Your next appointment is with a new patient. You enter the treatment room, introduce yourself, and then your patient — let’s call him Steve — tells you what you’re going to do. You’re going to replace his amalgam fillings with composite, give him a new crown, and maybe squeeze in a little bone grafting, too. He doesn’t mind that you haven’t even seen the inside of his mouth; this is just what’s happening. You snap on the rubber gloves, pull your surgical mask over your face, and get down to business.
*** RECORD SCRATCH ***
Wait … What? That is not how your practice works AT ALL, but when you let a marketing company propose what they will do for you before doing their due diligence, that is exactly what is happening. Just like you need to evaluate Steve’s teeth, gums, oral tissues, and overall health, a marketing company worth its salt will want to give you a thorough examination before telling you what they’ll do for you.
A Proposal Is Not the Way to Go
With a typical proposal, prospective clients are told that the marketing company will do x, y, and z. How do they know what you need, though? Maybe your x game is already strong! Maybe you actually need a little more a, b, and c! If a marketing company is telling you what they’ll do, or even worse allowing you to dictate what needs to be done, versus assessing what you need, they’re not the company you need.
A Strategy, Instead
What you want in a marketing company is a strategy based on two things: the vision you have for your practice and actual data that is collected through hours and hours of research. Research? That’s right. A number of factors need to be taken into consideration: your website, social network presence, and online reputation, just to name a few. If your vision includes gaining more quality patients rather than focusing on quantity, that can completely change the strategies that are used. Good ol’ Steve may be great at his job, but he has no idea how to do yours; if he were a real patient who dictated a list of services, you would listen, assess his situation, then gently guide him towards what he actually needs. That is exactly what you should expect out of a marketing company.
The next time a marketing company offers you a proposal, let them know you’re more interested in a personalized, data-based strategy. After all, that’s what you would do for your patients.