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Let’s face it. The dental business can be a very competitive industry. You are often vying for patients with a handful of other offices in town and if you are located in a large city, you are competing in an even tougher environment with more practices, and large chains with bigger marketing budgets.

It is difficult to build your brand from referrals alone and the yellow pages is not the golden book it used to be, so I figured why not offer some ideas and tips surrounding the important, very relevant topic of online marketing.

I noticed that my post, “Enhance Your Doctor-Patient Relationship with Tablets and Apps” garnered a lot of hits, so I’d like to expand on that technological topic by sharing the benefits of going digital and growing your online presence.

If your dental practice is not online, it may be time to build a website. Your site does not need to be a digital powerhouse built by a coding pro – it just needs the basics to start to build your web presence.

Many domain hosts charge a small fee for purchasing your preferred domain address and often offer inexpensive hosting packages that come with free website building tools and templates that can help you build a custom website in just a few hours.

Patients are using the web to find dentists more and more, including baby boomers and younger generations embarking out on their own.  If you are not showing up by popular search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing your chances of being found are slim to none; unless they drive by and see your sign next to the road.

It is important to include key words in your website copy to improve your search engine optimization (SEO) or your web ranking – where you appear in the search results. Incorporating key words in your website copy like the office location, dentist or dentists’ names and common dental procedures can help improve your chances of being found by the patients you want to reach; whether they are new in town, looking to switch practices or an expanding family ready to start up care again.

Building a blog on your site can also help with SEO and establishes your practice as a thought leader and helpful resource for your patients and the industry. It provides a constant stream of new content that will keep visitors on your site longer and provide material to share on your social channels.

If you have a website and blog, it’s time to get social.  According to a recent social media study by Forrester Research, “59 percent of online consumers are active on social media sites weekly and one-third have become a fan of a brand on Facebook or Twitter.” Connecting with your patient base online can be an invaluable tool to enhancing your doctor-patient relationship.

Social media sites like Facebook and Twitter provide a way for dentists to take their professional relationship online in a more comfortable setting for the patient. It provides an easy way to engage in important oral health topics, receive feedback, serve as a gentle reminder for patients to keep up with their oral care, and an outlet to promote specials on in-clinic services to increase ancillary revenue.

By taking a few simple steps to expand your online presence you can help provide an extra boost to your daily appointment schedule and you may notice your existing patients becoming a little more active.

If you are looking for more marketing tips, be sure to visit my post “A Boost to the Bottom-line – A Roundup of Marketing Tips and Hints for the Dental Practitioner.”

Have you had success in setting up social channels, building a blog or expanding your digital dental presence? Share your success below – I would love to hear from you!

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We have a lot to smile about after this past weekend. 3M ESPE, along with our partners the American Dental Association (ADA), Henry Schein, Inc. and the ADA Foundation had a great few days at the Give Kids A Smile event in Richmond, Va.

We were able to help hundreds of underserved children with free dental health screenings at the 58^th Annual Richmond 400 during NASCAR weekend. With the help of NASCAR star Greg Biffle we’ve helped share the importance of routine oral care with many more on and off the track.

Check out the great photos below from this past weekend to get a glimpse of the action. For even more photos, videos and coverage from the event visit the Race Day Round Up provided by Dental Products Report.

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Biffle partaking in the dental screening activities

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Biffle sharing the message with folks at home

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A happy helper spreading the word

And if we weren’t busy enough. We’re heading to sunny southern California for CDA Presents The Art and Science of Dentistry in Anaheim, Ca. for three days of great headlining speakers, continuing education and informative workshops, lectures and programs on topics like Restorative Dentistry/Occlusion, Endodontics, Dental Hygiene and many more this weekend, May 3-5.

If you’ll be in town, make sure you stop by booth #316 and #416 to say hello, visit with our team and to check out our new products launching at CDA 2012 – Filtek™ Bulk Fill Flowable Restorative, 3M™ ESPE™ Retraction Capsule, RelyX™  Ultimate Adhesive Resin Cement and Lava™ Plus High Translucency Zirconia.

Advance your practice by registering for the 3M ESPE MDI One-Day Certification Seminar Sunday, May 6. Save a $100 off your registration fee by entering promo code ”ASAP” during checkout.

Are you headed to the show? Let me know what you’re most excited for – whether it’s the dynamic speakers, great CE opportunities or the unbeatable networking scene.

©3M

Last week was the grand kick-off event for the 10^th anniversary of the “Give Kids A Smile^®” program with more than 500 students at Lake Norman Elementary in Mooresville, NC.

The American Dental Association (ADA), Henry Schein, Inc., the ADA Foundation and 3M ESPE teamed up with Greg Biffle, driver of the No. 16 3M racecar, in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series once again this year to help make healthy oral-habits routine for children.

Fresh off a win at the Texas 500, Biffle arrived, trophy in hand to throngs of cheering youngsters who were eager to grab a photo, see the winning trophy and listen to an important message from the NASCAR star.

After the event, Biffle had some time to share how his morning went.

“It’s fun to see the kids, share some t-shirts, die-cast cars and promote the message to children to brush their teeth often, floss daily and visit the dentist regularly,” said Biffle. “Any way you can teach them this very important message successfully is great – even if it takes a racecar to get the message across, as I think it can sometimes be easier for me to connect with kids, rather than say a parent or teacher.”

Biffle had this to share as he takes his message to the 58^th Annual Richmond 400 at the Richmond International Raceway during NASCAR weekend April 27-28, for a Give Kids A Smile dental health screening and education event for underserved children.

“The team engaged with roughly 2,000 children and provided screenings for nearly 175 kids last year at the Charlotte Motor Speedway and this year we’ll be taking that message to Richmond, VA,” said Biffle. “We’ll have Give Kids A Smile painted on the racecar and activities and screenings to help share the message right at the track.”

At the end of the conversation, he shared how the program has resonated in his own life.

“This has definitely played a part in my life. Later in life is when you start to realize the important benefits of keeping up with your oral health care, as you experience more intensive procedures that may have been avoided with lifelong routine habits of maintaining your teeth and visiting the dentist,” said Biffle.

The events go beyond the track. This yearlong education program includes more than 1,600 Give Kids A Smile events around the country providing dental services to more than 400,000 underserved children.

This year, through the help of the Give Kids A Smile program, more than 12,000 dentists nationwide will provide free oral health care to children in need. Follow the success of the program on Facebook at www.facebook.com/GiveKidsASmile and watch for photos and event updates all weekend direct from the Richmond 400 at the 3M ESPE Facebook, Twitter and Google+ pages.

Are you taking part in the Give Kids A Smile program? Share how you’re doing your part to help the underserved.

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Last month, I developed a link roundup on marketing tips and hints for the dental practitioner. The post included great articles on how to help boost your bottom-line during these complex financial times. I enjoy sharing articles that help the dental community; whether it’s tips to help with an uptick in active patients, resources on the latest technological trends or hints to help develop loyal doctor-patient relationships.

At 3M ESPE, we’re passionate about sharing content, being proactive thinkers and promoting the field of dentistry with, well, anyone that will take a moment to listen. Take our 3M ESPE Facebook, 3M ESPE Preventive Care Facebook, Twitter and Google+ pages for example – we share great resources almost every day and I highly recommend you take a look.

Since we have such a smart social-community following and engaging with us everyday, I thought it was time to share some of the fantastic information they find to be most important to them. I took a look at a handful of the posted articles that have garnered the most attention and decided it was important to impart these great resources with the fine readers of Dental Insights in case you missed them.

• Feeling stressed at work? You’re not alone. According to a recent survey, more than one-third of dentists said they were stressed about their work most days. Learn what other ailments many dentists suffer from.

• Is it possible to change a life by restoring a smile? Watch this patient story & find out.

• An estimated 80 million Americans are on bisphosphonates. Learn what bisphosphonate therapy means to dental care according to a recent ADA report.

• Technology helps educate kids on oral health. KidsDental App is a new, free mobile tool that helps children with basic tooth care.

My hope is to aggregate great, relevant content for my busy readers. Trust me – I know we are all strapped for time and if I’m able to help a few of you with insightful content you may have otherwise missed, then that makes me a very happy blog curator. Feel free to share a great article, important resource or outlet that helps you be a better dental professional – and maybe you’ll see it in a future post!

In addition, what a lot of you will not know is that after the interview was completed we needed a photo shoot – cue lights and stylists. Warhol’s statement struck a chord as I learned they were going to put my 6’ 4”, 250-pound frame on the front cover.

I thought I had everything they needed. Suit and tie – check. iPad in hand – check. Smile – check. But something wasn’t quite right…cue the makeup artist!

Now it might come as a shock, but Englishmen typically don’t have much experience with makeup application – ladies I can now relate! As a way to share in my fun experience I’ve included a few “outtakes” below for your viewing pleasure.

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As you can see, I always stay connected – even during makeup application.

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Now, spare me of the embarrassment and let me know what you think of the final product – the 3M ESPE Corporate Profile that is!

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A couple weeks ago, SXSW held it’s annual gathering in Austin, Texas. SXSW is a convergence of music, film and interactive – bringing some of the brightest minds in cutting-edge digital, creative spirits in film and independent and internationally known music stars together for nine days.

You may be expecting me to bring up a new, exciting digital tool that will transform the marketing world, but I’d like to share something from SXSW that combines the “old” world with the “new” world – posters, specifically “smart paper.”

As many marketers know, digital marketing has experienced tremendous growth. I have been very much associated with a push away from print advertising and have become an advocate for the efficiency and productivity of everything “e.”

First, this is something that needs to be seen and experienced before you can truly understand its untapped power. Check out this link to Discovery News that showcases a paper app poster at SXSW called the “Listening Post,” that’s trying to reinvent independent music marketing.  In addition, there is a great video on the page that showcases current paper apps in action.

Once you’ve had a chance to view that, experience images of butterflies coming alive, created by Japan’s Keio University.

Now, imagine the possibilities of interacting with customers in a totally new way – merging the nostalgic feel of paper with the engaging qualities of digital – flipping the page of a magazine and being able to interact with an advertisement that responds to the touch of your customers’ finger with intuition.

For me, I enjoy seeing the cross roads of advanced technology and old world ideas, especially when it creates new experiences for others and myself. Do you see this as a radical new conduit for communication or a fad that will fall wayside of the digital highway? Share your thoughts below.

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Nearly 20,000 dental professionals will descend on the city of Atlanta March 22 to 24, to help celebrate one-hundred-years of collaboration, education and learning at the Thomas P. Hinman Dental Meeting.

Dr. Thomas P. Hinman was a forward thinker who believed in imparting dental knowledge and best practices to others to promote the overall betterment of the field of dentistry. To boast his efforts, he orchestrated an exclusive meeting in 1912 to educate a group of dentists by top clinicians who were passionate about sharing their successes in the field.

The event was a success and grew steadily among the years and in 1944 was open to all dentists. The continued success and desire to enhance dental care led to the open-invitation to all dental professionals, including dental assistants, lab technicians, billing specialists, office staff and more in 1978 – in my opinion an excellent move!

This year, more than 50 courses, workshops and lectures will help those involved in the dental community enhance their patients oral health. The agenda is packed with some noteworthy courses, including helping patients overcome anxiety with The Pain of Fear to the Nine Keys to Getting Patients to Say “Yes” in this Tough Economy – which relates well to my last blog post on marketing during the economic recovery A Boost to the Bottom-line – A Roundup of Marketing Tips and Hints for the Dental Practitioner.

In addition to your continuing education, make sure you stop by and visit us (booth #1825) to say hello and meet some talented members of the 3M ESPE team.

Also, make sure you take advantage of a couple show offers. If you buy one RelyX™ Ultimate Adhesive Resin Cement trial kit get one free RelyX™ Ultimate Refill -or- one free Scotchbond™ Universal Adhesive. And if you need to stock up on Scotchbond™ Universal Adhesive – buy two and you’ll get one free.

Are you planning on attending? Have you been in the past? Share your favorite past show memory and let me know what you’re looking forward to this year. Happy 100^th year anniversary Hinman!

It is a risky market out there and no doubt dental offices across the nation have had a few rough years staying afloat. Luckily, however, the economy has been on a slow, but steady path of economic recovery – which is good news for everyone, including dentists and those involved in the dental industry, but there is still a lot of work to be done.

According to the United States Department of Labor employment rose by 227,000 in February. In addition, we’ve seen the Dow rise above 13,000 in recent days as stocks have rallied on good news from many industrials and the banking community.

These positive notes don’t equate to an absolute lift to your active patients – it means it’s time to get to work. Marketing in this delicate economy means being on top of your game, integrating promotion strategies, implementing top-notch service and developing loyal doctor-patient relationships.

To help with your marketing endeavor, I’ve rounded-up several articles that may be beneficial to your bottom-line during these complex times. Check them out:

• This blog post by Jill Nesbitt and published by DentistryIQ provides some great tips for dentists and administrators on how to profile their active patients to improve their targeted dental marketing.
• Peter Gopal, a dental practice management consultant shares how the second highest cost to running a dental practice is usually the cost of broken appointments. Read his advice on keeping patients motivated.
• Dr. Don Deems examines the importance of building an excellent doctor-patient relationship to keep patient care on track in his article, Beyond Practice Management: Doctor, meet patient.
• Hollie Bryant shares ten helpful tips to keep your practice on the path of growth.

I hope these help to provide you with a bit of guidance and navigation to meet your marketing goals. In addition, make sure you follow 3M ESPE on Twitter and Facebook, as we continuously post great articles to help our fellow friends in the dental community boost the bottom-line, stay abreast of emerging technologies and enhance oral care for their patients.

Recently find an article with terrific advice for dental practitioners?  Have some great marketing advice for dental practices? Please, if you possess the knowledge – share it!

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Dental assistants play an important role in dental practices by helping to enrich patient care, boost productivity and provide support to strengthen the entire dental team. Their valuable contributions are recognized each year by dental offices and associations in the United States and around the globe, including the American Dental Assistants Association (ADAA), American Dental Association (ADA), Canadian Dental Association, United States Army, U.S. Air Force dental clinics and many more.

This year, the above organizations designated the week of March 4 as Dental Assistants Week to recognize the hard work and dedication dental assistants provide to the field of dentistry and their local communities. The week marks the 35^th year of celebrating the dedication of dental assistants with the theme of “Key to Productivity: The Professional Dental Assistant.”

During the week-long event, dental assistants often take part in educational and charity events. For example, many dental assistants set up displays with information on tips to improve oral health throughout their local communities.

To help promote the celebration, the ADA provides resources and helpful tools to dental offices, schools and organizations. You can download banners, logos and copy to include in your publications, on your website or marketing collateral to help share the event with your community.

In addition, the ADA is looking for dental assistants and offices to share their successes that they’ve experienced during the week for potential inclusion in The Dental Assistant, a part of the ADAA journal. You can enter by sending your story to dentalpractice@ada.org.

How do dental assistants help enhance patient care in your practice? Share your thoughts on great ways to recognize dental assistants during their important week in the comments box below. Happy Dental Assistants Week!

© 3M 2012

We had another great visit to the Windy City for the Chicago Dental Society (CDS) Midwinter Meeting, full of learning, lectures and great socializing. We were in the awesome company of over 31,000 passionate professionals who are focused on improving the oral health of all.

You name it – dentists, students, hygienists, assistants, laboratory techs, trade, manufacturers – they all convened in the ‘City of Jazz’ with an excitement to learn, teach and discover new tools and ground-breaking technologies to help enhance their patients’ oral well-being.

To assist with the advancement of patient care, attendees had the opportunity to learn from over 120 speakers who are some of the brightest minds in the dental community, including Dr. Gordon Christensen who shared his successes with Scotchbond™ Universal Adhesive (which is always great to hear).

On top of that, the agenda for continuing education at CDS was packed with over 190 in-depth lessons and 38 hands-on courses, which were bursting with current trends, new tactics to help dentists connect more efficiently with their patients, best practices and much more.

One of the most notable takeaways from CDS was the uptick in social media. Attendees, speakers and vendors were taking to Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn to share show highlights, network and spread newly gained knowledge with their community of friends and colleagues who couldn’t attend.

According to a recent report from the ninth annual member dentist survey conducted by CDS in preparation for the 147^th annual Midwinter Meeting, more than 67 percent of dentists surveyed say that their practice has a Facebook page and nearly 27 percent say their practice uses Twitter. Those numbers are up from last year; there has been a nearly 20 percent increase in dental practices using Facebook to connect with patients.

Social media is increasing in its power to reach vast audiences, including the dental community and beyond. Which is why the topic was highlighted so thoroughly at CDS this year, including one of the most popular courses of 2012, The Value of Social Media in Dentistry.

During the show not only were dentists able to share in the social-media experience, vendors like us were able to highlight great interactions “live” with booth visitors who had the opportunity to be introduced to new dental tools via hands-on demonstrations.

We were happy to hear and share Dr. Dennis Fasbinder’s and others’ thoughts after they had the chance to experience hands-on demonstrations with RelyX™ Ultimate Resin Cement, Lava™ Ultimate CAD/CAM Restorative and Scotchbond™ Universal Adhesive. We also posted photos, updates and other highlights on our Facebook and Twitter pages, so make sure you check them out and tag yourself if you happened to be caught in the action at our booth.

Social media and technology is changing rapidly, and you’ll notice it’s one of my favorite topics to write about, especially when I’m able to fuse the world of dentistry with it (as was the case in my post about integrating tablets in the office and utilizing applications to enhance patient care).

So what are your thoughts? Share your favorite experience from the show down below and let us know how you’ve stayed connected with your patients via social media and evolving technologies.