The Dental Marketer

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The Dental Marketer Podcast, hosted by Michael Arias.

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Latest Episodes

Big Savings for Independent Practices: Dental GPO Secrets Revealed | Michael McCoy | 545

How can small dental practices leverage big-business buying power?

In this episode, we chat with Mike McCoy, the visionary behind Dental Collective, who helps independent practices save big on high-end dental products and services. Raised in a family immersed in the dental sales sector, Mike shares his personal journey and expansive experience working with industry giants like Komet USA and Align Technology. These roles unveiled the secrets of sales and pricing, laying the foundation for Dental Collective. The heart of the discussion reveals how McCoy's group purchasing organization (GPO) empowers smaller practices to enjoy the pricing benefits once reserved for larger dental service organizations (DSOs.) Mike demystifies the working process of GPOs and dismantles myths surrounding deal access in the dental market, advocating for a level playing field.

The episode takes a deep dive into the economic advantages of joining Dental Collective. Mike explains how engaging with a GPO is not just about saving on supplies but also capitalizing on extensive resources like marketing, IT, and insurance negotiations. He paints a vivid picture of practices pocketing considerable savings on expenses like credit card merchant fees and third-party financing, thanks to skillful negotiation and streamlined processes. As Mike shares compelling case studies, he invites dentists to take a proactive stance in their GPO membership to maximize gains.

What You'll Learn in This Episode:

How Mike's journey and industry acumen shaped Dental Collective.
The role and benefits of a group purchasing organization in modern dentistry.
Common misconceptions about dental deal accessibility and pricing structures.
The financial impact of GPO memberships on overhead costs.
Strategies for leveraging GPO services beyond traditional supply discounts.
Real-life examples demonstrating significant cost savings through Dental Collective.
The importance of active engagement in maximizing GPO benefits.
The broad spectrum of resources available to Dental Collective members.

Join us for an enlightening discussion on transforming your dental practice's financial health!

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Sponsors:‍CareStack: Modern, Secure, Cloud-Based Dental Software for Growing Your Practice! With state-of-the-art features including Online Appointments, Integrated Payments, Text Reminders and more. Click the link here for a special offer: thedentalmarketer.lpages.co/carestack

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Guest: Mike McCoyBusiness Name: Dental CollectiveCheck out Mike's Media:‍

Website: Dental Collective | Your Go To Partner for Savings on Dental Supplies

(Use coupon code DCTRIAL1 at checkout for a 1-month trial of Dental Collective. You can cancel at anytime if you don’t find it to be a good fit for your practice.)

Email: dcsales@dental-collective.com

Phone: 781-701-6707

Instagram: instagram.com/dentalcollectivedpo

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/michaelrmccoy-100419

Book a Consultation: calendly.com/dcsales-2fs/30min

Vendor Partners: Partner Vendors | Start Saving Money Today with Dental Collective

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Love the Podcast? Let Us Know How We're Doing on Apple Podcasts!

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Other Mentions and Links:

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Terms:

GPO - Group Purchasing Organization

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Businesses/Brands:

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Sports Teams:

New York Yankees

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Products:

3M Filtek Composite

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Host: Michael Arias‍Website: The Dental Marketer

Join my newsletter: https://thedentalmarketer.lpages.co/newsletter/‍

Join this podcast's Facebook Group: The Dental Marketer Society

‍Please don't forget to share with us on Instagram when you are listening to the podcast AND if you are really wanting to show us love, then please leave a 5 star review on iTunes! [Click here to leave a review on iTunes]

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p.s. Some links are affiliate links, which means that if you choose to make a purchase, I will earn a commission. This commission comes at no additional cost to you. Please understand that we have experience with these products/companies, and I recommend them because they are helpful and useful, not because of the small commissions we make if you decide to buy something. Please do not spend any money unless you feel you need them or that they will help you with your goals.

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Your Ideal Patient and How to Get More of Them | GMS

Are you reaching the right audience or casting your patient net too wide?

In this episode of the Ground Marketing Series, we unravel the secrets behind targeting the perfect patient audience to boost the success of your marketing strategies. We dive deep into the art of identifying and defining your ideal patient personas by analyzing demographic and behavioral data. By honing in on specific patient groups, you'll uncover the psychological and behavioral dynamics that drive patient decisions, enabling you to make smarter, data-driven marketing moves.

We’ll walk you through practical methods to analyze your existing patient base and research local demographics, crafting marketing strategies that meet your patients where they are. Learn how to naturally engage your target audience in places they frequent, utilizing pre-visit strategies, impactful initial interactions, and persistent follow-ups. To cap it all off, discover the power of forming local partnerships and nurturing community relationships for long-term success. Embarking on this detailed guide, you'll be equipped to create a strategic ground marketing plan that resonates with your ideal patients, laying the groundwork for sustainable growth.

What You'll Learn in This Episode:

Crafting a detailed profile of your ideal patient persona.
Utilizing demographic and behavioral data for marketing plans.
Targeting patient groups using psychological and behavioral insights.
Analyzing current patient data and local demographic trends.
Engaging with patients in their natural gathering spots.
Developing a systematic and structured approach to ground marketing.
Building robust local partnerships within the community.

Tune in to discover how to transform your practice's marketing strategy with precision and insight!

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Learn More About the Ground Marketing Course Here:

Website: https://thedentalmarketer.lpages.co/the-ground-marketing-course-open-enrollment/

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You can reach out to Michael here:

Email: michael@thedentalmarketer.site

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Other Mentions and Links:

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Podcast Episodes:

313: Dr. Tyler Brady | How to Use "Influencer Marketing" to Attract New Patients & Grow Your Practice FAST! – The Dental Marketer Podcast

Businesses/Brands: 

People: 

Groups:

U.S. Chamber of Commerce

Data Collection:

U.S. Census Data

Facebook Groups

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If you want your questions answered on Monday Morning Episodes, ask me on these platforms:

My Newsletter: https://thedentalmarketer.lpages.co/newsletter/

The Dental Marketer Society Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2031814726927041

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Episode Transcript (Auto-Generated - Please Excuse Errors)

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Michael: Alright, we're going to be discussing identifying your target. Now, this is huge how to pinpoint and approach your ideal patients through ground marketing. So right now, if you're thinking, man, I hear this all the time, I need to find my target audience. I need to know my ideal patients. Maybe sometimes you're thinking like, I just want any patient, but no, you gotta get specific here.

Niche down. And you do have an ideal patient in your mind, right? Maybe you're an existing practice in your favorite patients. Those are your ideal patients. If you don't have a practice yet and you're in the opening startup phase Who you've worked with in the past as an associate and your favorite patients, whoever they were, those are ideal patients, right? Obviously it's going to evolve within time. You're going to get more niched down and more specific, which is going to be perfect. Because you're going to be able to target that audience.

So why targeting matters in ground marketing. So ground marketing is not about reaching the most people. It's about reaching the right people without precise targeting. Efforts are wasted on audiences who are unlikely to convert into loyal patients. So identifying your ideal patients ensures. That your marketing is efficient, high converting and relationship driven.

That's, what's going to be most important, right? You want it to be efficient. Obviously you want it to convert as high as possible, but relationship driven these offers or these other things, they can be easily broken, right? you can cut ties quickly. But once that relationship thickens and thickens more, it's harder to cut because it's a relationship.

And that's what you want. You want these ideal patients, all of them to be relationship driven, unlike digital marketing, where you can segment audiences with online analytics, ground marketing relies on behavioral. Demographic and psychological factors to pinpoint ideal patient groups. And in previous episode, we discuss the psychology behind it.

Brown marketing. Now the science behind patient behavior and decision making, if we understand how people make healthcare decisions, it's going to help us tailor our approach. So I want to give you some key psychological factors that drive patient choices. And these are things you need to keep in mind whenever you're out ground marketing, or just in general, whenever you're doing any type of marketing.

Okay. It's four things, And number one, this is a huge one, proximity and convenience. People providers within a 10 to 15 minute radius from home or work. So a solution for this. Is you want to focus on high foot traffic areas near your practice, grocery stores, schools, gyms, coffee shops, anything in that area, in that radius, you want to focus on and there's a, module in the ground marketing course under the existing patient analysis.

The EPA module or the EPA unit, we discussed this in depth. We dive a lot deeper on the exact radius you should be looking at for your practice. that's number one, proximity and convenience is trust and social proof. So patients choose providers recommended by friends, family, or familiar community figures, right?

The solution for this would be leveraged word of mouth referrals and local partnerships to build credibility. So your favorite patients right now, the ones who talk you up, make sure they are consistently talking you up, but you want to turn them into ambassadors who can turn other potential patients into ambassadors.

You want to keep this going. That's going to be social proof and you want to build trust as well. That builds a lot of trust. As we know, that's the strongest form of marketing, which is referrals, word of mouth. So that's what you want to do. You want to leverage word of mouth referrals and local partnerships to build your credibility.

That's two trust and social proof. Three is immediate need versus preventative mindset. Now, some patients seek urgent solutions maybe they have tooth pain, emergencies right, things like that. Then others prioritize long term dental health, so Invisalign, cosmetic work, etc. Your solution for this is segment patients based on need and customize your approach accordingly.

If you're going for emergency patients, That's what we're going to start targeting. Emergency locations, clinics, urgent cares, specific locations. If you're looking for long term, preventative, think of cosmetic, right? Or full mouth reconstruction or something else. Misalign, implants. That's where you want to start targeting.

Start thinking of where that demographic probably would be. That coupled with trust and social proof and then proximity and convenience. Now we're targeting, right? We're niching down. And finally is financial concerns and insurance acceptance. So many patients choose a practice based on insurance coverage or affordability.

This is not new to you. You know this. You get a call maybe a couple times a day saying, Does my insurance cover this? many patients choose a practice based on that. So the solution is Highlight flexible payment options and insurance acceptance in your marketing, and we're going to dive deeper into this.

And in the ground marketing course, there's a whole section on this, on how to verbalize or enhance your vocabulary. So. You know how to respond when people ask questions like, do you accept my insurance or how much does this cost? And so forth. So identify which psychological driver fits each audience and tailor your messaging accordingly.

Okay. So little do you know right now, your marketing message is tailored to a specific target audience. Is it the target audience that you want? Based on these four things, number one, remember proximity and convenience to trust and social proof three immediate need versus preventative mindset and for financial concerns and insurance and acceptance based on those four things, who do you think your marketing messaging is targeting right now?

so we're going to niche down if it's the right people, perfect. We're going to continue to do that. If it's not, we need to adjust. And make sure you want to niche down to your ideal patients, who you want to continue to see forever, if you could. So now that we got that down, number one, the science behind patient behavior and decision making.

We understand how the patients are going to be making decisions. Now we want to define your ideal patient persona. So a patient persona is a detailed profile of your target patient. You want to consider the demographics, behaviors, and pain points. So the steps to create an ideal patient persona, and here's where you probably want to take out your pen and paper write this down, right?

And start analyzing and start defining your ideal patient persona. So step one, analyze your current patient base. Who are your most loyal and high value patients? Write that down. What age group, income level, and insurance plans do they have? Write that down. Group them. What common concerns bring them to your practice?

Write that down. Okay. That's going to be huge. This is probably the biggest thing ever, because let's just say you have lot of patients, right? And you're writing it down, you're like, your most loyal and high value patients is let's say Bob and Barbara. I love them. What age group are they?

Oh, they're ones in the thirties, ones in their fifties. Okay, income level. Oh, I see the income level is common. It's in the 100k to And they do have insurance too. They have PPOs. Okay, cool. Awesome. What common concerns bring them to your practice? Well, They both had initially, you know, pain or maybe they moved and then they wanted to see a new dentist.

Or something, or they just had, concerns or they wanted cosmetic work done. Now you're starting to niche down, okay, where do they work? What income level? Where is their HOA? Or where do they live? And what type of apartments at the same time, wherever their hobbies are, what are they doing?

Things like that, right? You're starting to live around their life. That's how you're analyzing your current patient base. Once you live around their life, they go to these grocery stores, they go here, they go here. Now we're starting to niche down. Let's focus on those locations to ground market too. So step one, most important step, analyze your current patient base.

Step two, you want to research your local demographics. You can use your U. S. census data, city planning sites, or my favorite is local Facebook groups to gather insights. Just go to the Facebook group in your community. There's probably five or more. And then they even niche down on that. There's mom groups, there's athletic ones, there's ones who love recipes and stuff like that.

And just in your community, niche down on that and be a part of those Facebook groups, and you're able to gain some insights on that. What are people talking about? Even if you just type in the search bar, dentist. You're able to gain a lot of insight on that. What's their concerns? What are they looking for?

And things like that. And then you want to identify major age groups, household incomes, education levels, and common employment types. Always do that. Every single one of your patients, you should be able to know where they work at what type of obviously insurance they provide, but at the same time, what I recommend and in the course, we recommend this all the time.

And we teach you, we give you the scripts on exactly what you should say and how to do this. So that you can get into these patients who let's just say, Oh my God, you work at the Amazon fulfillment center. It's a corporation of 000 employees or a hundred employees. And you would love to have them as your patients because their insurance is great.

Yeah, we give you the script on how to ask that patient who's already a patient of yours, how you can dive deeper into their place of employment, who do you need to contact, things like that in order to go inside of the corporation become one of their main providers. So you definitely want to be asking these questions to all your existing patients already, but at the same time, this is something you want to sit down and start identifying yourself, the age groups, household incomes of your ideal patients, the education levels, common employment types, things like that.

So that's step two, research local demographics. And the way you can do that is by going to Facebook groups, but us census data and city planning sites are good to Facebook groups, you're able to get a little bit more insight, casual conversations, which is what's on their mind at that time.

And identify a lot of the insights that you're trying to get. So step three would be identify their pain points and decision making triggers. And this is where the Facebook groups come in pretty handy. You can see the insights. You can see what people are saying, but do they struggle with dental anxiety, busy schedules, cost concerns?

Are they parents seeking pediatric care? Are they young professionals considering Invisalign? Look into this. Okay. So you want to do three things on step number two, which is number one, analyze your current patient base, who are your most loyal and high value patients, age group, income level. Step two, research local demographics.

U. S. Census data, local Facebook groups, right? Three, identify their pain points and decision making triggers. Remember, we discussed what four decision making triggers are. So identify them. Identify their pain points. What are they? And then we niche down. An example of this is right here. And if you're listening to this on the podcast, great, wonderful.

But when you can, look at the video version of it because this is where I'm showing you right now the examples of the patient persona. So let's just say persona number one, the busy parent, which is ideal for pediatric and family dentistry. Their ages is 30 to 45. Their lifestyle is full time working parent and their kids are aged from four to 12 pain points would be lack of time and concerned about their children's health, their dental health.

So your marketing approach is this. You want to offer a convenient evening or weekend appointments partner with local daycares and schools for easy referrals. And provide family discounts, if you would like, or bundled appointments. Okay. That would be how that would look if you're dealing with a busy parent.

Persona number two, the aesthetic driven young professional. They would be ideal for a cosmetic or ortho services. This is a young professional. there between the ages of 25 to 40, their lifestyle, their career oriented, active on social media, and willing to invest in appearance, their pain points.

Is they want straight white teeth, but they fear high costs. So your marketing approach would be you offer interest free financing and small makeovers. Just offer the interest free rate financing, offer something bundled up. That's beautiful. A lot of the times we like to show them the big ticket price and say, Hey, this is all the discounts we're giving you.

You don't need to do all that. You can just say, you're going to get this at the monthly rate. That's it. you're being efficient with your time, short, sweet, to the point brevity. And at the same time, it's appreciated by them. They're like, Oh man, I can do that.

That's as much as like a gym membership or a CrossFit membership. You want to partner with gyms, salons, or coffee shops where they frequent. And you want to provide a before and after transformation and influencer collaborations. And in the course we discuss on how you can do that and influencer collaborations.

And in the podcast, we discussed that if you want to type in the search bar on our website the dental marketer. org, you can type in Tyler Brady, he discusses quite a bit on how to do influencer marketing and collaborations. But that's what you want to do. You want to provide before and after transformations big time.

one thing I recommend is you want to create two to three personas and align your outreach strategies accordingly. So your ideal patient doesn't mean it has to be one specific persona and one specific ideal patient and that's it. You can have multiple. and I challenge you to have three ideal patients.

So one could be the busy parent, the other one can be the aesthetic driven young professional, and then the other one can be like The retired senior who is living it up in the community center, right? And you can go from there. So that's going to be step number two. So to recap, step number one is the science behind patient behavior and decision making.

Two is defining your ideal patient persona, which we just did. Three is now locating and approaching your ideal patients. once you've identified your ideal audience, the next step is finding where they gather and crafting their perfect approach. You want to craft your perfect approach. So where to find different patient groups in your community. Now you can make a list and put top left patient type in the middle, where to find them and then on the right best approach.

if you want, you can look at my, screen and I have that right here. So the patient type is parent with young kids. You can find them in schools, daycares, pediatrician offices, kids, sports events, ice cream shops specific gyms, just for children, like jamboree and things like that, et cetera.

And your best approach could be, you can offer a free comprehensive exam. You can offer something as like a free consultation. You can have signup sheets for parents. You can offer, Hey, come in your first visit a tour for free, right? You can create an event just for the parents to tour everything, do something amazing for the children.

That would be your best approach. Patient type. Young professionals, where to find them, gyms, coworking spaces, networking events, coffee shops. You want to go to specific events. If you're looking at the chamber of commerce on the calendar, you can see specific events that people are a part of your community throws specific things for them.

A lot of apartment complexes, humongous apartment complexes, throw events every single month for people like a wine and cheese type of thing or anything like that. You can be a part of that. And honestly, your best approach is promoting teeth whitening. That has been incredible. Promoting teeth whitening, or if you want Invisalign specials as well.

Patient type, seniors and retirees. You want to go to community centers, senior health centers things like that. And you want to offer specific things, right? Mainly what we've seen is they have a lot of questions specifically. About not just insurance, but what's covered, what's not, they will have insurance questions.

And so we will dive much deeper, maybe multiple episodes on seniors it's an incredible patient base we forget sometimes that, they're the ones who are learning the quickest, the internet, and they're using it the most. And at the same time, they are excited to receive emails and so much more.

So if you're at senior events, senior centers, and things like that, independent living facilities, all you really have to do at those. When you're speaking to them, if you're doing like a booth and a luncheon or anything like that, it's just answer questions and they will sign up and they will be a part of it and they will get their families to go to, so you can do free oral health workshops at these facilities.

You can do implant consultations and things like that. But I'd go with, just wanting to answer questions and then you can. Understand the feel of the group and be like, okay, this is what they want. We're going to offer that, or maybe they don't want anything. They just need work done.

And then you want someone to finally answer their questions. So anyways, we're going to dive deeper on seniors and later episode, emergency patients, right? You want to go to urgent cares, clinics, pain management centers. That's where you can find them and then provide specific emergency things, right?

You want to partner with pharmacists, let them know, talk to them, partner with urgent cares, partner with hospitals, small clinics, things like that. Give them specific flyers if you want on the services and how you're available, what you can do, things like that. And then patient type corporate employees.

You want to do HR departments, lunch and learn sessions, offices, offer insurance maximization workshops. You want to dumb it down to them, literally to where you can explain it to a third grader. That's how you want to look at it. And then you want them to be able to explain it to an actual third grader.

That way, you know, that they understand the more you can educate them like that, the better, especially with corporate employees, because they have a ton of work. They're doing a lot and they just want, Hey, did I maximize it? Did I do everything I could? At the same time, I know a lot of members in the course, they do have onsite dental screenings, or they actually will go to these corporations and work on them.

They have these mobile units that they can just go and do cleanings there. That is huge and helps them out a lot. And the companies absolutely love that because more time there is better for the corporation than, you know, less time out and about. Scheduling and then having be out, So if you can offer that, that's awesome. like I said, we dive deeper into that as well in the course. Now, you want to strategically choose locations where patients already gather rather than trying to bring them to you. Okay? So if they're already there, strategically choose that location. I'll give you an example. There's a pretty big hotel.

Let's just give a name, right? Let us say the Hyatt or Marriott or something like that. Right. And they have quite a bit of employees and instead of you trying to go after, Oh, Hey, me go just for the front office. Hey, let me go for the maintenance, signatures, housekeeping.

They actually have team meetings early in the morning, monthly team meetings. And believe it or not, they will allow you to come in, set up your booth and have speaking time. that meeting with everyone watching you. And so that's your time, And that is a good example of you're choosing a location that offers insurance, that offers good benefits to their employees and things like that.

And. You're choosing locations where patients are already gathered, rather than you're trying to bring them to you individually and just handing out your flyers, you're being strategic, right? And then one of the last is number four, creating a targeted ground marketing approach plan.

So now that you know who you're targeting and where to find them, let's just say it's the mother, right? With the kids or it's the young professional. Now you know where to find them. You need a systematized approach. Okay. So there is a pre visit strategy. You want to establish credibility first, right?

You can either do that by connecting on LinkedIn or local business networks before showing up. That's why sometimes I do recommend joining the chamber of commerce or the rotary club, but it's not necessary in the course. We teach you how to, be a part of the chamber of commerce and other events without actually joining the chamber of commerce.

So you don't have to pay that fee, it does help. if you are. Because you're able to be a part of specific networking events. Now that's one thing you can do. You can also send an email or letter of introduction of your practice before visiting businesses. This works sometimes. I have yet to do this, but I added this in here in this episode because I know some of the members do it.

For specific corporations and it's helped out tremendously. So go ahead and do that if you like. I know it's specific corporations. we actually in the course we give you the template. We give you the whole script on what to say in the email and then boom, you can just put your name and send it.

But like I said can do that or can find a common contact who can introduce you, right? Mutual connections. That is the best thing. That is what I normally do find a common contact, mutual connections, and that equals trust, right? You call the location. Hey, one of your patients just came into our practice and, you know, I had a couple of questions and.

They are like Cause you're calling the HR department. Is everything okay? What, What happened with that person? Oh, no, they're just saying how much they love it there. They love you. And we love them as a patient as well. And I was just wondering, is there any way we can kind of, offer more specific benefits and special offers for the employees there?

mean, We love you guys. We love employees that you have. And boom, you're able to get in there, right? And offer more. But that is because you have a common contact who can introduce you. Technically, the person didn't even introduce you. You just have a common contact.

And that's what I utilize. I'm just like, hey, you work at this location? Perfect. Is it okay if I call the HR department or, you know what I mean? And let them know. And nine times out of ten, the patient who's already an existing patient will tell you sure, you can go ahead. I mean, I have nothing to do with it.

And then just go ahead and call. And then you're able to get in. So perfect. That's a pre visit strategy, right? And then the perfect first interaction you want to approach without being salesy. So that's A. A is the pre visit strategy. B is the perfect first interaction. You want to keep it casual and conversational, not sales pitchy.

I can't express to you how important this is. Keeping it casual, Almost like you're talking to a friend. Not overly casual, but casual in the sense of you're now walking in there with everything in your hand and you're not on the phone call.

like you're reading something from a script, although you might be reading something from a script. You just want to keep it casual, offer something of value up front, And then use social proof. You know, We worked with other businesses and we've helped their employees and patients. We would love to support your team too.

You can use social proof in the sense of, you know what, every month we partner with a fitness facility. And this month we would love to partner with you guys. We saw incredible results for our patients the employees or the clients or the members in. 24 hour fitness. And we really wanted to partner up with LA fitness now, because that's just been a request and you have something every month that we can be a part of?

boom, they're going to say, yeah, we do. We have something that you can be a part of. Wonderful. How does this work? And then you can continue with them. Never start with. And this is a humongous pro tip and you hear this all the time and you've probably done this, I've done this So never start with, Hey, we'd love it if you send referrals our way. So you're going in, dropping off flyers to the perfect location that you want your ideal patient to come from. And you're like, hi, I'm the new dentist down the street. We'd love it if you send referrals our way. That does nothing. Maybe one in a million times it might get you a referral here and there, but that's it, just know as you're the person who's asking for something. So start by offering something first. And then see follow up system. I cannot tell you how important following up is. And I discussed this in the previous episode. I mentioned this is probably where you either gain or lose the most potential patients, new potential patients. Most people won't book immediately. They need reminders and touch points. So you want to immediately follow up same day, send a personalized message, thanking them for their time. Everybody you meet at an event, you just dropped off something, you introduced yourself in the sense of you're going to go be a part of their event.

You dropped off a signup sheet. just follow up immediately that same day. more than likely the person you spoke with is not one of your patients already and they can become your patient. Step two, you want to do a three day follow up, right? Provide a quick reminder about the offer, the benefits.

And then you also want to follow up again with that. If they haven't booked, want to offer a limited incentive. month our free whining is ending, and I noticed there's only five more days left, or we have five free whining sessions left. We'd love to save one for you, things like that. Right. And we're going to dive so much deeper, multiple episodes on how to follow up specifically. But in the ground marketing course, I give you the breakdown, I give you the scripts. I give you templates, everything on exactly how to follow up, how many days you should wait, how many months, if so.

And what to do and what to say in each of them, but remember 80 percent of conversions happen after five to seven touch points. So keep nurturing leads, always keep nurturing leads. So a final thoughts you want to have a targeted strategic ground marketing plan, That is the key to success.

So a step by step summary for success. And in this episode is number one, you want to understand patient behavior, identify what drives decision making and we discussed that right. Convenience, cost trust, create clear patient personas, define who you want to attract, and then define their pain points. Get those two crystal clear. Three, locate the right places. Be where your target audience naturally gathers, but be there consistently. Don't just be there one time and that's it. Be there as much as you can for as long as you can. Locate the right places. Four, use a systematic approach.

Have a pre visit strategy, an engaging first interaction. And a structured follow up. So when ground marketing is done strategically, it builds sustainable, high value patient pipelines without relying on expensive ads. Identifying your audience is the most critical step to making your efforts pay off.

So that's what you want to do. First and foremost. Okay. So thank you so much for tuning into this episode. I hope it helps. I'm excited to see you continue to skyrocket on your ground marketing journey. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out You can email me, you can find me at Michael at the dental marketer dot site.

That's the email. Or you can just go on the website, the dental marketer. org and fill out. One of those follow up forms, but the best way to reach out to me is if you are part of the ground marketing course, which I'm going to put a link to it in the show notes below, it's going to be the first link in the show notes below. I mean, We have live office hours like this. You're able to engage with me, talk with me. It's like a mastermind session. At the same time in there, you're able to see all the strategies, all the scripts, all the templates, all the workshops. You even see real life examples of me. I hide the camera or I'm on the phone.

Doing these strategies and you're able to see it work in real time, exactly how it's supposed to be. so definitely join the ground marketing course. I'd love to see you in there. I'd love for you to be a part of it so you can start attracting new patients, but at the same time, become the go to practice in your community and build these incredible local partnerships And that's what we're going to be discussing in the next episode, building local partnerships that matter. So thank you so much. And I'll talk to you soon.

Google Business Profiles: The Key to Free Practice Growth | David Kaminski | 544

Could your Google Business Profile be the untapped goldmine your business is missing?

Today we're unpacking the essentials of Google Business Profiles with renowned expert David Kaminski, who reveals strategies to elevate your practice's online presence without relying on traditional advertising. David reveals a wealth of practical tips that can help practices increase their visibility and attract more patients. From sharing timely updates and offers to utilizing high-intent search terms like "dental implants near me," this conversation is brimming with actionable insights tailored to help you maximize your Google Business Profile's potential.

David emphasizes the necessity of consistent activity to remain prominent on Google Maps, explaining how regular engagement, such as geo-tagging photos and crafting time-sensitive promotions, can drive traffic. You’ll also get a sneak peek into David’s innovative automated software that streamlines these processes, allowing practices to effortlessly manage their profiles and spend more time focusing on growth. By the end of the episode, you’ll understand the power of a well-optimized Google Business Profile and feel empowered to take control of your digital footprint.

What You'll Learn in This Episode:

The secret to boosting growth via a Google Business Profile without paid ads.
Key actions to maintain visibility and relevance on Google Maps.
The effectiveness of using high-intent, transactional keywords.
How geo-tagging images can enhance local customer attraction.
Insights into leveraging limited-time offers to create urgency.
The convenience of automating your Google Business Profile updates.

Unlock the power of your Google Business Profile by tuning in to this episode!

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Guest: David KaminskiBusiness Name: Transactional DentalCheck out David's Media:‍

Website: transactionaldental.com

Transactional Dental Success Stories: transactionaldental.com/happy-dentists/

Maps Signup (Coming Soon): transactionaldental.com/maps-signup

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Love the Podcast? Let Us Know How We're Doing on Apple Podcasts!

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Other Mentions and Links:

‍

Software/Tools:

Google Business Profile

GeoImgr

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Host: Michael Arias‍Website: The Dental Marketer

Join my newsletter: https://thedentalmarketer.lpages.co/newsletter/‍

Join this podcast's Facebook Group: The Dental Marketer Society

‍

Ground Marketing Foundations: Your Toolkit for Community Engagement | GMS

Can simply showing up in your community drive a successful marketing strategy, or is there a deeper game in play?

In this episode of the Ground Marketing Series, we're exploring the fundamental tools and strategies that translate presence into meaningful growth. Contrary to the notion that just "showing up" is enough, I'm uncovering the structured, systematic approaches crucial for relationship-building and impactful outreach. I'm sharing insights into the key psychological principles that form the backbone of effective marketing—such as the law of familiarity, reciprocity, social proof, commitment, and consistency—ensuring long-term success and a steady influx of new patients.

The toolkits we dive into provide a roadmap to a seamless ground marketing campaign. From the Relationship Building Toolkit, packed with business partnership essentials, to the Mobile Marketing Toolkit, which equips your team with visually impactful portable branding and lead collection tools, every element is crafted to maximize engagement. Additionally, the Content and Messaging Toolkit empowers practices to maintain consistent and appealing communication. We'll also explore systemizing processes for scaling efficiently, highlighting strategies like automated follow-ups and comprehensive team training programs.

What You'll Learn in This Episode:

The role of psychological principles in building sustainable marketing strategies.
Essential components of a Relationship Building Toolkit.
How a Mobile Marketing Toolkit can amplify your outreach efforts.
Key elements of effective content and messaging for dental practices.
Techniques for systemizing and scaling your marketing campaigns.
The benefits of automated follow-ups and consistent team training.

Tune in now to discover the foundational pillars of ground marketing and your outreach efforts!

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Learn More About the Ground Marketing Course Here:

Website: https://thedentalmarketer.lpages.co/the-ground-marketing-course-open-enrollment/

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Other Mentions and Links:

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Products:

My Top Tools For Ground Marketing At Events

iPad

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Customer Relationship Managers:

HubSpot

Pipedrive

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Communities:

Dentaltown

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Businesses:

Trader Joe's

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If you want your questions answered on Monday Morning Episodes, ask me on these platforms:

My Newsletter: https://thedentalmarketer.lpages.co/newsletter/

The Dental Marketer Society Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2031814726927041

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Episode Transcript (Auto-Generated - Please Excuse Errors)

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Michael: All right, we're going to be discussing setting up for success, the ground marketing foundations.

this is the essential tools and resources to get started. So now we're getting more tangible, right? The tools that you're going to need. Now, ground marketing is not just about showing up. It requires a structured strategy, the right tools and a systematized approach to maximize results.

So throw everything out in case you thought I can just show up to a business and introduce myself and that's ground marketing. Nope, that is not ground marketing. You need a structured strategy. You need the right tools and you need a systematized approach to make sure you are effective. Now, I'm going to break down the fundamental components needed to set up a high performing ground marketing framework that ensures consistency, scalability, and long term success.

Okay?

Now remember, to start off, the thing you need to keep in mind is the core mindset. for ground marketing as a long term system. Now here's the thing. Many practices fail at ground marketing because they treat it as a one time promotional tactic instead of repeatable system, okay?

The key to long term success is consistency, relationship building, and proper execution. Remember the psychological principles that will ensure this success. It's number one, the law of familiarity. People trust what they see repeatedly and ground marketing must be ongoing, not a one time event to the principle of reciprocity, give value first, and people will feel inclined to reciprocate.

Three, the social proof effect. When people see others engaging with your brand, they assume it's reputable and worth their time. And for the commitment and consistency rule, small commitments. Increase the likelihood of larger commitments. So make sure you have those four psychological principles always in mind.

Now they have to consistently see you. Ground marketing must be ongoing. And honestly, that's probably already what's going to separate you from all your other competitors, all the other practices, DSOs, prior practices in your area, especially if you're in a, saturated location, this alone, the law of familiarity will separate you if you're consistent.

Here's a pro tip. Ground marketing must be a structured, trackable system, not random outreach. As soon as it starts feeling random, something is out of place. It has to be trackable and it has to be structured always. So that's why I say, throw that mindset away where you're like, I'm going to go out and ground market.

We're in a busy shopping strip and there's a bunch of stuff. And I'm just going to go out there and hand out my cards and give donuts. And no, no, that's not trackable. That's not even a system. That's not structured. You're just going out there and in our treats I mean, You could do that if you want, and it might work here and there, but it's not a system.

Build processes that are easy to follow and repeatable for your team. And that's what I'm going to give you right now. Okay? You're going to build a process that's easy to follow and it's repeatable for your team. And obviously, if you're in the ground marketing course, then you know how to do this and I provide you a template and everything like that.

That's what you want to do. So number two for this episode is essential tools for ground marketing success. And here's the tools, right? A relationship building toolkit. This is going to be your toolkit to connecting with key community influencers. So to build strong partnerships, you need tools that help you establish report and credibility with local businesses, schools, mainly the school districts, Or the principals and specific organizations or corporations, HR services, things like that. human resources. The people who are in charge of logistics centers. If it's a warehouse, all these things, right? You're going to need number one, a business partnership kit, What can be involved in this kid is a, customized welcome packet, It's a practice intro letter. Maybe your specific business card, a small gift, testimonial sheets, that's in the welcome packet, customized. the second thing that it can have is a co branded flyer, and that can offer an exclusive discount for employees or the customers there, okay? It has to be an exclusive discount for them.

And then three, it can be a sign up sheet for employees to schedule appointments directly at the workplace. it can be a glorified signup sheet, right? Just your practice name, the incentive you want to give and the name number, best time to reach you at, or text or call or whatever like that, right?

Circle one. And that signup sheet is for the employees. That's going to guarantee you your second visit there. Although the co branded flyers will also guarantee you the second date too, as well. And what I mean by that is let's just say you're going to an apartment complex You're talking to the property management in the front. It might be like the manager, maybe you're talking to all three or four or ten of them, whoever, right? So you're going to give them a customized welcome packet, right? For their move ins. You're going to give them the sign up sheet for them. And then the flyers for the people there, right? Or at the event the apartment complexes have event all the time.

So maybe you have flyers that you want to give out or welcome packets. You never want to give out a hundred of them. You never want to give out 50 of them, even if they have a thousand residents, a thousand employees, a thousand, whatever, just give out 10 for now, 15 for now. And then you're able to come back in a couple of days, or even come back in a month and say, Hey, we wanted to drop off some more flyers.

Can I have some of your information as well? Right. Or, Hey, we want to drop off more flyers. Do you guys need more? What is the deal? And at the same time you can look at the signup sheet. So you have two reasons for this second date to see them again. It can either be the flyer like that, how I mentioned, or you can come back and pick up the actual signup sheet and, start calling people.

that's always the best thing. You want to come back and pick up the signup sheet. But anyways, I digress, that's going to be in another episode. Business Partnership Kit. It should have a customized welcome packet, Your intro letter, business card, small gift and testimonial sheet, or if you want, right?

Two is a co branded flyer offering exclusive discounts for the employees or the customers. If it's like a small amount of customers, right? For example, let's just say you're going to a Gymboree or a pediatric. Location. I don't know. Medical location specifically, like those customers never like to a customers, if you're going to a Trader Joe's or something like that, because that's not,their job is not to promote you. Their job is to do their job. And so that would be more for, if you're going to create a co branded flyer with an exclusive discount for the customer. And that would be more for a smaller location, like a pediatrician office, a Gymboree, a medical location, something specific, So a co branded flyer offering an exclusive discount for the employees primarily, and then a signup sheet for employees to schedule appointments directly at the workplace that's in your business Next thing is your networking and relationship log. This is huge.

This I talk about, and I have a whole unit on this on the ground marketing course, but you want to track your interactions, track your followups and key contacts. This is simple guys. It's as simple as creating a Google sheet or having a CRM like HubSpot or PipeDrive to track. You want to track their contact name and business, the date of the initial outreach.

Your follow up reminders and then notes on past conversations. There's never not enough information. You can put in there, put as much information on your notes, on the past conversations, your follow up reminders here is something I want to tell you. That's huge. the biggest mistake in ground marketing is failing to follow up.

Relationships take multiple touch points before they yield results. I cannot tell you how many times people fail to follow up and that's the hole. That's the big hole. Where a lot of your effort will go to waste if you fail to follow up, meaning you're going out, you're dropping off sign up sheets. Maybe you forget a couple of people to pick up their sign up sheets, a couple businesses, you failed those businesses.

Or maybe, a lot of the people in an event, They filled out their information and you're like, great, this is exciting. I'm going to call them, but then you get busy. You never do call them. You fail to follow up, or maybe you do call them, but then they say they're busy at the moment. And then if you can call them a little bit later, or you live a voicemail and you never call them again or reach out to them again, you fail to follow up.

Following up is humongous in ground marketing and If you just follow the principle of being consistent, you're going to bring them all in, but you need to follow up. Okay, so make sure you have this networking and relationship log. You want to have their contact name and business, date of initial outreach, the follow up reminders on there, how often you want to follow up, and then notes on past conversations.

Always have that on there. The more detailed, the better. Now, that's A, right? Your relationship building toolkit. You want to have those. Your business partnership kit, and that can be with your realtors, that can be with your, photographers, it can be with a lot of these, businesses that are like that.

And then you want to have your networking and relationship log. Now B is your mobile marketing toolkit. Now this is what you hear a lot of people talk about, especially in Facebook groups, Dental Town, things like that. How to take your brand to the community. Now when engaging with the community, you need tools that make your brand stand out and create instant credibility.

So you want to have a portable branding kit. And what I mean by that is have a branded table cover, right? For health fairs, schools, corporate visits lunch and learns just for the events. Have a branded table cover, a professional retractable banner with a clear call to action. Okay. Make sure it has a clear call to action.

On what you want to do giveaway items, branded toothbrushes, floss, lip balm, mini hand sanitizers, mouthwash, things like that, right? Floss. You want to have giveaway items always with you ready portable teeth models for demonstrations, On brushing or just to make your booth look a little bit more exciting and always have memorized a quick 32nd pitch everywhere you go.

and honestly, this was my quick 30 second pitch. So I'm going to just give it to you right here, right now. It was this simple. Hey, how's it going? Grab whatever you want. It's free. That's it. Was it even 30 seconds? It was like five seconds, right? Hey, how's it going?

Grab whatever you want. It's free. And you just stay quiet. Now that was it when it came to booths and events and things like that. Any event, that's all I ever said. And once they came. And they did a little shopping. That's when I would start talking to them about their concerns, their needs, what we're doing, how we're partnering up with a specific location, what we got going on, the incentives and things like that.

Think of a quick 32nd pitch always. Okay. That's your portable branding kit. Now your lead collection tools, how are you going to collect these leads? Now I would, and I still do have a signup sheet, just a regular signup sheet. At times I do use an iPad. I always want the ball in my court.

So I would say either have a or you can have a QR code signup system. It makes it easy to capture emails and phone numbers. But me personally, I. Prefer to have a signup sheet where I'm actually writing your name and numbers down. Or an iPad where I'm actually writing your name and number down, but just on a digital form.

And then the second thing you can have is raffle signup forms. People engage more if they get a chance to win something. And we're going to talk about that with events on another episode, but you're doing that, make sure everybody somehow wins something when you do a raffle. Okay? Because those are potential patients.

Everyone is a potential patient to sign up, but you can have that raffle sign up. Right. And this is how you're collecting leads, names, and numbers. You're starting to get names and numbers now into your log, and you're going to start calling out to these people. Now, if you want, you can use QR codes linked to a special offer landing page to track how many people sign up from your ground marketing efforts.

This is pretty trackable. Okay. So if they scan the QR code, then they're going to go to the landing page and now boom, you will see how many people at this event actually had interest, looked into the page. Maybe they didn't sign up. Maybe they did sign up and now you have even further details on who they were and stuff like that by using the QR code from this one specific event.

So you can do that. Now those are going to be the two things, right? The A and B. Okay. Relationship Building Toolkit and then your Mobile Marketing Toolkit. Now the three things, C, is Content and Messaging Toolkit. So you want to pre frame your brand for trust and credibility. Your communication and marketing materials should be designed to quickly build trust and answer common objections.

So have pre designed ground marketing flyers and handouts. Maybe have a general practice handout, an introduction to your office, services, and patient testimonials. Have specific service flyers. This helped a lot, especially at events. When I had one for Invisalign, there was some for dental implants.

You can have some for sleep apnea treatment, things like that. Then have business partnership proposal flyers. Explain how partnering with your practice benefits local businesses. And that's all on you. How are you going to benefit them? Go into detail. Something, what we did and what you can talk about.

Is once a month, we love to promote a specific, business. So if you want, you can just give us some of your information. We know you have your business cards locked up somewhere, just collecting dust. Why not give us a little bit of them and we will put them in our hygiene kits and we will talk you up and give it to our existing patients, right?

Boom. That's more visibility for their business. And at the same time, once they give you a yes, let them know, Hey, would it be okay, we give you some of our information as well. During that month, they're going to see us the principle of reciprocity. Boom. So business partnership proposal flyer, you can steal that if you want, use it, but you can go deeper into that, or you can do something completely different.

that is the pre designed ground marketing flyers and handouts. Then the second part of that would be customizable elevator pitch. Always have a 10 second hook, right? Hey, we help your children get the specific results they need with this unique approach, So always say we help a target audience get a specific result with a unique approach, and it doesn't have to be a super unique approach, but the way you word it has to sound unique.

Okay. And then. You want to have a quick credibility statement. We've helped over 500 families in the area achieve better oral health. We've helped two thirds of our community, they love us, achieve a better smile, more confidence, right? And then just have a clear next step. You know, We're offering a free consultation.

Would you like to schedule now? Actually, don't even ask them if you would like to schedule now. Just say, we're offering a free consultation. What's your name and number? I can get you in as soon as next week. Boom, And then continue that way. People trust and remember stories more than facts.

So use patient success stories in your materials Okay. So remember, have a customizable elevator pitch, 10 second hook. We help a target audience get specific results with a unique approach. Then quick credibility statement. We've helped over 500 families in the area achieve better, whatever. And then a clear next step. If you want, we're offering a free consultation right now for the next 10 days. What's your name and number? I can get you in as soon as tomorrow. And boom, give them less time to think of an answer, but more give them the opportunity to give you an answer based on what their desire is and what they want immediately.

when you do that, you can say like, Hey, I can get you in as soon as tomorrow. Does that work right now? They only have an option. Yes or no. Instead of like, Oh, let me look at my schedule for the next following 10 days. And Now that's the content and messaging toolkit. So I hope that helped out with the essential tools for ground market.

That's what you're going to need. Okay. So real quick, essential tools for ground marketing. You're going to need your relationship building toolkit, which involves your business partnership kit and your network and relationship log. You're going to need your mobile marketing toolkit, which involves your portable branding kit.

Your table cover, your table, even a chair, if you want professional retractable banners, your giveaway items, models, your pamphlets, things like that. Quick 30 second pitch. This is an event. And at the same time, I would say, add a, case that you can put everything in, I'm going to put a link And show notes below where I tell you what I use super simple stuff And it's like a case that has like wheels. You can just roll it almost like those bags you see in You know airports, but it's a lot bigger and it's a case where you can fit everything in there pretty easy You can just leave it in the trunk of your car So anyways, your mobile marketing toolkit it involves your portable branding kit and your lead collections tools And then see your content and messaging toolkit.

And that involves your pre designed ground marketing flyers and handouts and your customizable elevator pitch. Now three is systemizing and scaling ground marketing efforts. So automating your follow ups for maximum conversions, most ground marketing leads don't convert immediately.

A structured follow up system ensures high conversion rates. Meaning you go to an event, you get a hundred people signing up out of those hundred people. Maybe one third will come in pretty immediately. And then the other ones you're going to need to follow up and so forth, right? They're busy. Maybe they had something come up.

It doesn't mean they're not interested. They're super interested. You just got to work with them. So immediate follow up same day. So send a personalized thank you message to new contacts, always right within the same day. And then within two to three days. Follow up, Hey, just checking in, send a text or email.

Just wanted to check if you had any questions. We'd love to have you in for your free consultation. Remember, always have that sense of urgency. So you can say, Hey, just wanted to get you in before the month ends for that free consultation. So if you're ever offering anything for free, don't give it forever for free.

Just say within this month, right? They know they have that time within this month, that it can run out. Now your month can run out in a week. If you're doing that event in a week from now, or it can run out in 30 days from now. But just make sure you say there's an urgency Then after that, if you still don't hear from them, follow up with them within seven days, right? Hey, we're offering the free teeth whining session for the next ten new patients. We'd love to get you in. It's coming down to the wire Just follow up with them if they haven't booked.

And continue to follow up. and we're gonna have another episode on following up, but unless they tell you no, always continue to follow up. Don't put your feelings. Into their heart into their mind. Don't put your thoughts into their mind meaning Hey, I'm going to be bothering them.

If I follow up too much. Hey, they're going to be mad at me. If I follow up too much. That's what you're thinking. They're busy. They're doing other things. They may want to do this immediately. And then boom, something else happens. And your follow up is a reminder. So do not do that. Cut that wire, cut that emotion, that connection.

There's no connection there. Boom. Cut it out. You are relentless. Follow up right now. Be tactful when you follow up. Don't just continue to follow up. Every single day, all the time, but give us some space, give us some time, but some thought in your marketing messaging. And we're going to talk about that a couple episodes down the line on following up.

Now that's how you want to do it with a systematizing, on your follow ups and then training your team for ground marketing success. Now, ground marketing is not a solo effort. Your team must be trained to execute consistently. So these things are super important role playing scripts for different scenarios, how to approach a local business, how to start a conversation at community events, and how to follow up out feeling salesy.

Those are the three things you're going to role play all the time. I still role play. Okay. How to approach a local business, how to start a conversation at community events. How to follow up without feeling salesy, every single location, business, and so forth has a different script. And we're going to discuss those scenarios and those scripts and later episodes, but always role play.

You want to train your team. And the second thing is assigned clear roles and responsibilities. Who is responsible for ground marketing, meaning they're responsible for initiating partnerships, tending events and fairs. Handling follow ups. Now we do have some members who split this up, meaning someone is responsible for building partnerships, pipelines, referrals.

Someone is responsible for accumulating events, attending events and fairs. And then someone is responsible separate for handling follow ups. They're on the phones. They're doing all the follow ups because they're just ground marketing everywhere. there is people who do that. And obviously that's.

The more focused on a specific thing, the better results. So that I've seen work incredible and I can't take credit for that. We have other team members and we have other members in the ground marketing course who initiated that and it works fantastic, but no harm, no foul. I did all this and you can have one person in charge of the ground marketing and they can do that, but just make sure you assign clear roles and responsibilities.

Nothing should be lost. The best ground marketing teams practice scenarios weekly until responses feel natural. So the whole team should be practicing this. Everybody should be on the same page and at the same time they should also see, okay, this person's out ground marketing, they're building partnerships.

The team should know where the ground marketer is at or what's happening as far as events and health fairs. Now if it's a huge event and health fair, obviously more team members are going to be involved. More people will know. Assign clear roles and responsibilities. Alright, so hopefully we understand that and coming to an end here on the episode.

So by combining the right mindset, the right tools, and execution plan, ground marketing becomes a powerful engine for predictable patient growth. So in summary, you want to develop the right mindset, right? Remember, ground marketing is a system, not a one time effort. You want to equip yourself with the right tools, have your relationship building kits, branding materials, and lead collection tools.

Document everything too. Okay. Three, systemize outreach and follow up. So you want to track your interactions, automate follow ups, and leverage relationship building psychology, Use reciprocity, use consistency, use scarcity, urgency, things like that. Four, train your team to execute consistently.

Ground marketing thrives when everyone follows a structured approach. So train them to do that. Ground marketing is one of the most effective, powerful strategies for long term patient growth. with the right foundation, Your practice can become the go to provider in your community without relying on expensive ads anymore.

So go ahead and do this, make sure you got this locked and loaded and ready. And then in the next episode, we're going to be discussing identifying your target audience. Remember the more focused you are with crowd marketing, the better. So we're going to discuss how you can focus and zone in on your target audience.

Thank you so much for tuning in. And if you want more information, the scripts, scenarios, templates want to see real live action, me actually doing this and so much more be part of the community of ground marketers, then you can do so by joining the ground marketing course. You can either Google it, the ground marketing course, or you can go in the show notes below, click the first link in the show notes below, see what everyone's saying and join the ground marketing course.

And if you do, I'm excited to see you in there. All right. Thank you so much for tuning in and we'll talk to you in the next episode.

Mastering Hiring and Management for Indie Practices: What You Must Know | Dr. Sarah Blair | 543

Hiring and practice management can be tricky for independent practices...

So today we've brought on Dr. Sarah Blair, a renowned dental consultant whose experiences and insights offer a masterclass in dental practice management. From her early days at Ohio State University to owning a practice of her own, Sarah's story is filled with real-world lessons. She shares how her experiences at two contrasting Milwaukee practices shaped her understanding of effective dental management. One was meticulously systems-focused, while the other embraced a laid-back, blue-collar approach—both offering valuable insights into the nuances of practice operations and the pivotal role of management.

Fast forward to 2020, Sarah made the bold decision to pivot from practice owner to consultant. With the co-founding of Indie Practices in 2018, she and her team have been on a mission to deliver tailored, cost-effective coaching that resonates with practice owners. Through this episode, Sarah candidly discusses essential strategies for successful hiring, onboarding, and accountability. Clear communication, well-drafted job descriptions, and intentional onboarding are her cornerstones. By implementing these strategies, Sarah argues, practice owners can enhance team efficiency and reduce stress, fostering a harmonious work environment.

What You'll Learn in This Episode:

The impact of diverse practice experiences on management style.
How to craft effective job descriptions and onboarding processes.
Strategies for hiring and maintaining team accountability.
The role of communication in preventing common managerial issues.
Benefits of regular feedback and one-on-one sessions with team members.
How to align team activities with your practice’s mission and values.
Resources and tools from Indie Practices to streamline operations.
The long-term benefits of a structured management approach.

Tune in now to hear Dr. Sarah Blair's tips on hiring and practice management in your indie practice!

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Guest: Dr. Sarah BlairBusiness Name: Indie PracticesCheck out Sarah's Media:‍

Website: indiepractices.com

Resource Library: indiepractices.com/digital-resources

Get Your Scorecard: assessment.indiepractices.com/begin

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Love the Podcast? Let Us Know How We're Doing on Apple Podcasts!

‍

Other Mentions and Links:

‍

Education:

Ohio State University

Marquette University

‍

Books:

Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard

The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else In Business

Unreasonable Hospitality: The Remarkable Power of Giving People More Than They Expect

By the Numbers: A Guide to Buy and Run Your Dental Practice

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Podcasts:

The Daily Dental Podcast ( Dr. Addison Killeen's podcast)

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People:

Patrick Lencioni (Author)

Brené Brown

‍

Tools/Services:

The Practice Launchpad

Indeed

‍

Groups:

Dentaltown

‍

Host: Michael Arias‍Website: The Dental Marketer

Join my newsletter: https://thedentalmarketer.lpages.co/newsletter/‍

Join this podcast's Facebook Group: The Dental Marketer Society

‍

The Psychology of Ground Marketing: How Trust and Storytelling Inspire Success | GMS

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Ever wonder why some patient interactions just click while others fall flat?In episode two of the Ground Marketing Series, we explore the powerful intersection of human behavior and effective marketing strategies. By tapping into the science of trust and first impressions, you'll learn how to craft genuine connections that resonate. We delve into fundamental principles such as the Trust Formula, where credibility, reliability, intimacy, and minimized self-interest work in harmony to build a strong foundation. Discover why mastering the art of first impressions through nonverbal cues like eye contact and open body language is your key to rapid trust-building.

Harness the Reciprocity Principle by understanding the power of giving first to foster a sense of gratitude and trust among potential patients. We'll guide you through using the familiarity effect, social proof, and loss aversion to create compelling marketing strategies that emphasize connection and urgency. Transform your storytelling approach by weaving emotionally resonant narratives that leave lasting impacts. Additionally, learn how small commitments can pave the way for deeper patient engagement, setting the stage for success in practice growth.

What You'll Learn in This Episode:

Techniques to establish trust with potential patients quickly.
The importance of nonverbal communication in making a positive first impression.
Tactics for leveraging reciprocity and social proof effectively.
How familiarity and repeated brand exposure foster trustworthiness.
How to evoke urgency through loss aversion in marketing strategies.
Storytelling methods that create emotional connections with patients.
The role of small commitments in building long-term patient relationships.

Tune in now to boost your ground marketing techniques with proven psychological insights!

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Learn More About the Ground Marketing Course Here:

Website: https://thedentalmarketer.lpages.co/the-ground-marketing-course-open-enrollment/

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Other Mentions and Links:

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People:

Joshua Scott

Dr. Christopher Phelps

Robert Cialdini (Cialdini’s Six Principles of Persuasion)

Seth Godin "Facts tell, stories sell"

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Books:

Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion

The Trusted Advisor

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Marketing Tools/Services:

Google Ads

Studio 8E8

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If you want your questions answered on Monday Morning Episodes, ask me on these platforms:

My Newsletter: https://thedentalmarketer.lpages.co/newsletter/

The Dental Marketer Society Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2031814726927041

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Episode Transcript (Auto-Generated - Please Excuse Errors)

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Michael: The psychology behind ground marketing. So I hope you enjoyed the overview of ground marketing. Now, this is the psychology behind ground marketing, understanding human behavior and building trust. This is essential to know how to ground market effectively.

Now, ground marketing is more than just physically reaching out to potential patients. It's about forming genuine connections that lead to long term trust. Now to master ground marketing, you have to understand the psychological principles that govern human behavior, influence decision making and establish credibility.

Now here's some unique and profound and researched back insights into how psychology applies to ground marketing, ensuring a strong and lasting impact. First thing is the trust formula. Now this is the psychological blueprint trust. Equals credibility, plus reliability, plus intimacy and self interest.

Okay. That's by Charles H. Green in the Trusted Advisor. Now, the key to effective ground marketing is to maximize credibility, reliability, and intimacy while minimizing perceived self interest. The moment people feel like they're being sold to, they instinctively raise barriers. However, when approached with genuine care, expertise and value, they become open to engagement. Number one, credibility, right? Can they believe what you say? Do you have expertise, professionalism and brand presentation that all matters? Credibility, reliability. Can they count on you to follow through?

So showing up consistently fosters subconscious trust. This is why we say, Hey, be consistent with your ground marketing. It proves reliability and three intimacy. Do they feel safe sharing their problems with you? So that means you've got to have empathy and active listening. That's crucial. And then for self interest, if your motives seem profit driven, if you look way too ambitious, people withdraw instead.

Frame your marketing as helping rather than selling. So that's number one, the first principle, the trust formula.

Two is the science of first impressions. Now, this is amazing. Seven seconds to win or lose trust. That's all you have. Neuroscience suggests that people form impressions within seven seconds of meeting someone. These impressions are 70 to 80 percent emotional. And it's based on nonverbal cues, such as body language, tone of voice, and facial expressions.

So keep these things in mind right now. One, eye contact and open body language. Studies show direct contact without staring, don't make it weird, this increases perceived trustworthiness. Open palms signal honesty. kind of like a hug, right? Or you're going in for a handshake. Two is mirroring. Subtly mirroring someone's gestures and speech patterns build subconscious rapport.

So if they're like, yeah, you know, I'm not feeling so Mirror that, Oh, you're not feeling so well. Yeah, kind of a thing. Okay. And then three is dopamine and the power of smiling. As you know, people can tell when you're smiling over the phone, right? A genuine smile releases dopamine, increasing positive emotional associations.

So how can you apply this? Well, When engaging with potential patients at local events or businesses, right? Your physical presence is just as important as your words. Approach with open energy, a welcoming tone and attentive listening to establish an instant psychological connection. So do those three things, okay?

That is the science of first impressions. Number three, this is something we talked about in the first episode. The reciprocity principle. Why giving first works. Christopher Phelps is huge on this. I know that This is a book influence written by Robert Childenny and it's the psychology of persuasion.

And he mentions people feel obligated to give back when they receive something of value. So one of the strongest psychological drivers in ground marketing is reciprocity, the social norm that compels people to return a favor. So in marketing, this means. Providing upfront value without expectation, which naturally triggers a desire to reciprocate.

Three things on how you can do this. Number one, tangible reciprocity. So like you're giving free samples, exclusive discounts, or helpful resources, right? That's one. Two, social reciprocity. Offering a warm introduction, referring someone to another trusted business or providing helpful advice that builds goodwill and three emotional reciprocity, expressing genuine appreciation and making the interaction about them rather than you fosters deep engagement.

So you can apply this like this instead of immediately trying to pitch a service, offer a small unexpected gift or insight. Maybe a dentist at a farmer's market might give away customized smile friendly snack packs while offering oral health tips tailored to the audience, right? Hey, have some snack packs on us for free as you tour the farmer's market.

You're doing this principle when you apply that. And so much more, right? So that's the reciprocity principle. Now, number four. the familiarity effect, how repeated exposure builds comfort. This is huge. Okay. There's something called the mere exposure effect. Now, the more someone is exposed to a brand, the more they subconsciously trust it, this psychological principle was first identified by psychologist Robert And he suggests that familiarity breeds likeability and credibility. Now there's three things to this. Number one, repetition, which equals trust, right? People need multiple positive encounters before making a decision. His community presence, repeated appearances at local events, schools, and businesses reinforce familiarity and three consistency in messaging using the same colors, slogans, and branding strengthens brand recall.

So that's huge, by the way, don't continue to change a ton of numbers based on I'm using this number to see the ROI. Now we're using this number for mailers and ads to see the ROI. Now we're using this number to see the ROI for Google ads. It's too many numbers. There's no consistency in that, be consistent.

Now, when it comes to ground marketing, successful ground marketers maintain a visible, non intrusive presence within their target community, instead of a one time event. Aim for monthly engagements at key locations, ensuring Potential patients feel comfortable seeing and recognizing the brand.

this is huge. So if you feel you went to an event and that event was great, fantastic. And you go another time and it was great, fantastic. Continue to show up at this event. So I'm going to give you an example. Let's just say you do an event at a daycare and every month they allow you to go in there and set up a booth and it goes good.

Continue to show up to that one. Instead of trying to do a ton of other events. One time only you could do one here and there, but make sure you build a foundation in specific locations, especially if that's where your target demographic is. So that's four. That is the familiarity Five is the social proof. People follow what others endorse. P. T. Barnum says nothing draws a crowd like a crowd. Now humans are wired to follow the lead of others. A concept known as social proof.

When people see others endorsing a business, they feel safer engaging with it. Three things you need to do with this. Number one, strategic testimonials. Instead of generic reviews, you story driven testimonials featuring real customer experiences. This is why video testimonials are huge. Video testimonials gone are the days where you write down the testimonial and then put the patient's name and no pictures there or anything.

It's just. A word and a random person's name, that's gone. That's dead. Don't do that no more ever again. If that's on your website, take that out I guess the second best thing you can do is picture testimonials, right? Like actually having the patient's face and then the wording, but video testimony, okay. So strategic testimonials, that's number one. Two is live demonstrations, publicly showcasing a positive customer experience creates a ripple effect. So continue to do that. And three is influencer and community partnerships. And we're going to talk about this later on.

In a couple episodes, but influencer and community partnerships aligning with local influencers, well known figures, or community leaders enhances credibility. And you can apply this like this. You can encourage happy patients to leave video testimonials at community events. Alternatively, showcase real time transformations right before and after smile previews in public settings to drive curiosity.

So show the before and afters, real life testimonials, show the video testimonials, but at the same time, if you're at a huge event you know, some of your patients are going to be there, take advantage of that they're on a dopamine effect right there. Endorphins are running.

They're excited to see you. Hey, can you do a video testimonial for us right now? So that is social proof. Number six. Loss aversions. Why people fear missing out.

Now, Daniel and Amos, Daniel Kahaneman and Amos Berski, they mentioned people are twice as motivated to avoid losses than to gain equivalent. The principle of loss aversion suggests that people hate missing out more than they love gaining something new. This is why time sensitive offers, exclusivity, and scarcity based promotions work so well in ground marketing.

Give me an example. It's a limited time offers, The first 10 signups get free teeth whitening. Watch when you do that, how quickly people will run and sign up. And it's up to you at that point to say, you know what? I'm going to extend it 10 more just for right now, just because of you, I'm going to give you one more free one, right?

One more free one. And you can continue to add that and say that to every single person. Everybody can get it. A hundred people can get it right. But you can say, I'm going to give one more free one just for you. They're going to feel extra special. The person signing up. And trust me, they're going to feel extra obligated to show up to that appointment to limited time offers.

Second is scarcity effect. We only have 20 appointments slots available this month. Scarcity, right? FOMO, fear of missing out, creating a social momentum, right? Join 200 plus families in our smile club. Things like this encourages action. So create something, the social momentum. And you can apply like this, use subtle urgency when speaking to potential patients.

For example, instead of saying we're offering a free consultation, say we have a few free consultations left this month. Would you like to claim one? And you can even get specific, we have three, we have two consultations left this month for free. What's your name and number? So I can put you down, right?

Because it's gonna run out. And then watch them put their name and number down. So that is the loss aversion. This you can call it FOMO almost, right? Why people fear missing out. Seven, the power of storytelling. Emotion beats logic. Now you hear Joshua Scott from Studio 88 talk about this quite a bit, So facts tell stories sell. That's by Seth Godin. People don't remember statistics. They remember stories. Ground marketing thrives on relatable, emotionally compelling narratives that make impact. Give you an example before and after patient stories. Share real experiences where treatment changed someone's confidence or life.

We know it changes smiles, but how did it change their confidence? How did it change their life? Share that personal journeys. Why did you start your practice? Authenticity breeds connection. Always, if you are a startup, if you haven't opened up yet and you're listening to this right now, please share that in your social media, share that story, share your personal journey.

Why did you start your practice? Ask yourself that push record and just riff. Just talk why you started your practice. This is the beginning of your journey. You're going to see a lot of connections happen this way in a lot of new patients. And then three is emotional hooks, right? Use sensory language and patient driven success stories to make your message resonate.

I'll give you an example of how you can do this. Instead of simply listing services, tell a short, powerful story at community events. For example, Last year, a mother came to us worried about her son's self confidence due to his teeth. He was being bullied. After Invisalign, he now smiles in every school picture.

Look at the before school pictures. Look at the after school pictures. After Invisalign. Look at his confidence. Look how his life is changing. This kid will remember this forever. He will remember what you did forever. You changed his life. That's why we love what we do. And kind of continue with that point on right stories like these create an emotional anchor, making your brand more memorable.

So that's the power of storytelling. Eight is the commitment principle. Now these are all principles when I'm mentioning involved in ground marketing, okay, the commitment principle, small yeses. Lead to big yeses. This is so huge. Robert Chiodeni says people who commit to small actions are more likely to commit to larger ones later.

By getting people to say yes to a minor request, they become psychologically inclined to say yes to a bigger one.

And I'll give you three examples of this, right? Micro commitments, a small step like signing up for a free newsletter makes them more likely to book an appointment. So have that two surveys and engagements. Asking simple questions like, Hey, do you floss daily increases their investment in the conversation.

And it doesn't have to be about teeth either. It can be simple questions, open ended questions, right? That you're asking to the patient and then you want them to open up a little bit more, getting them to say yes in those situations or prime them to say yes in bigger situations, especially in real life when you're talking to them.

So I like that a lot. And then three is loyalty and follow ups, rewarding small commitments, Give them a welcome kit. Thank you for coming in. Here's your welcome kit, right? Kind of A thing. It builds long term loyalty. And you can apply this like this. Instead of immediately asking people to schedule an appointment, start with low stakes commitments sometimes.

Would you like a free smile assessment to see how your teeth could look? Once they engage, they're more likely to take the next step. So that's it. Those are the eight principles involved. In, ground marketing. Now the final thought, trust takes time, but it pays off, right? The psychology behind ground marketing revolves around trust, familiarity, and reciprocity.

Now, when you apply these principles strategically, you create a system where people feel comfortable, engaged, and naturally drawn to your brand. The psychology behind ground marketing when it comes to all of this is that you really want to make lasting connections that convert into loyal patients.

Every decision, a potential patient makes is influenced by subconscious biases, emotions, and behavioral triggers. Always remember that. I hope this is helpful, now I want to dive into some examples right now on how you can utilize some of these principles from the get go. Right? So number one was the trust formula, right? And we discussed what it meant, Credibility, reliability, personal connection. And then you want to have Less of a perceived self interest, So if you're marketing at a local school event, you know, you're wearing a branded polo display, a well designed clutter free banner, and you simple expert backed messaging, So you can say stuff like, Hey, did you know, 42 percent of kids have cavities by age 11. Let's help your child avoid that, right?

If you're doing a specific presentation and parents are there. You want to frame yourself as an expert without feeling like a sales pitch and something like that will help you, but you want to say it in an emotional way, right? From the other things that we, learned from. So that would be more of the credibility.

You're establishing yourself credible when it comes to the trust formula. Remember it's credibility, reliability, personal connection. So credibility, that's a good way. Reliability is, Hey, if you partner with a local pediatrician, don't just drop off business cards. Like I've told you, right?

Instead. Set a recurring schedule. Dr. Smith, would it help if I came in once a month to answer parents questions about kids dental health? Now, this makes you reliable and on top of mind for referrals. More times out of not, they will say, Yeah, you know, we can create something for the community or we can do that.

We can partner up. Reliability. You're building something together. You're seeming reliable. And third is personal connection, right? Now, personal connection, an example of application for this is if a parent at a community event expresses concern about their child's teeth, don't just push a service.

Instead, relate personally. Say something like, I totally understand. I have young kids too. I always remind them that brushing is like feeding their teeth good food. Now, this builds emotional trust rather than feeling transactional. You're giving them something they can use when they get home too.

And then finally, self interest, An example of this is, instead of saying, we're offering a special on teeth whitening, would you like to book? Say, a lot of people are surprised how much whiter their teeth can get with just one session. I mean, Look at the before and after pictures. Do you want to see a quick before and after preview?

For you, we can make that happen, right? This picks curiosity and engagement leading to an easier yes. So these are things you can utilize, especially with the trust formula. Now, when it comes to number two, first impressions are everything. Remember the seven second rule, an example on how you can apply.

This is at a local health fair. Don't sit behind a booth looking at your phone. Never ever do that. I can't tell you. And we're going to discuss this in further on how to perform for optimal results at a booth in a later episode. But this is my biggest annoyance when you see someone doing this.

Stand up, make eye contact and offer a warm greeting, approach people with a natural question even, You can approach them with, Hey, how's it going? That's a question. But approach people. Have you ever seen what your smile could look like with Invisalign? Let me show you a quick digital preview, right?

And then you show them. This makes interactions engaging and welcoming rather than, just pushy. First impressions are everything. Stand up, make eye contact and offer a warm greeting. No. You have to turn it on for those hours. Okay. And like I said, we'll discuss that in a later episode.

Reciprocity. Number three, give first and they'll want to give back, right? An example of this is at a local gym, instead of saying, Hey, here's my business card, call us if you need a dentist, say, Hey, would your members find it helpful if we provided free sports mouth cards for youth athletes? For the young ones, If this is one of those type of gyms where they have a sports team and things like that, this works fantastic. They now feel obligated to reciprocate by recommending your practice when you do this. And it happens. Be as involved as you can be. Push the limits when it comes to this. Don't just sponsor something.

Don't just make free mouth guards. The name of the game is never convenience in these things, right? Have them go to your practice, have them come to your operatory, get fitted. You know what I mean? Have their families come in because you want their families to become your patients too. There's so much involved in this.

And like I say, this is going to be in a later episode as well on how to do this effectively, especially with, want to sponsor like teams and things like that. So number four is the power of, Familiarity. So the more they see you, the more they trust you. An example on how to do this is if you want to create an ongoing partnership, you can say, Hey, we'll be at a local coffee shop every Saturday, offering free coffee for new patients.

When you do the coffee shop strategy, which is found in the ground marketing course, you're able to set up at the coffee shop as much as you want. And when you do that, you're able to bring people there as much as you want to, and the coffee shop loves it. And by showing up repeatedly, potential patients become more comfortable with your brand.

Now, that's just one thing. Imagine showing up consistently at a gym, consistently at a school, at a senior home, at an apartment, where you feel, hey, I'm going to get a lot of new patients. I saw great results the first event, I'm going to continue to go. Be consistent. You want to be familiar with them. Five was social proof, right?

People follow the crowd. Instead of saying, hey, we offer family dentistry services. Say, did you know over a hundred families in this area trust us for their dental care? And this can be written in your marketing material because it leverages social proof and it makes people more likely to consider your practice.

Six with scarcity and urgency, people hate missing out. So instead of saying at a school event, we're offering free dental checkups. You can say, Hey, we're only offering 10 free checkup slots for families at this event. I can save you one right now. What's your name and number that creates urgency and drives immediate action.

So you can continue to do these things, When it comes to how to apply it, we're going to make specific episodes just for these events, just for these locations, just for these businesses. if you ever wondered. And wanted to know how to get into a school ground market and get the children, the teachers, the staff to come in.

We're going to do an episode on that, on gyms, on farmer's markets, on partnerships, on a lot of things, This is it. revealing it all here but if you want to know now and you want the strategies written down and you want the actual real life examples, you want to see me actually call some of these businesses, you want the Excel sheets, you want it all.

There's a ground marketing course, and in that ground marketing course, you're, it's like one on one with me, right? And I continue to add to that course as well. And I'm going to put a link to that in the show notes below. Or you can just Google the ground marketing course and see what everybody else is saying about it.

Now it's helped their practice as well. hope you enjoy this episode. Feel free to check out the ground marketing course. If you do, I'm excited to see you in there. And the next episode, we're going to be discussing setting up for success, ground marketing foundations, and we'll dive deeper into that.

Thank you so much for tuning in and I'll talk to you in the next episode.

Maximize Your Dental Website's Potential: Avoid These Costly Mistakes | Ali Soufi | 542

Could your practice be unknowingly losing money through your website?

In this episode, I sit down with Ali Soufi from DocSites to unpack some of the most common yet costly misconceptions that might be holding your practice back. We dive deep into the often-misunderstood world of website costs, emphasizing the crucial roles of customization and local relevance in maximizing your online presence. Listen as we shed light on how vanity metrics can be deceiving and why a strategic partnership between marketing efforts and your website design is essential for boosting performance and cost-effectiveness.

Ali shares straightforward, actionable insights, including conducting simple audits to reveal hidden pitfalls and understanding marketing return on investment. He stresses the importance of seamless collaboration between marketing companies and dental practices, ensuring that websites don’t just exist but actively contribute to the bottom line. Discover how DocSites provides clear, affordable, and honest solutions tailored specifically for dental practices, ensuring transparency and consistency in pricing and service delivery. This episode is a must-listen for practice owners eager to optimize their digital footprint and secure a financially healthy future.

What You'll Learn in This Episode:

How to identify and fix costly website inefficiencies in dental practices.
The significance of customization and local relevance for website success.
Why vanity metrics can mislead and how to focus on what truly matters.
The importance of integrating marketing with functional website design.
Tips for conducting simple yet effective website audits.
How to accurately measure marketing return on investment.
The benefits of collaboration between dental practices and marketing companies.
Transparent and cost-effective website solutions offered by DocSites.

Tune in to discover how a well-optimized website can transform your dental practice's financial health!

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Sponsors: DocSites: Do you need a new website or marketing agency with no long-term contracts? Visit DocSites' website here and be sure to mention The Dental Marketer for $500 off! docsites.com

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Guest: Ali SoufiBusiness Name: DocSitesCheck out Ali's Media:‍

Website: docsites.com

Email: ali@docsites.com

Phone: 818-616-3919

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Love the Podcast? Let Us Know How We're Doing on Apple Podcasts!

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Other Mentions and Links:

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Places:

Las Vegas ARIA

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Tools/Services:

Fiverr

Google Analytics

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Products/Brands:

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Host: Michael Arias‍Website: The Dental Marketer

Join my newsletter: https://thedentalmarketer.lpages.co/newsletter/‍

Join this podcast's Facebook Group: The Dental Marketer Society

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Ground Marketing vs. Paid Ads: The Personal Connection Advantage | GMS

Dive into the world of ground marketing with our inaugural episode of the Ground Marketing Series, where I reveal its powerful impact in the dental industry!

Unlike traditional digital marketing strategies, ground marketing leverages face-to-face interactions to cultivate trust and boost brand awareness by meeting potential patients in their natural surroundings. This episode explores the psychological and behavioral triggers that underpin ground marketing's success, including the mere exposure effect, reciprocity principle, social proof, and emotional connection. These concepts are not just theoretical; I'm bringing them to life with compelling real-world examples, such as strategic daycare partnerships, corporate lunch and learns, and impactful community health fairs.

Tune in as I navigate through the tangible advantages of ground marketing, shedding light on how this approach consistently outperforms paid advertising in terms of cost-effectiveness and conversion rates. Ground marketing's sustainable practices pave the way for long-term growth, giving your dental practice a competitive edge. This episode is a treasure trove of insights that are not only actionable but designed to transform the way you think about patient engagement. Don't forget to tune in next week, where I'll delve deeper into the psychology that drives these successful ground strategies!

What You'll Learn in This Episode:

The distinctive value of ground marketing in the dental sector.
How face-to-face interactions enhance trust and brand awareness.
Understanding the mere exposure effect and its application.
Insights into the reciprocity principle in marketing practices.
Utilizing social proof to strengthen marketing efforts.
Building emotional connections with potential patients.
Successful case studies of ground marketing initiatives.
The cost advantages and high conversion rates of ground marketing.
How ground marketing ensures long-term sustainability over paid ads.
A preview of psychological aspects in marketing strategies.

Let's jumpstart your practice's growth by listening to today's episode!

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Learn More About the Ground Marketing Course Here:

Website: https://thedentalmarketer.lpages.co/the-ground-marketing-course-open-enrollment/

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Other Mentions and Links:

‍

Terms:

EDDM

PPC

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Marketing Tools:

Facebook Ads

Google Ads

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If you want your questions answered on Monday Morning Episodes, ask me on these platforms:

My Newsletter: https://thedentalmarketer.lpages.co/newsletter/

The Dental Marketer Society Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2031814726927041

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Episode Transcript (Auto-Generated - Please Excuse Errors)

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Michael: All right. So let's dive in to the first and foremost topic, which is introduction to ground marketing. We're going to get an overview of what ground marketing is and why it works. And then I'm going to give you real life examples of the success that ground marketing brings to a lot of our members. But I mainly want you to understand what ground marketing is.

So ground marketing. Is the practice of directly engaging with potential patients in their own environment, such as schools, gyms, coffee shops, and community events, and so forth, to create trust and increase brand awareness, unlike digital marketing, which relies on online advertising and social media ground marketing thrives on face to face interactions.

Relationship building and personal touch points that make businesses more approachable and trustworthy. It makes your practice, the go to practice in the community. It's approachable. They trust you. And there's a science behind ground marketing. Okay. It's not just, Hey, this is what a lot of us experience.

There's actually four specific things that ground marketing does now ground marketing leverages, several psychological and behavioral triggers. That make it uniquely effective. But the foremost are number one, the mere exposure effect. Now people develop a preference for things they see frequently. The more often potential patients encounter your brand and their daily lives, the more familiar and trustworthy you become so.

This also doesn't rule out any social media ads, any Facebook marketing, things like that, Google ads. It just helps as well. Just like ground marketing helps those types of marketing, mediums as well, it's touch points, but this touch point ground marketing.

It's insanely strong. It's a human to human interaction touch point. It's in their life in real time like in person. So this is an insanely strong touch point that often converts within just one touch point. So the mere exposure effect is one to reciprocity principle. When you give people something valuable for free.

For example, maybe something educational, free dental consultation, branded giveaways, things like that. Your time. They feel obligated to give back. And a lot of the times, it's done so by booking an appointment. And so, you're going to see a lot of the reciprocity principle. And ground marketing. It happens.

This is a beautiful principle that never ever fails. Never once in the history of history has anyone said, yes, I love that you're doing all this for me. Thank you so much. I appreciate you. No, I don't want anything of yours. Just help me out. That's it. Boom. It's not human. The reciprocity principle works and that is delved deep into ground marketing.

Three social proof. When people see others engaging and trusting your practice, they're more likely to do the same. So if more people like on social media, you start becoming popular on social media. They're like, Oh snap, people are following you. My friends are following you. My family's following you.

They go to you more than likely. The other person is also going to go to them too, right? The person who's talking. So social proof, same thing in ground marketing. When you're at events, when you're at lunch and learns, when you're at. specific locations and your booth or whatever is popping and more and more people are coming to you and everything like that, more and more people are talking about you in the community.

Social proof more in your community will go to you guaranteed. Social proof is huge So ground marketing does provide a lot of social proof. I'm just going to give you an example. If you're out at a school, or at a daycare and you're doing an event there and then you decide to post.

Pictures and things like that and tag some friends, tag some teachers. I mean, That's just creating a lot of social proof right there that not only are you a dentist in the community, are you an established practice in the community and you're helping out the community and you're helping out the children in the community now, but at the same time, other people are talking about you and how in that one event.

You did so much for the school, the daycare, the community, the children, all that stuff. And so that brings a lot of awareness, a lot of social proof, and it builds up a lot of credibility. And of course you get appointments and you get people coming into your practice. So that's number three and four, it builds an emotional connection.

So meeting someone in person, as we know, creates a stronger, more memorable impression than an online ad. And I'm going to take this out of context a little bit. For example. My wife and I, it was a long distance relationship. I'm from Texas. She's from California. And when we would date, right. I met her in person first, obviously.

And then after that we would email back in the day, it was more emailing and then, writing letters and then it became texting, that became like a huge thing. do you remember when you had to push like four, four times and then three to three and then two to two, just to like, you know, back then BRB, LOL, all that stuff was a lifesaver.

But anyways that was cool and all, but then when you saw each other in person, the emotional connection was a lot stronger. so same thing, right? A lot of the times they may see you on social media, they may see your ads, they may see all these things, but when they see you in person, the emotional connection is a lot stronger.

Same thing with concerts, events. That's why we have in person events when we go to a lot of these symposium or events or summits for our industry. But at the same time, concerts, same thing, right? You can listen to the band, you can listen to their album. As soon as it drops, you can be their biggest fan, but if you're never at a concert, are you that much of a fan, right?

But when you get there at the concert, you experience a whole different environment, a whole different vibe. When you get there at those events, for CE credits and stuff like that, you experience so much more, a stronger connection. So meeting someone in person, creates a stronger, more memorable impression.

And so that's huge when it comes to ground marketing. And that is probably the biggest thing is you want to create that connection with each person you meet while you're ground marketing. And it's powerful and there's a lot of real life examples of this, right? We have a lot of members in our ground marketing course who, give us examples on what they're doing. And honestly, they become extremely fantastic at ground marketing. And here's some real life success stories with ground marketing, right? There was a pediatric dental boom through daycare partnerships. Now the problem was pediatric dentists, they were struggling with low new patient numbers despite running social media ads, specifically Facebook ads. But the solution, instead of spending more on ads, they developed a ground marketing plan targeting daycare centers and pre K schools.

Now here was the execution. They offered free tooth talk sessions for kids, right? It was quick, fun brushing demos and so forth provided free emergency dental care for school injuries, right? Positioning them as a trusted expert. And they left signup sheets for parents at the front desk with an exclusive deal for their first visit.

Now the results were incredible. 42 percent of parents signed up for an appointment within 30 days. The practice gained 110 new patients in six months. And the cost, get this, the cost, 0 in ad spend, only time invested and personalized out in ground marketing. Case study number two, the Lunch and Learn Takeover.

This was a corporate partnership. The problem was general practice in a competitive urban market was struggling to attract and share patients. The solution, they shifted focus from online ads, Google ads, to direct engagement with local companies. Offering dental insurance benefits and a breakdown to help them understand more of the insurance.

And you're going to see that with corporations, especially employees from corporations. They just want to understand their insurance a lot more and a lot better. Now, the execution was we set up free lunch and learn sessions at companies, educating employees about maximizing their dental insurance benefits, offered a free whitening session or discounted, right?

For those who scheduled an appointment on the spot and then created a direct contact within the HR departments to become the go to practice for the employees. So a lot of the times the HR department wants to answer their questions, but they can't, they don't have all the knowledge. Especially when it comes to this, you do, or someone on your team does, and now you're the direct contact.

You can even mention, hey, we're the direct contact, even if they don't come to us. We just want to help you out when it comes to these benefits. And then boom, people will get sent your way immediately. Results, 18 scheduled appointments per session on average. I mean, This wasn't just a one time lunch and learn type of deal.

It was consistent. The practice added over 230 new patients in a year. Became the official dentist for three corporate offices, generating steady patient flow, they honed in and targeted corporation partnerships, right? Specifically corporations. And then number three was, community health fair domination.

And I love this one. This happens all the time, by the way, a startup, Practice with zero brand recognition needed new patients immediately, and they needed new patient momentum. The solution. Instead of expensive mailers, they partnered with local health fairs, setting up an interactive booth. So they offered specific things, right on the spot, oral healthcare screenings, fun, educational games.

They use specific giveaway, signup sheets. They captured emails and phone numbers for followups, for raffles and things like that. The results doing these health fairs, right? Which health fairs happen all the time in your community. Be a part of them, please. But the results were 97 patient leads in one weekend, 51 percent conversion rates to scheduled appointments.

And the cost for this, I mean, the booth and the materials and everything was just a one time thing, right? Once you get the table, the cloth, all the other fun stuff you want to get in later episodes, we'll discuss the necessities of what you need to get in your booth. All that was under 200 bucks for booth materials.

And it yielded over 30, 000 in revenue. Health fairs are extremely profitable, especially when it comes to new patients coming your way. So these are just a couple case studies of what some of the members in our ground marketing course have experienced. But I mean, there's many, many more experiences.

Facebook and ask what. Have you experienced with ground marketing? You'll see, or just type in ground marketing in any of these Facebook groups or, community forums, right for dentists and type in ground marketing, you'll see just exactly what these partnerships and health fairs and community events do for their practice and continue to do. So it's amazing. By implementing ground marketing practices can create trust, build stronger patient relationships, and see measurable growth without relying solely on expensive digital ads or billboards or EDDM or traditional marketing methods, right? Not to say that don't do all that stuff, but just see ground marketing as a strong, powerful arm in your marketing plan.

Now, ground marketing isn't just an alternative. Two digital marketing. It's a psychological driven human centric approach that leverages face to face interactions. It's building trust and community integration to drive business growth, right? It doesn't rely heavily on ads or passive outreach.

So I want you to keep that in mind. It's not about passive outreach. Ground marketing taps into real world engagement. You're forming lasting relationships that lead to higher conversion rates. Stronger loyalty and lower patient acquisition costs. It does require energy and effort and time. That is one thing.

Okay. It will require energy, effort, and time for you to go out there in your community and do these specific strategies. But ground marketing will always succeed, especially when you have those four things always in mind, right? The principle of reciprocity, the mere exposure effect, trust through personalization, right?

The emotional connection and then the power of social proof. These things are incredible, highly, highly, highly, integrated into ground marketing. as you're going to see, there's a lot of factors in this, right? I'm going to give you pros and cons on this. Why ground marketing works better than paid ads.

A lot of the times, trust building, ground marketing, right. it has high personal interactions. It creates deep trust and paid ads is low on that. On the trust building ads are often ignored or distrusted, right? How many ads have you ignored today? Probably a lot. You don't even keep count. But then how many people have you ignored who try to interact with you?

Maybe less than the ads, right? So especially if it's something that you need, the cost ground marketing is low. The only thing you need is time investment, but minimal spending, paid ads tie costly PPCs, right? Social media ads, mailers. That's high. So the cost is high on that. Ground marketing conversion rate is high, extremely high.

You get personal connections. You increase the likelihood of booking. And at the same time, you increase the likelihood of not just booking one person, but their family in that moment. When it comes to paid ads, it's low to medium, Ad click through doesn't guarantee conversions a lot of the time.

again, the cost is high and then the longevity of results. Ground marketing is sustainable. It has to be sustainable. I mean, They need to see you all the time. It's a relationship based marketing and it has long term value. Never stop ground marketing. Even once you're doing fantastic, you're doing amazing.

You're getting in as many new patients plus 10 every single month that you want. Continue to ground market. Maybe you can tone it down a little bit. But continue to ground market always, right? It's just good for the community. It's good for them to see you. And obviously at the same time, it's building stronger loyalty.

Now, when it comes to paid ads, longevity of results, ads stop working once the budget runs out. So as soon as your budget runs out, your ads. Won't be working. But ground marketing will always work, even if there is no budget there. So ground marketing is not just an alternative. Like I said, it's a fundamental shift in how your practice engages converts and retains customers.

It's a low cost, high impact and backed by human psychology. Okay. So that means it's not just the study of marketing. It's the study of humans and those two things, the study of marketing and the study of humans is what's implemented in ground marketing. That's why it works.

Real world interactions create stronger trust than any online ad ever could. So whether you're launching a new practice or you're looking to expand your patient base or solidify local dominance in your community, ground marketing should be a core strategy in your playbook. I hope you have a better view of what ground marketing is, and I'm excited to bring this series to the podcast.

next episode, we're going to be discussing the psychology behind ground marketing. And once you understand this, once you understand the formula, you can pass it on to whoever you're also teaching the formula to and ground marketing too.

But at the same time. Once you understand the psychology behind ground marketing, the principles, it will be a lot easier for you to do every single day, whether you're doing the specific strategy, or whether you're just engaging in your everyday life outside of your practice, you'll be able to start attracting new patients to your practice.

So I'm excited to discuss that with you in the next episode.

Starting from Scratch: Building a Successful Practice Amid Economic Challenges | Dr. David Rice | 541

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Want to hear from someone who's been through it all, from associateship to acquisitions to a successful startup?

This episode dives into the remarkable journey of Dr. David Rice, who masterfully blends the art of dentistry with entrepreneurship. Based in St. Petersburg, Florida, Dr. Rice travels to East Amherst, New York, where he practices, providing a firsthand account of his dynamic lifestyle. He openly shares his transformative journey from being an associate to expanding through strategic acquisitions and establishing his own practice. Dr. Rice highlights the critical role of diverse experiences in refining his professional skills and how meticulously planning his career steps, from securing loans to choosing practice locations, formed the backbone of his success.

In our conversation, Dr. Rice provides valuable advice for budding dentists eager to navigate starting their own practice. He underscores the necessity of loan pre-approvals and efficient demographic targeting for marketing success. Teaming with trusted partners like Patterson and utilizing solid cash reserves are among the pillars he emphasizes for achieving sustained growth. Dr. Rice dives into common pitfalls, such as emotional attachments to locations and shallow decision processes prompted by social media allure. As the discussion nears its close, he turns adversity on its head by advocating for practice startups during economic downturns to capitalize on reduced costs.

What You'll Learn in This Episode:

The intricacies of balancing career and location for optimal practice function.
Proven strategies for successful dental practice acquisitions.
How to leverage loans and cash reserves for business growth.
Importance of detailed demographic targeting in marketing.
Building beneficial partnerships and reliable business relationships.
Essential preparation steps to avoid practice ownership pitfalls.
The unique opportunities available when starting a practice during a recession.

Tune in to discover strategies and insights that could redefine your journey in dental practice ownership!

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Guest: Dr. David RiceBusiness Name: Ignite DDSCheck out David's Media:‍

Website: ignitedds.com

Instagram: instagram.com/ignitedds

Facebook Group: facebook.com/groups/igniteddsinsiders

Email: david.rice@ignitedds.com

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Love the Podcast? Let Us Know How We're Doing on Apple Podcasts!

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Other Mentions and Links:

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Podcast episodes:

David on Episode 159

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Groups:

The Making Of Facebook Group

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Businesses/Services:

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People:

Sandy Pardue (Classic Practice)

Jon Miller (Patterson)

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Host: Michael Arias‍Website: The Dental Marketer

Join my newsletter: https://thedentalmarketer.lpages.co/newsletter/‍

Join this podcast's Facebook Group: The Dental Marketer Society

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Bio of The Dental Marketer

The Dental Marketer Podcast, hosted by Michael Arias. This engaging podcast is dedicated to helping dentists worldwide by addressing their dental marketing questions and concerns. The Dental Marketer Podcast aims to empower dental professionals with actionable insights and practical tips to excel in their dental marketing efforts.

Listeners can expect a wide range of topics, including campaign breakdowns, effective strategies, and discussions on Ground Marketing. With a genuine desire to support and uplift dental professionals, Michael Arias brings a unique blend of expertise and relatability to the podcast. By fostering a sense of community, The Dental Marketer provides a platform for dentists to share their experiences and learn from one another.

Through thought-provoking conversations, industry trends, and motivational stories, The Dental Marketer Podcast serves as an invaluable resource for both seasoned dentists looking to enhance their marketing strategies and dental students eager to learn more about effective promotion.

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