Blanket application of disclaimers to all endorsements and testimonials is an overreaction to the guidelines.  If a material connection exists between an advertiser and an endorser, there is an obligation to disclose that material connection only where the audience would not reasonably expect that connection to exist.   You may be able to convince your station to change their policy by concentrating on the actual language of the FTC text.

If the endorsement is given in a context where the listener would reasonably expect the endorser to be compensated, the guidelines don’t rquire you to disclose because consumers can reasonably be expected to have taken that fact into consideration when deciding how much weight or credibility to give to the endorsement.  In short, you don’t have to tell them what they already know.

The text of the FTC press release announcing the guidelines is here:  http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2009/10/endortest.shtm.

 The text of the actual FTC Guidelines is here:  http://www.ftc.gov/os/2009/10/091005revisedendorsementguides.pdf

Most dentists are somewhere in the middle.  They have a website, but they rarely look at their site and don’t think much about it.  They do, however, have this vague notion in the back of their minds, this nagging feeling that they should be paying more attention to their internet presence.  They know that their website could be better; they’ve heard that others are generating a considerable amount of new patients from the web; they have some sense that people are using search engines to find dental services – they just aren’t sure what to do about it.

Dental practices need a website that does two things.  First, it must look decent and offer good information.  Second, it must also attract new patients.  If your website only does the former, and not the latter, then the other dentists in the community are probably eating your lunch.

Here’s what to do:  First, take a good look at your website to see if it an attractive and useful source of information.  If not, you will either need overhaul it or hire someone to build a new one.  For a nice-looking semi-customizable website, you should expect to pay about $2000-$3000 upfront to a company who has experience with dental practice sites. 

Once you have a nice-looking site, with good information, you need to research how many patients you are currently generating from the web.  If you use call tracking numbers (which are cheap and simple to use – get them now!), look at how many calls are coming through your website phone line.  Your team should already be asking people  how they heard about the office.  Do people frequently mention the website? 

If your web host provides you with analytics, look at the data, and pay special attention to  how people are finding you.  Are you getting much business through search engines?  Perform searches of your own, as if you were a prospective patient.  Google “(my town)dentist”, and see how close to the top your listing is.  Google a couple of other terms that are important to you, along with your location.  Try cosmetic dentist or implant dentist.   Are you in the top five?  Are you on the front page?  Are you even a blip on the radar screen?

If you don’t seem to be generating much business from the web, you should be a bit concerned.  Contact your web host/provider to see what you are supposed to be getting in terms of SEO.  Make sure you are getting what you pay for, and also ask them what supplemental SEO services they offer. 

In very general terms, SEO is either paid or organic.  There are many positioning techniques for generating a high organic listing, using keywords, relevant activity, and inbound links, just to name a few.  Any website company worth its salt should at least be doing the basics.  For an additional monthly fee, many web companies will actively work on your SEO through a variety of techniques.  If your provider is unable or unwilling to offer much in this area, there are third party companies who will optimize your site even if they haven’t designed it and don’t host it.  Their techniques, prices and effectiveness widely vary.

SEO can also be directly bought through sponsored links and pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns.  You can do this directly through the search engines, like Google and Yahoo, or you can hire a third-party company to manage a sponsored link and/or PPC campaign for you.

A large segment of our population is increasingly relying on search engines to find the products and the services they need.   Make sure that you’re one of  the options they see when they are looking, and give them what they want once they get to your site. 

Remember that marketing success is all about efficiency, and internet marketing is about as efficient as it gets.

 http://theoatmeal.com/comics/design_hell

“I am ticked off at my dentist’s office in Aloma. I called and canceled on a Thursday for a Monday appointment and I received a bill for $30 for giving less than 24 hours notice. When I called to question it I was told they were closed on Friday so it was less than 24 hours notice. This policy was never disclosed to me, and the office manager was extremely rude.”

I’d bet that this Aloma dentist  never even knew why he lost that patient.  He may even be surprised by the policy of his own office.  He’d certainly be surprised that the policy was conveyed to the patient in a rude manner.

The trouble with this, from my perspective, is that marketing to attract patients is hard and relatively expensive compared to keeping an existing patient.  For every chart you lose, you reduce by one the net growth of the practice produced by the new patients from the marketing campaign.  If they are coming in one door and leaving through another, you’ll be treading water forever.

A customer service expert, name Bob Farrell, swears by the philosophy of  ”Give Em the Pickle”.  It all started when one of his waitress employees lost his retaurant a customer by refusing to give him a pickle.   Farell’s point is that your business is all about the customers; do anything within reason to make them happy and loyal, and “give em a pickle”  if necessary.

I’m not against late-cancellation penalties, and I realize that some patients need to be let go.  Just make sure that you and your team all understand that a good loyal patient/customer is worth a heck of alot more than that $30 fee.

Marketing is all about efficiency.  It’s much easier and efficient to keep an existing patient than to attract a new one – especially if all it costs you is a pickle.

• Care packages for patients, including coffee mugs
• Laying off hygienists or handling hygiene appointments during the hygienist’s lunch break
• Rewards points for patients who show up on time, wait in the lobby, or choose an elective procedure
• Changing focus from cosmetic dentistry to more general and endo cases
• Lowering fees
• Using fillings instead of crowns to lower costs
• Free tooth whitenings
• Free electric toothbrushes
• Upselling everything from tongue scrapers to makeovers
• Rewarding referrals with a bouquet of flowers

What do you think of these techniques?  It’s easy to criticize the ones that don’t make sense to you, but maybe not so easy to come up with your own effective methods. 

The point is this:  you can’t just wait for the economy to turn around and  reverse disappointing practice revenues.  You need to expand your comfort zone create opportunities for yourself.

Are you growing your practice – or just waiting for the competition to eat your market share?

Over the years I’ve also often heard that radio doesn’t work for dentists.  I’ve worked with hundreds of practices, from Anchorage to Miami, that could tell you otherwise, but here’s ten ways you can make this one come true:

1. Assume that everyone listens to your favorite station.  Heck, if the team plays it at the office, then that’s the one where we should buy some advertising!
2. Find out which station has the most listeners and buy that one.  There’s no need to research the demographic mix of listeners.  People are people, right?
3. Try out a station for a month to “see if it works”.   If you’re not getting fabulous results right off the bat, quit and try something else.   That whole “frequency” thing is just a scam to get you to keep buying ads.
4. Instead of focusing your message on high-value services that distinguish your practice (like sedation, implants, Invisalign, etc), just let everyone know that you’re the dentist office “that cares”.  Nobody else cares, and you should let the public know that you do.  If that fails, try telling people that you are a “cosmetic” dentist.
5. You’ve got 60 seconds to get your message across, so make sure you let the audience know every fellowship you’ve earned and every dental association you’ve joined.  People will be very impressed hearing obscure but prestigious names being used.  That’s a good use of your limited time.
6. Don’t focus on benefits and solving people’s problems.  Tell people all about yourself and the features of your office.  The audience will find that stuff fascinating.
7. Don’t give a web address.  Who uses that internet thing anyway? 
8. Even though media buyers are experts at getting the best deals and placing the most efficient schedules, make sure to buy all your advertising yourself.  So what if the radio station pays their commission and you get all their service at no charge.  You’ve got nothing better to do, so why not sit through appointments with every radio rep in town?  Just because the reps work for the station doesn’t mean they won’t be objective – right?
9. When deciding on a budget, just pick a number that feels right.  Even better, just advertise on months when there is a surplus and you feel you can afford it.
10. If the economy slumps, terminate all advertising, and huddle in the fetal position until outside forces change.  That’s what the competition is going to do, so you won’t lose any market share.

Effective marketing and superior customer service will put your patients to work for you, and bring you referrals like crazy.  So will giving patients a referral  thank-you gift.  If you start a referral incentive program like the one below, make sure to send an e-mail or postcard to all your patients letting them know.

Put this language on the back of your business card: 

New Patient Offer

Get a free $25 Visa Gift Card with your first paid appointment.

Tell us who sent you, and they’ll get one too!

I was referred by:  _____________________

Some patients really get into it.  I’ve see a few offices have contests for their patients to see who can give the most referrrals in six months or a year.  Prizes are either a bigger gift card, or an electronic item like an i-pod or flat-screen tv. 

Make sure that your state board has no restrictions about rewarding people for referrrals.  Most don’t, but you should check first.

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?