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The ACT Dental Marketing Think Tank
Join some of the most progressive and creative minds in dental marketing as we facilitate a process in which you create a marketing plan that best suits your vision and temperament.
Thursday, January 21st (2:30 pm - 6:00 pm) Friday, January 22nd (8:00 am - 3:00 pm)
at Studio 2131 in Kansas City, MO 2131 Washington Ave Kansas City, MO
Facilitated by Kirk Behrendt, Xana Winans, Sheri Kay, Dr. Charley Varipapa, Dr. John Gordon & Dr. Bernie Villadiego
The Goal
The goal of comprehensive dental care is to engage the patient in their treatment and to restore them to health. Unfortunately, not every patient in your practice is interested in this approach. Many simply want only what their insurance covers, or have no interest in being educated about their dental health. So how do you attract patients who actually want what you have to offer?
Quite simply, through marketing.
Sounds simple enough. But without specific training in how to market their practice, most dentists have no idea what marketing strategies to employ, how to generate a response, or what messages will work. Many simply try copying what other dentists have tried. The problem with that approach? No two practices, markets or dentists are alike. What works in Miami, FL isn’t likely to play in Peoria, IL.
This course will guide each participant through the complete marketing process, from identifying measurable goals for their marketing through the development of a completely custom plan that will turn those goals into reality. Not only will you learn what you need to do to execute your custom plan, you will learn the basics of how to do it, fueled by insider tips and tricks to save you time and money.
Every section of this course reviews the industry terms and phrases so you will understand the “language” of marketing, and leaves time for detailed Q&A and group discussion.
Doctors should email their practice zip code to info@goldenproportions.com at least two weeks prior to the course date. We will pull a custom demographic profile for your practice to review at the course.
Each participant should bring the following to the course:
Laptop installed with MS Excel 2003 or higher
Month by month summary of new patient traffic, production and collections for past 24 months
Samples of all current and recent internal and external marketing materials (up to three years back)
Please bring photos of the exterior and interior of your practice.
Samples of any competitive marketing in your market area
An Introduction to Marketing
During this course overview, we will:
Review the basic philosophy of marketing and how it extends beyond basic advertising to literally every action you and your business takes.
Discuss the best times to market your business
Review industry trends
Review the goals of the course
Benchmarking My Practice
Measurement is a critical element of any marketing plan, but it requires that you know exactly where you started from. We will identify your practice’s current benchmarks so that we can compare them at year end to your new marketing goals. Using MS Excel, we will chart:
The average number of patients per month based on the past 12 months
Calculate the average production and collections per month based on the past 12 months
Plot the past 24 months of new patient traffic, production and collections to identify any seasonal or economic trends
Creating Your Practice Profile
You need to know who you are, what you do well and what type of patients you attract in order to ultimately define your market position. We will review the following:
Current Demographics
What is the average age, income, education and profession of your patients?
What does your personal PRIZM profile look like? (by providing your zip code in advance we can bring a custom PRIZM profile to the course for discussion)
How far do 80% of your patients travel to come see you?
Current Psychographics
Why do patients come to you for care? What attracts them to your office?
Once they are in the practice, what do they appreciate the most and why?
What are your top three referral sources and why?
What type of dentistry is most profitable in your practice?
What type of dentistry do you enjoy the most?
Ideal Demographics and Psychographics
Now that you know what you have, what do you want? Identify your ideal patient and practice profile in specific demographic and psychographic terms
SWOT Analysis
This element of the course requires honesty and personal insight. In order to help identify your market position, we will identify:
Your Strengths
Your Weaknesses
Your Opportunities
Your Threats
Competitive Analysis
We will identify the competition in your market, your impression of their market position, and samples of their current marketing. From this information we will list the marketing positions that are already occupied and those that are still available for you to capture.
Market Perception and Positioning
Through a group review of your existing marketing, we will identify how the market currently sees your practice and services, and identify what marketing position you want to own. We will then discuss what you will need to do to transition market perception in order to attract your ideal patient.
Goal Setting
If you don’t have a specific, measurable goal, how will you know if your marketing worked? We will guide you on setting clear, actionable short and long term goals for your practice. Using the information outlined above, we will identify:
Three to five specific, measurable and actionable one-year goals
Three to five specific, measurable and actionable five-year goals.
Strategy Overview
We will review the wide range of traditional and non-traditional internal and external marketing strategies that you can employ to attract your target patient. With each strategy you will learn insider secrets on how to make your marketing more effective and responsive, and key pitfalls to avoid. Strategy overview will include:
Internal Marketing
Brand development – practice names, logos, taglines, stationery, ad specialty items
Signage – interior and exterior
New patient packages
Newsletters – printed and emailed/email list generation
Radio Spots – ads, live reads, personal endorsements, sponsorships
TV Commercials/Infomercials
Window banners/signage
Newspaper Inserts
Direct Mail – postcards, letters, mini-magazines, auxiliary outlets
Billboards/Outdoor – airports, bus stations, sports arenas, window banners
Movie Theater Ads
Yellow Pages – display, in column, line listings
Trade Shows
Seminars
E-Books/Reports
Websites
Social Media – Facebook, Linked In
SEO – writing for SEO, directory listings, linking
Web Marketing – PPC, Banner Ads, Media Sites
Blogging and RSS Feeds
The use of coupons/incentives and promotions
Making it all measurable
Marketing Calendar Development
Using a detailed checklist, you will determine what internal and external marketing strategies you currently employ, wish to change, and/or need in order to accomplish your stated goals. Using MS Excel, you will map these goals into your two year plan along with an execution timeline and task list.
Budget Setting
The ideal plan needs a budget to accompany it. Determine how much of your practice collections should be allocated to achieving your goal. These numbers will be plugged into your marketing calendar so that you can ensure reasonably even expenditures per month.
Plan Tracking and Evaluation
Set up your internal tracking mechanisms so that you can trace every new call to a marketing initiative. Learn the importance of tracking, review, evaluation and redirection of your marketing plan. Review the use of an Excel based marketing metrics measurement tool.
Do-It-Yourself vs. Hiring Out
Now that you have a plan, you’ll need to put it in action. There are many things your team can do, and others you may want to hire out. We’ll explain how to hire an agency and exactly what to expect, how to work with freelance talent, and how to work with the inside designers at specific media sources (ie – newspaper, yellow pages). If you want to do-it-yourself, we’ll explain what you can delegate to your team and what you need to oversee.
Don't miss the one opportunity you will have next year to learn more about marketing from the best and get some true help to make 2010 your best year ever!
Course Tuition:
No tuition...there is a food/catering cost that is split between each attendee
Marriott Downtown 200 West 12th Street Kansas City, Missouri 64105 816.421.6800 1.11 miles to Studio 2131 Directions: www.mapquest.com/maps
Hyatt Regency Crown Center 2345 McGee Street Kansas City, Missouri 64108 816.421.1234 1.12 miles to Studio 2131 Directions: www.mapquest.com/maps
Westin Crown Center 1 East Pershing Road Kansas City, Missouri 64108 816.474.4400 1.10 miles to Studio 2131 Directions: www.mapquest.com/maps
Hilton President Kansas City 1329 Baltimore Kansas City, Missouri 64105 816.221.9490 1.08 miles to Studio 2131 Directions: www.mapquest.com/maps
Sheraton Suites Country Club Plaza 770 W. 47th Street Kansas City, Missouri 64112 816.931.4400 3.37 miles to Studio 2131 Directions: www.mapquest.com/maps
Shuttle Transportation from Kansas City International Airport (MCI):
