Branding Lacking: New Patients Whose 1st Question is, "Do You Take My Dental Insurance?"

When you're a dentist who provides high value care, why do many new patients first ask this question, "Do you take my dental insurance?"

Developing an effective presence in the dentist's local market is crucial for a dental practice to achieve long-term success. This is especially true of dentists who need a higher percentage of fee-for-service patients to be viable, and profitable or those who accept more comprehensive recommendations.

Unfortunately, many people have a generic, if not more negative, view of dentistry. Therefore, without evaluating the marketing environment and the strategies needed to pursue that market now, and upgrading how the dentist presents him or herself to fit the new landscape, each marketing action can lead the audience to form the wrong impression about the dentist's service, and back to the future.

Successfully changing perceptions requires more than in-office pronouncements about quality or search advertising that links to a promotion of free teeth/smile whitening, a new technology or cosmetic dentistry technique.

For example, Invisalign 'clear braces' have a great dental technology concept, but every other dentist uses it or a similar product.

Taking a proactive, pragmatic, strategic approach is necessary to change this impression. The educative value of this tightly focused approach is much greater than the sum of its parts. Understanding the basic components of effective marketing will keep the focus on long-term results.

Evaluating these components offers insight into the effectiveness of your strategy. Achieving synergy in marketing makes it more likely that people are not only made aware of the dentist's image and message, but that patients also react more appropriately to the dentist's recommendations.

Each dental marketing component – high value branding, a consistent neighborhood conversation, and assertive public presence – will be examined to develop a synergistic dentist, dental office brand identity.

In this first installment, I will look at what is the type of high value image dentists should strive to present.

High Value Image

The FOUR components of a high value image include design, message, logo, and presentation, which constitute the overall dental brand.

• Design: It includes colors, style of interior, external, patient, and public presented elements, and a cohesively projected image

• Message: It involves what is said, how it is said and how often it is being said, how congruous it is between dental team members, and in public advertising

• Logo: The look should fit the message, service style, services presented, team, doctor, and decor presentation.

• Presentation: Distribution of the logo/message must be done throughout the environment, not merely on a website and/or letterhead. The promotion of these elements should make them synonymous with the dentist's name and/or practice name. 

Combining these four elements means the brand is able to interact effectively, succinct and purposeful they are

Unless dentists create this type of impact, their marketing becomes part of the clutter. With the success of this new level of influence, the dentist can create a better atmosphere of dental treatment acceptance.

The design of each dental marketing piece should make an impressive visual statement that catches the eye. However, the design must also effectively influence and work with the logo and message to uphold the brand.

Few dentistry office brands will thrive or even survive in this economy without a cohesive packaging of these elements. For example, many people have watched an entire television show, even when entertaining, have difficulty remembering the identity of any of the sponsors.

While the dental logo is part of design, in the context of the context of dentistry promotion, it has another vital purpose. Those who develop online advertising campaigns, dental postcards, brochures and other media need to think of how the logo influences the consumer in the marketing, as part of the brand and within every design element.

One basic strategy in design structure is logo placement. Placing the dental logo is very important to building the design brand. The design needs to accentuate and point to the logo. Without this design quality, the dental logo becomes just another element on the piece, like the area coder, rather than the flag bearer of the dentist's marketing.

Online images, advertisements, direct mail and the dental practice's websites will confuse the dentist's audience unless the design components are coordinated and memorable. Synergy of design, message and logo give the brand the ability to speak to the dental services consumer audience with clarity. This clarity has to be present or high value, a consistent tactile, visual conversation, and public presence are more difficult to elevate, raising the awareness high enough for consumers to see dentistry differently.

CONCLUSION

Practices that wish to sustain an effective level of marketing engagement need to find the right balance, but without engaging the branding issue, dentists will lag behind competitors. Approaching the audience in this refined way will increase the likelihood new patients will demand the dentist's highest level and most healthy appropriate treatment plan.

The competitive environment will continue in various ways because other dentists are making this upgrade, and of course, how the local economy is affecting each and every dentist in their area. The challenge is to move ahead as quickly as possible with a plan that makes sense for the individual dentists.

Yet, like the patient who is skittish about all the costs, and changes in their life involved in this choice, many dentists will put off what is needed till 'a better time' and they miss out on the benefits doing it today would have done for them.

Dental insurance, rather than being something disliked by dentists, or scorned, should be placed in the area as a supplement to the reality of what is possible, not an impediment to getting there, or even thinking about get there. High value branding is a foundation for changing perceptions, and then moving towards success for all parties involved!

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This has been the basics of high value branding, next up a consistent neighborhood conversation, and then the last topic in this dental marketing consulting series will be activating an assertive public presence – will be examined to develop a community aware, synergistic dentist, dental office brand identity.

Dental Marketing Consulting Blog Post,

By Dick Chwalek, Niche Dental
NicheDental.com

• Also a member of the Northern Dental Alliance.
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The Peripheral Vision is the Designer of Most Elements on this page including dental logos.