Page 84 - The Dental Entrepreneur

The Dental Entrepreneur

Marketing Is The Creation Of Value

This chapter could also be called the “Art of Value Creation” because of the reasons I
introduced you to in the previous chapter on insurance. If I was to define it in a quote it would
be something along these lines:

“Marketing is communication and without communication you cannot create value.

Without value you are a commodity. As a commodity, all you can compete with is price.
Unless you are Walmart,competing on price is a death trap “

This quote applies to every business on the face of the earth. Telling your story and making
people aware of what it is that you do that is special is universal. Also, getting into the mind of
your potential customer and really understanding what makes them tick is fundamental to any
lesson on marketing. So lets start.

Who Is Your Potential Customer?

In health care, identifying your potential customer or more precisely who is the decision maker
is very straight forward. It’s a female, a mom. That is a very familiar demographic in marketing.

They choose the doctor for themselves, their family,and if all goes well the husband eventually
gets on board. Marketing here is women-centric from the ground up. Everything has a feel
from the letterhead, logo, web design on up. This may sound fairly simple but some of the
worst web sites I have ever seen were done or approved by male dentists. If your dream is to
have your reception area look like a hunting lodge with your trophy mounts on the wall you
might want to reconsider. So once we have identified where you want to concentrate your
marketing efforts, its fairly straight forward to build that program from the ground up. Lets
start.

Location

I always start with location as a first consideration of marketing because most people overlook
this and spend a ton of money overcoming a bad location. I have given the previous example
of having a super location next to a top tier anchor such as Verizon or Starbucks. This could be
you’re your all inclusive plan and nothing additional is needed. Most people need a more
comprehensive approach but do not over estimate the value of a stellar location and do not be
afraid to pay extra for such a location.

Signage

Often overlooked as a companion to a good location is very prominent signage. Signage

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