Archive for the ‘Mktg-Internet’ Category
Practice Building: Keeping Your Name In Front Of Patients and New Prospects
October 15th, 2010 at 2:59 pm by Livvie
Whether it’s using social media platforms, newsletters, direct mail, or print ads…it’s all about keeping your name in front of your patients or new prospects and the end of the year presents one of the best opportunities…Year End Benefit Reminders.
As we all know, the last quarter of the year is a busy time. Businesses are pushing for that year end rush and people are gearing up for the holidays.
The last thing on their mind is a trip to the dentist…but…they may have also forgotten about those unused flex benefits and unused insurance benefits that have been deducted from their salary all year and they will be lost if not used!
Sending your patients a Year End Benefit Reminder not only benefits you, it can present a big benefit to your patients especially if they have forgotten. If you haven’t already sent reminders, NOW is the time, it’s not too late. Sending now will give you time to send any PreTreatment Estimates needed and still have time to seat any crowns before the end of the year (if paying by seat date).
If you are using Demand Force or Sesame Communications getting the message out can be very simple. You can even utilize your own newsletter or your practice blog and social sites, the point is make sure you remind your patients.
ADDED BONUS: Remember to Tweet and post on Facebook, even your YouTube video reminder…New pospects looking for a dentist have unused flex benefits and unused insurance benefits, too, and you just let them know where they can use them!
Here is a sample letter:
Subject: Year End Benefit Reminder
Another year is winding down! We wanted to remind you to make sure you take advantage of any unused dental insurance benefits and/or unused flex (FSA) or healthcare (HSA) benefits you may have remaining since most companies do not allow you to carry these over to the next year.
Call (office telephone number) or email (office email address) to schedule your appointment or if we can be of assistance in any way. We’re here for you!
Look forward to seeing you soon!
(Doctor’s Name)
Year End Benefit Reminder letters sent in house or by social sites are just one of the many ways to keep your name in front of your patients and new prospects. What are some other ways you use?
Posted in Dental Marketing, Mktg-Internet, Patient Relations, Social Media | 
Tags: Building Business, Dental Marketing, Facebook, keeping your name in front of patients, Livvie Matthews, social media marketing, Social Media Specialist, Social Media Specialist Charlotte NC, Twitter, unused dental benefits, year end benefit letter, year end insurance reminder | 
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Avoid These 5 Social Media Mistakes
October 2nd, 2010 at 8:56 pm by Livvie
Social media marketing has definitely become mainstream and presents many opportunities for marketing your business. One of the biggest opportunities is how it levels the playing field allowing small businesses the opportunity to market like, and be seen with, the “big boys”.
But although still relatively new there are some mistakes you will want to avoid when using social media. As you market you business below is a list of 5 social media mistakes you will want to avoid:
1) Trying to use social media for making sales. This is the #1 mistake to avoid. Social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube are all about making contacts, opening doors, gaining trust and credibility, and building those all important relationships.
Once you’ve gained your viewers trust and you have a relationship with them, you’ll be the one they turn to when they are ready to do business. Think about it, wouldn’t you rather do business with someone you have grown to know and trust? Relationships first…Business second.
2) Going into social media without clear objectives. What are you wanting social media to accomplish for your business or practice? So many times, businesses will just jump in without knowing what their objectives are for using social media and a strategy for getting to those objectives.
Do you want to gain your targeted audience’s attention? Drive traffic to your practice, blog, or your website? Enhance your practice’s patient services? Maybe you want to grow your practice’s email list…what’s your objective? Know what it is you’re trying to accomplish.
3) Not knowing how to listen and engage effectively. To attract and engage targeted followers effectively, you need to have several elements in place. Here are a few of them:
Be clear on your target market and be familiar with the social networks they prefer to use the most. Let me put that into perspective. If you work out of 3 operatories and your patient is seated in OP 3 and you’re seated in Op 2 waiting for that patient, you aren’t going to get anything accomplished. You’re not where your patient is. So if you are on Twitter and your target is on Facebook… see the importance? Go where the “eyeballs” are… Know and be seen where your target market is!
You must have a strategy and a plan for implementing your strategy in place..FIRST.
You will want to have a practice social media policy in place. In other words, how will you and your employees handle social media in your practice? What can and can’t be said? How will you respond to complaints or negative posts?
Are you noticing how all of these are building on one another?
4) Becoming distracted. Social media is a powerful marketing tool, but if you’re not careful it can be time consuming and become overwhelming.
Invitations to connect… invitations to events… join this group… attend this meeting… not to mention the games and other distractions. It’s no wonder after awhile many pages just sit there gathering “virtural dust”. You MUST learn to stay focused. Remember your goals and your objectives. Stick to your game plan!
5) Spreading yourself too thin. Knowledge of the difference social platforms, the different tools like plugins, applications, widgets, etc and the time involved. Time is a BIG factor!
When first entering the arena, you might want to join only one of the social platforms… maybe Twitter or Facebook. Then as you get comfortable with that platform, move on the next. Either way, there are some short cuts you can use to help when you are pressed for time.
One of the biggest helps, is pre-scheduling your tweets using social platforms like HootSuite or SocialOomph. Both allow you to schedule your tweets into the future. Hourly, daily, monthly…whenever. It’s a great way to delegate some of the time involved.
Another is to link up content to RSS Feeds. You can also set up and create Autoresponder messages. These are messages you create to go out at specific dates and times. Sort of like having your business on Auto-pilot.
These are a few mistakes to avoid. What can you add to the list?
Posted in Blogging, Dental Marketing, Mktg-Internet, Services, Social Media |
Tags: engaging and connecting, engaging social media, Internet Marketing, Livvie Matthews, social media mistakes, social media mistakes to avoid |
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Free TeleSeminar Interview: Dentinal Tubules and Dhru Shan
September 25th, 2010 at 6:59 pm by Livvie
Excited about upcoming Free Teleseminar interviewing Dr Dhru Shan, the man behind Dentinal Tubules- Online Dental Marketing Resource and Community! http://bit.ly/9rR3Kv
In just a little over a year Dentinal Tubules has gone from concept to reality to reaching all corners of the global dental communities! Looking forward to hearing his advice…it’s going to be a great call!
Friday Oct 8th 8:00 PM UK/BST —3:00PM EST, 2:00 PM CST, 1:00 PM MST, 12 Noon PST -
If you’re unable to attend, a recording of the call will be available for you to download and review! Dhru has a lot of great information, advice, and “how to’s” to share! Come on over and join us! Seating is limited on the call…Sign Up Now! http://bit.ly/9rR3Kv
Posted in Dental Marketing, General, Mktg-Internet, Social Media, TeleSeminars |
Tags: dental social media, Dentinal Tubules dental resource, engaging social media, Free TeleSeminar Dentinal Tubules, Internet Marketing, Livvie Matthews, social media for dentists, social media marketing |
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Patient Relations: What Percentage of New Patients Are Lost Due to the Telephone
September 22nd, 2010 at 3:01 am by Livvie
Think of all the expense, not to mention the time, involved with getting the phone to ring…only to loose the caller. Staggering fact: As many as 50% of New Patient calls are lost at the front desk due to poor telephone skills!
Verbal skills, over the phone or in person, dictate:
- First impressions
- Treatment acceptance
- Over the counter collections
- Scheduling
- Quality of service
- Referrals
There isn’t an area in your practice that’s untouched by verbal skills and it all starts with that first telephone call.
We’ve all heard the saying ” You only get one chance to make a good first impression”. In real estate it is all about Location, Location, Location!
In Dentistry – it is all about Impressions, Impressions, Impressions! No, We are not talking Alganates or Rubber Base Impression here! We’re talking about Mental Impressions ….Your service, service, service!
Today’s patient is:
- More Demanding
- More Intelligent
And more importantly, they have more choice about:
- Who they will see
- Who they will spend their money with
Positive verbal skills make sure it’s with your practice and NOT your competitors!
It’s also been shown the new caller will actually judge the quality of the Dr’s care, buy how well the phone is answered !
So, lets see….. Doctor, you spent years in college studying dentistry and many more hours of Continuing Ed. (CE). Now it can take just a moment to make or break the practice by how well we…. answer the phone!
Does that mean pressure for the Front Office? You bet it does!
It is crucial the atmosphere of the practice over the telephone and in person, be one of enthusiasm….that means…a Love or Passion about what you are doing!!
Closing thought: Handle all calls, especially New Patient calls as if that call is the most important call you will receive all day…..it is!
Posted in Dental Marketing, Mktg-Internet, Patient Relations, Services, Social Media |
Tags: Building Business, building telephone skills, Dental Marketing, Internet Marketing, Livvie Matthews, social media marketing, Telephone skill |
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Blogging Points for Starters
September 21st, 2010 at 8:31 am by Livvie
Blogs, short for web logs, are very easy to start, they generally don’t require a great deal of technical knowledge, and should be updated frequently. Blogs can also increase traffic to your site. Search engines love blogs due to the constant change in content!
There are many free blog sites for starting your blog. You can also do a Google search for free blog sites. Here are three to get you started:
• http://www.Wordpress.org (used by Write Business Blog)
• http://www.Movabletype.org/ (for movable type blogs)
Take some time to research some existing blogs to get a feel for how you would like your blog to look and what you would like your blog to do. Contact the blogger on some sites you like and ask them the likes and dislikes of how their blog program works. Also post the same question on a few message boards for their responses.
Some features on the blog sites are different and knowing the differences will help you make the choice that will best work with what you want your blog to do.
In designing your site, take time in choosing your colors and theme. There are predesigned templates and many different themes to choose from or you can create your own.
When creating and writing your content, make it interesting by adding your own personality and enthusiasm to your posts. Write like you’re talking to a person who’s right beside you.
Once started, be sure to promote and market your blog. Do a search for Blog Directories for places/sites to promote/list your blog.
One of the big blog search sites is http://www.blogsearch.google.com. This site lists most any type blog for any interest…business, industry, personal blog, etc.
Here are two more to get you started:
You can also post your blog in groups and on message boards…be sure to include your blog link in your e-mail sig (signature).
Marketing your blog will take some time, but updating your blog frequently and being persistent will put you on the blogging road to success.
Remember: You are unique. There’s only one you, so share your information written in your unique personality!
Posted in Blogging, Dental Marketing, Mktg-Internet, Social Media |
Tags: Blogging, blogging for starters, Building Business, Livvie Matthews, start blogging |
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