External Marketing Strategy
Straight to the Point! 
What is External Dental Marketing Strategy?
We work with you to design the right marketing strategy to attract the type of patients you want at an affordable price.
How will External Dental Marketing Strategy help me?
1. Attracts the patients YOU want into the practice
2. Maximizes existing patients' loyalty
3. Lower marketing costs
4. Help to turn employees to ambassadors of your practice
What do we do?
Provide independent 3rd party marketing advice. We know of hundreds of marketing services but we don’t sell any of them. Instead we:
1. Use the most in-depth demographic data to better understand the people in your region, their dental needs and why they are choosing one dentist over another
2. We look at your personal goals and the type of marketing you feel comfortable doing and your desired budget
3. We provide a list of recommendations and put an action plan in place to ensure proper and timely implementation
4. Once the initiatives are decided, we can recommend companies that will do a good job for a lower price than you could get yourself.
To ensure our impartiality We don’t accept referral fees or kickbacks from other companies, so all the savings get transferred directly to you.
How much dentist’s time does it take up?
Most dentists enjoy this process so we spend as much time as they need. Other dentists prefer to have their office manager or the marketing manager deal with it and don’t get involved in it at all. We would like to see at least 1 hour involvement so that the dentist understands the process and the decisions made.
How much staff time does it take up?
Depends on how the dentist would like to involve his or her team members. On one extreme – we need 3 1-hour meetings with the office manager, on the other extreme, we have two all-day meetings with all the whole team. As a rule of thumb, the more we involve the team, the more information we will have and the better quality of decisions we will have.
How much does it cost?
Marketing Strategy: $900 - $1,900 (this includes demographic research valued at $800) + Travel costs.
Fees reduced if this service is done together with Internal Marketing Strategy
Return on Investment
Your success will depend on the correct marketing strategy, the competitiveness of your market and your marketing budget. We always aim that the dentist makes at least a 300% return on investment. Our fee is lower than the savings we provide to the dentist, so in other words, our services don’t cost the dentist any money.
Tell Me More...
Dentists are great targets for advertisers - dentists can afford it, but don't have the time, resources or the experience to rationally evaluate all the choices.
That's why you are bombarded by companies offering 'can't miss' products and services that will generate a positive return on investment: Yellow Pages, Canpages, local directories, ethnic-based phone books & directories, welcome wagons, direct mailers, mass mailers, co-op advertising, newspaper advertising, magazine advertising, editorials, advertorials, radio advertising, sponsorship of radio weather, TV advertising, billboards, sponsorship of local events, sponsorship of local charities, sponsorship of sports teams, charitable events, public speaking, community education, community events, local churches, patient referral program, barbecues, thanksgiving turkey dinners for firemen, employee referral program, welcome packages, on-hold advertising, newsletters, public relations, visiting schools, Brushmania, chamber of commerce, newspaper health columns, radio talk shows, online advertising, Yahoo advertising, Google ad-words, banner ads, search engine optimization, online newspaper advertising, blogs, TVs in the windows for outsiders to look in, Facebook, Twitter, Dentpedia, smile reminder emails, bus advertising, street car advertising, car advertising, celebrity endorsements, cross-marketing with other services, brochures, logos, business cards, signs, flyers, banners, TVs in your reception area, TVs in the treatment rooms, patient education videos, patient education models, massage chairs in the reception room, carnations, hot towels, Paraffin wax, video games entertainment, toys, newspapers, magazines, relaxing music, a particular look and feel to the office, giveaways - toothbrushes, tooth pastes, dental floss, treasure chests, financing plans...
As of August 10th, 2010 we came across 364 marketing initiatives and 1,856 companies. The list grows every day.
Making Sense out of it
With so many options how do you decide what is the most effective way to market your practice? That's when we come in as an independent 3rd party. We learn about your goals, we analyze the intricacies of your local market and based on your goals and budget we help you to make the decision on the most appropriate marketing strategy.
Remember – there are significant differences between US and Canada when it comes to marketing in dentistry. The patient psychology is different in the US and so are the laws and regulations.
Remember also that what worked for Dr. Smith down the road might be failure for you, while what works for you might be a failure for Dr. Smith. Every dentist is different and the correct marketing strategy will reflect on those differences. We also advise of what the costs should be and negotiate on your behalf. The savings we provide to the dentist more than cover our fees - making our services essentially free.