Episode 18 – The Success Series | Why Dr. Stacy Chose Foundation Over Gimmicks & How It Changed Her Marketing

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I wanted my marketing to really reflect
who I was as a dentist and how I wanted

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to practice and what I wanted to offer
to my patients. And I felt like um MDA

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really got that um they understood that
and that I felt confident that they

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could deliver that type of message. And
I feel like they also help to hold us a

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little accountable. you know, the things
that are maybe a little out of my

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comfort zone of what I would want to do
with marketing, but knowing that it

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works and it's proven and they do a
great job with it. When we were feeling

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a little less creative or not knowing
how to, you know, make something

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represent who we were, MDA shines in
that aspect. They just really have um

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made us feel like our visions are even
better, you know, completing those than

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what we had originally started with.
So, I started literally like 3 days

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after you had your kickoff. So you were
okay client before I started working

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with all the clients. So I know of you
because I've heard you know the

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website's done and this is ready and you
know all these things but hadn't got to

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actually see you and I know that you are
a DST client as well and if I'm not

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mistaken you guys you saw Jackie and
Sean at one of the events in Nashville

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at did the did the call and did the
master plan and that whole thing. So we

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have a lot of people that come in that
way. So, I would love to hear from you

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to someone sitting in that room hearing
their little 15inute presentation before

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lunch and someone me most likely coming
from them saying, "Hey, let's let's get

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you your free master plan." What would
you tell that person now knowing

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everything you do 14 months after your
kickoff?

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Well, sure. I mean just where it was
presented, you know, I um I am a slow to

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commit to something that I feel like is
very impactful for my practice and my

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life. And having already had this
introduced to me at the DST event, which

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I had already like taken my time to
decide that I was going to, you know,

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have DST as a part of my life that that
just kind of brought it to the forefront

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for me of like this is something that,
you know, I have a trusted um group and

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organization that I'm with that is
presenting this to me and this is

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something I've been thinking about for a
while but haven't taken any of these

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steps towards. So just having come from
that kind of environment that was

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helpful in general. I think that having
Sean and Jackie um at that sort of event

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made a big difference for me just
because it was something that I was

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already involved with. It was something
that I had put thoughtful approach into.

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And so it was um I guess it was just
what I thought maybe would help me to

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continue on that track. And I think
that's the case. You know, that's what's

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h that's what's happened thus far. So, I
guess telling people, you know, what I

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knew then was just, is this something I
should do or not? It's presented before

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me. I'm just going to take the step and
try it out. And I'm so glad I did. Like,

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working with MDA has been wonderful. and
the relationship that um was initiated,

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you know, even before I was a when I was
just a prospective client, you know,

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with that with the invested time that
they made in the interview that just

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kind of solidified it for me of of
they're taking this time to get to know

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me, to get to know what I want this all
to be about. This is important to me.

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This isn't just a like rushed decision.
Um, there's a reason why I hadn't had

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this type of, you know, commitment to
marketing in my life before because I

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wanted to put the thought and effort to
make sure it went well. And after having

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talked to them for that short amount of
time, I was like, hey, I I don't have to

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do all this.
they they can they can take what they

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you know are gathering the information
from me and really using it to my

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advantage of um replicating what type of
message that's um genuine that I'm

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trying to deliver. So I would tell
people go for it go for it. Yeah.

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Awesome. So when you started with NDA
you really embraced the idea of building

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a strong foundation before expecting big
results because a lot of times it's ROI.

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what's going on? And you know, I think
you really understood that it takes time

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and we have to build. You know, why was
that important to you?

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Um, that was important to me just
knowing that it does take time to build

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because that's how I build my practice.
You know, the the idea that things don't

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just come easily overnight. And um, like
I'd mentioned, it was a thoughtful

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approach to be able to um kind of
continue with them and have that

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conversation with them as a prospective
client. Um, and it was something that I

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knew that I wanted to do, but I didn't
just like all the gimmicky things that I

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had seen in different, you know,
organizations around me or different

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practices and how they operated. And I
knew that wasn't for me. I wanted

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someone who was going to invest in my
philosophy um in the way that I was

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doing things and help understand that
and then be able to present that message

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to prospect, you know, prospective
patients just in the way that I wanted

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my marketing to really reflect who I was
as a dentist and how I wanted to

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practice and what I wanted to offer to
my patients. And I felt like um MDA

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really got that um they understood that
and that I felt confident that they

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could deliver that type of message.
So I like I said I haven't had a chance

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to work with you myself but I've talked
to the team about you and our project

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management team Jackie Sean they all
describe you as a true partner. So

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you're you've been very open to
collaboration. You've been willing to

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share what's happening in the practice.
So how has that partnership approach

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shaped your experience with MDA?
Well, I would say that definitely our

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relationship with MDA is a collaborative
relationship and that was apparent from

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the start. Like I said, just from the
amount of time that they invested in me,

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they were very uh welcoming. They were
very uh genuine and informative. And

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those are all the things that I strive
to be u for a prospective patient in my

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practice as a new patient that I want
them to feel comfortable right away and

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that I listen and that I care and that I
really want to um set goals and help to

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achieve them. And I felt that reflected
in that initial meeting with Shauna and

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Jackie. And so I just knew from the
start I was like this is a good fit.

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This is the way that I do things. So I
do feel like it's been very um easy to

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communicate ideas and share ideas openly
um with everyone at MBA for that matter.

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So that's been a real delight and
something that um I had waited for some

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time to approach you know the aspect of
marketing and my practice and it was

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worth the wait.
Oh thank you. I'm I'm so glad you shared

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it in that way. You know, just to keep
going on that same point, you've come

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with a lot of your own ideas and so MDA
has been open to listen and then expand

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on those ideas and build on them. So,
how do you feel like MDA adds creativity

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and guidance rather than just checking
the box, you know, oh, you want a star

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right here? Okay, here's your star. You
know, that's sometimes what you get, you

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know, when you're working, whether it's
website design or even something beyond

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that. It's just like I'm going to do
exactly what you asked instead of giving

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you a little bit more.
Oh, for sure. Yeah. So, there were some

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ideas that we had coming into this. You
know, it was something how I had kind of

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a vision but didn't have the skills to
be able to achieve that vision and when

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I expressed what my ideas were or our
team expressed our ideas to MDA, they

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could take that and expand on it and
make it better. Um, they we would throw

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ideas back and forth. you know, how
about this? What will we do with this?

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And they were prompted their responses.
So, the communication was open. And it's

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when we were feeling a little less
creative or not knowing how to, you

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know, make something represent who we
were. MDA shines in that aspect. They

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just really have um made us feel like
our visions are even better, you know,

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completing those than what we had
originally started with. So, that's been

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wonderful.
Awesome. So you're running a small

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practice. So when that's the case, you
know, resources can be stretched. So how

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has working with MDA helped you focus
your energy on what matters most?

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Yeah, I think just
the establishing that relationship um

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them taking the time to get to know who
we were um what our practice is all

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about. It it really took it off of my
hands in a way that I feel comfortable

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and confident that they are doing what
they know best because that's what I

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need to do. So, in the way of being able
to trust that they are doing that for

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me, um then I can really reflect that
into my practice and do what I know best

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um taking care of my patients. So, I
enjoy that comfortability and knowing

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that that's occurring without me having
to, you know, micromanage or make things

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happen on my own. That's been wonderful
as well.

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And so, I know a big part of that is
patient capture now. So, how has that

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tool, you know, having that in your
marketing tool belt, how has that helped

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your team connect more with potential
patients? Yeah, the um from what I'm

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aware of because I'm not using it as
regular as regularly as obviously my

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front office, but um I think that it has
allowed my team to focus their energy

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elsewhere, you know, where if we were
trying to track down patients or chasing

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them and trying to follow up or
remembering and making list after list,

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that sort of thing. Um has allowed their
time to be focused elsewhere. and um

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really trusting that the patients who
are really interested in coming to our

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office, it's getting their attention and
and then bringing that back to us so we

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can make those final steps. So, it
definitely has um helped us to achieve

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the type of patient that we want um in a
way that they're interested in what we

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do here as our philosophy. So, that's
been helpful.

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Awesome. So, I'm the relationship
development manager. So, I spend a lot

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of time talking to our prospects before
they become clients. And what I I like

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to stress, but it's hard to sometimes
paint in words, is when you're working

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with MDA, we are a true partner. It's
it's like you have another person on

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your team, except it's this multiaceted
person who has skills in web design and

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project management and all these things
because you get all of us. You know,

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we're a small boutique agency, but you
get all of us when you're working with

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us. And what you described, I feel like
is what I try to describe is that it's

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like having that other team member there
in the in the way of PCN. You know,

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that's the electronic team member
texting and emailing people back and

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then you have that creative team member
who's bouncing those ideas. Is is does

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it feel that way to you? Like MDA is
almost that other person, other team

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member that you have in the office?
Most definitely. I mean, we've always

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thought like maybe we can hire someone
that has these skills along with all the

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other skills that we need them to have
and, you know, looking for this unicorn

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employee that's going to come join our
practice. um when knowing that there are

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parts of um my office and practice, you
know, we're very focused on patient care

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and um a lot of that is involved with
communicating and keeping that

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communication open uh with patients, but
but there's already so many things going

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on, you know, and having a I enjoy
having a small practice, so it's nice to

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have that aspect on um on our team with
MDA. And I feel like they also help to

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hold us a little accountable. You know,
the things that are maybe a little out

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of my comfort zone of what I would want
to do with marketing, but knowing that

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it works and it's proven and they do a
great job with it. So, just um I've I

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enjoy how this relationship is going. Um
maybe it's maybe it's feeling for MBA

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that it's working slower on my end of
moving forward, but but no, it's it's I

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I enjoy that challenge. You know, you
never can grow unless you're challenged.

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And I feel that if it were an employee,
they may not ever challenge me, you

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know, as their employer. But having this
partnership with MDA is helping me grow

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in areas that I wouldn't have expected
to. Um, but it also helps me to um give

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another uh facet of how to express how
passionate I am about what I do. and um

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and they can help me kind of expand on
that creativity, I guess, in the way

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that maybe that's not exactly where my
comfort zone is. But those are what I'm

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trying those are the words I'm trying to
say. That is the message that I'm trying

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to reflect and they do a great job of
doing that.

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Oh, thank you. Thank you so much for
sharing that. I'll just end it with is

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there anything else that you want to
share that you think would help someone

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who's you know kind of getting over the
hump of deciding yes this is how I

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should invest yes the time is now you
know you've said a great so you don't

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have to say another word but if you
yeah I think maybe just just that um how

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I said I'm kind of uh slow in my
approach to things I don't make

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decisions just immediately and that can
be good and bad um but I feel like I do

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really base my commitments to other
organizations on relationships and how

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those are built and what type of um you
know time or energy is invested in that

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in a way that it's um efficient and
effective and I feel like that is what I

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have found in MDA. I mean really that it
was that I feel comfortable. it's not

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something that I would feel, you know,
apprehensive to ask a question or that

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my idea is not a good idea. Um, those
types of things because MBA can help

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develop that. You know, the idea of
making a video, but they can edit it for

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me, make me look better than I would
think that I would be able to present on

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that. So, I think just like um the idea
of like I said, just challenging me in

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ways that maybe put me a little bit out
of my comfort zone um but that even

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though I might groom us, it's still I
appreciate it. I appreciate the change

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and the challenge.
Yeah.

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Thank you. Thank you so much. We
appreciate you for taking the time to do

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this. I know scheduling can be difficult
and you're so busy and so this is

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amazing.