Confused & frustrated by the whole “marketing thing”?
With all of the different marketing/advertising options available, it’s easy to get overwhelmed.
Simply put, marketing can be broken down into two approaches: Push & Pull
Push marketing is by far the most common. It includes strategies like magazine ads, billboards, TV commercials, direct mail and radio ads. In other words, creating demand for your services by presenting them to people who aren’t currently seeking them.
The challenge with push marketing is that it generally has a low response rate and is typically expensive – both literally and from a return on investment (ROI) perspective. You have to put your message in front of a lot of people in order to identify the few who are interested.
For many businesses, their only option is push marketing because there isn’t sufficient demand for what they’re offering and therefore aren’t enough people seeking it out.
This isn’t the case for dentists. Because the demand is already there, people actively seek out dental services. For most people that means conducting an internet search.
To illustrate; last month there were 27,100 searches in Dallas for the phrase “dentist Dallas”. There were several thousand more for all the variations and procedure specific searches that occur each month such as “cosmetic dentist”, “dental office” “dental implants”, or “orthodontics”.
This is where pull marketing comes in. Pull marketing is the process of positioning yourself so that when someone is actively searching for dental services in your area, they find you.
Because the consumer is actively looking for your services vs. being interrupted by your marketing message, they are much more receptive and more likely to respond positively.
Some examples of pull marketing include:
- Online Marketing (Search Engine Optimization) – Probably the purest form of inbound marketing. A consumer is in need of dental services, they do a Google search, your website shows up high in the Google rankings, they click on it and assuming they like what they see, they call to schedule an appointment.
- Online Advertising (Pay-Per-Click) – The quickest way to put your message in front of consumers who are actively searching for dental services. You can determine who sees your ads and the times your ads are shown. You only pay when someone clicks on your ad and everything is trackable, so no guessing if it’s working.
- Google Maps / Places – Properly optimizing your Google Places listing has become more important than ever. Google is now blending your Places listing with your main website in their results pages. Be sure and claim your listing if you haven’t already – it’s free.
Still confused? Just give us a call, we’re happy to answer all of your questions. Our specialty is making the process of attracting new patients painless. 800-506-9817
