Transcript
00:00:00:02 – 00:00:11:05
Jonathan Fashbaugh
We are living in a post digital era. Everyone’s got a website, an Instagram profile. What do we do? We’re going to talk about it today on Marketing Chairside.
00:00:11:11 – 00:00:26:22
Announcer
Welcome to the Marketing Chair Side podcast by Pro Impressions Marketing, where the team covers a variety of dental marketing ideas to help you attract more new patients in the quantity and quality you need to grow your practice.
00:00:26:24 – 00:00:37:17
Jonathan Fashbaugh
My post digital era guest today on the show is Melissa Lowry, a marketing consultant and practice management consultant. Melissa, thanks for joining me on the show today.
00:00:37:17 – 00:00:40:06
Melissa Lowry
Thank you for having me, Jonathan And I’m happy to be here.
00:00:40:09 – 00:00:47:24
Jonathan Fashbaugh
So what is a post digital era and why? Why are we living in that? Why would we do that?
00:00:47:26 – 00:01:17:04
Melissa Lowry
Hearst Digital era is exactly what it means, is having a digital presence and businesses making that part of their business model, not just having technology to solve a quick problem or to have a time sensitive promotion. It is building that in your business model and making sure that you are being competitive within the digital space, not just having a website or ad running.
00:01:17:04 – 00:01:29:03
Melissa Lowry
You have to really be strategic these days and making sure that you are really elevating the user experience and being authentic to the practice to be able to capture their attention.
00:01:29:09 – 00:02:01:01
Jonathan Fashbaugh
And that’s the thing, is that that new language that we’re learning where everyone is digital, to me, the funny thing is that that can make these traditional media types actually more relevant, or at least hold a little more weight than they did a year or two ago, because everyone’s trying to now be the new influencer on TikTok or Instagram and focus on making videos just like I am.
00:02:01:04 – 00:02:20:03
Jonathan Fashbaugh
But I feel like in that world all the sudden something that’s old school can pop more and have more of an impact. Can you talk a little bit about any sort of print marketing that you’ve done that with with your customers that has really moved the needle because of a new approach? Yeah.
00:02:20:03 – 00:03:01:05
Melissa Lowry
In the digital media space, there are challenges and opportunities, but with it being so saturated now, it’s not ideal for offices to have just digital being within their marketing strategy. It’s important to add layers into the marketing strategy and being as strategic as possible. So with digital media, let’s say if you’re running ads that can be costly and you’re not really guaranteed that visibility, because if I’m on my phone scrolling through my feed on social media, I could be distracted, I could be watching TV and my eyes could leave my phone even though I’m still scrolling.
00:03:01:06 – 00:03:33:04
Melissa Lowry
So you would think that you are, you know, capture that person’s attention when you’re really not. So print really does enhance. It does build up that credibility. It’s tangible. And you can make sure that you are getting in touch and in front of those potential patients. And one successful tactic that I use and I’ve seen so many offices use is adding a QR code to your print material.
00:03:33:08 – 00:03:58:16
Melissa Lowry
Using a QR code allows you to be able to be unique in your messaging on that print collateral without having to add a lot of words to it to make it really stand out. These simple be clear with your message. And because it is tangible and it lasts longer, you don’t want to add an offer on to print material if it is time sensitive.
00:03:58:16 – 00:04:27:27
Melissa Lowry
And that’s where the QR code comes into play, where you can create a landing page and have that specific offer on the landing page. And not only does that QR code pull them into the digital space, but it also then gives you the opportunity to be more robust in your marketing strategy by, you know, adding tracking pixels. So you can do a retargeting campaign capturing their emails, address them, you can do an email campaign.
00:04:27:27 – 00:04:34:05
Melissa Lowry
So that’s where I have seen it be really successful and really bridging the two.
00:04:34:08 – 00:04:58:19
Jonathan Fashbaugh
I like the idea of the permanence. I think that’s something that’s not really new. We’ve experienced almost a little bit of a full circle kind of phenomenon in print where for a while it was the mailboxes, the physical mailboxes were just being saturated with marketing messaging. I feel like that’s decreased a bit. I mean, I still occasionally will randomly get a dental postcard in the mail.
00:04:58:22 – 00:05:25:04
Jonathan Fashbaugh
I don’t think those truly have permanence. They’re much less likely to. But if your print is standing out in the design, the layout, one office I was working with, they have used a giant kind of mailer where it’s like almost a folder. There’s multiple pages to it. The material is substantial, you know, it’s not this flimsy thing and they’ll have people bringing that in.
00:05:25:04 – 00:05:50:11
Jonathan Fashbaugh
Still, when they sent it out years ago where these people have hung on to it and said, This is what I want, I’m not ready to do it now, but it’s been a physical reminder of a goal that they’re setting, essentially. I think when you combine that with that, the tracking and the QR code that you’re talking about, you’ve got a marketing piece that’s really hard to really kind of identify a digital counterpart to that.
00:05:50:11 – 00:06:12:08
Jonathan Fashbaugh
You know, you could say, well, people could bookmark the landing page, maybe I think of my mom as like the ideal patient for a lot of the offices that we work with. I don’t know that she knows how to bookmark anything. She would totally know how to use the QR code, though. That’s the wacky thing. Yeah, we’re all digital sort of people, right?
00:06:12:08 – 00:06:35:24
Jonathan Fashbaugh
So I feel like even people that know how to create content sometimes just don’t know how to hook up a microphone to their cell phone and so, you know, we’ve got those people in our lives that maybe could help us do that. But I feel like you want to play to the lowest common denominator and having a stand out print piece that ties into your digital, you can do it with that QR code.
00:06:36:00 – 00:06:55:25
Jonathan Fashbaugh
Have a call tracking number on there so you know how those calls are handled and all of a sudden it’s like, whoa, this really is part of the funnel, part of the marketing strategy and not just some throwaway. Okay. Well, Melissa said, I got to do print, so here’s my flimsy little postcard with the old school coupon code or a coupon clip.
00:06:55:29 – 00:07:00:13
Jonathan Fashbaugh
You know, I don’t think that print has any place in marketing right now.
00:07:00:17 – 00:07:01:14
Melissa Lowry
Exactly.
00:07:01:16 – 00:07:08:24
Jonathan Fashbaugh
I know. Is that is that too too extreme of statement? Are coupon clipping types of postcards still relevant for some offices?
00:07:08:27 – 00:07:42:23
Melissa Lowry
I haven’t seen any being relevant. However, I would say there are still those people out there that just get couponing and cutting those coupons and bringing it in. That goes back to just knowing your audience and knowing your demographics and those personas. And if you’re doing that research and you’re seeing that the people in your direct community really like to find that deal and they like to know that they’re saving, then maybe you do add that in, but then also add a QR code to reach that those other people as well.
00:07:42:27 – 00:08:07:03
Jonathan Fashbaugh
And now that I think about it, I do think that was a little too hot of a take because I feel like postcards in many ways, to me are like digital ads in that I’m not going to bet on one impression of any sort of a digital ad bringing home the bacon, you know, I mean, like as a business, you need to have a long view of marketing where it’s all about repeat exposure.
00:08:07:03 – 00:08:24:29
Jonathan Fashbaugh
I’ve written a blog post about this and I mean some call it the 20, some call it the raw seven, where you need to have get in front of people again and again and again. A postcard is cheap and you can target it pretty darn well. And if you’re overlapping that with your digital, it could pull its way, even though it goes.
00:08:25:00 – 00:08:30:21
Jonathan Fashbaugh
I mean, the impression is probably just as fast as a scroll on your digital device.
00:08:30:24 – 00:08:48:21
Melissa Lowry
Yes. Yes. That’s why it’s it’s important, again, to have that layered approach within your marketing strategy, because putting your eggs all in one basket, you could be missing potentially, you know, a large database of potential patients that you you want to target.
00:08:48:24 – 00:09:01:15
Jonathan Fashbaugh
Let’s pretend that I am a dentist and I’m like, Melissa, I just need the phone to ring more. Right now I’m thinking about running a postcard campaign. What would you say to that doctor?
00:09:01:15 – 00:09:30:18
Melissa Lowry
I would first ask why and, you know, just see why they think that the first approach should be offering, you know, more into their why. I would then look into the demographics within the area and see if that is even going to be the biggest bang for their buck. And also look into the personas of their direct community.
00:09:30:20 – 00:09:49:16
Jonathan Fashbaugh
I do think that our brains tend to go to things like postcards and like other types of mailers, but billboards also come to mind when I think about like traditional media that has taken a backseat to a lot of digital. But when it’s done holistically, I think it can be effective. Do you have any thoughts on that?
00:09:49:18 – 00:10:27:20
Melissa Lowry
I will say myself, whenever I’m driving, I still look at the billboards and if one catches my eye, I’m like, Oh, you know? But again, with billboards it is making sure that you are really being unique and standing out and being strategic and your messaging and making sure that your branding is consistent throughout every single touchpoint. So with a billboard adding a QR code may not make sense because you don’t want somebody to be driving and trying to hurry up and take that picture of the character and end up crashing.
00:10:27:20 – 00:10:28:23
Melissa Lowry
So, you know, it’s a.
00:10:28:23 – 00:10:33:03
Jonathan Fashbaugh
Great way to get in the news for me.
00:10:33:06 – 00:11:12:15
Melissa Lowry
Having that call to action and a link to a website and making it memorable. I mean, you can shorten your links so you don’t want to have a long URL on your billboard to where somebody can’t remember it. It’s just an easy call to action. And the importance to of print again is it does build more credibility and you are making sure that you are reaching those people that are direct in your community and you can actually target those areas and be more specific than you could get with digital, with print marketing to I mean, not just talking about billboards and postcards.
00:11:12:18 – 00:11:38:18
Melissa Lowry
There’s also fliers and business cards and appointment cards. I don’t know about you, but I am a firm believer in making sure that your reviews are consistent and that you have good online reviews and that you are constantly building that up. And that ties back to the digital space, but then also being able to create that brand loyalty with those potential patients.
00:11:38:18 – 00:11:47:03
Melissa Lowry
So I mean, even on appointment cards, I didn’t a QR code to leave a Google review. I mean, there’s just the possibilities are endless.
00:11:47:07 – 00:12:22:10
Jonathan Fashbaugh
Absolutely. I feel like all of this is truly if you’re looking for a silver bullet in marketing, feel like it does go back to having a great understanding of what brand really is and how to build a brand and having the patience to develop that. Because just going back to the billboard for a second, if you have a billboard that’s in a prime location and you’ve been working at developing your brand, you’ve got a logo that’s simple and it has been developed to be instantly recognizable.
00:12:22:10 – 00:12:46:14
Jonathan Fashbaugh
I almost don’t think you need a call to action that includes a URL or even a phone number, because I cannot think of the last time except for maybe, maybe when I’m in Las Vegas and I’m driving by one of the bazillion personal entry lawyer billboards, I feel like any number, if you punch in that repeatedly, you’ll get a lawyer.
00:12:46:16 – 00:13:12:16
Jonathan Fashbaugh
But but even so, I mean, like I would rather be a recognizable brand that I connect problem with solution that before and after kind of scenario. If you’ve got a great before and after, the results are just visibly stunning and you’re capturing that in a second and you’ve got a recognizable brand right beneath that, then what you’ll see, I think is over time an increase in your brand and search.
00:13:12:16 – 00:13:21:23
Jonathan Fashbaugh
And that’s just not going to happen if you’re not getting your brand out there repeatedly when you launch that billboard, are you going to instantly see that? I don’t think so.
00:13:21:25 – 00:13:47:14
Melissa Lowry
And yeah, and that’s another thing with dental offices that I’ve seen is whenever doing any sort of marketing tactic, of course we want to see those results quick. And if we don’t see them right away, we think it’s not working. It’s not working, but it all just depends on the type of strategy that you’re doing. If you’re running Google ads, that could be different, you know, for pay per click campaign.
00:13:47:14 – 00:14:10:20
Melissa Lowry
But it’s really about just building up your brand, building up that brand recognition and visibility because like you mentioned before, it takes like seven or eight times for somebody to be able to remember a brand. So you’re just wanting to get in front of them as much as you can and having your logo and your name on everything that you can put it on.
00:14:10:20 – 00:14:31:23
Melissa Lowry
Because especially in dentistry, I may not need the service now or today, but whenever I do, if I’m seeing your logo all over the place and different touch points, then I’ll think, Oh, I saw, you know, ABC Dentistry, I’m going to look them up. It’s just about that repetition and building up that credibility.
00:14:31:27 – 00:14:48:18
Jonathan Fashbaugh
That extends into referrals. I know you’re passionate about grassroots tactics, growing dale practices. Can you kind of talk about the relationship between these concepts and any other grassroots strategies that you feel like you could be a part of a dental practice’s marketing strategy?
00:14:48:19 – 00:15:23:08
Melissa Lowry
Yes, I am very passionate about community marketing and grassroots and community outreach initiatives really gives offices the opportunity to enhance their reputation and create those meaningful connections with potential patients. I encourage all offices to invest in community based marketing effort because it shows your commitment to improving the overall health of the town that you live in. But then also it builds trust and ensures that your tactics are reaching your ideal patients.
00:15:23:08 – 00:15:56:03
Melissa Lowry
And again, the goal is for branding, visibility and relationship building. When you’re out in the community and people are seeing that you are invested, this enhances your brand significantly. And some of the things that I’ve seen, offices that do invest in those type of tactics but then may be missing the mark just a little bit is something as simple as getting the team together, going out and volunteering at an event or organization and not wearing shirts that are branded.
00:15:56:03 – 00:16:19:06
Melissa Lowry
But if the team is out and you’re out in the community wearing those shirts that have your logo and everything, then again, people are going to see you, they’re going to talk to you. You have the branding there for them, just as an extra touch point for them to remember something as simple. And this is something that I love sharing with offices because you don’t really think that this is a good approach.
00:16:19:06 – 00:16:43:27
Melissa Lowry
I’ve seen it work and just to show how creative you can get in the grassroots marketing space, let’s say that your goal is to increase your cash paying patients that would benefit from your in-house dental plan. You would want to target those small businesses and businesses that have those part time employees. One tactic is to go and target restaurants that have servers.
00:16:43:27 – 00:17:12:18
Melissa Lowry
Effective approach to that is to buy mason jars, fill the mason jar up with pens that are branded right, have your logo on it, and then you can get a ribbon and get business sized cards and have a message such as like no insurance, no problem. Scan the QR code to learn more or whatever the case may be, punch holes in the cards, tie it to the ribbon and make a little cute presentation, but then drop it off servers.
00:17:12:18 – 00:17:29:07
Melissa Lowry
They love their pens. They can’t have enough of them. But then also you’re getting in front of them. And whenever customers at the restaurant are paying for their bills, the servers, bam! So then you’re getting in front of other people and you’re just building that brand awareness.
00:17:29:12 – 00:17:58:29
Jonathan Fashbaugh
That’s phenomenal. I love creative ideas like that. I want to somehow put myself on the shoulder of business owner who’s hearing this idea and thinking, Yeah, I could do that and say, But not just once. I just want a restaurant. Go to half a dozen restaurants at least. Then I will choose those restaurants based on a little bit of research, you know, thinking about your ideal patients and talking to some of them and saying, Hey, by the way, I’m just curious, what is your favorite restaurant?
00:17:58:29 – 00:18:24:26
Jonathan Fashbaugh
You can even Daisy chain this with the review idea. And when you get a great review from a patient that was a great patient asking them, I’m just curious, what’s your favorite restaurant? Get them a gift card to that restaurant as a thank you for the review and then consider dropping that Mason jar. Depends. I mean, just when you interlink strategies like this, your building in an improved ROI on any one single strategy on these.
00:18:24:28 – 00:18:45:03
Jonathan Fashbaugh
Speaking of our why, Melissa, if someone has tasked you with established doing, what is this doing for me? You gave me this idea about these mason jars. How am I going to know if it’s working? And I got this billboard six months ago, and within launching this print, things, how am I going to know as how am I going to know as a business owner, this has been worth the investment.
00:18:45:07 – 00:19:04:19
Melissa Lowry
Yeah, that’s a great question. I would first start with adding tracking numbers to all of your actions that you can, and a lot of offices that I have worked with in the past, they do have that concern that will with all these different phone numbers that we’re having, is it going to confuse the patients? And the answer is no.
00:19:04:19 – 00:19:31:22
Melissa Lowry
But then yes at the same time, if they are saving those numbers. So there’s there’s different tactics, but tracking numbers are reliable because you not only can track that, but then you can also really see and hear the quality of that call and really get to dive deeper into what those potential patients are asking. And be able to pivot your strategy where needed.
00:19:31:23 – 00:20:03:00
Melissa Lowry
Another thing that’s very vital is we have in our patient paperwork. How did you hear about this? I would say a lot of patients do fill them out and if they don’t ask them, ask them whenever they’re calling in your booking that appointment, and not only having that on the paperwork and scanning it in to your practice management software, but then also attaching that referral source to their accounts within your practice management software and why that’s so important is because then you can run reports.
00:20:03:00 – 00:20:37:15
Melissa Lowry
Every practice management software has a referral by production report and you can pull that and see what referral sources are bringing in the most patients and bringing in the most production. And if you’re tracking and making sure that you are asking those new patients how they heard about you, if you don’t have those tracking systems in place like the call tracking number, which I think you should still ask, just making sure that you’re attaching that and running those reports to see what referral sources are bringing in the most production.
00:20:37:15 – 00:20:58:23
Melissa Lowry
Because a lot of times we’re just guessing and we could say, well, we’re not getting a lot of patients from, let’s say magazine that we’re running an ad in. If I am, let’s say, getting five patients from that magazine, but the production is really high. And then from social media, I’m getting 15 patients and the production is lower.
00:20:58:26 – 00:21:26:12
Melissa Lowry
I would go more for that magazine because you are getting those patients that are investing more in the treatment that you are treatment planning and that you are seeing within those patients and they’re accepting that treatment. As far as the tracking goes, there’s different ways you can go about it. I would say number one is just adding this title tracking numbers and also making sure that we’re asking how they heard about you, but then attaching it into your practice management software.
00:21:26:12 – 00:21:50:05
Jonathan Fashbaugh
And I would tag on to that to just say that it’s got to be measured over a long period of time, because if you’re launching any of these and expecting to see much of an improvement in metrics in 30, 60 or even 90 days, I think you’re setting yourself up for failure. Because if you look too early at these stats, we’re talking about tactics that are improving your impressions and your branding.
00:21:50:07 – 00:22:10:21
Jonathan Fashbaugh
They’re going to have a long term value. You’ve got to measure that over the long term. You can’t just make these little changes here and there and expect to instantaneously see the fruit of it. It’s got to be sewn in over time. And you watch your dollars tie in to production growth over time. Speaking of time, we’re all out of it today.
00:22:10:21 – 00:22:16:09
Jonathan Fashbaugh
I’ve got to say, thank you so much to M.S. after joining us. I’m Melissa. Hope to see you again soon.
00:22:16:15 – 00:22:25:28
Melissa Lowry
Yes. Thank you so much for having me. I’ve had fun today chatting about marketing, and I always love talking about grassroots and community.
00:22:26:01 – 00:22:48:29
Jonathan Fashbaugh
Yes. I also have thought, oh, Ed, thank you, the viewer, the listener, the person who fixes my microphone and listens to the podcast for joining us. I want you to put in the comments, a marketing strategy that you think is a little bit outside the box print campaign that just blew the doors off your practice. I want to hear about that and any other ideas we have.
00:22:48:29 – 00:22:55:09
Jonathan Fashbaugh
Let’s work together to grow our businesses and until next time. Thanks for watching and listening to Marketing Chairside.
