, your patients are relying more and more on the Internet and search engines as a way of researching for a new dentists. They consult online reviews and social media sites before committing to a new practice or elective services—and they keep their eyes open for any potential online complaints or negative reviews.

If an online search turns up only positive information about your practice, that is great news. Sadly, not all business owners can say that all of their practice’s ratings and reviews are positive. With traditional reviews systems negative reviews and unwanted listings can come from any number of sources—real patients, business rivals, and frustrated employees—and their veracity matters very little. If your practice is associated with negative online listings, you can bet that it will lead to decreased new patients, lost current patients, and overall embarrassment. 

That’s why so many practices are trusting PracticeMojo dental marketing to handled their online reviews and ratings. PracticeMojo utilizes a 3 point system for dental marketing and online reputation management.

• Surveys – If you are new to online reviews, you’ll want to start by gathering patient feedback with our surveys. PracticeMojo surveys allow your patients to give valuable feedback about their visits that is only visible to you and your staff.  Doing so, gives your office the ability to start gathering patient feedback via surveys and then switch to online reviews once you are confident the reviews will be as good as you hoped.
• Online Reviews (via RateADentist.com) – You’ll love our online reviews because you get to decide if you want to share the patient reviews on your website or Facebook page after you’ve seen them.  Your patients will love it because it doesn’t require an account or log-in credentials to leave feedback, which also increases response rates.  Plus, posting reviews on Rateadentist.com, your own website and your Facebook page help promote your practice in Google search. 
• Direct Reviews – If you want the most visible reviews, that with help the most with your SEO and Page Rank, we can direct your patients directly to any site you would like to collect reviews. We can link your patients to Google, Yelp, Yahoo and many more review sites to leave ratings. These targeted reviews, along with the rateadentist.com reviews combined with the directory listing information and the keywords on your website will help it show up much more prominently in search results.

Are reviews the most important factor in my dental marketing plan?

No. Recall is the engine for a highly productive practice and for generating new patient referrals. Imagine your dental marketing as a car. Because PracticeMojo has over 40 years experience in dental marketing, we know that the engine of this car is recall. It brings patients to your practice, and drives your practice forward achieving new and higher goals. Recall, remains the #1 way for dental practices to acquire, reactivate and retain patients. Demandforce doesn’t reach past due hygiene patients – period.

At PracticeMojo, we know recall. We also know and utilize other popular marketing channels. Social media, reviews, surveys, newsletters, phone calls, and other dental marketing channels are all great ways to also drive your practice forward. These marketing methods make up the wheels, battery, steering wheel and other key components that make your car a reliable machine.

No other service was designed and executed with dentists in mind.  They may have shinier racing stripes and performance rims but those are not essential for making your practice more productive and more profitable. You need a service with a high performance engine (recall) and that ensures the other elements are in balance (online reviews, social marketing, newsletters, etc.) is key to a successful dental practice marketing strategy – That is PracticeMojo.

Call 800.556.2580 for a FREE 10 minute demo

mention the SmartPractice Blog

Dental Websites & Online Dental Marketing Today

Dental websites & online dental marketing has revolutionized the dental marketing world in a way that a lot of practices are under prepared for. www.kelseygroup.com). Nearly all consumers (97 percent) now use online media when researching products or services in their local area, according to BIA/Kelsey’s (www.bia.com and
Dental SEO (search engine optimization) is the new yellow pages, but it’s more than that. It’s more effective, efficient and popular than the yellow pages ever was.So why are so many offices under utilizing this great new marketing channel? Leave a comment if i’m wrong, but I believe because of two reasons. 1. It’s complicated and hard to understand properly and 2. It’s ever changing and requires constant upkeep and maintenance. Before we go any further let’s take a break for a challenge and see just how your website SEO fairs...

Here’s the Challenge

Go to http://www.opensiteexplorer.org/ and enter your dental website address and then enter your 4 top competitors in your geographic area. Click over to the ‘Compare Link Metrics’ tab and see how your dental website SEO fairs in comparison to your competition. This report shows the key SEO metrics your dental website should be concerned with.

Surprised? Now I don’t expect you to understand completely what each one means or how it plays into your overall SEO score for any giving keywords (that’s a full-time job), but I do want to make the point that in terms of effective, efficient and proper SEO dental websites, the majority (you and perhaps your competitors) fall well short of proper guidelines for maximum online exposure and are losing to their competition on a daily basis.

And Here’s the Answer

Even if you already have a dental website, now is the time to make the switch to SmartPractice Dental Websites powered by Prosites. SmartPractice has teamed with Prosites, the leader in dental website design, to provide you with a perfect complement to your professional dental brand. Your new dental website will feature high-quality color themes and graphics, interactive features, built-in and ever upgrading search engine optimization, patient education content, HD quality videos and much more!

Built in Search Engine Optimization - built from the ground up

SmartPractice dental websites powered by ProSites integrates many of the most important search engine optimization techniques into every website we create. Other companies charge thousands for the onsite optimization included in our free SEO. While there are literally thousands of self-proclaimed "SEO experts" who make outlandish claims about their success at getting good rankings, most give little or no thought to creating "conversions." Rankings are nice, but that doesn't necessarily translate into new patients. Only new patients = new patients! Having a website that was designed to optimize conversions is key to generating new patients.

Free Upgrades - never a need to update

As the development team creates new features, enhancements, and page options, we like to roll them out as free upgrades for all members. Once released, you can apply these upgrades to your website with the click of a button. For example, when the HD quality dental video library was rolled out, our members were able to click the "Add Dental Videos" button, and their websites were instantly upgraded to include a collection of high-quality patient education videos (again, free of charge). Many competitors charge hundreds of dollars for their inferior quality videos. Our focus is keeping your website on the leading edge of technology and we are always looking for ways to provide you with free website enhancements.

Business growth and dental marketing has long been affiliated with acquiring new patients. Companies, and even perhaps your own, fall victim to shelling out hundreds and even thousands of dollars a month to acquire a new patients. I know of at least one company that chargers a dollar just to get a new patient email address. Just an email address! a lead, not even a paying patient! The fact is growing businesses tend to spend so much of their time and money acquiring new customers that they often overlook their best source of dental practice growth:retaining and growing their existing customer base.  

Fact: On average, 40% of patients ‘fall through the cracks’ every month.

Dental Recall Marketing: A Growth Story

If you pick up any basic business book one of the first things you’ll learn is that it is cheaper, easier, and more effective to retain current patients than it is to acquire new ones. In fact on average, if your practice can retain all of its patients by just one additional month, you can achieve an additional 3 percent of annual growth. If you can retain your patient base for four additional months, you can create double-digit growth–without adding a single new patient. What are you doing to retain the 40% of paying patients that are walking out of your practice each month?

How can you stop your patients falling through the cracks?

For more than 40 years SmartPractice has been committed to providing dental marketing services that create ‘Healthier Practices’.  In an effort to bring the very best technology and most effective recall system to our customers we’ve partnered with PracticeMojo.  PracticeMojo understands dental marketing. It is the culmination of a 20-year quest to bring dental practices a simple, inexpensive option that not only assists with patient communication, but revolutionizes the way you market your practice to current and prospective patients, all while saving you time, money and stress. 

By focusing its efforts on your existing patient base with their effective and proven dental marketing recall strategies, within days of starting PracticeMojo you’ll notice that your patients stop falling through the cracks, costs go down and revenue goes up.

Here’s the best part: There is no contract, no set-up fee, no hassle. Wait did you say no  contract? That’s right! We’re so confident that PracticeMojo will deliver results that we guarantee PracticeMojo every month! At anytime if your not satisfied, you can cancel. Try asking any other dental marketing company for monthly results with no contract! In fact not only is PracticeMojo is the most affordable solution, it is also the only one that was specially designed to target your current patients, reactive them, retain them, and generate referrals from them. See how PracticeMojo compares to the competition.

If you are interested in learning more how PracticeMojo can help your practice fill the gaps in your schedule and increase revenue, give a knowledgeable product specialist a call today!800.556.2580. 

About PracticeMojo
The PracticeMojo software was created by dental industry professionals who have more than 40 years of practice marketing expertise. It’s designed to help you retain, recruit and reactivate patients and improve their oral health IQ with communication via text, e-mail and postcards. We guarantee PracticeMojo will keep your schedule full every month. Plus, PracticeMojo will always be on time, never call in sick and never take a vacation.

Found this from SmartPractice the other day, what a funny video. What do you think? 

I just read a great article internal dental marketing. How can you increase case acceptance and increase billings? Internal dental marketing helps your practice learn how to do more with what you already have. 

Quit wasting time going out to look for new patients, when you're not getting the most out of the ones you already have.

read the full article here: http://smartpracticedentalblog.com/dental-marketing-internally/

SmartPractice launched a new website today focusing on patient communication during the seasonal holidays.

You can check out the site by going to:

http://www.seasonalcollection.com

or visit their top offers and coupons page:

http://seasonalcollection.com/offers.php

 For a limited time seasonal cards are 60% off!

Learn to Master Dental SEO

The Internet has revolutionized the way consumers find, share and purchase products or services. As little as 10 years ago dental marketing strategies included purchasing expensive yellow page ads or changing your practice name to AAAAAAAAA Dental Care so you would appear first on a page. But with the
advent and popularity of the Internet and local search, website optimization –
also known as Search Engine Optimization (SEO) -- has increased in relevance
and prominence for all small business, especially Dentists. The following is a list
of the top things your practice should be doing to optimize your web presence.

How great does it feel when you’re sifting through a stack of bills and junk mail and
come across an envelope that you can tell is a card just for you? Isn’t it nice to be
remembered?
You can share that warm, fuzzy feeling with your patients when you send them Seasonal
Cards. It’s a small gesture that means a lot – especially for patients you only see once or
twice a year for checkups.
And it’s not just “Christmas Cards.” You can really make patients feel special by also
sending Patriotic, Halloween, Thanksgiving Cards and New Year’s Cards.

Every holiday and season brings with it another opportunity to let patients you know
they’re important to your dental practice and that you value their loyalty. But did you
know it can be a valuable dental marketing opportunity too?
Try customizing your cards by adding an offer for discounted in-office tooth whitening
or even a free Reflection® Patient Whitening Kit. Everyone wants to look their best
for holiday parties and events (those Facebook photos don’t lie). Your patients will
appreciate the reminder to take care of that important detail and your schedule will stay
full.
There’s also a way to keep patients thinking about you through the holidays and beyond
– add a 2013 Calendar Card to your seasonal card mailings. Sure, we all use the
calendar function in our smartphones and tablets, but everyone still appreciates the ease
and convenience of having a colorful calendar to hang up and reference at a glance.
Plus, it keeps your practice information front and center for referral opportunities.
There’s really no good reason not to send Seasonal Cards and Calendars – especially
when you can save 60% on ALL Folding Cards and 20% on Calendars through August
31st. Browse our selection and get started today. You’re sure to find the perfect cards to
reflect your practice each and every holiday.
 
 
Jonathan Coffey
Marketing Specialist
SmartPractice

Did you know it costs less to reactivate a lapsed dental patient than it does to acquire a new one?

If you are not currently engaging in a plan to reactivate lapsed patients, you might be losing valuable billings. There are many reasons patients may stop visiting the dentist, but most just need a simple reminder from you to start coming back!

Now, you’re probably thinking of your lapsed patient files and wondering where to start.

As a general rule, for patients you haven’t seen in:

 8-24 months – Send Reactivation Cards quarterly

 Longer than 24 months – Send Reactivation Cards every six months

But, sending attention-getting Reactivation Cards is only the first step in the process. Be sure to follow up on your mailed communication with a phone call, text or e-mail.

Services such as PracticeMojo™ link to your dental practice management system data and enable you to automatically send postcards, e-mails and text messages to your lapsed and current patients. Automating the dental recall and reactivation process makes reactivating lapsed patients a breeze. In all your practice can save over two weeks every year of valuable time by turning over your recall and reactivation efforts to PracticeMojo.

PracticeMojo also has automated programs for dental recall, acquisition, birthday, welcome, promotions and many more. Visit their site to learn more or to start automating your dental recall system today!

 Keys to Successful Dental Patient Reactivation:

1. Choose a different Reactivation Card design and alternate your reactivation message for each mailing to achieve maximum impact.

2. When lapsed patients return to your practice, be sure to ask them for referrals by giving them Referral Cards or Slips to pass along to friends and family.

3. Welcome patients back with Welcome Cards. They will appreciate the gesture and may even refer friends or family.

4. After each reactivation mailing update your list to exclude those who called to schedule an appointment, or who have indicated they are being treated by another dentist.

A little bit of time and effort focusing on bringing back lapsed dental patients will have surprising results on your practice’s bottom line. Get started today!

Jonathan

Marketing Specialist

SmartPractice

Once upon a time, there was a Dental Hygienist named Goldi-Smart. One morning she went for a walk in her dental office. Pretty soon, she came upon a dental supply closet. She knocked and knocked, but no one answered, so she walked right in.

Goldi-Smart needed to find a pair of gloves to wear for her next appointment. She looked up high and down low; the closet was full of interesting dental supplies. She spied three boxes of gloves on a faraway shelf.

She tried on the gloves in the first box. She pulled and pulled as hard as she could, until they finally snapped onto her hands. "This glove is too stiff and uncomfortable,” she exclaimed.
She ripped the gloves off and moved on to the next box. Her hand slid into the next glove with no effort whatsoever. "This glove is loose and has too much material at my fingertips, it just doesn’t fit," she said sadly.

Finally, she tried on the gloves in the last box. It slipped perfectly over hand, like it was made just for her. It was not too tight, not too loose, and felt soft, stretchy and comfortable. Plus she could tell she’d be able to hold and use her instruments with ease. “Ahhh, this glove is just right," she said happily. Then she left the supply closet to begin her next oral hygiene appointment.

What can we learn from the tale of Goldi-Smart?

You might not think about it too often, but the issues that may arise from using the wrong gloves can be more detrimental than you think.

The first thing you want to determine is whether or not your gloves fit your hands properly. The wrong size glove can cause many problems, including hand fatigue and pain. Take a second and to learn how to measure your hand properly and become the office “glove expert.”

To get started, measure your hand using our Glove Solutions Chart. ‘Click Here’ for a direct link. Follow the instructions and find out which glove size is right for you.

Now that you have your size, let's talk about the difference between fitted and standard gloves. Look at the picture on the left. These are the forms used to make exam gloves. Which one looks right? Does your hand look like a mannequin? Put your arm at your side and notice the shape of your relaxed hand. It's more like the form on the left. This is the form used to make left-right fitted exam gloves at SmartPractice. It creates a more natural fit like the picture of the hand on the right, which

reduces stress, hand pain and fatigue. Remember, although it may not bother you after just a few hours of use, repeated stress and hand fatigue leads to more serious problems including: Compression Neuropathies, Thoracic Outlet Syndrome (TOC), and Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS).

Now let's talk about other glove solutions.

Do you have dry hands from washing them a lot? Does wearing gloves make your hands perspire? Do you have allergic reactions or irritated hands? SmartPractice carries the widest selection of gloves developed for those with sensitivities. Choose from a wide variety of latex free, accelerator free, carbamide free, powder free and more. We also carry Nitrile Decontamination Utility gloves for handling contaminated instruments or harsh chemicals. They are puncture- resistant and have a long 13” cuff for extra protection.

Finding the right exam glove is essential. That's why our customer care team is backed by the expertise of  Dr. Curt Hamann, CEO and Medical Director of SmartPractice. Considered an authority on latex and rubber-based allergies, as well as a pioneer in the creation and usage of left/right fitted gloves for dental procedures, Dr. Hamann is the driving force behind our continued commitment to provide comfortable, effective, affordable glove options for health care professionals in all disciplines.

Now that you’ve learned about how to fit gloves correctly and all the different glove options available, make sure everyone else in your office is as comfortable as you and Goldi-Smart!

To learn even more visit www.smartpractice.com/glovesolutions

Although Children’s Dental Health Month is nearly over, there are still many ways you can attract children and their families to your practice throughout the year. To start send children their own pediatric themed postcard orlaser card. These are a great way to encourage kids to look forward to their next office visit, they even help reminder mom and dad! Parents should also get dental recall cards of their own reminding them or instructing them of the benefits of proper care.

Once families begin coming to your practice make the process as easy as possible with easy to read sign-in and history forms, as well as staying organized. The reception waiting area is a particularly uneventful area. traditional magazines are great, but patient brochures and patient education materials, help to increase case acceptance and make the patient feel like the appointment is half over by the time they get taken back.

Once kids have completed their appointment be sure and reward them with toys and games, candy, or even a supply bag of their own. Be sure patients also take home additional cosmetic procedure information and patient education materials to help them in evaluating the benefits of effective cosmetic procedures.

Creating a seamless, fun, fast and informative office visit makes patients feel more comfortable with your office, value proper dental care, and loyal patients for life.

For more information on effective dental marketing strategies visit SmartPractice.com

Taking a five-year-old to the dentist can be tricky – even for a SmartPractice employee.

When the time came for my daughter’s last checkup, I wasn’t sure how things would go. It’s hard to get her to sit still in any situation, let alone a dental office waiting room. But when we arrived I was pleasantly surprised to see it was filled with plenty of happy kids enjoying kid friendly activities and books.  We were off to a great start.

I was really proud of how well my daughter behaved. She waited quietly while alternating playing with toys and cutting pictures out of a stack of old health magazines. When I wasn’t checking on her, I caught bits of the TV show playing in the background. TV in the waiting room is a great distraction for anxious parents (who probably don’t get to watch much at home).

After about 30 minutes the hygienist came out and called her name, which made her feel very grown up. She jumped up eagerly but I wasn’t sure if I should go with her and stay in the room during her checkup. Or maybe walk her back and then return to the waiting room? Or just let her go on her own? I finally decided to walk back with her and see what happened once we got to the exam room. I think I was more nervous than she was!

We reached the brightly decorated treatment room and the pediatric hygienist was so friendly and dressed in some really cool printed scrubs. I could see my daughter’s face light up as she took in the surroundings, so I decided to stay in the hallway where I could hear her, but she couldn’t see me.

The hygienist talked to my daughter and explained what she was going to do and showed her the tools she was going to use. I recognized the fun packaging and bright colors of the Sqwiggly Prophy Angles and heard my daughter giggle when she saw the colorful exam gloves.

She made it through the appointment with flying colors and no cavities. The hygienist let her choose her own sticker – she was torn between a classic smiley face or a fun cartoon whale (the whale won). But that was just the beginning of the goodies. When we reached the front desk the receptionist congratulated her on a job well done and handed her a supply bag containing a dental activity book, crayons and a personalized Sqwiggly toothbrush.

We both left the appointment feeling great! I could tell she was very proud of her perfect checkup and the way everyone treated her like a big girl. Thanks to the kid-friendly environment, products and staff, she’s not afraid of the dentist and will look forward to future checkups.

Rachel

Online Marketing,

SmartPractice