Rita Zamora

There’s no denying how important marketing on the web has become.  However does that mean tangible forms of marketing should be ignored?  Consider the fact that email marketing giants claim between 35% and 65% of emails are opened.  The reach of email marketing is only as effective as the size of your list … What percentage of your patients do you have email addresses for?

While I’m a huge fan of email marketing, as well as social media marketing, there’s still a strong argument for tangible marketing.  Newsletters, note cards, and even postcards, continue to play an important role.  For example, hardcopy newsletters allow people to experience news in a much different way than e-communication.  Paper newsletters allow for longer articles, more photos, and richer content than digital formats.

Likewise the handwritten note remains a strong relationship and trust building tool.  Holding a notecard in your hands reaches a physical sense that e-mail cannot achieve.  While email or text follow up continues to grow more popular, there’s a portion of the population that can be captured via postcards or hardcopy newsletters.

If you want your messages to reach a larger portion of your patient population, ensure your marketing communications are well balanced … A combination of both digital and hardcopy marketing tools still makes good sense.

Rita Zamora is a relationship-focused dental marketer, specializing in referral marketing, patient relations, case acceptance and social media for general and specialty practices.  Rita developed her referral marketing expertise working hands-on in specialty and general dentistry practices. She is the author of the ebook The Referral System How-To Guidebook For Dentists. With over sixteen years experience in dentistry, Rita has trained, coached and motivated dentists and teams in marketing, patient relations, communication and social media.

How much value do you derive from a referral?  If you’ve long dismissed relationship marketing, you may want to reconsider.  A few major shifts have occurred, creating the perfect recipe for referral and relationship marketing to deliver higher returns than ever before.

The first shift is how consumers are dissecting information.  A quote from a recent New York Times article entitled The End of Newspapers said, “Young people judge the validity of information by the network of friends which passed it on, rather than by which media outlet broadcast it.”  The power of relationships has always been strong, but who knew it would reach the strength to dissolve the power of traditional media.

The second shift is Facebook now surpassing Google to become the most visited website in the U.S.  Hitwise, a web analytics firm, also reported the market share of visits to Facebook.com increased 185% in 2010 from the same week in 2009. Google grew, but only 9%. While most of us aren’t yet using Facebook as a search tool, it’s time to pause and consider if that is one of Facebook’s future goals …

The third (potential) shift is that Google may in fact surpass Facebook as a search tool.  Facebook has aggressively enhanced their search technology.  In fact, a recent post from a Facebook representative was entitled, “Delivering More Search Results as You Type”.  Facebook is essentially facilitating word of mouth among “friends” even more.  An excerpt of that post is shown below:

“Now as you’re typing in a query in the search bar, you will instantaneously see results not only of the people, events, groups and Pages you’re connected with but also the connections of your friends and globally relevant results.”

What this means is that if your patient is a fan of your practice and one of their Facebook friends types in a search for ie:  “Dentist” or “Orthodontist” they are likely to see your page as one of the top search results.

The ROR or return on relationships has become a more powerful force than ever before.  Expect the return you get from loyal fans, who are happy to share you with their network of friends, to become even more valuable.

What are you currently doing to increase your ROR (return on relationships) with your patients?

Rita Zamora is a relationship-focused dental marketer, specializing in referral marketing, patient relations, case acceptance and social media for general and specialty practices.  Rita developed her referral marketing expertise working hands-on in specialty and general dentistry practices. She is the author of the ebook The Referral System How-To Guidebook For Dentists. With over sixteen years experience in dentistry, Rita has trained, coached and motivated dentists and teams in marketing, patient relations, communication and social media.

The world of online advertising can be a scary place for dentists.  Many choose to take matters into their own hands.  They fail to realize that there is a science to online advertising, and using the right tactics can help make a campaign more effective.  I personally don’t like search engine ad campaigns, but many dentists use them.  If you are going to use them, use them correctly.

Most dentists start out with Google Adword campaigns.  These campaigns are usually pay-per-click or pay-per-impression.  Pay-per-click advertising will charge you a variable rate when someone clicks on your ad.  Pay-per-impression advertising will charge you every time the ad is shown.  Each type will require you to place a maximum bid.  The maximum bid is the maximum price you will be charged for a single click or impression.  The price may be less on a single click, but it will never be more.  The maximum bid will determine the placement of the ad on the page.  The higher the bid, the higher the placement on the page.  The ads will appear under the heading “sponsored links.”  Ads that appear above the search results are the most coveted, and also the most expensive.  In my area these ads will cost about $20-25 dollars a click.  This explains why Google is such a profitable company.  The lower price ads will fall along the right side of the search page, and will rotate with different searches.

Google ads will also appear elsewhere on the web in Google partner sites.  This is a major concern for some people.  They may appear near directory listings for other dentists or content that is not appropriate for dentists.  If you allow Google ads on any of your own content, like a blog, be aware that you may have an ad for another dentist appear.

The daily budget can make or break a ad campaign. It is very important to determine a monthly or yearly budget, then break it down into a daily budget.  $15 or $20 a day may not seem like much, but it can add up very quickly.  Determine whether the ad campaign will work for your budget.  If it takes $15 dollars just to get a decent position on the board, and your daily budget is $20, then Ad words may not be right for you.

Determine the right “keywords” for your campaign.  Most dentists choose the name of their city and “dentist.”  This will make the ads appear when someone searches for some variation of these words.  i.e. “Dallas Dentist.”  Using only “Dentist” may dilute the results, since this is a very popular keyword.  You will also have to increase the bid to appear higher on the list.  Their are several keyword tools out their.  Use these tools to find the phrases people are looking for the most.  There is some disagreement among the experts about keywords.  Some favor canvasing the big words like “dentist,” while others say long tail keywords like “dallas dentists implants and invisalign” are more effective.

Be sure to monitor the ad results, but don’t over analyze them.  Their is no point running an ad that no one clicks on.  Give each ad time to find its way.  You will learn more from ads that fail, than you will from successful ones.  Ads will fail for a number of reasons: bid is too low, content not appealing, and wrong key word use.

The area where many go wrong, is the content of the ad.  I live in Virginia.  When I search for a dentist using my city and the word “dentist”, 12 ads appear.  Nine of them have the title “Richmond dentist”.  Now I have nine choices that all pretty much say the same thing.  Two of them probably paid $20 dollars to be at the top of the page.  There is nothing there to influence the choice of the potential patient.  This is why I really don’t like this type of advertising.  The potential patient will be much more likely to visit the Google local listings, and find a dentist with several good reviews.  The ads need to be eye catching, and only more interesting than the next guy.  This should be pretty easy if all of the other ads say the same thing.  Step outside of the box a bit.

Now I do like the pay-per-click advertising on Facebook.  When users join Facebook large amounts of information is asked of them.  This information then allows the Facebook ads to accurately target a specific audience.  It is much more specific than Google Ad words.  Facebook and Google are often times very close in traffic.  Facebook users are often on the website almost an hour a day. That is much more time than Google.  This translates into increased visibility for longer periods of time.

The ads on Facebook also operate on the pay-per-click and pay-per-impression system.  They allow for very specific targeting, even places of employment, birthdays, and Facebook activity.  This allows for very specific placement.  Optimized targeting will help the effectiveness of the ad, and help keep costs lower.   Facebook ads also allow for the inclusion of a photo.  This is a great feature, because it can really bring the content to life.  An advertiser may even add more text in the picture to make better use of the space.

The Facebook feedback system is also very advanced and allows for a quick analysis of results.  Once again, I advise to pause campaigns and not delete them for future study.  If you run a different special, or different hours throughout the year, it would be helpful to have old ads around to reference.

Online advertising is best left to the reputational sort, but if you have to use targeted ads, use them the their fullest potential.

Jason T. Lipscomb is a general dentist in Richmond, VA and a co-author of Social Media for Dentists.  Dr. Lipscomb has developed the methods used by Social Media for Dentists after several years of private practice.  He maintains a unique perspective on dental marketing by operating two busy practices and researching social media practices.  Social Media for Dentists is one of the only dental specific Social Media marketing books.  Social Media for Dentists L.L.C. offers hands on training to dentists all over the country.

Did you know our perceptions of others are based mainly on non-verbal or visual behaviors?  In fact, some studies indicate approximately 55% of face-to-face communication is conveyed via body language.  Appropriate non-verbal communication can help you better connect with patients, which in turn may boost case acceptance and increase your potential for good word-of-mouth (and referrals).

In today’s dynamic marketing landscape, the easiest way to increase your bottom line is to grow referrals and motivate patients to follow through with treatment. Here are a few body language tips to keep in mind:

• Make eye contact with the patient when they are speaking.
• Keep a friendly and approachable body posture.
• Don’t cross your arms—it may indicate a defensive mood.
• Watch your demeanor—avoid unpleasant or stressed expressions.
• Smile when appropriate and nod to show encouragement.

Also remember to breathe, whether you are in a good mood or not, it will help keep you relaxed and present in the moment.

“What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Rita Zamora is a relationship-focused dental marketer, specializing in referral marketing, patient relations, case acceptance and social media for general and specialty practices.  Rita developed her referral marketing expertise working hands-on in specialty and general dentistry practices. She is the author of the ebook The Referral System How-To Guidebook For Dentists.
With over sixteen years experience in dentistry, Rita has trained, coached and motivated dentists and teams in marketing, patient relations, communication and social media.

Many people say that dentists are slow adapters.   I like to think they are cautious optimistic explorers.  Sure social media is the new hot topic for dentists, but many are entering the arena very slowly.  Others are jumping in full blast and utilizing every social media outlet possible.  No one likes dentists using social media more than me, but there is a group of dentists using social media that is rarely mentioned.  The social media burnouts.   Hundreds of dentists are jumping into social media, then months later dropping all efforts.  While social media has many possibilities, it can often leave a lot of casualties along the way.  Learning from the mistakes of others can allow you to have a great experience online.

Twitter is one of the fastest growing social media platforms.  They actually beat growth estimates in a recent study.  What they don’t tell you is a large percentage of these users become non-active within a couple of months.  What happens to these users?  Many fail to see what the “big deal” is.  While others make bad choices that affects their experience.

Twitter can be a very powerful marketing tool for dentists.  In fact, my office was featured on the local news today.  How did the news anchor choose me for a story?  She saw one of my Twitter posts about a new dental product.  She thought it would be a great news story.  The post only took seconds to write, and very little creativity, but it landed my practice on the 6 o’clock news.  If I had given up two months after earlier, this never would have happened.  You can avoid the Twitter pitfalls, and go on to have great Twitter success.

Some of the most common Twitter pitfalls:

Pitfall #1 - Focusing only on follower numbers- Twitter followers are like dental patients.  We want a million of them, but we want quality as well as quantity.  Many people try to get as many followers as possible.  They don’t pay attention to quality, and they wind up with a real time stream of fluff and spam.   After a while the copious amounts of spam will become tiresome, and the account will go unused.

The Cure - Follow and connect with users who fit in your goal.  If you are using Twitter to connect with potential patients, connect with people in your area.  You don’t need 1,000 fans in California if you live in Florida.   There are several tools you can use to find users in your area.  The new local trending tool can be a great asset.    Evaluate the tweets of people you connect with.  If they repeat posts or spam, don’t follow them.  They will cloud your feed.    In previous articles we have noted that some search engines will use tweets to populate search results.  We also learned that having connections to spammers and non-qualified accounts, may decrease the rank power of your tweets.

Pitfall #2 - I am not getting any patients, and no one is talking to me.  Your a dentist, so you just go on Twitter and talk about dentistry, end of story right?  Not necessarily.  Several dentists think the public wants to know more about dentistry, so all they tweet about is dentistry.  Newsflash, no one wants to talk about dentistry except dentists.

The cure - Social Media is about connecting with another person.  Talking about dentistry will make you seem like a dental robot, not a person.  When on Twitter or another platform, take a break from dentistry.  Talk about things in the community, your life, or on T.V.  Make your profile seem like a real person.  Then throw in a little dentistry every once and while to remind them that you are a dentist.  Once they need an appointment, they will remember Dr. Xyz, because he seemed like a nice helpful guy.  That is how I got the T.V. interview.  The news anchor saw my only “dental” tweet that week.

Pitfall #3 - I have made connections on Facebook and Twitter and now it is getting tiresome.  I can’t keep up. Many dentists see the social media thing taking off, and they jump into every social media platform at once.

The cure - Start out slow.  Don’t bite off more than you can chew.  Time management can be very important to the success of a social media campaign.

Pitfall#4 – I haven’t posted anything on Facebook or Twitter in a couple of weeks.  Just setting up social media profiles is a big step and can increase visibility.  An account that isn’t active is almost worse than not having one at all.  It makes it look like you don’t care or that you don’t offer up good information.

The Cure - Keep an account active, even if it is one or two posts a week.  Even if the posts are scarce, they will add up over time and will seem like a nice catalog of information.  Once again, time management plays a big part in being successful.  Set a schedule to post content.  It is much easier to post when you have already planned for it.

Don’t get discouraged with social media. When you set parameters for yourself, and use great time management, your social media experience can be very rewarding.  Take a deep breath.  Social media is the new hot topic and “must have” element of your marketing campaign.   Take your time, and educate yourself about social media. Facebook and Twitter will still be waiting for you tomorrow.

Jason T. Lipscomb is a general dentist in Richmond, VA and a co-author of Social Media for Dentists.  Dr. Lipscomb has developed the methods used by Social Media for Dentists after several years of private practice.  He maintains a unique perspective on dental marketing by operating two busy practices and researching social media practices.  Social Media for Dentists is one of the only dental specific Social Media marketing books.  Social Media for Dentists L.L.C. offers hands on training to dentists all over the country.

Every day we’re getting more and more invitations to join Facebook pages. People are jumping on board like the salmon’s rush … Will Facebook become the replacement for the yellow pages—or will it be more like email?

If it begins to seem more like email, you’ll want to remember how easy it was to get people to share their email with you. Now, patients (like all of us), are more leery about giving out their email.  People wonder if they’ll begin receiving emails from you every day or every week. Our email boxes have become inundated with virtual junk mail.  Will patients wonder if they’ll get too much “junk mail” via your Facebook page as well?  The answer is likely “yes.”

At the end of the day, it’s not whether Facebook will be more like yellow pages or email.  What will matter is what people find when they land on your page.  It will be less about the “dental information” you post, and more about how your practice personality translates online.  Most importantly, it’s you, your team, and your relationships with patients that will determine the success or failure of your social marketing efforts.

How can you begin planning today to make sure people will fan your page (and if they fan you that they won’t hide you?).

• First and foremost, make your page a reflection of your practice personality.
• Let your relationship skills spill over into your Facebook page.
• Be cognizant of the amount you post and be highly cognizant of what you say in your posts.
• Ensure your page is a long-term success by focusing on patients in a social way, not just a “here’s-some-dental-news” way.
• Remember relationships first and the benefits will follow!

Rita Zamora is a relationship-focused dental marketer, specializing in referral marketing, patient relations, case acceptance and social media for general and specialty practices. Rita developed her referral marketing expertise working hands-on in specialty and general dentistry practices. She is the author of the ebook The Referral System How-To Guidebook For Dentists.
With over sixteen years experience in dentistry, Rita has trained, coached and motivated dentists and teams in marketing, patient relations, communication and social media.

When was the last time you heard a patient complain?  We all know that too many complaints are a sign that things aren’t going well.  However a practice that never hears complaints, or never hears much feedback at all, may not be in good shape either.

Periodic surveys are an important component of any services marketing plan—especially a relationship-focused practice.  Consider a third party service that will allow people to feel they can share openly and honestly.  In general, electronic surveys seem to produce more detailed comments.  Once you learn what patient’s value and enjoy most about your practice, you can leverage the information within your marketing plan.

Surveys allow you to learn what you are doing right, and what you may be doing wrong.  What was the most valuable thing you’ve learned from surveys?

Rita Zamora is a relationship-focused dental marketer, specializing in referral marketing, patient relations, case acceptance and social media for general and specialty practices. Rita developed her referral marketing expertise working hands-on in specialty and general dentistry practices. She is the author of the ebook The Referral System How-To Guidebook For Dentists.
With over sixteen years experience in dentistry, Rita has trained, coached and motivated dentists and teams in marketing, patient relations, communication and social media.

Every once in a while a dentist will ask me about other social media sites besides the big three, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.  Although I do suggest working with the big three first, there are some secondary social media sites that can increase visibility.  Many of these sites are built to share with others, but some social media sites can also help the SEO of your primary website.

A big social media site that dentists overlook is Flickr.  Flickr.com is one of the largest photo sharing sites around.  Many of its other features also make it a viable social networking site.  Posting photos from one’s practice has the obvious benefit of adding some nice visuals to reference and can also help with Search Engine Optimization efforts.

• Adding tags to photos allow users to place keywords within the content and help draw those keywords into search results.  When uploading a photo, include tags like “Ohio dentist” or “dental.”
• Make sure all of the photos are public and remove any restrictions.
• Add keyword rich descriptions of the photos, however it is important to make the narratives sound like natural speech.  Many people try to make content keyword rich, but then it doesn’t make any sense.
• Add links back to your website, and links to your pictures on your website.

The last cool feature of Flickr is geolocation.  Each Flickr photo upload allows users to add a geographic location to their photo using Yahoo.  This is a great opportunity to link the address of your practice to the photos and possibly drive some traffic.  It only takes a matter of minutes to upload photos and tag them correctly.  It is a quick and easy and it may even gain a little SEO.

Another type of social media includes social bookmarking sites which allow users to create a bookmark for almost any web content and share it.  Sites like Digg and StumbleUpon actually rank bookmarked material and create compilations of the most bookmarked material.  Many journalists and newsmakers look through these sites to find content for their news stories.

Bookmarks are very useful because they show Google that an actual human likes a website.  Human interest will always carry a lot of weight in Google’s search algorithm.  Each bookmark is like a vote for web content.  It says “hey I like this enough to mark it for later.”  I advise dentists to get bookmarks for almost everything.  I advise using bookmarks for your blog, facebook posts, websites, and possibly even Flickr uploads.  Try to avoid bookmarking everything yourself.  Get others to bookmark your content and spread the word about it.  It will help increase rankings, and make it appear that your content is very active.

One of the newest developments in Social Media is Google Buzz.  Buzz is Google’s foray into the social media realm.  Buzz is integrated with the Gmail platform, and takes cues from both Twitter and Facebook.  Many are concerned with the privacy features and Buzz’s default settings can override users wishes.  Buzz is also integrated with Picasso photo sharing and many other Google tools and widgets.  It has the potential to be a major player, and gained 10 million users right out of the gate.  SEO features have yet to be nailed down, but one would think they will be numerous as it is Google.

Finally, location based Social Media is poised to be the next big thing in social media.  Foursquare is one the first websites to jump on this platform.  Foursquare combines mobile social networking with conventional social media.  The platform allows users to “check-in” to their favorite locales using a mobile device.  The device will use the GPS features to discover nearby establishments and suggest them to the user.  The check-ins allow the user to share where they are and what they are doing with their online friends or followers.  It also uses the check-ins to create a game, and allows those users to become the “mayor” of a location if they have enough check ins.  On the business side, owners can customize their profile by adding pictures and creating keyword rich content.  Owners are also encouraged to create specials and content to increase the number of check-ins.  Yelp.com is also developing its own location based social media game, and is including Yelp reviews and descriptions.   Several of these companies are working on a “heads up” software giving real time reviews while peering through a camera of a mobile device.

Social media has something for everyone.  Useful tools are everywhere, and they are increasing in number everyday.  Take time to explore other social media platforms and inventions.  They just might get your practice noticed.

Jason T. Lipscomb is a general dentist in Richmond, VA and a co-author of Social Media for Dentists.  Dr. Lipscomb has developed the methods used by Social Media for Dentists after several years of private practice.  He maintains a unique perspective on dental marketing by operating two busy practices and researching social media practices.  Social Media for Dentists is one of the only dental specific Social Media marketing books.  Social Media for Dentists L.L.C. offers hands on training to dentists all over the country.

Oh no!  You have a bad review on Google!  What do you do now?  The first thing to do is to not overreact.  Many people feel that a bad review is a personal attack.  Most bad reviews are posted by individuals that feel like they have been mistreated or that they did not receive the quality of service they expected.  Bad reviews can be an opportunity to address a patient’s issues, and at the same time let others reading the reviews  see that you are making an honest effort to address any problems.

How important is it to monitor local reviews?  Very important. In a recent report by Nielsen, Google said that 82% of the population uses local search and reviews and Yahoo says that there are over 100 million local searches performed monthly.  Most prospective patients when searching for a new dentists in their area will perform a search with the name of the city and the word dentist.  A typical search in Google would look like this:

“Richmond dentist.”  Google instantly will return a list of dentists, with other information such as location, phone number and reviews.

Most dentists are not even aware that they have reviews on the internet.   Recently I visited my dermatologist.  He asked me how I had found his practice, and I told him I used Google to find his practice.  I told him that I had read his reviews and that they had all been good, so I scheduled an appointment with him.  He was shocked, he didn’t even realize that he had any reviews online.  Dentists need to be aware that there are online conversations going on every day about them and their practice, whether they want to be involved or not.

So, what do you do if you have a bad review?  Many dentists will ignore the review and hope that others will too.  Responding to bad reviews can be a slippery slope.  Psychologists advise that you do not go toe to toe against someone that has posted a bad review.  Visitors reading the reviews do not want to see a public disagreement, and it will only draw more attention to the negative post.  Instead approach the bad review in a positive nature.

• Do not get angry, do not get emotional, do not start a public argument.
• Acknowledge the issue and rather than becoming defensive offer an explanation.
• Validate the patient’s concerns and respond in a professional manner.
• Let everyone know that everything that you do is focused on a high-quality experience for each patient and that when problems do surface, you take them seriously and work hard to understand the root causes.
• Do not continually re-address the problem.  Address it and move on.   As more positive reviews come in, the bad review will be pushed further down the list.
• Continually focus on doing great work, and building up positive reviews.  Today people are very savvy, having a bad review or two adds validity to your reviews. Address them correctly and you will appear to be level headed, active and concerned.

Another school of thought is to drown a bad review with positive reviews.  Sheer numbers will always win, and if you have 30 great reviews and one bad review you should come out ahead.  Everyone knows that you can have a bad day once and a while, so one bad review won’t spoil the bunch. Bad reviews can also be a valuable tool to know what is happening in your practice.  When you do get that one bad review, think about what is actually behind it.  It might actually clue you in to something that needs to be fixed.

Every once in a while extreme measures may have to be taken.  It’s not very often that this occurs, however there are some very unscrupulous people out there.  There was a dentist near me that had allegations of sexual misconduct with a patient on their Google reviews.  The dentist was a “head in the sand” type, and did not even know it was out there.

Reviews alleging malpractice and illegal actions need to be dealt with quickly.  They are terrible rumor starters and can do serious damage even after they are gone.  Contact legal counsel and the host site and address them immediately.  Taking extreme measures can also be tricky.  I have seen several reviews of dentists which say “Dr. XYZ’s lawyer contacted me today and said to remove this content” or “now they are threatening legal action.”  Some reviewers just don’t know when to quit!  So use caution, you may end up with more than you bargained for.  Remember, controversy draws attention.

The important thing to remember is this, if you continually do good work and continue to get good reviews, people will quickly move past a bad review or two.  Your focus should continually be on improving the quality of your practice and providing exceptional service.  It’s the same with all facets of life, people reward quality, this goes for quality food, quality products and quality service.  I cannot count the number of times that I have seen individuals on Twitter and Facebook recommend a movie, a book or a restaurant.  Actually 25% of all conversations on social media networks evolve around a person’s recommendation of a product or a service.

The main thing to remember is now, more than ever, people have a voice and they are eager to be heard.  People are just as anxious to leave a good review as they are to leave a bad review.  Bad reviews are generally made when a patient feels that they have been mistreated or did not receive the service they believe they deserved.  One dentist that I worked with spent thousands of dollars each month for high search engine rankings.  However, his local reviews said things like “I felt like an automobile, the dentist’s assistants kept pushing service upgrades.  Remember that your patients now have a very powerful voice.

Speaking of powerful voices, it is important to remember that your patients now have many social networks where they talk about their daily lives.  Thousands of posts go out everyday on Twitter and Facebook from people’s mobile phones.  I’ve seen a number of posts on Twitter from people sitting in the dentists chair.  As professionals we have to remember that we live in a transparent world of mobile texting, instant photo upload and viral sharing.  Embrace this opportunity to open the lines of communication with your patients in order to improve their experience and expand your practice.

Jason T. Lipscomb is a general dentist in Richmond, VA and a co-author of Social Media for Dentists.  Dr. Lipscomb has developed the methods used by Social Media for Dentists after several years of private practice.  He maintains a unique perspective on dental marketing by operating two busy practices and researching social media practices.  Social Media for Dentists is one of the only dental specific Social Media marketing books.  Social Media for Dentists L.L.C. offers hands on training to dentists all over the country.

When was the last time your patients heard from you? While many dentists realize the value of referrals, few communicate with their patients on a regular basis. This results in lost referral opportunities, and also affects case acceptance.

Many of your patients are regularly receiving generic postcard offers from neighboring dental practices, each promoting a new special service, new technology, or better location. The best way to ensure your patients are loyal, motivated for treatment and actively referring is to keep in touch with them. Once or twice per year during office visits is not enough. Here are a few effective ways to follow up throughout the year:

1. Email – Hopefully you are collecting email addresses and using them. While not every patient will elect to receive email from you, many will and this will allow you to communicate with patients inexpensively and quickly.
2. Tangible communication – Hardcopy newsletters and postcards can still be effective. In fact, according to a leading email service provider, their average medical service email open rate is approximately 16.7%. Plan to alternate your email and tangible communication for maximum reach.
3. Social media – Facebook is a great way to keep your name and face in front of patients. Remember to keep the word “Social” in social marketing and avoid overt advertising.

Let’s not forget the telephone—still a fast, easy, inexpensive, and effective way to follow up. The key to winning referrals and boosting case acceptance is to keep in touch with patients, in a personalized way, one follow up at a time.

Rita Zamora

Rita Zamora is a relationship-focused dental marketer, specializing in referral marketing, patient relations, case acceptance and social media for general and specialty practices. Rita developed her referral marketing expertise working hands-on in specialty and general dentistry practices. She is the author of the ebook The Referral System How-To Guidebook For Dentists.
With over sixteen years experience in dentistry, Rita has trained, coached and motivated dentists and teams in marketing, patient relations, communication and social media.