Connective Communication: Part 3
- A Primer By Dick Chwalek, NicheDental.com
Efficiently Reduce Campaign Planning Complexity – Part III
Dental offices are like most small businesses: always looking for efficiencies. Problems occur when ‘less expensive’ in and of itself equates to a ‘successful’ purchase.
While comparing dentistry to ‘marketing’ is fraught with potential analogy weaknesses, it is reasonable to contrast dentistry with the complexities of human communication.
The three areas of Connective Communication© (improvers, gatherers & creators) give the dentist and dental office owner the ability to look objectively at where their marketing budget should be allocated.
Many dentists and dental practices spend a lot of time on ‘team communication’ training, from phones, front office and hygiene to financial, insurance and case acceptance. Yet, the reason for the intense need for ‘training’ in these situations is that the consumer comes in with a minimal understanding of the complexities of dentistry (let alone advanced services) along with multiple misconceptions and preconceptions about treatment, pain and costs.
The Connective Communication© formula provides a platform to allocate funds and overcome the complexities that all of us struggle with to determine the value of a specific concept. With basic strategy tools developed in a discussion with the dentist-owner and local research, the three areas (improvers, gatherers and creators) will serve as a guide to all dentistry marketing, internally and externally as well as with development of team-dentist-patient communication.
While Connective Communication© will challenge the dentist collaborate more than he/she has done (and in a different way) than they have in the past, the formula is nearly failsafe in its budgetary implementation (proper allocation of marketing funds).
Whether the dentist uses one consultant to manage everything or employs multiple subcontractors or (DIY) services, the budget is secure from overemphasizing less valuable marketing elements.
The formula does not automatically exclude any marketing concepts; it weights them for current and specific-to-the-dentist value with each of the three areas having the right balance. For example, there are many online strategies, but overlapping many similar services limits the potential for development of a long-term robust patient base.
My less than extremely positive focus on web advertising is not a slam on its effectiveness or the enhanced communication value it offers. However, there is a need for caution when allocating dental marketing funds in the online arena.
First, communication is multi-tiered and online is still mostly a visual and audio medium. Its most challenging element is its ‘turn the lights on tin can’ limitation. We are close to having the lights on all the time (nothing to ‘log’ into), but the tin can element is not going to be resolved fast enough to make the kind of difference most dentists require now.
This donut hole is even more problematic for the current highest value target market – the mature dental patient. While online usage has closed considerably for all age groups, early adopters will always be made up of a much younger cohort (on average). This means the older crowd won’t be the first to approach using the newest methods.
The other issue is the Internet’s ‘fluoride’ as the catchall solution misperception. This equates to web’s ‘anyone can apply it’ and ‘make it work’ supposed magical properties. Even with all its actual amazing advantages, it still hits a wall of effectiveness and efficiency just like fluoride does for dental care. Employing/applying either element (online advertising/fluoride) in many more multiples than ‘recommended’ does not get you that many times the value.
Additionally, with the proliferation of online marketing, the overbearing focus starts to disguise the reality of its effectiveness and efficiency. Just because there is MORE variations of a solution does not mean it removes the need for other ‘traditional’ solutions.
Connective Communication© takes control of your allocation of marketing funds. It is the double blind test for developing an appropriate, budget wise and long-term dental marketing strategy. By avoiding the one-way-solves-everything mindset dental offices and dentists will better serve their patients and the oral health of their communities.
The structure does NOT manipulate the consumer (is actually more straightforward), which builds trust, encourages compliance and moves patients up the dental care value ladder. Dentists and office teams must fulfill the ‘promises’ made by the marketing messages, but nothing should be promoted that cannot be achieved when the patient follows the basic tenets of the recommended treatment plan.
Once the gatherer, creator and improver elements are determined for the specific dentist’s office, complexity is reduced significantly. Because there is often a need to untangle from the current strategy and various details about the available budget and practice brand need to be developed, the process starts with a more complex equation to solve.
However, this does not require a huge amount of time and other elements can be deployed efficiently. This logjam is specific to each dental practice so a generic formula to plan every campaign in a “one size fits all’ way is not possible here.
An analogy would be how patients can ask any question about their dental needs in an email – but for a dentist to diagnose and treatment plan for any specific patient would be problematic to the extreme. While dental marketing does not have the ‘medico-legal’ issues of dentistry, planning an advertising campaign, without brand discovery (x-rays), past marketing (health information) and competition/community research (perio charting), the finding a successful path would be much more difficult.
Any suggestion of a campaign is likely to lead to assumptions that are used to proceed without the proper research, preparation and budgetary guidelines.
Similar to dentists presenting a case online with pricing and success elements where the patient assumes the case directly relates to their condition and then expects the same results, cost, etc. Conversely, other patients might be dissuaded to proceed because they might expect a similar cost and treatment plan when their actual treatment would be less involved and/or less expensive.
If you are interested in knowing more about how Connective Communication© could help your dental office, I suggest we discuss your situation and marketing needs. Then I can provide some actual client performance data and present a basic campaign structure for you to review in the right frame of mind.
Imagine a funnel where we need to gather up all the pertinent data about your office. Then we can push it down into the formula and on the other side is a structure that is simplified to run effectively and efficiently.
Oversimplifying the discovery process is the easiest way to put the cart of simplicity before the horse of complexity. It would be great to have everything simplified – everything delivered straight to our bank accounts – but as dentists like you understand ‘treatment planning for all’ is not hosted and managed through a Google account.
If I called or emailed a dental office for a diagnosis and a treatment plan, almost every dentist would want me to schedule a visit to get to the appropriate solution rather than an experienced, but assumptive resolution.
To attract more dental patients in many situations (especially in this economy) and regularly perform higher value treatments, there is no ‘off the shelf’ method of communication dentists can download off the Internet.
Of course, there is one simplified resolution to hold you over: take an aspirin and call me in the morning (or whenever you are ready for collaborating for total dental marketing success).
Sincerely, Dick Chwalek – Niche Dental
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