signage

Health Care Marketing Grows More Competitive

February 4, 2009 By Jim Du Molin 4 Comments

Last week I started talking about how some dentists have put braces on sale. This is symptomatic of how the face of health care is changing in a major way.

Case in point: Rite Aid.

The other day I was on my way to the pharmacy to pick up a prescription. Right across the street from Longs Pharmacy is Rite Aid. I was surprised to see large banners on the front and back of the store saying "Welcome Longs Customers – Transfer Your Prescriptions Today!"

Health Care Signage Alarmed, I walked into Longs. "Are you going out of business?" I asked the sales associate.

"Nope," he said, shaking his head. "But Rite Aid has all these signs up that make it sound like we are."

This isn't just in my neighborhood, either. I've seen similar signs at other Rite Aids. This is part of a far-reaching marketing campaign that is so representative of what's happening in health care today!

This banner is part of a larger strategy by Rite Aid to aggressively encourage patients to transfer their prescriptions. Rite Aid also offer coupons, gift cards, and prize contests for consumers who move their prescriptions. (Interestingly, some people have found they can make hundreds of dollars a year simply by transferring their prescription each month!)

It reveals several important things:

The health care marketplace is growing increasingly competitive.
There is immense value in signage. Even just putting up a low-cost banner can have a big effect. This is true ofdental signage as well!
Could this strategy be reworked from a competitive dental standpoint? Would it even be ethical? I'd really like to hear your thoughts on this.

Filed Under: Dental Editorials Tagged With: dental marketing, health care, signage

Death by Aesthetic Dentistry

December 30, 2008 By Jim Du Molin 6 Comments

How You Label Your Dental Practice Makes a Huge Difference

Last week we drove a stake through the heart of “Aesthetic” or “Esthetic” as marketing terms to describe your style of dentistry. For the New Year, I’ll be a little kinder to the term “Restorative Dentistry.”

cosmetic dental marketing terms

“Restorative Dentistry” ranks number five on our list of top results for descriptive marketing phrases with more than one hundred responses per month. But let’s stop and think about this result for a moment. That’s about 108 searches a month per state! Of all the people searching for a dentist in your state, only 108 referenced “Restorative Dentistry” in their search request. This is not a marketing term on which to stake your practice's or family's financial future in the tough months ahead.

Now, some of you are thinking "Cosmetic Dentistry" is still a great marketing term, given there are 135,000 queries, versus only 90,400 for "General Dentistry." So let’s segment just the “Dentistry” results. I’ll even include the 1,900 people who used the misspelling of “Cosmetic Denistry,” and “Family Cosmetic Dentistry” on the cosmetic side of the equation.

cosmetic dentistry SEO

Let’s compare “Cosmetic” to “Family.”

family dentistry and general dentists

The results favor “Family / General Dentistry,” but not by much. The remaining issue is this: are you going to refer to yourself as a "Family-Friendly" dental practice or a “General” practice? Well, unless your state laws require you to use the term “General Dentistry,” I would strongly suggest using “Family” or “Family-Friendly Dentistry” to cast your marketing net as wide as possible. Further, how many of you want to be one of those “General Dentists" doing “General Dentistry?”

What does this mean for your 2009 marketing? The answer is simple: context.

If you are using signage, you should make reference to “Family Dentistry.” If you have enough space on your sign, use both terms (“Family & Cosmetic Dentistry”), but lead with the more economically friendly “Family” terminology in these recessionary times. (Click here for more details on dental sign design.)

The same holds true for Yellow Pages phone book display and newspaper ads. Lead with “Family Dentistry,” and follow up with “Cosmetic,” “Implants” or “Sedation."

In terms of dental website marketing for local practices, there are still more than enough people searching for “Cosmetic Dentistry” in conjunction with “Your City Name,” so it makes financial sense to have a specific geo-targeted site for cosmetics.

Because of the way the search engines list results, it is still cost-effective to have multiple dental websites that are each targeted at a different segment of the dental market: Family, Cosmetics, Implants, Sedation, Ortho, etc. Complete Internet campaigns including a local website, directory listing and custom monthly patient email newsletter start at just $280 a month and drop to as low as $160 each for multiple websites.

It’s not hard to justify expanding your Internet marketing when just one additional new patient will generally pay for a full year of marketing. The reality is that you will probably average – worst case – one additional new patient a month. It makes for a great dental marketing ROI in a recessionary market.

Have a Great New Year!
Jim

Filed Under: Dental Editorials Tagged With: cosmetic dentistry, dental marketing, family dentistry, signage

Logo Disasters & How to Avoid Them

July 9, 2008 By Melinda Spitek 2 Comments

A Must – Your Professional Logo Design
Special Marketing Feature
By Melinda Spitek, CEO, Hycomb Marketing

Logos are everywhere – and rightly so. There is no more memorable and permanent way to establish an identity with a target audience – in your case, patients.

The enduring Ford Motor Company logo (recognized worldwide) was created by a professional designer working from a penmanship exercise Henry Ford himself did when he was in high school.

But note, I said professional designer. That’s the key. The rub comes when you avoid paying a pro who creates logos as a business and turn instead to someone you know: a patient, your hygienist with artistic aspirations, your sister-in-law, some kid you know attending art school or worst of all – your own child. Now, we’re weaving social and other relationships into the mix of something that represents your professional image.

Then, if you decide the new logo design is unacceptable, you risk losing a patient or a friend, or alienating someone you love. But if you feel socially compelled to accept and use that logo, the results can be disastrous. And you’re stuck with it – if not for the life of your practice, at least for a long, long while.

Some practitioners have special needs that only a seasoned professional can respond to. If your name is Dr. Payne or Dr. Hurtt or is difficult to spell, extra special attention must be given to the logo. Or perhaps the practice should be given a name of its own and the doctor’s downplayed.

Go to a designer who is an amateur or otherwise not quite up to the task and the results can be hilarious or humiliating – depending on how you look at it.

These logo examples amply illustrate my point:

Here’s a sign for a dental practice in a Spanish-speaking location. Obviously the designer was trying to show a Doctor attending to a patient in the chair. However, looking at the picture, dentistry might not be the first thing that comes to mind.

Here we have the heart-warming logo for a pediatric center.

At least, that’s what we’re supposed to have. Unfortunately, some may instead think of pedophilia – hardly a good connotation for a children’s medical center.

Sometimes words alone in a logo can cause distress. Here, the clever designer was clearly trying to mimic the highly successful Toys-R-Us® and Kids-R-Us® logos. The store’s name is “Kids’ Exchange.” But mash all the letters together, and it sure reads like “Kid Sex Change.” My, what a logo to put up in lights!

Here at Hycomb, we’ve been the gateway to a great many highly successful logos for a great many highly successful dentists. And if you don’t think the first effort works for you, tell us so. It won’t break our hearts. After all – we’re professionals.

Melinda Spitek is CEO of Hycomb Marketing Inc. Hycomb is an authority in marketing for dentists. Melinda has had plenty of hands-on experience as well, having worked 23 years in dental offices. For help with marketing, just call Hycomb at (800) 523-6961 or visit www.hycomb.com.

Filed Under: The Wealthy Dentist Tagged With: dentistry, design, graphic design, logo, logo design, signage

Dental Marketing – Dentist Website Design & Patient Results

February 22, 2008 By Jim Du Molin Leave a Comment

www.InternetDentalAlliance.com

Dentist talks about his Internet dental marketing from his dental website, email newsletter and online directory listings. Dr. Garza of Goliad TX reviews his Internet results for high-value new patients and how his web site design works with his Yellow Pages add, practice sign and internal office marketing.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5JH1UWlbgw

Filed Under: Dental Marketing, Practice Management, The Wealthy Dentist Tagged With: dental marketing website design, dentist websites, internal new patients, internet, phone book, practice office sign, signage, web sites, yellow pages

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly of Dental Marketing

June 4, 2007 By Jim Du Molin Leave a Comment

Editorial
by Jim Du Molin

I’ve learned to travel with my digital camera just about anywhere I go these days so I can capture examples of interesting signage — both the good and the truly bad examples of dental marketing. I really lucked out when I recently visited a newly-refurbished outdoor shopping mall with a great example of a “banner ad” marketing solution for a dental practice buried behind the front line stores.

Cosmetic Dentistry Signage This doctor almost perfectly achieved the trifecta of shopping mall marketing, starting with the banner strung in front of his practice. This banner had it all:

“Personalized & Comfortable:” This is his value statement. What more could a dental patient want from a dental practice?

“Cosmetic Dentistry:” This is his targeted high-value patient. Why ask for ordinary dental patients when you can ask for a specific type of high-value patient with an ROI that is four to five times that of a standard patient?

Practice Logo: The practice’s logo adds an attention-getting graphic to the banner; it also clearly states the practice’s name, “Strawberry Village Dental Care” – in the Strawberry Mall, in the neighborhood known as Strawberry – a great geographically descriptive name.

And most important, a clear call to action statement: “Welcome. Call for Your Appointment Today! 389-3600″

The second part of this great three-fer mall marketing program is Dental Practice Signage the doctor’s perpendicular drop-down hanging sign from the roof of the mall walkway. The only thing I will have to check next time I visit this site is if this sign is properly lit at night for visibility.Always light your signage (in this case, from both directions for clear visibility), even at night when you are not open.

Strawberry Dental Signage Finally, the third part of a great dental signage promotion is the practice logo painted on the entry door to the office. This is the only flawed part of the presentation – and it’s only a minor flaw. As you can see from the photo, the glare from the glass makes the logo hard to read as you walk by the door. The solution would be to paint a base layer of white paint and then paint the logo on top of the background layer. This eliminates the glare and provides contrast to the logo, making it “pop” on the door, easy to see and read.

My only additional marketing recommendation for this practice would be to attach a clear plastic box to the wall next to the door that would contain a simple new patient offer for walk-by traffic. If you are paying big bucks for a shopping mall location, you want to do everything possible to maximize your marketing opportunities!

Jim Du Molin