In addition to the everyday operations—seeing patients, scheduling appointments, billing, etc.—dental practices are often times responsible for their own marketing, which can be pretty time consuming. In the DentistryIQ article “Marketing your dental practice: Involve your team,” Jackie Ulasewich suggests offices utilize their staff by involving them and using their ideas.
“You know that your time is best spent doing what you love and what you’re educated to do, and that’s dentistry,” Ulasewich writes. “But you can’t overlook some of the other responsibilities of being a business owner, such as marketing your practice. However, if you involve your team in these efforts some of the burden is taken off of you, and your entire staff will become aware of what you hope to achieve for your practice.”
Getting your staff on board
Explaining your practice goals to your team is key to getting their buy-in. Just like it’s good practice to keep your staff informed and ask for their opinions when it comes to possible changes in the office, it’s good to do the same when it comes to marketing.
” If you want to use Facebook to promote Invisalign, for example, your hygienist needs to know. After all, your patients will likely ask discuss things with the hygienists before they see you,” Ulasewich writes. “Are you looking for a way to get positive reviews? Your dental assistants can casually mention this to your patients as they work with them. Your team members can be your biggest assets if you let them.”
Where to start
If you’re ready to start involving your team, the first thing you need to do is hold a staff meeting to make sure everyone gets the same information. Make sure your goals are clearly stated. “Do you want to drive more positive reviews on Google? Do you want to get reluctant patients to commit to treatment plans? Do you want to appeal to a new demographic?” she writes. “Your team members might have some ideas that would never occur to you, so use their knowledge to help the practice grow.”
Collaboration
Next comes the brainstorming part. Once everyone is on the same page, Ulasewich says to start brainstorming potential ideas to show off your practice’s personality. These can be ideas for Facebook, an email campaign, a newspaper ad, etc.
Some ideas for promotion:
● The practice’s anniversary, or team members’ birthdays, weddings, or baby showers
● The practice’s community involvement, such as a fun run for charity
● The practice’s new equipment, technologies, or skill sets
● The practice’s holiday parties or seasonal events
● Patient selfies
If you bring your team in on the marketing strategies, they will not feel valued and trusted, they will also likely be excited to help and be involved when the idea is something they care about. Start small and see where it goes!
