In this episode, we first start with 2 reasons that most marketing sucks and why most businesses fail.
From there, we dive into how to overcome those two problems via a time-tested solution: effective storytelling.
People have used stories to connect with others and pass down information for thousands of years. In this episode, we teach you to use stories to help illustrate the benefits that you can deliver to your patients.
You are going to want to listen to this more than once!
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Full Transcript
00:00 What do you get when you combine simplified practice marketing, proven ROI strategy, and Vans skate shoes? You get Mark Thackeray, of course. So lace up, grab your green smoothie and get ready because this is Dental Marketing Secrets and this is Mark.
00:21 Hello and welcome back my friends to a, another episode of the Dental Marketing Secrets Podcast where we provide actionable tips and tricks that you can take and apply immediately to grow your practice, to serve more patients and ultimately leave a greater impact because that is what it’s all about. My friends, my name is Mark Thackeray. And as always, I am honored to be here with you in this very moment on another glorious day, wherever you are. And however you may be listening. Thank you for spending time here on our podcast. I promise you it will be worth your while. You are in a great place. So today’s episode is one that I am particularly pumped about. It’s all about the business of storytelling really, you know, and how important that is in our day and age to be able to effectively tell your story, right? And we’re going to start out with really talking about why most marketing fails.
01:16 You know why most marketing is terrible. Most businesses fail and that is because they, they really just fail to communicate what they offer from the customer’s perspective. Okay, so we all walk around with this mentality of what’s in it for me? Okay, we’re all just plugged into this radio station called what’s in it for me? And we’re only looking for those things that will benefit our life and our lifestyle. As a result, when we go through and we see all these ads, we and we see literally thousands of ads every single day, we’ve talked about that before on the podcast. Then if it does not pertain to us, if that message is unclear and does not resonate with us personally and the problems and the concerns and the desires that we have and that we’re already going through in our mind, then those messages, boom, they fall.
02:03 It’s like water off a Duck’s back. We don’t even notice them. That’s the plain and simple fact because we are constantly sorting through information and as a result, we necessarily have to discard literally thousands of those messages every single day. Otherwise we wouldn’t function. We’d stop and read every message and think about what that might mean to us. That would be miserable, right? But because we’ve become so efficient at this, it is imperative that us as a business owner, as a marketer, as an entrepreneur, you need to have this. You need to really fine tune this ability to craft a message that resonates, that cuts through all the, all the noise out there and communicates the benefits that you provide from your patient’s perspective. Okay. That is really one of the big takeaways from today is look at everything from your patient’s point of view. What are these features you, you know, we talk about features sometimes in the office, whether that’s a tool, a technology, one of those types of things, but really that doesn’t matter a whole lot unless you can translate that into a, a benefit for the patient.
03:08 Okay. Does it make them, is it make their experience more comfortable? Does it make it more convenient as a, does it make it a quicker experience? Does it cut down on time in the office? That sort of thing. Those are the types of results that people can relate to. Okay. But that’s one of the first reasons why most marketing is terrible and most businesses fail. the second reason is that there’s too much confusion about what your brand offers. Too many companies are in too many dental practices for that reason, for that matter are forcing their patients to burn way too many calories trying to process how their practice can benefit them. You know, just like we were talking about before, if you do not translate those benefits in plain English so that your patients can understand exactly what you’re saying and how that directly applies to their life, they will ignore that message or delete it or whatever they do to get to get it out of their line of sight and move on to the rest of their life.
04:03 Right. I got an example for you. I was driving down the freeway, the interstate main interstate in our, in Utah here I 15 and there was a big billboard and this is a brand that I’ve seen time and time again. And I just was shaking my head at what they were trying to do with this message. They had a big billboard, you know, this huge, it’s one of the bigger boards to on on I 15 that you could buy very expensive placement. Cause I’ve seen, I have clients that have done that before and it says, it shows this, this, this picture of this UFO and it’s beaming up someone you know from, from the street. Right. You know, and it says don’t talk to strangers and, and that’s it. And it shows the name of the [inaudible], you know? And if I just left it at that, would you have any idea who was behind that message?
04:58 Any type of, what type of brand would put that sort of message out? I think your first thought would be, well maybe it’s some type of a nonprofit organization that’s trying to ensure the security and welfare of our kids. You know, and not talk to strangers, but no, it was this car. It’s this car company, this, you know, there’s car sales, they have all these different locations throughout the state. And really what they’re trying to get across is that, Hey, we’re well you can trust us. You know, you don’t have to, we’re not a stranger, that sort of thing. But just trying to piece that together on your own. We don’t have the time or the mental bandwidth to connect the dots like that, you know? And that’s what way too many companies, way too many dental practices are trying to do is they’re forcing prospective patients to burn all these calories and exert all this mental effort to try and translate what you’re saying into a benefit for them.
05:52 Okay. So one of the ways that you can overcome this, if you fall into that category and you are just spouting off features that don’t really pertain to anything or anyone, if you’re looking to correct that, one of the best ways to do that is through telling an effective story. Okay. Because story, a story is one of those things that can hold a human being’s attention literally for hours and hours and hours. No one could look away from a good story. In fact, neuroscientists claim the average human spends more than 30% of their time daydreaming. And unless they’re, unless they’re reading, listening to or watching a story unfold. So they’re either S they’re spending 30% of their time daydreaming and less they are engaged in some type of story. Okay. Because when we’re engaged in a story that the story does all the work for us, the story essentially does the daydreaming for us, it tells us and you know, has the character has, has all the, it has the protagonist, the antagonist.
06:49 It has all this drama for us that we don’t have to, we don’t have to seek that for that anywhere else. And that’s what’s so cool about a story is it can take a series of random events and distill them down into the essence of what really matters. In fact, the story, you know, and we’ve used this for years and centuries, centuries, that’s exactly how important information has been passed down in time is through, is through storytelling. You know, it’s, it’s one of the greatest weapons out there to combat all the noise because it organizes information in such a way that people are actually compelled to listen. Okay? And that’s really the difference. If you think about the difference between noise and music, okay? Noise has a lot of the same notes as you’ll find in a great song or great ballad. However, the music is, it’s arranged in such a way as to make it tremendously compelling.
07:43 They just engages you, engages multiple senses. Sometimes it’s to the point where you just, you sit there and trans and you’re totally captivated by this, this song, right? And that’s what, that’s what you’re trying to do with an effective story. Okay? Now, in creating a story, a proper story enables you to do a couple of things, okay? One, it allows you to identify your customer’s desires and ambition. A proper story also allows you to define challenges or potential obstacles that are keeping your patients from achieving that of ambition. Okay? So first identifies your, your customer, your patient’s ambition, your desires or ambition, and then also identifies challenges that are keeping them or preventing them from realizing that goal. And the third thing it does is it provides a plan to help them conquer those challenges and realize ultimately the desired outcome that they are hoping to acquire.
08:43 Okay? And when we define the elements of a story as it relates to our personal brand or our, our practice brand, let’s say, then we create essentially a roadmap that patients can to achieve their goals. And that’s what’s so powerful about a story. But there’s a couple of things that need to occur in order for this to be effective. One, one of the main keys is clarity. Stories must be clear. If you think about the stories found within, you can take the best books or you can look at the best movies. it’s funny because you’ll notice that we, as an audience, we always know it doesn’t matter. Even a couple of minutes into the movie. We already know one who the hero is to what the hero wants. Three, who the hero must’ve feet in order to get what they want for what tragic thing will happen if the hero doesn’t win or is not successful.
09:40 And five, what wonderful magical thing will happen if the hero does. When you think of all these, these tremendous movies and books that have just been bestsellers or greatest hits, you know, you think of star Wars, you think of Jurassic park, you think of even the Lego movie or Harry Potter or the Hobbit. You instantly know all those key factors, all those, those primary elements who the hero is, the antagonist is what’s at stake. That’s all easily recognizable and identifiable. And that’s one of the things that we’re trying to do as, as a brand, as your practice is to help patients understand all of those things. Okay, and where do they fit into that story? And we’re going to get into that a little bit later. But there is a a neat quote that says what we think we are saying to our patients and what our patients actually here are two different things and patients make buying decisions not based on what we say but on what they hear.
10:37 Okay. So the distinction in that is that it’s based on what they hear, not necessarily what we say. Okay. And one of the best ways to calibrate or to ensure that they’re, what they receive, what they hear, what they grasp is the same at what is, what we’re trying to say is through storytelling. And that’s again, that’s the whole impetus for this particular podcast is, is the power of an effective story. Okay. And you think of all the great examples you think of so many companies that do a tremendous job at telling and sharing their story. You think of Apple and the type of story that they tell you. Think of Google, you know, and Google is a great example too. That’s just cropped up on my phone recently cause I have, I, if you have Google photos, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about when I described this situation.
11:27 Because what’s so neat about Google photos is not only does it store your photos and you have unlimited storage as long as you’re not over a certain, a certain photo size, right. And you can just store as many photos as you want. And I literally have thousands and thousands, but it’s, it continues to evolve. This service has gotten better and more sophisticated over the years where to the point where it can, you can identify as facial recognition. And so once you go through the process of matching faces to a name, so let’s say, let’s take my daughter Jane, I can look up Jane Thackeray and it’ll pull up all these photos that have Jane in the photo, whether it’s by herself or whether it’s with a group of other people. And, and that’s, they didn’t stop there. So they, they are, they’re, they’re similar to what Facebook does, where they’ll say, Hey, this is what happened one year ago from today.
12:21 If you have a photo that from that from that day a year ago and it’ll show you highlights and things like that, but they’ve taken even step further now where they will go. I just got one the other day for our three year old Annie who had a birthday not too long ago, a couple months ago, and it compiled a a, it’s so cool. It’s a, it’s a photo slide show that even has put been put to music of Annie growing up through the years because of that facial recognition. It has the ability to go back and and select photos from different points in her life and compile them into a slide show and it sends that to me automatically and I can either save it or I can delete it and it’s totally up to me and there’s no, no costs or anything that’s associated with that. But what kind of story does that tell?
13:05 You know what I mean? What does that say about Google as a company, as a brand, as a how? How do they prioritize, you know, how do they view the relationship they have with me and my family and how that enables me and my family to connect on a deeper level. And remember those all those moments, the birthday parties, the, you know, learning to ride a bike, the learning to ski for the first time. All of those things, you know, in a simple, easy way. For me, the consumer in the end, like that is a tremendously powerful story that I can now share with so many others. There’s tons of other examples out there. You look at, you know, Dave Ramsey, Starbucks, you look at discover card all state. Tom’s shoes is a great example. Nike, J Peterman has always done a tremendous job with the stories they tell.
13:52 They’re more descriptive in their product descriptions for lack of better words. Hate to use that same word twice. But there they are. They’re very engaging in those descriptions where they, they, they draw you in and make you feel like you are, you have that jacket on, you know, and you know exactly what it feels like to wear that type of jacket because you’re, you are an outdoors man and you need this type of leather because it’s better protective of the water or whatever it is. But they do a tremendous job at telling that story. Trader Joe’s is another great example, Gerber knives, all of those do a wonderful job of engaging you in that story. Okay. And I have a little, I’ve saved this cause I use this as a presentation not too long ago for a client talking about storytelling for their, for their particular offices.
14:39 And there’s this photo, it’s a great, it’s, you’ve probably seen the commercial that I’m talking about, but it’s a Google commercial, right? And it shows them, shows the power of email if you used for the right purpose or for a specific purpose. This case, it was a father who had just had their first child and it was a little girl, I believe. And so he set up an email address to this little girl and started sending her emails every so often, you know, every week or every couple of weeks and sending pictures and sending slideshows. And, and then it basically gifts what it ultimately ends on. This tremendous gift of memory of time spent together of, of really, truly a relationship that he can give to his daughter at the end. You know, when she grows up and all because of a simple thing like an email address, you know, and it’s just a really powerful emotionally engaged way to display or to demonstrate those benefits, those desires that I have deep down, you know, and I didn’t think to go to Google for, you know, help with my family or to strengthen, reinforce relationships with my kids.
15:46 But there they offer that through this way. It’s just a really cool twist on what people, the normal perception of Google for example. So when you’re looking at your own at building and creating your own story. So there are some sort of some key elements that are present in almost every story. Okay. And I’ll have to share this in the show notes after, but there’s literally seven steps. a, you know, and a great reference point for this, I first learned about this from StoryBrand and it’s a tremendous book that talks about building your own story, company story. And they’ve since become really big, big company. And so I have to share this with you and share the book with you as well, but tremendous read. But that’s where I’m getting a number of these resources. But I identify seven key points or key stages of a great story.
16:35 So you have, whether it’s an element or a stage in the story, just the key things to keep in mind when creating your story. So the first one is a character, right? You have to have a character. And the main thing to remember is that in our case, the patient is the hero of the story, not your practice. And I’m going to say that again because it’s so important. The patient is the hero of the story, not your practice. When we position our patients as the hero and ourselves as the guide, we will be recognized as a trusted resource to help them overcome their challenges. Okay. Again, we’re trying to tune into that radio station of what’s in it for me. And we put that emphasis on the patient as the hero, then they automatically let up. Because we love as people and as patients ourselves and as consumers ourselves, we love to talk about ourselves, whether it’s our family, whether it’s our things that we’ve accomplished or places we want to go or anything like that.
17:33 Anything that we’re passionate about, we love to talk about that. And so, so when we’re do that, we, if we place that emphasis on the patient instead of our practice, then they are going to be a lot more receptive and a lot less resistant to our messages. Okay. And once we identify who our patient is, we have to ask ourselves what it is that they want as it relates to our practice. Okay. So that’s a, that is a key distinction there is that we have to understand, and we’ve talked about this before, I’ve talked about this many times on the podcast, truly taking the time to understand our patients and what those desires are. You know, you have to have to have a clear picture in your mind of their needs, their challenges on a rate, on a daily basis, their fears, their concerns, their ultimate desires, their goals, that sort of thing.
18:28 Because once we understand that, then we can do all we can to serve them and to help enable them to achieve their goals and overcome those challenges. But it takes time to understand those first and foremost. and that is critical. Absolutely critical. Number two is that there’s a problem. There’s always a problem in a story, right? People that’s just, it’s an essential part of a compelling story is that there is a, a problem that needs to be solved. And in this case, patients, well, let me put it this way. Patients are attracted to us for the same reason that heroes are polled into these stories. They want to solve a problem that has, you know, whether big or small way it’s, it’s disrupted their peaceful life. And by talking about the problems our patients face, we then deepen their interest in our company and everything that we offer.
19:27 So once we can articulate those problems that our patients are facing, that gets them to tune in and it deepens their, their desire to hear more of what we have to say. Okay. Does that make sense? Okay. The next step or the next key element is that the hero meets a guide. Okay? And that’s really where our practice comes in. That’s really where the office comes in. Because if heroes could solve their own problems, they probably wouldn’t get into trouble in the first place. You know? And that’s truly where the guide comes in. That’s where we fall into the story. And the example you think, you know, you think of all the great examples, you know, take Harry Potter, I love, I’m a big Harry Potter fan. If you didn’t know that, now you do. Every year I go through, I, I read all the books and binge watch all the movies.
20:19 It’s like the week that my wife just shakes her head at me. It’s rolling her eyes and I just said it the other day. It was funny. I said, yeah, it’s about time. I, I read them everybody again, and she looked at me with that look like if you do, I’m outta here. And of course he was just joking. But that’s, you know, Harry Potter is a great example. Dumbledore is the guide to Harry, right? I mean, all throughout the books, and if you haven’t seen it all, I’m not to spoil it. But he’s the guide. He’s the, he’s the mentor. He’s the one that points out the path for Harry because Harry can’t do it by himself. Right. He’s just a kid. Most of the time. You still just fumbling around with himself and say that you look at star Wars, same thing. You’ve got Obi wan and Yoda to Luke Skywalker.
21:05 They really just helping him find his way. You know, they’re not, they’re not dictating exactly what he should do, but they’re, they’re pointing out certain things to be aware of. And that’s, that’s really our job because just like in stories, you know, human beings wake up every morning self identifying as the hero. And I do this all the time. you know, I, I won’t get into it because it’s kind of embarrassing, but we as humans, we identify ourselves as that in that role where the hero in our own story, and that’s, and it’s not a bad thing, but that’s just, it’s, it’s important to understand that, that we’re all, and as heroes, we’re all troubled by internal, external conflicts. There’s philosophical conflicts and we know that we can’t solve these problems on our own. And your patients are the same way. Okay. They, they’re here on their story.
21:57 They’re facing challenges that they know they can’t solve on their own. And by expressing our job as a guide is to really express empathy and to demonstrate authority. Because by doing so, we’ve been, we position our brand or our office as the guide that our patients has been, have been looking for. They’re the ones that they’re desperately seeking directions from. They can see that we can, they can trust us that we’ve been there, we know the path forward and exactly how to get them to their goal. Okay. So the next component is, is providing a plan. And if you look at nearly every movie, the guide gives the hero a plan. The plan really is this bridge that the hero must cross in order to arrive at that pinnacle moment at the climactic scene. Okay? So it takes them to the point where they need to take action, right?
22:54 So what patients in this, in this case are looking for is truly a clear path that we’ve laid out that removes the confusion that they might have about what they need to do and how to do business with us. So that’s, that’s what I’d say about this particular point is that really we’re just providing the blueprint, the step by step of what patients need to do in order to achieve their desired outcome. And then the next component, number five is an actual invitation. This is the point. Like I said, you get them to cross this bridge and from there the guide says you do it. You know, I mean, they give them the challenge to go and face the enemy. You know, I mean, go destroy the horcrux is if you’re Harry Potter, right? I mean that’s, that’s where we’re at. That’s this stage in the game where it’s, it’s calling them to action.
23:49 Okay. It’s extending an invitation, invitation to do something. Characters on their own oftentimes don’t take action when they’re left to their own devices. They must be challenged. And if you think about your life, a lot of times we don’t make major life decisions unless something challenges challenges us to do that. Okay. You think of, well that’s a movie. Great movie. So Liam Neeson, for example, in the movie taken, he would not have chased the bad guys to Europe unless his daughter had been kidnapped. They literally challenged him to take action by kidnapping his daughter. Okay? He’s not going to do that on his own. Bodies at rest tend to stay arrest. Patients at rest tend to stay at rest. They acted the same way. They need to be challenged or called to take a specific action. And that’s what that, that element is. It’s very critical, very critical.
24:41 We can’t just guide them and telling all their things to do and then just sit back and hope that they’re going to do something. We have to extend that invitation, you know? And, and, and, and in our case, a lot of times that’s a recommendation, you know, so, and we won’t get into that right now, but just remember that is a very, very essential part. Number six is helping avoid failure stories live and die on a single question. And that question is this, what’s at stake? Okay, what’s at stake? Because if there’s nothing to be gained or nothing to be lost, nobody cares. It doesn’t mean anything. It’s nothing, right? If there’s nothing at stake, whether or not I buy your service, whether or not I go through with his treatment, I’m not going to buy it. Why invest all that money? Why should I?
25:29 Those are the exact questions that patients have. If they, if they don’t realize what’s at stake and that lies on us. Okay, we are their trusted advisor. That’s the way they look at us and that’s who we should be. Again, they’re the hero of this story where we’re looking out for their best interest and in order to do that, we need to be willing to share with them exactly what is likely going to happen if they do not go through with this type of treatment and what’s likely going to happen if they do. Okay. Again, we’re trying to show them the path forward and in order for me, for them to make the best decision possible, they need to know the realistic realistic outcomes of option a versus option B. We must show patients the cost of not doing business with us. Okay, and this one has a little caveat.
26:18 You don’t want to do this a tongue, you know, you have to be a little careful with how you use it. It’s like salt when you are baking in the kitchen, you use it sparingly. Okay. You don’t, you don’t overdo it. Cause that could totally ruin your recipe and that’s the same way here. You don’t, you don’t beat it down the patient’s throat and say, man, well your, your whole smile is going to go to crap if you don’t get this crown right now, you know and beat that dead horse. That’s just not, no, don’t do that. That’s all I’m gonna say. You don’t do that again. You use it sparingly, but it’s all out of this desire to help them in the end. Okay. If you can, if you can demonstrate that concern, that level of concern all throughout the conversation, you’ll be just fine.
27:07 And then the ending, the last component is that it ends in success. That’s the last major element of a very compelling story is that we must tell our patients how great their life can look and will be if they, if they go through with treatment. Okay. If they trust us and go through with treatment. And that’s, you know, I think whenever I talk about this point, I always think of men’s warehouse and I don’t know if you’ve heard that, that commercial, but they say they have a little tagline at the end that says you’re going to like the way you look and we guarantee it, you know, and that’s it. Speaking to this last element of, of future pacing or helping the patients understand what their life is going to look like in the future after having accepted treatment. Okay. And it could be, man, your S you feel so confident about your smile, you will not be able to contain it.
27:58 You will be smiling from the moment you wake up to the moment you get to bed. And you will have dozens of people compliment you on how amazing your teeth look on how bright your smile is on how you light up a room. Whenever you walk in. Kay, paint that picture, help them understand all those benefits. You know, those benefits that they will derive on a personal level. Just from taking, accepting treatment. Everybody, everyone wants to be taken somewhere. If we don’t tell patients where we’re taking them, they’re likely gonna choose another dentist. Okay? So that’s, that is essentially the framework to a compelling story. And that’s why I’m sharing it today is because I want to give you some type of template that you can look at to create your own personal story, your own company story that you can now then share with patients and perspective patients.
28:55 So if we go through that same, use, that same framework and look at star Wars for example. So first we have the hero heroes loop, and second he has a problem and what’s that problem? He’s got a defeat the empire and that’s the external problem. The internal problem is he’s kind of wondering if he’s an actual Jedi, like can he do this? He’s having doubts. The philosophical problem is good versus evil, right? That’s the overarching philosophical problem. The next step is he meets a guide. He meets Obi wan Kenobi. Who’s an accomplished Jed? I starts teaching them training, that sort of thing. the force is the, the fourth step is the plan, right? He provides a plan and that plan is to trust the force. Okay? And I’m going to just, I’m oversimplifying this a little, but I don’t want to take too much time on this.
29:43 The next step is then he calls them, calls them to action, right? Go defeat the empire, okay? He crosses the bridge, he gives him the invitation, extends the invitation for action. The sixth one is T helps him avoid failure, right? The rebellion is crushed. that’s the potential failure, right? And then the end ends at set in success. The rebellion avoids to beat. Okay? So, so that is again, a oversimplified version of star Wars right there and in 45 seconds, but it helps you. Does that help you give, get a better picture of what a story can truly do? It always helped me just to look at those stories. And actually now that you know the template, you’re going to start watching movies and you’re going to be thinking of Holly’s all these key ingredients, do a compelling story, and you’re going to be able to identify all of these things.
30:36 So I’m going to run through a couple of action items that you can take and I’ll share these slides. there’ll be available for you to download on the website under this particular podcast episode in the show notes. So, but I’m just going to break. I’m just going to burn through these because you know, there’s not, there’s not much to add too much. There’s not a ton to discuss. it’s just more of homework for you to do. So one is the a character, right? So create a list of potential desires your patients might have that you can fulfill. Okay. Again, it goes back to understanding who your, who your patients are, who your ideal, your ideal patient is really. And flushing out that profile, what they, what they’re looking for, what they’re worried about and concerned over things that, you know, might affect their daily routine.
31:28 You know, that could be a mom who’s got kids and so they’re extremely busy and they have time constraints. And so coming into the dental office isn’t really a high priority. So things like that. You want to fill that in as as much as possible. The second step on that is to pair down your patient’s ambition to a single focus. Okay. The goal is to ultimately create a clear message that is easy to understand for your patients. Okay. Is there a single focus that covers all or most of your patient’s desires? Again, we don’t want to have this be an overly complex story. We’re just trying to keep it pretty simple so it’s easier to digest. It’s easier to get, you don’t have to exert all this mental energy to understand what’s going on. Okay. The second one on having a problem, the patient has a problem.
32:15 You need to brainstorm the external problems that your office resolves, but it’s this next step is to brainstorm and come up with different external problems that you can resolve for your patients and then identify if they’re one that seems to represent the widest swath of services. Okay? So be thinking of those, those types of things. That’s the next step with that is to, there’s a couple steps on this one really, because you’re brainstorming internal problems. And remember how we talked about Luke and how he wasn’t sure if he was up to the task and, and so he’s kind of having an internal battle, internal struggle and that your patients are having the same thing. You know, it could be about our industry. Are they, are they doubtful that you’re not trusting? You know, I mean, do they have that experience in the past that leads them to believe that you might be a little manipulative or just out for more money?
33:11 You know, are you, are you, are they, are they bringing that to the table? So is there one that stands out as a universal experience for your patients? Okay. Then the third and final step for that second key ingredient of having a problem is your brand part of a larger, more important story. You know, how we’ve talked about with star Wars and with Harry Potter and a lot of these movies, it’s good versus evil. That is the larger story that this is playing off. It’s the philosophical problem that’s, that plays out in the entire book or the entire series or the entire movie. Is there a philosophical wrong that your brand stands against? Okay. And that could just be, Hey we don’t, we are an extremely conservative practice. Meaning that we don’t over-diagnose just so that we can inflate our production, you know, cause we recognize that there unfortunately are people and practices and providers out there that do that and we’re taking a stand against that.
34:12 Is that what you stand for? So it’s understanding and identifying that particular story. The third meeting, a guide is to brainstorm empathetic statements that we can make. So patients know that we care about their internal problem. Again, this is more of a tactical one, but it’s very important that you have a way to articulate that, you know, and understand what they’re going through. Okay. Because they need to feel, they need to. And that’s how you build trust ultimately is, is to help them understand that we know exactly what they’re going through and we can help help have them salt, help them solve their problems. Tongue twister. Apparently the next step on that is to brainstorm different ways that you can demonstrate competence and authority by, that could be through patient testimonials or case studies or statistics or demonstrating competence or even different awards that you’ve won that recognize expertise.
35:13 Just you’re trying to substantiate your claim as a guide. Okay. You’re trying to get them to totally trust you because that’s what needs to happen. The next step is providing a plan and so your, your homework on this one is to come up with simple steps that patients would need to take in order to do business with your, with your practice. Okay. What are all those things that they need to do in order to become a patient essentially and that’s a pretty easy one. Pretty straightforward. The second component to that is a little bit tougher. It’s what fears do our patients have related to our industry? What agreements could we make with them that would alleviate those fears? Think about that. For example, if you know that your patients come in and they already have, they are pretty supposed to thinking that all dentists are crooks, that they just make up certain things just so that they can, generate more money for themselves and their practice.
36:13 What type of agreements could you make up front with them before they even start, receiving any type of treatment that would help alleviate those fears? What type of guarantees or what kind of processes that you can, ensure that assure them of to alleviate or quell those fears entirely? You know, so really powerful. I mean, if you, imagine if you did that and you shared that every single time you had a new patient walk in your door, man, you had retained that patient most likely for a long time. The next step, the next element in this in storytelling is calling them to action. Calling your patients to action. But hero always has some type of invitation to take action. So your homework is to brainstorm and come up with various calls to action that you can make in your marketing campaigns. And hopefully you’re already doing this by now because a call to action is very critical.
37:07 It should be in every advertisement, every marketing campaign that you’re running. So that’s not anything new. But if you’re not doing it do it should be a commandment. Thou shalt put a call to action in every marketing campaign. That’s how important it is. Second component to that is to start coming up with transitional calls to action that you can create that will help you really lay claim to your territory. And what’s cool about this is that it could also create reciprocity with your patients and even ultimately position yourselves as a guide. Okay. And I’ll see if I can add some examples to those in the show notes. I’m going a little bit longer than I wanted, so I’m just going to wrap this up pretty quick. But the last two is you’re going to help them avoid failure that step number six. And so you’re, this one’s all about painting a picture of the negative consequences that they, that might occur if they don’t take treatment.
38:09 Another way to look at that is that these are things that you can paint the picture of those consequences that you are helping them avoid. And that is actually probably a better way to approach that is by saying this is what we do. You know, there’s unfortunate a lot of patients out there that are afraid to do this. But then what happens when you do that is are these a, B, and C, you know, we help our patients overcome a, B, and C through this particular process. And just educating them along the way. As you know, I’m a big proponent of education. The more knowledge, the more we can help them understand contextually what’s going on and their options in that situation, they’re going to feel like you are an expert, that you’re really is as a trusted guide throughout this whole process. And the last thing is ending in success.
38:59 Okay. So, you are really trying to articulate that successful resolution you’re helping your patients achieve. What will they, their life look like after they go through with treatment? How will they feel? How will they feel about themselves? How will that change their day to day life? Okay. And be very specific in this. You know, you want them to see what you’re going to wake up and people are gonna notice that when you go into social settings, you’re going to have this new found confidence. You’re not going to be shy anymore when people ask questions. You’re not trying to hide your teeth. You’re not. All these things that people feel and experience and again, when you articulate that, that is going to make them trust you even more because they will know that you understand them. Okay? Again, as a recap, patients and the, again, one of the most important takeaways of this whole thing is to make the patients the hero of our story, creating a story that features our patients at the hip as the hero.
39:58 We’ll do a number of things just to reiterate, it’ll help clarify your external marketing messages in order to better connect with new patients. It’s going to reinforce relationships you have with existing patients as you focus on what you can do to help them achieve their goals, their goals, and desired outcomes. And it’s going to generate a lot of referrals. the third thing is it’s going to unite you guys as a team and create a more consistent in office, patient experience and last, it will enable you to help more patients receive fantastic dental care with a tremendous experience. Amazing. Right? I mean, that’s all comes from a very compelling story that you can share again. And when you think about this and when you really take the time to, to develop this story, it makes everything so much easier. You know, it makes your messaging clear and consistent because you’re just telling the story, you’re walking through those key ingredients, you’re plugging patients in as the hero.
40:58 You become the guide, you help overcome their problems. You get them to the bridge, you know, I mean you, you challenge them to take action and then you invite them essentially to enjoy the benefits of treatment. And it’s so, it’s so cool. It’s so cool. And patients will respond tremendously. I’ve, I’ve seen this with my current clients. I’ve seen this in the past when I had my photography business. And how fun that is because patients will literally just gush and gush over how much they love being with you or working with you or being a patient, being a customer, being a client of yours, and they cannot stop raving about you. And that’s ultimately what we’re going for, is to affect the lives of both, to build those types of relationships and, and ultimately get the word out about how many and be able to serve more people at a greater level.
41:49 So, all right, you guys. Well, that’s it for today’s episode. if you have any comments or questions, I would love to hear them. If you feel free to email me, my email address is Markthack@gmail.com. And if you have enjoyed this episode, please leave me a review for this podcast. You can do that on iTunes. You can do that on Stitcher or iHeartRadio or Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. Please leave me a review. That’d be tremendous. Help and share with your friends, family, your peers, your team, and your neighbors. Even that weirdo across the road. I’m just kidding. But until next time, my friends make it a great day and we will talk to you next time.
42:36 Did you enjoy this episode of the Dental Marketing Secrets Podcast? Head on over to iTunes to subscribe, rate and leave a review. And for more proven marketing strategies to grow your practice, visit practicerocket.net.
