Dental Marketing : a Killer Marketing Strategy!

In the dental marketing arena, starting up with the business means that you have to have the strategies on how to start it right. And in dental marketing you should be able to know how to make your practice come hand-in-hand with the business. In this article, I will share to you the strategy on how to do just that in your dental marketing business.

On a free tele-class wherein I invited a bunch of doctors, among the questions that I received from them were “How do I know where to start with your marketing?”, and “How do I know if my practice can be helped with marketing?”. What I gave them was a round about answer. But it's a fair one nonetheless... and it explains what you REALLY need to think about in dental marketing instead of being misled by a consultant or marketing representative. Here are two specific measurements that I like to look at which helps me objectively coach my clients on the “health” of their practice.

#1 : The Referral Ratio

In dental marketing, you need to take into consideration the Referral Ratio. You may ask: “What is Referral Ratio?”. It is actually simple. All you really need here is a general ball park. Just take the total number of referrals you received last year and divide it by the total number of active patients you have. So what we have is this formula:

Referral Ratio = (total # of referrals received last year)
(total # of active patients you have)

So let's take for example you have 300 referrals and 1000 active patients:
Therefore; Referral Ratio = (300 referrals) / (1000 active patients) = 30%
* 30% Referral Ratio is considered “Good”, not great... but it is a good starting place.
Another example would be that you have 100 referrals and 1000 active patients:
Therefore; Referral Ratio = (100 referrals) / (1000 active patients) = 10%
* If you fall in this range, then you have some MAJOR improvements to do. But the good news is that at least you now know it.. and we can go to work!

If you are hitting below a 50% Referral Ratio in dental marketing, then you would list it as one of your strategic objectives to improve over the next 90 days to 12 months. If you are hitting below a 20% Referral Ratio, then it is VITAL! It calls for immediate action!

#2: The 6-Month Value Of A New Patient!

In dental marketing, you would want to know what a patient is worth to your practice at a 3-month, 6-month, and 12-month time basis. But when first getting started, keep it simple. The reason why you would want it is that it will tell you how much patients are spending with your practice in that time. This will tell you what your return on investment (or ROI) is in 6 months! Let's say for example, if your cost to acquire a new patient is $100; and your 6-month patient value is $600; then you know for every $1 you spend... you get approximately $6 back. Now that is a good start.

If your ROI is 3:1 or 1:1 in your dental marketing business, then you are in DANGER! You need to bump it up as soon as possible! Either way, even if you have a higher ROI, you are ALWAYS looking to improve this!

Always remember that in your dental marketing business, the value of a patient is a thing that you will never stop trying to improve. Here are some simple ways to do this: increase referrals per patient, diagnose more and improve case acceptance; improve your new patient experience; start a patient newsletter so as to communicate with your existing patients (if done correctly, gets them to choose more of your services); offer more services; hold an Invisalign Open House; start placing implants; etc. There are more ideas, but this gives you a VERY good start!