I recently spoke at a branch meeting for the Chicago Dental Society. It was a great experience. I have the mentality that there’s always room to improve and always something to learn. I also believe that as a presenter, it’s best to involve the people as much as possible. One-way conversation gets stale in any situation. I guess I don’t see myself as a “lecturer” but more of a “facilitator” whenever there’s an opportunity to present to a small group.
During our discussion someone asked about QR codes. In case you’re wondering, QR codes look like this:
In discussing QR codes and their use (which I’ll explain more in my next post), we got to the point where I said, “this may be for you, it may not be for you”. Dentists are used to speakers telling them just what to do and what not to do. I think it really depends. It depends on the type of patients you are connecting with. It depends on your level of comfort and understanding. It depends on if you’re even set up to effectively roll something like this out. If you don’t even have a modern website, in most instances, it wouldn’t make sense to use a QR code.
Some people in the room said that they use facebook and effectively stay connected with their patients on Facebook. Others hate the idea of having one more thing to monitor or worry about. It can work great for some people, but that doesn’t mean that Facebook is where you should start your marketing campaign. There may be many other more important things that you need to pay attention to first. After all, your time is limited and things should be prioritized. There’s an order of importance in dental marketing.
My main point is this: If you find something interesting to you and it makes sense to you as to why you should have it, go for it. But please, stop feeling pressure to do every single new thing that comes along. Adopt one new thing, make it work for you, then take on the next thing. Don’t let it overwhelm you. Don’t buy into scare tactics. Take time to educate yourself on the how and why. (Feel free to ask me questions, I’m happy to help you understand what’s most important in accomplishing your goals.)
Consider having an employee help with some of these things, it’s much easier to stay up to date with the latest and “greatest”. We’re happy to provide your staff member with guidance and training to make the most out of your email marketing campaign, social media and other marketing efforts. Always, always implement a way to have accountability.
Don’t be quick to outsource things like Facebook. Marketing companies are capitalizing on the fact that many doctors just don’t want to handle this. Facebook is most effective when handled internally. Sure, you can hire someone to help you keep up with posts. Be careful, I’ve seen social media marketing companies create fake profiles to grow the number of “likes” on a business page. I bet they don’t mention that to their clients. Truth be told: your website design, ranking on Google, and obviously your patients’ experiences at your office matter so much more than how often you tweet or post.
Yes, I’m a marketer. Yes, I can help you with things like Facebook, QR codes and anything else that can add to your marketing campaign. But sometimes I get sick of seeing the other marketing companies using scare tactics to get you to subscribe to their services instead of education. There are affordable, effective ways to make the most out of your marketing. Don’t ever make your buying decisions based on the fear tactics of sellers. Make them based on your critical thinking and because something make sense to you. If you don’t understand social media, ask someone you trust about it before paying a company to manage it. This holds true with any other kind of marketing.
