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PRACTICE PERSPECTIVES


Consider Brand Building to Improve Your Bottom Line


by DAVID THEIN, DDS, MSD, MBA interviewing COLE BRENNY, DDS


B


randing—not the kind that involves a hot iron and cattle—is an essential marketing effort in most


businesses, but not a conscious component in many dental prac- tices. It is your dental brand that lets patients know what to expect before visiting your practice. The effectiveness of your brand strongly influences the lifeblood of all dental practices, namely acquiring and retaining more new patients.


Seth Godin said it best when describing branding. He regards a brand as “a set of expectations, memories, stories and relationships that, taken together, account for a consumer’s decision to choose one product or service over another.” It’s a primary reason why patients return to your office instead of the dentist down the street. Not only will a properly promoted dental brand nurture the vision you have imagined for your practice, but it also will go a long way toward creating the ideal environment for you and your staff and one that patients desire to visit. To be highly successful, your business will have to offer a unique selling proposition (i.e. a secret sauce) that empha- sizes the strengths and unique characteristics inherent in the practice that clearly distin- guishes you from your competitors.


I first became acquainted with Dr. Cole Brenny after listening to one of his dental podcasts. Clearly, he has a passion for coach- ing young dentists who desire to master pri- vate practice dentistry, learn the business of dentistry, and build/run the practices of their


24 focus | MAY/JUN 2020 | ISSUE 3


and promotions. What is unique and relevant about your practice? Your brand and marketing will continue to evolve with time, as your culture and customer base become more clearly defined.


If a dentist came to you and expressed an interest in re-branding or enhancing their current practice brand, what steps would you suggest they take to maximize those efforts?


Be unique and unexpected. Dentists are generally terrible at brand building and mar-


dreams. Cole is an adjunct faculty member at the University of Minnesota School of Den- tistry and owns a private general practice in downtown Minneapolis. He has worked dili- gently to brand his own practice (the Ivory Dental Group) and has graciously agreed to share some of his success and practical tips with us on brand building. See if any of these suggestions might prove helpful in your own business.


Most dentists end up spending time and money on practice marketing and promotion. Is brand building the same thing?


Brand building is the foundation of your dental practice. It is essential to and the bedrock of your marketing. Simon Sinek’s book “Starts With Why,” highlights perfectly the need to develop your vision and brand through the eyes of your patients. It is impor- tant to spend a great deal of time thinking though and planning what you want your practice to be about and WHY … BEFORE you start spending money on advertisements


keting. It is difficult to put ourselves in the minds of our patients, so we default to what we like and what we understand. What den- tists might identify as a unique selling point for their practice is often not perceived by patients to be valuable. They are often things that are already expected from a dental practice. Pick up any magazine or look at 99 percent of the dental ads that land on your doorstep. It becomes apparent pretty quickly that dentists don’t understand marketing. So, we do what seems like the safest and least offensive approach: we do what everyone else does. Does it work? Not really. Dentists waste so much money on cheap generic websites, logos, advertisements, office decor and cheap patient gimmicks. We do what is plain vanilla because we think that is what patients want ... and, we’re afraid we’ll make a mistake. You know what? Patients do not love the typical dental experience. They do not believe the stock photo picture we throw on our advertisements, and they generally think anything dental is kind of weird and


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