Written by – Robin Morrison, President – RLM Healthcare Marketing & Consulting
Robin Morrison, President at RLM Healthcare Marketing; Dental Consultant Connection Founder & CEO
As I talk with clients about marketing their practice, especially new clients who don’t know exactly what we offer at RLM, I find myself getting so passionate about dentistry and the possibilities of growing their practice. And … the possibilities are endless!
I began marketing in dentistry way before the Internet boomed (it was something we only heard about and had no idea what it really was). But even then, which was 1987, we found ways to bring in 60 – 80 new patients a month in the dental practice I was working in. Pretty amazing, right?? We were literally pioneers in dental practice marketing. I think it was good that we had no road map to follow. Otherwise, we would not have been as creative as we were. We took chances (and raised a few hairs on the necks of other dentists in our community). I still speak with dentists today who fear marketing because of how their colleagues will perceive them.
So, what did we do to attract so many new patients? By the way, these new patients were great patients who accepted comprehensive, cosmetic and restorative dentistry. We committed to a sizable budget and stuck with it. In 1987 in a solo practice, we spent $40,000 in the first 6 months just creating our campaign targeting our ideal demographic, which included advertisements in the newspaper and Yellow Pages, and an excellent direct mail campaign. And, guess what? Some of it worked and some of it flopped. Thank goodness we monitored our results meticulously, or we would have wasted a lot of money, and our return on investment would not have been very impressive. So, no rocket science here … we did more of what worked and dropped what flopped. Within 2 years, half of the revenue received in the practice, came from patients who responded to our marketing campaign. I kept thinking to myself, “what if we had not done the marketing?” Our production would have been half of what it was that year. It was a scary thought, but it motivated us to keep on marketing.
Now 35 years later, look at the marketing opportunities dental practices have! Just remember that marketing takes commitment, monitoring and money. You must consider the money you spend marketing as an investment. A very worthwhile investment if done strategically.
Learn more about Robin Morrison www.rlmmarketing.com
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