The Success Series | Why Investing in Marketing Early Changed Everything
We’re launching a new video project called The Success Series, featuring peer-to-peer interviews with our most successful clients. For the first episode, we asked one of our long-time clients, Dr. Lee Brown, practitioner/owner of Freedom Dental of West Chester in Cincinnati, Ohio, to interview Dr. Cassandra Murphy, practitioner/owner of Bozeman Gentle Dentistry in Bozeman, Montana, who started her practice from scratch just three years ago. Their conversation explores the key strategies Dr. Murphy implemented from the beginning to accelerate her success. The interview is full of valuable insights that will benefit new and established dentists alike.
Day 1 Decisions
Dr. Cassandra Murphy was a practicing dentist, an associate at another practice, before striking out on her own. She knew us before she started her practice because her father, Dr. David Pearce, had a well-established relationship with MDA before he retired from dentistry and moved into the consulting side of the business. Therefore, she was able to witness the power of professional marketing to drive a practice’s success.
With all the decisions Dr. Murphy needed to make before opening her brand new practice’s doors, marketing her practice immediately was an easy one to make. She had seen what it did for her father’s practice. She had also learned from different coaching sessions that investing in marketing right away would yield far more benefits faster than waiting. So, that’s what she did.
In the interview, Dr. Murphy reveals that she did not immediately partner with MDA, but instead used a more generic marketing agency. However, she quickly realized that the level of service she was getting did not align with her vision of where she wanted to take her practice. She needed a more specialized approach to marketing, a company that would partner with her and create custom campaigns based on her goals and ideas. That’s when she reached out to us.
What the Others Don’t Have
Dr. Brown asked Dr. Murphy to describe what MDA does differently from other marketing agencies. Her immediate response was that we provide her with specific, concrete data to quantify growth. The previous agency could not do that.
She appreciates the close partnership with MDA. There are regular calls to touch base and honest conversations about what’s working and what’s not. She also knows that her marketing team will be receptive to her ideas and provide tailored marketing campaigns around them.
Dr. Murphy knows that working with MDA has improved the quality of the patients who call into her practice. In most cases, new patients are “pre-sold,” meaning they know her practice is right for them before they even reach out. She credits MDA’s customized marketing approach. The PatientCaptureNow system has also played a significant role in this evolution, especially now that she has a designated person to field the online form appointment requests coming through the PCN system.
Digital Marketing Makes a Difference
When Dr. Murphy opened her practice, she had a full schedule from the very first day. However, the schedule wasn’t always full of quality patients. Since working with MDA to build a robust online presence, she has noticed that many patients call the practice because of what they see and read online, whether that be the website, a blog post, a targeted ad, videos, or social media. Patients appreciate being able to see and hear her online before meeting her for the first time. And Dr. Murphy appreciates that MDA’s marketing strategies have helped her put a human face to the name on the marquis.
Accelerated Success + Work-Life Balance
Because Dr. Murphy invested in marketing her practice from the outset, she has achieved revenue numbers in three years that would typically take another practice five years or more to accomplish. As a relatively new practice owner, she’s able to spend time with her family, take extended vacations, and enjoy a more balanced life because of that day-one decision. Plus, she has built a practice that’s uniquely hers.
