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Categories: Dental Marketing Tips
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Internet Marketing for Dentists is heating up and really becoming competitive.  Online Marketing is skyrocketing allowing the “average dentist” to compete with the big guns of dentistry.

One of the hot topics is always “How much should I spend on Internet marketing?”

It’s amazing the variations of opinions that come up as you discuss this topic.  Some dentists swear by Internet marketing spending thousands and thousands each month, while others can’t quite understand the hoopla of marketing online.

What I decided to do is start searching the Internet on forums and blogs and do some research on what people are saying about online marketing budgets and their results.

The answers that I found weren’t shocking at all, just reaffirmed the answers I already knew.  However, what was shocking is how undervalued new patients are.  The figures I received blew me away.

I gathered some quotes from a variety of blogs and forums that disclosed the budgets that dentists are paying for their Internet marketing.

Here are some quotes I gathered from dentists online and before I disclose how much they are spending take a wild guess at what you think their online budget is.

Ready?  Ok, let’s play…

First up, a dentist from Mississippi says…

“Great concept, but I just haven’t seen much results.” (Mississippi dentist spending $(guess) monthly)”

So what do you think he’s spending every month?  $100?  $200? $500? $1000?

Answer… $30! That’s right, $30 per month.  I don’t think I need to say anymore on that.  I think you can see why he’s not “seen much results”.

Next up,  a New York Dentist says…

“I believe that you need to have a single dedicated person handling all Internet marketing functions in order to make it profitable. This person should be like a dental marketing IT person.” (New York dentist spending $(guess) monthly)

This is a pretty positive one… what’s your guess on his monthly online budget? $50? $200? $800? $1200? $2000?

Answer… $175 per month!

Now, even though his budget is still remarkably low, he hit the nail right on the head when he said “you need to have a single dedicated person handling all Internet marketing functions in order to make it profitable.”

There are a couple of reasons for this;

1. Let the Experts do what they know best!  People come to you for their dental needs because you are the expert.  Last time I checked bankers didn’t make good dentists!  Get my point?  Why do you feel like you need to do your own online marketing campaigns?   There are Internet experts that do this stuff 24/7, why not let them take care of it for you and do it right?
2. When your budget increases for marketing it usually means more work on your part to keep a handle on things.   If you are doing AdWords, video marketing, social networking, newsletters etc etc etc, that is a lot to keep track of.   Don’t you think your time is better spend treating patients and making money then dealing with the hours and hours it takes to market online properly?  Think of it this way, let’s say you spend 1 hour a day on your online marketing and your spending $400  per month on ads etc.  Guess what?  Your spending a lot more than $400 a month.  Let’s assume you make $100 per hour doing dentistry.  You work 4 days a week which means you are spending $400 a week on Internet marketing just from your time alone.  Times that by 4 ($400 x 4) and that’s a whopping $1600 per month plus the actual $400 on marketing bringing your Internet marketing budget total to a whopping $2000 per month!!! Now, since you are losing $1600 from your time and not bringing that in your dental practice is actually losing $3200 per month. What does that equal in production?  Maybe $4000?  $5000?  $10,000? As you can see your marketing budget just tripled if not quadrupled in cost.

Next up, a South Carolina Dentist says…

“Even without my picture loaded on the website, it generates 4-5 new high-value patients monthly!! The most recent patient needed $19,500 in restorative treatment of which he has already paid half BEFORE treatment begins…that’s 32.5 more months of Internet marketing from just one patient!” (South Carolina dentist spending $(guess) monthly)

So what’s your guess on this one??  $200?  $600? $1000? $2000?

Actually, he gave you a clue in his statement that gave it away if you did the math.

Answer… $600 monthly budget!

The best part about this situation is the dentist gets how this all works!  I love it!  He brings in $19,500 and he’s already turning that money back into marketing dollars.  See how powerful this can be?  One patient brings in $19,500 all from $600 being spent on his online marketing.  What do you think, was that a good investment?  I think everyone agrees it was, if not then go drink another cup of coffee because your a little drowsy this morning.

Now, does this happen all the time?  Well, actually it does, but does it happen every time you get a new patient?  Of course not.  That would be to easy.  I think this is one of the reasons dentists get depressed about their marketing and quit, or lower their budgets.  One or two bad months and they think online marketing is dead or something so they pull their add or campaign.   That’s one of the worst things you can do.

Now, let’s bump up the marketing budget and double it from the dentist above to $1200 per month and every month you bring in one or two new patients that get just the basics done.  So let’s say that would be 24 new patients a year. Not that great right?  I’m sure right now most of you are getting that on a monthly basis through referrals and everything else.  So, let’s assume you are profiting a measly $200 from each patient which brings the total to $4,800.  Now, let’s say out of those 24 new patients you get 1 “golden nugget” patient.  They need all kinds of work done bringing their total bill to $15,000.

So now your total income from those 24 new patients for the year is $19,800.  Total spent on marketing was $1200 x 12 = $14,400 profiting $5,400.  Is it worth it?  Absolutely!

Some of you might be saying “It’s only $5,400, what’s the big deal?”  What’s the big deal?  What happens when you get two “golden nugget” patients?  or three? What about the other 23 new patients that you now have on your books that in another six months want Invisalign?  Or need Dentures?

The value of your patient doesn’t stop after their first appointment.  This is greatly misunderstood by most dentists and businesses around the globe.

That is why it is so vital that you track your new patients and keep tracking their productions years to come.  It will surprise you months down the road how much money you brought in from those measly 1-2 new patients a month.  Initially it might not sound like much, but be patient.  Chances are they are just getting to know you and getting their feet wet.  Give it some time and things will begin to blossom.

Okay, let’s move on to the next quote on our list…

This comes from a dentist in California that says…

“The younger generation is 100% all about the Internet.  I don’t think kids these days even know what a phone book is.  From what I’m seeing this is starting to rub off onto the parents.  It seems that being 50 is the new 30.  Parents love all the new technology that is available today which they didn’t have back in their childhood or even in their 20’s, 30’s or even 40’s.  Baby boomers are in full swing and using the computer more than ever.  Dentures and Implants will be the next big thing for 30+ years.  Internet = More Patients = More Revenue = Me Retiring!” (California dentist spending $ ?  monthly)

So true… Okay, what do you think his advertising budget is?  $100?  $500?  $800?  $1000?  $1500?  $2500?

Answer … Which is not surprising … $1500!!

I can see it now, some of you need to pick your jaw up off the floor.  Some of you can’t even imagine spending $1500 a month on Internet marketing.  Is it common?  More than you think.

It sounds to me that he is targeting the older generation, baby boomers, needing dentures and implants.  Okay, so let’s say his budget brings him 4-5 new patients and 1-2 new implant/denture cases per month.  Do you really need me to do the math on this one?  No…okay, I will anyways…

If the average dental implant case is $3000 and he’s getting two cases per month that’s $6 grand!  $1500 isn’t looking so steep after all is it?  So $3000 x 24 = $72,000 per year of New Income!  We didn’t even add the other new patients or what they bring in a few months down the road.  So let’s just call it a even $80,000 a year of income.  He’s spending $1500 x 12 = $18,000 a year in online marketing and profiting $62,000 from that marketing.  Not to shabby!

So how many of you would like those type of numbers??  We all would!

So let ’s take a look at what just happened over the course of this article.  If you noticed, the ones with negative attitudes and no results were the ones spending hardly anything.  The first guy spent what, $30 a month?  As the price increased so did the production.

Let me ask you this, if someone came to you right now and said “If you give me $1 I will give you $2 back.”  Would you do it?  Of course you would, you just made 100% profit and an easy buck!

So let’s up the aunty, if someone said “I’ll give you $40 if you give me $20 in return” would you do it?  No brainer right?  You would have to be crazy not to right?

Now look at this, if someone said “You pay me $2000 and I’ll give you $2500 in return” would you do it?  Are you actually having to think about this?  Why?  Your making $500 which is 25 times more than the example above which you were pretty willing to do.

For whatever reason, when you start to add some zero’s onto the end of numbers people start to freak out a little bit.  For whatever reason, the return just doesn’t seem as good.  Be honest, which example seemed like the best deal?

• $1 for $2?
• $20 for $40, or
• $2000 for $2500?

For whatever reason the $20 for $40 wins every time.  I can’t quite figure out why that is.  If you said the third option then give yourself a pat on the back because most people don’t consider that to be a great value.

If you did that on a monthly basis then you would be up $6,000 each year!  That’s a pretty good investment if you ask me.

How many of you are making $500 profit every month from only $2000 in the stock market?  Or any other investment?  I can pretty much say no one, but in the rare case someone is please send me your stockbrokers number!

Why are you willing to invest $100,000, $200,000, $500,000 on the stock market or any other form of investments?  Because you want to grow your money right?  Everyone does.  If you make a 10% return for the year your looking pretty good right? ($500,000 x .10 = $50,000)

The dentist above pulling in $80,000 a year from his measly $1500 monthly investment is raking in 4.44 Times his investment ($1500 x 4.44 = $6666 x 12 = $80,000)

My conclusion is this…

You need to look at Internet marketing as an investment.  Spending $30 a month isn’t an investment.  If you told your stockbroker to invest $30 he would laugh at you all the way out his door.

If you have one or two or three or 10 bad months, don’t take it personally or pull your marketing.  That “golden nugget” patient is just around the corner.  Be patient and stop checking your stats every two seconds.

Leave the Marketing to the Experts just like we all leave our dental needs to the dental experts.

As usual, for those of you who read my posts I like to hand out bonuses.

Copy this promotional code, 12350, and I will take $100 off of our Xtreme Pro Internet marketing package for you.  Just click this dental marketing link and paste the code in the promotion box and click redeem.  It’s that simple.  If we are running any other promotions that are lower you will get the lowest one out of the two.  So in other words, no matter what you will save $100 if not more!

As a reminder, get these “golden nugget” dental articles as soon as they are published by subscribing to our RSS feed.

See you all next time,

J. King
Guru Mania!
Smile America Dental Marketing

Categories: Dental Marketing Tips, Marketing Budget
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So, you are wondering if marketing your dental website is worth while.  Lets look at it from this prospective.

Let me ask you this, Does putting gasoline in your car really matter?  I know that’s a pretty silly question and your probably wondering how in the world does that have to do with marketing your dental website, but stick with me for a minute and you’ll see where I’m going with this (there is also a bonus at the bottom so stick around).

How many of you would like a brand new car?  Any car?  Your dream car?

Okay, so now picture yourself at the car dealership sitting in your dream car, your hands on the wheel, the seat perfectly forming to your behind… pretty cool right?

Now for the best part…you get to drive it home!

You can’t wait to show your friends and family your dream car.  You climb inside, start the engine and the dealer was so kind to give you a 1/164 of a tank to get you home.

You pull in the driveway and honk the horn.  Your family and friends come out and are just going crazy over your new car.  They all take turns sitting inside, holding on to the steering wheel, playing with your new GPS navigation system, cranking the stereo testing out the new 8 speaker surround sound, rolling up and down the windows, moving your seat back, up, down to fit them just right.  Opening and closing your sun roof and playing with the rest of the gadgets and gizmos in amazement.

Everyone loves your brand new car and tell you you look absolutely awesome in it and they are totally jealous.

You hop in one last time just to make sure it’s still real before heading inside your house.  The second you get inside you go to the closest window and look outside just making sure it’s still in your driveway.

For the next few hours you about every 5 minutes you keep looking out the window, even sometimes going back outside just to touch your new car.  Things are pretty exciting.

The next day roles around and you just can’t wait to go for a long drive with the sun roof open and the radio blasting your favorite tunes.

You climb in your car, fasten your seat belt, put the key in the ignition, turn the key…

And nothing.  At first your shocked.  Maybe you didn’t turn the key far enough so you try again even harder.
Still nothing.

You check your gauges and everything looks perfect… Except one little yellow light that’s telling you..

OUT OF GAS!!

It dawns on you that the dealer only gave you enough gas to get home and show your family and friends, but not enough for that long afternoon drive along the beach.

You’re a little bummed at the moment, but still extremely excited you have your new car.

You remember that as part of the “Extended Warranty” the dealership promised you gallons and gallons of gas free of charge as long as you kept paying your monthly payment.

So you give the dealership a call and tell them you need gas really bad so you can take your afternoon drive along the beach.  They tell you they are doing all they can and will get you some gas as soon as possible.

So you wait around and a few days later someone shows up, puts in 1/164 off gas a leaves.  Your excited, you got your first bit of gas, but not enough to go anywhere.  So you continue to wait, and wait, and wait and you then realize your brand new car looks awesome, but your not able to take advantage of all that power, speed and gadgets.

Weeks, Months, Years go by and your still only receiving 1/164 off gas maybe once a week.

You’re now sick and tired of it and decide to look up companies that specializes in delivering gas.  There are a few to choose from.  Which one is the best one?  Who will offer the best gas?  Who will offer gas the quickest?

You have your choice of regular unleaded or premium unleaded with power boosters.

Regular Unleaded might get you around town, but doesn’t offer quite enough torque to get you where you really want to go.

Premium unleaded with power boosters will do everything you need.  Give you all the power you can handle.  And most importantly, fill up your tank of gas everyday.  Your tank will never run dry again.  Some days gas will even spill all over the place because there so much was delivered that day.

So which would you choose?  Regular Unleaded Gas or Premium Unleaded with Power Boosters?

Okay, enough with the car theory, let’s break this down into dental websites and internet marketing.

If you caught on during my car scenario you realized that your dream car represented your brand new website you built weeks, months or even years ago.

I’m sure when you finished your website you told your family and friends all about it.  They all went to your website, clicked on all the buttons, looked at all the pictures, read all the material and thought it looked awesome just like when you brought home your new car for everyone to see.  It was an exciting time.

The only problem was, when you went to drive your car there was no gas.  Your car was beautiful, but stuck in your driveway.

Your website could be the most coolest website in the world, but without traffic (gas) it will just sit there and do nothing.

So is internet marketing important?  I think through this demonstration we’ve proved how important online marketing truly is.

For whatever reason, businesses with websites seem to neglect internet marketing.  For some reason they think since they have a website traffic will just start flooding in overnight.

Internet Marketing is so complex it usually overwhelms everyone and so they just forget about it and “hope” traffic just falls in their lap.

Marketing your website is an absolute must if you want to drive in quality new patients.  If you have a website just sitting their collecting dust, I suggest you call your web design company and cancel your $59 monthly payment and put that money to good use somewhere else.

There is absolutely no reason why your website shouldn’t be flooded with traffic.  Millions of people are searching for dentists on a daily basis.  It’s not like your in a business with zero demand or searches.

Dentists are in huge demand by millions of people everyday.  The dentist that puts himself in front of those millions of people are the dentists reaping the rewards.

In the past dentists would use their marketing budgets for yellow pages, radio spots, direct mail and even some tv commercials.

Back then that’s what people used, but guess what?  Things have changed.

The internet is sweeping the world by storm.  Even yellow pages, radio, tv are all taking things to the internet.

Just think about it, when you want to find information or do research where do you go?  Let me guess… the internet?

I could go on all day talking about this, but I think by now you get my point.

Internet marketing is, and will be in the future for many years to come, the best form of advertising out there.  Your website can be seen by thousands of people each and every day 24/7.  You can’t say that about any other form of advertising.

Internet marketing is like everything else, you get what you pay for.

You need to look at it on a business standpoint.  Usually when you purchase something for $50 you don’t care much about it.  You put it on the back burner and just let it go.  If it does something great, it only cost $50.  If it doesn’t do anything, great I only lost $50.

If you are serious about your dental practice you’ll invest in things that bring back a return.

Why do dentists spend $250,000 on digital x-ray units?
Why do dentists spend $100,000 on Cerec Crown machines?
Why do dentists spend $120,000 on Biolase Lasers?
Why do dentists spend $1,000,000 on a new practice? or remodel?

The answer is quite simple, it makes you money.  It simplifies things, makes things easier.  Attracts New Patients!!

For those of you who own some of those things I listed how much is your monthly payment?  My guess is your paying $6000 or more for each item each and every month for the next 5-10 years.

How much is your Million Dollar practice costing you?  I’d say around $15,000 a month for the next 30 years.

So, if you are willing to spend all that money to simplify things, make things easier, keep technology current, attract new patients, then wouldn’t it make sense to invest in a solid dental marketing company that will simplify your online marketing, keep current with hot trends and techniques, and attract new patients?

I think the answer is pretty simple…YES!

No matter who you are, people will always pay for quality.

There is a reason why you purchased the $250,000 x-ray unit instead of the $50,000 unit.  There is something about quality that wins every time.

Smile America Dental Marketing is all about quality.  We take our dental marketing strategies very seriously.  We like to think of ourselves as the $250,000 x-ray unit that comes with all the bells and whistles that produce the best results possible.

Grab dental marketing by the horns and run with it.  You’ll be amazed at the results.

Thanks for hanging with me with all my analogies.  For those of you who stuck around I have a special bonus for you…

Copy this promotional code, 12350, and I will take $100 off of our Xtreme Pro internet marketing package for you.  Just click this dental marketing link and paste the code in the promotion box and click redeem.  It’s that simple.  If we are running any other promotions that are lower you will get the lowest one out of the two.  So in other words, no matter what you will save $100 if not more!

As a reminder, get these “golden nugget” dental articles as soon as they are published by subscribing to our RSS feed.

See you all next time,

J. King
Guru Mania!
Smile America Dental Marketing

Categories: Dental Websites
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