The key to an effective and professional marketing program is to enhance the doctor-patient relationship. Your relationships with your patients are vitally important to the success of your practice, yet often overlooked as a strategic focus of dental marketing. Dear Doctor has made the doctor-patient relationship a focus of the psychology of our marketing approach providing a new generation of patients with their primary want which is education. Research findings regarding the largest growing group of patients, the patient empowerment group, is now concluding that patients want education to properly evaluate and more actively participate in their dental treatment decisions.
Patients Have Changed As Much As The Profession
When we first started practicing dentistry thirty years ago, we felt empowered by the number of patients that trusted whatever we said and recommended. It was a much simpler time.
Today's patient, though, is much more media-savvy. Few accept recommendations without asking a lot of questions and doing their own additional research (think Google). The number of second opinions is on the rise.
The solution is not to fight against this trend (or ignore it), but to partner with patients by giving them the information they need to make sound decisions about their health. Promotion through education and communication allows patients to make informed and confident healthcare decisions.
In other words, patient education is the most important service we as healthcare professionals provide our patients. Since they are going somewhere to get that information, why not create a source of information that represents our profession the way we would like to see us represented? When patients in your community think dentistry, we want them to think of your practice and the special doctor-patient relationship you have.
Patients Have Changed As Much As The Profession
When we first started practicing dentistry thirty years ago, we felt empowered by the number of patients that trusted whatever we said and recommended. It was a much simpler time.
Today's patient, though, is much more media-savvy. Few accept recommendations without asking a lot of questions and doing their own additional research (think Google). The number of second opinions is on the rise.
The solution is not to fight against this trend (or ignore it), but to partner with patients by giving them the information they need to make sound decisions about their health. Promotion through education and communication allows patients to make informed and confident healthcare decisions.
In other words, patient education is the most important service we as healthcare professionals provide our patients. Since they are going somewhere to get that information, why not create a source of information that represents our profession the way we would like to see us represented? When patients in your community think dentistry, we want them to think of your practice and the special doctor-patient relationship you have.
The dental profession spends millions of dollars annually on continuing education and new training programs on the latest techniques and treatments in dentistry, but relatively little attention is given to the marketing and business of dentistry. There is a critical need today to:.gif){kind=small}