Here’s an excerpt from a WSJ interview with Nancy F. Koehn, a business historian, author and professor of business administration at Harvard Business School http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124024841790635643.html  :

It is in the early 1930s [during the Depression] that Procter & Gamble Co. says, “We are going to market the hell out of our products, and we’re going to do it on radio,” which was like the Internet of the time, “and we’re going to sponsor these little dramas.” That’s how they came to be called soap operas. So [one lesson in downturns] is market, market. Don’t cut back on marketing.

Selling price is a tricky thing.  You don’t really want to be known as “the cheap dentist” – do you?

Americans use dentists in Mexico for one reason – cost. Even after accounting for travel expense, you probably can’t compete with a Mexican practice on cost. If you can, you need to raise your rates. Where you can compete is value, of which cost is just one component.

The value perceived by the dental patient is established by balancing your fees against two things – the quality of the dentistry and the quality of the service. Many factors contribute toward the patient’s perception of the service quality, including how easy or difficult your team makes the whole process. Was the process, from booking the appointment through exiting the building, easy or complicated? How was the initial phone call handled? Was it easy to set up an appointment?  Was the patient greeted with a warm smile, or just barely acknowledged by your front desk with a point towards a chair, during the middle of a phone call?  Was there a lot of waiting in your reception area or was the patient seen promptly? Is the office comfortable? Were questions answered? Does the patient have to repeatedly fill out forms or give the same information again and again?

At an American practice, patients expect that they will receive top-notch dental care, that the office will be clean, and that equipment will be sterilized. If you deliver these things and also make it easy, comfortable, even a little pleasant (all things considered) to come to your office, people will see the value in your higher cost.

The economy is our reality.  You can’t pretend it doesn’t exist, but you don’t need to panic either.  Instead of slashing prices, sell value.

I know that immediate return is down for many of you, but a dental ad campaign is more than just pure direct response.  You are building a brand, and the brand that sticks around is stronger than the brand that disappears when the economy slows down. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/20/business/media/20adco.html?partner=rssyahoo&emc=rss

In the stock market, it makes sense to buy low.  In the advertising arena, when the “average” practice cuts back on marketing, the efficient practice stays the course. The practices that keep marketing will emerge stronger than ever.

“Owning”  your market means penetrating the public consciousness to a degree that you become the default choice for the service you own.  This requires a serious and long term commitment to your marketing campaign, and most likely will use a variety of media.  Some clients of mine who “own” their markets use a combination of web, radio, direct mail, tv and billboards.  That’s sounds like a big investment – and it is.  But none of my clients started their campaigns so aggressively.  Each started with a modest budget, using one or two media, and grew the campaign over a period of years as the ROI built them a marketing warchest.

Not every campaign works, and at some point you have to stop throwing good money after bad.  But if you have a good plan, and a sound strategy, it is best to give your campaign time to mature.  Most dental advertising campaigns have some element of direct response – we love when people respond immediately. But you’re also branding the practice and building up your presence in the mind of the community.  This pays dividends over time, and gets better and better with the passing months and years.

Don’t spend all your time, energy, and resources constantly revising the plan.  Don’t come home from every seminar with visions of duplicating someone else’s plan, only to change your mind in a month or two, and head in another direction.  Figure out who you are, who you want to be, and devise a plan to let the community know.  Then stay focused on the plan, and give it some time to work.

If we assume that the sluggish economy will make some consumers less likely to opt for elective procedures, like veneers, for instance, what is the proper response from a marketing standpoint.  Does it make sense to reduce your marketing campaign until the economy turns around and the target customers are more ready to spend?

One might consider shifting dollars from purely aesthetic procedures to more “necessary” dentistry, but I’m not sure even that step is necessary.  If you’ve been branding yourself as “The Cosmetic Dentist”, you want to keep building and reinforcing that brand, even in tough times.  During the Great Depression, brands like Chevrolet, Kelloggs, Proctor & Gamble, and Camel made great leaps in market share by continuing and even increasing their marketing efforts.  Some companies who pulled back never made it out of the Depression.

People will always have needs, regardless of the economy.  There will always be a market for your services, even if the pool shrinks some.  Make sure that your voice continues to be heard.  When the economy improves, consistency and longevity will be part of your brand, and the public may have forgotten the name of your competition.

One powerful way to use video is on your web site.  You can record a greeting to visitors, describe a procedure, or even include video testimonials that let prospects see your actual patients tell their stories first-hand.  Some dentists have even taken it a step further and uploaded their work to YouTube and social networking sites.  Video is becoming so common on the web, people are starting to expect it.  If you want to position yourself as being cutting edge, and offering the latest in dentistry, your web site should  be consistent with your brand.