Dentistry Beyond Profit emphasizes the importance of value-driven giveaways that foster patient loyalty and community engagement. By offering thoughtful giveaways—such as dental care kits, educational materials, or promotional services—practices can demonstrate their commitment to patient well-being beyond financial gain. These initiatives not only enhance the patient experience but also build lasting relationships and positive word-of-mouth. Investing in community wellness through giveaways reflects a practice’s core values, ultimately leading to increased trust and patient retention.
Transcript of Episode:
00:00:00:02 – 00:00:07:02
Speaker 1
Stop doing things the way your grandfather did in your dental practice. This is how you can get your patients to come back for three generations.
00:00:08:15 – 00:00:19:16
Speaker 2
Actually, welcome to the Marketing Chair Side Podcast by Pro Impressions Marketing, where the team covers a variety of dental marketing ideas to help you.
00:00:19:16 – 00:00:26:07
Speaker 3
Attract more new patients in the quantity and quality you need to grow your practice.
00:00:27:24 – 00:00:52:24
Speaker 2
What are patients thinking? What do they value? We’re going to get an inside perspective from a marketing expert working in a dental organization, but who’s also been in the practice. We’re going to help you solve problems with your marketing right now. Charlotte Spirit Creative Director At First Oral Care, joins us today to give us an internal perspective. You’ve been a hygienist at a dental office, is that right?
00:00:52:27 – 00:01:03:27
Speaker 1
Charlotte Yeah, I was actually at the same practice for 18 plus years and then spent a couple of years before that just kind of trying to find my, my uniform office to to sit with for a while.
00:01:03:29 – 00:01:12:19
Speaker 2
And now you help dental offices grow their practices through kind of a variety of products and services that you help market. Is that right?
00:01:13:05 – 00:01:34:21
Speaker 1
Yeah. So I work for oral care as a creative marketing project manager. I run our YouTube channel. I’m responsible for a lot of the common brushing ads that you see on Facebook and Instagram. So I create a lot of the content I kind of fact check to make sure that things are accurate and what a dental professional would would say, but also what the consumer would understand.
00:01:35:07 – 00:01:44:25
Speaker 1
And then, of course, I’m at the dental conferences helping practices understand the products that we offer to our patients, friends and family, and how they can get involved.
00:01:44:25 – 00:02:13:01
Speaker 2
And one of the things I definitely want to talk about today is your ambassador program. First, I wanted to just pick your brain a little bit because I think one of the problems that Dennis and frankly dental marketers have as well sometimes is just making sure that our assumptions are correct. And you being on both sides of the marketing piece, what do you think are some of the things that patients really value about either the dental experience or that they respond to in marketing?
00:02:13:08 – 00:02:39:10
Speaker 1
Yeah. So I think for most people, the general public does not find dentistry fun or entertaining or something that they want to get involved with. It’s just kind of a necessary evil, whereas we think it’s just amazing and we, you know, we want to talk about it all the time. So just keeping that in mind and understanding that like it can be a scary and confusing place, like trying to talk to the audience like not like they’re being talked to, but like they’re part of.
00:02:39:10 – 00:03:00:09
Speaker 1
The conversation I think is really important. And the other part of it is, you can have the best product, you can have the best services, you can do in-house crowns, same day delivery. But patients expect you to be a dentist because that’s what they’re going to you for. But at the end of the day, when they leave, it’s how they felt when they were there that brings them back.
00:03:00:14 – 00:03:16:05
Speaker 1
So as much as we like to talk about getting new patients all the time, I think it’s even more valuable to bring in three generations of patients and have your own brand ambassador program within your community that’s going to shout about how wonderful you are.
00:03:16:08 – 00:03:20:21
Speaker 2
Three generations of patients. Talk more about that. So that’s that’s really.
00:03:20:22 – 00:03:43:03
Speaker 1
Yeah. So I mean, I was I was in a practice where we we literally had three generations of patients that would come in sometimes at the same time, it was a nice family practice and they told their friends and family about us because they felt heard and they felt like they had a valuable experience when they came in, you know, just kind of part of the family.
00:03:43:03 – 00:04:16:08
Speaker 1
So I didn’t realize what a unicorn situation that was until I got out of it and really started looking at other practices around the country. Like there are a lot of really, really great dentists out there with a lot of great technology, but sometimes, you know, you don’t feel great when you’re there. You feel like you’re just being worked on and so I think I think us dental professionals need to get in the chair and kind of tap into our own emotions and then translate that into our marketing because people don’t want to like I said, they don’t want to be talked to, they want to they want to understand who you are and the
00:04:16:08 – 00:04:20:00
Speaker 1
services that you offer, but also how they’re going to feel when they get there.
00:04:20:05 – 00:04:33:00
Speaker 2
So how did you become someone who recognized that? I mean, like in the chair, really? Was that just natural for you to listen to those patients? Who were those skills that you cultivated?
00:04:33:28 – 00:04:57:11
Speaker 1
I think it’s a little of both. I was lucky to have an employer that was just a kind person, and he remembered without taking notes and a chart, paper chart. He just he he really listened to patients and he understood who was going on vacation, who got married. You know, he he had a deep personal relationship with a lot of a lot of patients that we saw.
00:04:58:05 – 00:05:24:18
Speaker 1
So obviously, having a mentor like that and having that kind of culture helped me develop my personality as a hygienist, but also a little bit of an empath. So it’s kind of exhausting at times. But, you know, I spent more time and as hygienist typically do with their patients than than on the other side of the office. So I was just able to to really spend some time getting to know these patients as well and what’s important for them.
00:05:24:22 – 00:05:43:21
Speaker 2
So it was a little bit nature, a little bit nurture, kind of had the abilities. But you emulated what doctor was doing. That’s interesting because not all doctors are the same, but maybe they could emulate how that translated into marketing and how you bring that listening to marketing for first.
00:05:43:27 – 00:06:10:29
Speaker 1
Yeah. And with marketing to you, you want to tap into the emotional part of it because you’ve got now it’s down to about 2 seconds to get someone’s attention. So, you know, obviously you want to talk about the features of a product, but more importantly, you want to talk about benefits. So just like in, in my marketing for this product that we have, I’m talking about the life that you could have, the healthier mouth, the benefits of using this product.
00:06:10:29 – 00:06:34:12
Speaker 1
Whereas at a dental practice you would talk about the benefits of having a better aligned set of teeth, you know, about having some of the old amalgam fillings, whatever the case may be. So you’re talking about the benefit and how it’s going to improve someone’s life. That’s really where the value comes into play because no one, you know, like I said before, your dentist, they expect you to do dentistry type stuff.
00:06:34:12 – 00:06:37:16
Speaker 1
But at the end of the day, how is it going to improve their life?
00:06:38:06 – 00:07:01:03
Speaker 2
Right. Right. And I think that dentists definitely trust their marketers usually to kind of bring that to life in their content. But it is tough because you you’re not like a unicorn, but you are definitely a rare breed because I’ve definitely come across other people that have started in office and then are doing other things. I myself never have worked in a dental office.
00:07:01:03 – 00:07:25:22
Speaker 2
I’ve worked with a lot of dental offices, but, you know, it’s definitely I can bring the patient perspective. But you coming from the other side, it’s really interesting. And so now at first with these products and services, how do you kind of parlay your office experience into how you market? Kind of, I wouldn’t say on behalf of dental offices, but you’re partnering with them on their marketing.
00:07:26:07 – 00:07:57:13
Speaker 1
Yeah. So just like we we involve dental professionals to be ambassadors for first and that means they have tried the products, they like them and they want to recommend them to their friends, family and patients. And so within a practice, it’s a really nice way to do some in-house marketing. And I’ll give you an example of of what I saw for a long time with, let’s say, electric toothbrushes, for instance, because that’s a lot of what we sell, I would say, to 80 year old Martha, like she would ask me, what do you use?
00:07:57:20 – 00:08:12:26
Speaker 1
What toothbrush do you have? And I would tell her and she would she would say, I still can’t afford that 100 or $200 toothbrush. And it was the same conversation with the reps that would come in. They’d say, But look at this chart of how much production you could create for your practice at the end of a year.
00:08:13:04 – 00:08:39:18
Speaker 1
And so I am a health promoter and I’m a coach and I’m a cheerleader for patients and sales is part of that and helping people understand the value of something. But it made me feel icky. So the thing that really attracted me to Burst is that they said, okay, let’s do this differently. Let’s use dental professionals to help develop these products and promote them because they’ve used them and they like them and they want their patients, friends and family to have them.
00:08:39:29 – 00:09:10:15
Speaker 1
But let’s make it more affordable. And so what a lot of practices are doing now is instead of charging extra for a high quality electric toothbrush, they know that it’s a very low investment for the practice to gift them to patients that are saying yes to high value treatment, whether it’s crown or bridge implant periodontal treatment that makes the patient feel good because you’re saying, okay, we’ve installed this crown today and we want you to take really great care of it.
00:09:11:04 – 00:09:29:20
Speaker 1
How about we give you a five year warranty on this crown, but you need to come in twice a year for your cleanings and we want you to use this electric toothbrush. We’re giving you this high quality electric toothbrush that you can then go home, register for a subscription on the brush heads and you get a lifetime warranty.
00:09:30:11 – 00:09:54:26
Speaker 1
So you’re showing trust in a brand and a product. But also that patient is building trust with you because you’re showing that you’re not trying to just charge more money. You actually are showing the empathy and you want them to take great care of their teeth. So I think that’s a great way to market within your practice so that patients will want to come back, they’ll tell their friends and family.
00:09:54:26 – 00:10:10:05
Speaker 1
So just like we have this ambassador program, because we get them involved in product development and marketing your practice to get your patients involved with marketing and and also your own product development. In some ways we could talk about that.
00:10:11:03 – 00:10:40:25
Speaker 2
Yeah, I have often thought that it just is an easy, no brainer that I mean, I’ve got some empathy for the dentist because it’s just how it’s been done is that maybe you have, you know, one of those nice sonicare type toothbrushes on the counter and sometimes people are like ignoring them at this point. But if you’ve got something different and valuable that you believe in and you just give it away, you’re going to turn some heads and you’re going to show them that you value them.
00:10:41:00 – 00:10:47:00
Speaker 2
Whereas, you know, most docs you’ll get a little travel size, something or other that’s like, Well.
00:10:47:22 – 00:10:51:18
Speaker 1
Why are we giving out these manual toothbrushes when that’s not what we use at home?
00:10:52:08 – 00:10:55:10
Speaker 2
That’s doesn’t make sense.
00:10:56:14 – 00:11:15:03
Speaker 1
I love like I love all brands of electric toothbrushes. I really do. It was always my job to teach them how to use it, but I don’t know anyone else that has a lifetime warranty on their brush. Correct me if I’m wrong, but that. So we’re we’re in the market of making people feel good as well.
00:11:15:19 – 00:11:40:21
Speaker 2
Yeah. Now that you’re, you’re standing behind what you’ve got and that’s the ethos of most docs, I think. But there, you know, for whatever reason, got it a little backwards. You know, we’ve got to make our margins on this little thing. But if you just package that into your care, it’s it’s a huge win because then you’ve got those three generations promoting you because look what this office did for me as yeah.
00:11:41:02 – 00:12:00:13
Speaker 1
And it technically at the end of the day you can still bill for products like this if you just build it into the budget for your office. But at a 20 or $30 price point for the practice, that’s not much compared to all the case acceptance you’re going to have from from doing a little gifting here and there.
00:12:00:27 – 00:12:09:05
Speaker 2
Yeah. You have my endorsement to use that from your marketing budget or add that to your marketing budget because I.
00:12:10:01 – 00:12:30:22
Speaker 1
Don’t see the price of it, then they’re not going to pick things apart as well, because I’ve known periodontal practices locally that say, you know, okay, here’s your periodontal treatment, here’s the program, here’s the estimate. And they would actually line item the the toothbrush bundle and it would be in the $250 range. And people see that. And it’s it’s that doesn’t feel good.
00:12:30:22 – 00:12:31:03
Speaker 2
Right.
00:12:31:16 – 00:12:37:09
Speaker 1
And it doesn’t it doesn’t prove that they’re going to use it either. They might actually be mad that they paid for it and it sits on the counter.
00:12:37:18 – 00:12:50:08
Speaker 2
What are some easy ones in social media that you think dental offices could do more of? Is there something that they can borrow from your strategy at first to get more engagement with their audience?
00:12:50:08 – 00:13:10:08
Speaker 1
Yeah, for sure. So I think, you know, like Tik-Tok is very fun, but it’s it’s a younger demographic generally speaking. So unless you have someone in the practice at that already enjoys TikTok like make use of those people if they want to do some tiktoks in your practice. But I don’t think for most dental practices that’s a great use of time.
00:13:10:08 – 00:13:35:21
Speaker 1
But even on Facebook and Instagram, my attention spans are so short, right? So we need short form content, whether it’s on YouTube, Instagram or Facebook, and it’s just a matter of getting people involved in the conversation. So, you know, 20, 32nd clips, just little behind the scenes kind of real world insight as to what’s going on in your practice, I think has the biggest impact over time.
00:13:37:06 – 00:14:03:09
Speaker 2
Yeah. And one of the things I love about what you do versus how you get in front of the camera, and that’s the biggest challenge that I’ve had is just encouraging dentists. Don’t be shy or be shy, but be shy on camera because every time you have your face or a team members face telling you, you get engagement on that and last more than even even a classy product photo.
00:14:03:09 – 00:14:06:09
Speaker 2
I’m sure you’ve found that to be true. Or am I wrong?
00:14:06:18 – 00:14:24:27
Speaker 1
No, no. You hit you hit the nail on the head there. I read a book one time and it was called Start Ugly. And it’s essentially that like you’re never going to think that you’re ready to have your face on and, you know, there’s a lot of tricks that you can use for creating content online. I use a teleprompter app almost every day.
00:14:25:05 – 00:14:31:16
Speaker 1
Just scroll through your words so that you don’t have a squirrel moment and get, you know, long winded.
00:14:31:25 – 00:14:32:26
Speaker 2
Maybe his collar.
00:14:33:04 – 00:14:33:23
Speaker 3
He is. He got.
00:14:33:23 – 00:14:37:25
Speaker 2
It. Smart master and he made me this color so that I make talk squirrel.
00:14:37:25 – 00:14:51:03
Speaker 1
It could be something in your Instagram stories. It’s like literally a 15/2 clip of you just answering a question and then someone else might have a comment and you just do a video reaction to that. So I just just get it. Just do it.
00:14:51:25 – 00:15:14:01
Speaker 2
Just like I’m going to have to check out that start Ugly Book. I mean, that’s something I kind of preach to my clients as the website’s never done. And I think we tend to think of marketing as kind of a one time or a periodic event. And I love the idea of it being iterative where you you’ve got that feedback loop and it’s there all the time.
00:15:14:08 – 00:15:40:07
Speaker 2
And I think that’s the big thrust of what you’re saying, Charlotte, is that, you know, by making that one patient happy, they’re going to for sure have their family members come and then it’s probably practical at that point with the referrals that will happen when you properly make your patients feel valued. But even in social media, I love the idea of taking a piece of engagement and turning that into a post.
00:15:40:08 – 00:15:43:15
Speaker 2
That’s something that I think a lot of offices know to do.
00:15:44:03 – 00:16:12:12
Speaker 1
Let your staff kind of run with it, like give them the authority to have this as a project unless you like being on camera because then popping in and kind of surprising you with questions that people have during the workday is that’s interesting. And it’s a benefit to me that this non scripted content that doesn’t look overproduced is what people really appreciate right now because I am a self-trained video editor.
00:16:12:12 – 00:16:38:15
Speaker 1
I did not go to school for that. I was sorry to anybody that does this professionally, but I learned through YouTube and Udemy courses on how to do this. So if I as a dental hygienist and learn how to run a YouTube channel and, you know, become one of the marketing project managers at an an oral care company can like turn my turn myself into to that you at the dental practice you don’t require any super special skill sets.
00:16:39:10 – 00:16:41:21
Speaker 2
Thank god that’s on trend because of.
00:16:44:07 – 00:16:46:15
Speaker 1
Just want new real life that’s what.
00:16:47:10 – 00:17:08:04
Speaker 2
Happens was life so you know feeling listened to and not feeling nickeled and dimed. Are there any other pieces that you feel like if dentists would just inject this into their marketing, patients would feel more valued, more heard and be more likely to engage?
00:17:08:12 – 00:17:30:20
Speaker 1
Yeah. So I heard this not too long ago and I can’t tell you where, but bring patients into your practice every couple of years to give you their opinions. Just have like a tea and crumpets night or, you know, host them to a small appetizer, dinner at your office, have them sit in your lobby and start asking questions, see what they like about the decor.
00:17:30:28 – 00:17:52:16
Speaker 1
How do they feel when they come into the office? How do they feel when they may make a phone call? Are people answering their questions if they do reach out on social media, take them into the back office? What are the sights, sounds and things that they like and what could you improve upon? And that’s a a very hard thing for practices to do because we tend to think, oh, this is our this is where we spend all of our time.
00:17:52:16 – 00:18:14:02
Speaker 1
And we’ve invested a lot of emotions into making our practices look and feel the way they do. But you might be kind of off and I know we really depend on our ambassador crew and on the general public to tell us what we’re doing right and wrong. And sometimes it stings a little bit, but I think that’s one thing that dental practices can do, that it’s going to be really valuable in the long run as well.
00:18:14:02 – 00:18:15:18
Speaker 1
Just ask them what they think.
00:18:16:18 – 00:18:48:12
Speaker 2
Yeah, like a focus group of your own patients. I heard the recommendation once in a book called It Doesn’t Matter. Well, Mike McAllister is the author. He said, Ask your clients what you’re doing well and what they’ll tell you back is what they value. And so, you know, they might say you might expect them to say, oh, I love your technology, your love, you know, your artist, create your the restorations.
00:18:48:12 – 00:19:25:10
Speaker 2
But it’s going to be probably something about how you always answer the phone or I’m always greeted with you guys are so friendly. And, you know, that’s something that I think we in the dental community, I think we envy marketing in other industries. That’s sexy and glitzy and like I can’t tell you how often dental offices ask, you know, like I wanted to look more like a plastic surgery website, but if they don’t value the same things in, in plastic surgery as what your patients value in your office, then you’re barking up the wrong tree.
00:19:25:10 – 00:19:33:24
Speaker 2
Why would you try to attract people that are in a separate sector than your best patients? And I think that’s who you would have in that focus group.
00:19:34:00 – 00:20:10:22
Speaker 1
Right? Right. Yeah. I mean, there are some exceptions if you’ve got a high end cosmetic practice and that’s really who you’re going after, then you want to look like a spa and people that are that are looking for those type of services and they’re going to find you and it’s going to be a good fit. But I don’t think most practices, generally speaking, have the energy to I know I didn’t go to work and put on my hair and makeup and want to be in a spa type environment because we’re just in the trenches, kind of shock and plaque and and tartar and trying to fix teeth.
00:20:10:22 – 00:20:35:17
Speaker 1
And most of our patients were sweating and, you know, coming in last minute after trying to get out of work and beat the traffic. And so that was the type of practice that we have is just a good, you know, down to earth family practice. So I think you just it depends on there are so many parts of your your dental practice that are going to be unique to you and the area that you live in and the clients that you’re trying to attract.
00:20:35:17 – 00:20:40:22
Speaker 1
But don’t don’t look like a spa when patients get in there, you’re not acting like a slob.
00:20:41:11 – 00:20:56:12
Speaker 2
That disconnects your tailor. But I think listening to them is always a good idea. You know, you’ve got that environment pulling them and letting them know we care about. What you say is we want more patients just like you throw in some teen crumpets. I think they’re going to be there.
00:20:56:28 – 00:21:08:22
Speaker 1
I don’t know where the tea and crumpets came from right? Crumpets in my life as well.
00:21:08:22 – 00:21:14:19
Speaker 2
Charlotte, are there any other nuggets of marketing wisdom that we can?
00:21:15:18 – 00:21:43:14
Speaker 1
I think that’s it. You know, in the dental industry, I think just generally we need to lighten up a little bit. It’s a very stressful environment to be and people hate coming to see you and they’re very verbal about that. But you got to take some time to like it. Whatever you need to do to relax and meditate or have some fun on social and and have fun with your patients and just realize that you’re there to give them really good care.
00:21:43:14 – 00:21:46:24
Speaker 1
And if you do that for them, they’re going to do that same thing for you.
00:21:47:21 – 00:22:11:04
Speaker 2
Yeah. I mean, in this day and age where the bots are getting you center stage on organic search results, I think it’s only going to become more and more important to do exactly what you’re saying, to become a little bit of an engagement expert and learn to listen more than just trusting that your automated kind of sit back and and just let the clicks happen.
00:22:11:04 – 00:22:18:15
Speaker 2
Marketing, that’s all changing. So, hey, Charlotte, I meant to ask, who’s the best fit for your ambassador program?
00:22:18:28 – 00:22:26:25
Speaker 1
Oh, so people that we want to join our burst cult would definitely have.
00:22:28:04 – 00:22:32:21
Speaker 2
Wah, wah, wah, wah, wah. We don’t need cuts here. No, I’m just kidding.
00:22:33:03 – 00:22:33:12
Speaker 1
Around.
00:22:33:15 – 00:22:36:18
Speaker 2
You. In your culture, have money.
00:22:36:18 – 00:23:01:15
Speaker 1
We we honestly, we welcome any dental professional that has a good attitude and wants to have some affordable products that work really well that your patients and friends and family would also enjoy. If you want to find out anything more about that ambassador program, you can go to our website at first oral care dot com backslash wholesale. We’ll give you the best prices that you can purchase products and have them in office in inventory traditionally.
00:23:01:26 – 00:23:06:17
Speaker 1
Or we can just give you a promo code and you can give that discount code to your patients, friends and family.
00:23:07:04 – 00:23:28:06
Speaker 2
Yep. And we will have that link in the description here as well. I mean, the products look great. I don’t think that they they’re affordable for the office to become part of this program, but the patients are going to think they’re getting a fantastic deal. Well, Charlotte, thanks again for joining us today on marketing cheer side. It’s been great hearing from you.
00:23:29:02 – 00:23:30:14
Speaker 1
Thank you for having me. I appreciate it.
00:23:30:26 – 00:23:53:22
Speaker 2
And thank you. The viewer, the listener, the doctor, the office manager, consultants. Let’s take these ideas that Charlotte shared with us and get them into action. Your first action I am though, is to subscribe button and please engage with me. Comment like, what do you think that we are the best takeaway? Or Do you give away these toothbrushes and what’s your experience then?
00:23:53:29 – 00:24:14:19
Speaker 2
I’d love to record a followup episode, just like Charlotte said. We’re going to do that. It’s going to be a thing. Thanks for watching marketing cheer side and I’ll see you next. I’m going to be like LeVar Burton. I’m reading Rainbow to enact time. I don’t think LeVar looks like that.
00:24:15:14 – 00:24:23:16
Speaker 1
So.
