Managing Marketing: Guidelines for Practice Success. American Dental Association

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      ADA Guidelines for Practice Success™ (GPS™)

Introduction

      Where is your next new patient coming from? Do you know why patients are loyal to your practice? How can you avoid losing patients to another practice? The one answer to most of these questions is likely an easy one: Marketing.

      Are you marketing your practice? If so, what strategies, tactics and channels are you using? How do you measure their effectiveness? Who’s planning, managing, evaluating and redirecting your marketing efforts? Does your practice have a brand? If so, what does it convey to current and, more importantly, prospective patients?

       Marketing Your Dental Practice: What It Means and Why It Matters

      Marketing matters more than ever before. A recent report from the American Dental Association’s Health Policy Institute (HPI) revealed that the percentage of Americans aged 19-64 who saw a dentist dropped 5.5% from 41% in 2003 to 35.5% in 2013. As a result, many practices have excess capacity. When done correctly, marketing can be an effective tactic for bringing in new patients and is becoming more commonplace in all types of communities. It’s an important element for any practice and especially critical for those opening or purchasing practices.

      When done correctly, marketing can be an effective tactic for bringing in new patients and is becoming more commonplace in all types of communities.

      Deciding how and where to market your practice can seem overwhelming. This book will help guide you through the different aspects of marketing, including branding, internal marketing, website development, print marketing, referral generating techniques and advertising. Articles will provide information and resources that will help you:

      • Understand what marketing is — and what it isn’t

      • Assess your current marketing efforts

      • Identify the type of patients you want to attract to the practice

      • Recognize the differences and similarities in marketing and branding

      • Identify your brand

      • Determine which marketing channels are best for your practice

      • Decide who should manage the marketing of your practice

      • Create and implement a formal marketing plan

      • Create and manage the practice’s social media footprint

      • Understand Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Pay Per Click (PPC)

      • Ensure that your website is accessible, effective and easy to navigate on multiple platforms

      The content contained in Managing Marketing details aspects of marketing via nine major topics that offer more detailed information about the options available. The book also includes original resources, such as checklists and tip sheets, which were created specifically for this project and designed to help ADA members manage the marketing process.

      

The Patient Survey/Who and What to Survey

      

Sample Copy to Accompany the Patient Satisfaction Survey

      

Sample Patient Satisfaction Survey

      

Creating Your Marketing Plan/The Basics

      

Identifying Marketing Activities and Tactics

      

Creating Your Marketing Plan/Launching Your Marketing Strategy

      

Checklist for Launching a Marketing Strategy

      

Website Development/Costs

      

Sample Website Development Agreement

      

Website Development/Design and Content

      

Checklist for Creating Effective Website Content

      

Website Development/Safeguarding Patient Information, Website Security and Accessibility

      

Sample Photography/Image Release Form

      

Sample Authorization Form for Use or Disclosure of Patient Information

      

Social Media/Introduction

      

Checklist for Engaging in Social Media

      

Blogging: Tips & Types

      

Sample Content Calendar — Dental Topics

      

Sample Content Calendar — Non-Dental Topics

Marketing

       Marketing Your Dental Practice: What It Is and Why It Matters

      Marketing is more than just advertising and, whether you realize it or not, you’ve been marketing your practice since the first day you started treating patients. Every interaction with every patient, vendor, supplier and neighbor is an opportunity to market the practice. So is your presence in the community.