Dental Tribune U.S. Edition

Industry News DENTAL TRIBUNE | November 201130A Mydent International has pub- lished a free online marketing report, “15 Strategies for Growing Your Dental Business Online.” The report provides dentists, hygienists, dental dealers and other industry professionals various techniques aimed at improving website pres- ence and search engine rankings. Whether your website already has exposure or has just launched, you can benefit from these tested methods used by many successful website owners in the dental indus- try. Topics include blogging, email, social media, article writing, web- site optimization and other meth- ods for marketing your website and business. “15 Strategies for Growing Your Dental Business Online” is available in PDF format. To download the free report, visit www.defend.com/free- newsletter. About Mydent International Mydent International is dedicated to fully maintaining its brand promise: To provide the health-care profes- sional with the highest quality infec- tion-control products, disposables, preventatives and impression mate- rials at affordable prices, supported by superior service and 100 percent customer sat- isfaction.” DEFEND. Works Better. Lasts Lon- ger. Costs Less. For infor- mation on Mydent Internation- al and the DEFEND brand of prod- ucts, call (800) 275-0020, or visit www.defend.com. DT (Source: Mydent International) Managing a dental practice is chal- lenging — even in the more vibrant economy that we once regarded as “normal.” As the understanding of “normal” has gone out the win- dow in economic terms, so has the traditional approach to supporting the business success of the dental practice. In fact, the very survival of a practice is now — more than ever — tied to meeting the challenge of dental-practice marketing. The economic climate has put new light on dental-practice market- ing – and on the dental business con- sultant who works to generate a real return on investment in the business of marketing a dental practice. U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics show 14 million Americans out of work, with more than 6 million with- out a job for more than six months. The Commerce Department told us in July that the gross domestic prod- uct has hovered near zero in 2011. Consumer spending has remained flat, housing prices are still falling and Wall Street ponders whether or not we are approaching a double-dip recession. The ability of govern- ment to generate a solution in the foreseeable future is reflected in recent downgrade of U.S. bond rat- ings. Commentators from the New Yorker to The Wall Street Journal see government’s response as some- where between “too little, too late” and simply off target. As this carries over to local news, real people in each dental professional’s respective market are impacted. The job of attract- ing new patients, and doing so at a manageable and affordable cost, has become more complex. Yet it’s also become a more critical prob- lem in this ambiance of a shrinking household income and lower rates of insured patients. The view from dental-practice management has to conclude that salvation won’t come from gov- ernment or from any “rising tide” brought on by institutions. Still, the dental practice — just as any other local business — finds that traditional methods of dental-prac- tice advertising can be costly and risky. Display advertising and direct marketing are descending in effec- tiveness as an increasing number of potential patients are squeezed by rising inflation, stagnant incomes, falling home values and restrictive credit limits. Yet a successful path has re- emerged from the past that offers better results and stronger return on investment. “Engage with your community. Get them to embrace the practitio- ner not only as a professional, but as an integrated part of the commu- nity,” said Helmut Flasch of dental marketing consultant firm Doctor Relation, based in Southern Califor- nia. “It’s what we help our clients do — create one big family of com- munity referrals.” Flasch said the key is to make the effort permanent. “Engagement – done systematically – optimizes your practice for success in a community. Everyone wins. We’ve been building this approach for a long time. The good news is that because of Inter- net marketing, community engage- Dental practice marketing adapts to troubled times ment can be done without the time consuming effort of the past. “The fundamentals of engage- ment, fused with new-age market- ing is now the only solid strategy for business success — if not the downright survival for the dental practice.” Flasch referred to the approach as “un-advertising.” Results show that “un-advertising” — or maximiz- ing the ties that a practice has to its community — is a real path to protecting and adding to the success of a dental practice. It’s a strategy worth considering in today’s eco- nomic maze, which may be with us for some time to come. About Helmut Flasch Flasch is a dental practice manage- ment consultant and author of “Dou- ble Your Business and Not Your Troubles.” He is CEO of Doctor Rela- tion/Un-Advertising, based in Cano- ga Park, Calif. DT (Source: Doctor Relation/ Un-Advertising) GNYDM BOOTH NO. 3105 Which of the following benefits would you most like to see in a new dental device? • It helps detect oral cancer and other oral disease that you’re now missing. • Its technology is supported by extensive clinical research. • The exam takes only two minutes. • The exam is completely non- invasive and affordable for your patients. • The device will enhance your image as a caring, state-of-the-art practice. • It can pay for itself in weeks, … and then earn you more than $10,000 per year. • It might help you save a life every now and then. • All of the above. Believe it or not, there actually is a device for which “all of the above” is the correct answer: the VELscope Vx Report provides online marketing strategies for dentistry businesses oral cancer screening system. This portable, affordably priced instru- ment is the latest generation adjunc- tive screening device from LED Den- tal, which pioneered the use of tissue fluorescence visualization technol- ogy in the oral cavity. VELscope is the first company to gain Health Canada and FDA clearance to help detect cancerous and pre-cancerous lesions that might be invisible to the naked eye, and to help determine the appropriate surgical margin when excision of the lesion is indicated. In a recent 620-patient study by the University of Washington, the VELscope helped detect all 28 lesions — including five dysplastic ones — that were missed by the naked eye. The VELscope Vx couldn’t come at a better time, as oral cancer is one of the few types of cancer that is actually experiencing an increase in incidence. The reason is that an Oral cancer screening device is portable, effective increasing number of oral cancer cases are being caused by the sexu- ally transmitted human papilloma virus, particularly the HPV-16 strain. This is also why the disease is strik- ing more young people and more women than ever before. Early detection is the key to deal- ing with this growing problem. Trag- ically, oral cancer is usually detected in late stages, when the five-year sur- vival rate is only around 30 percent. Fortunately, when detected early the survival rate leaps to 80-to-90 per- cent. And no one is better positioned to detect oral cancer early than the dental professional, the unques- tioned master of the oral cavity. By combining the traditional head and neck exam (featuring visu- al inspection and palpation) with a one-to-two-minute VELscope Vx exam, the dental practitioner can truly serve as the first line of defense against oral cancer. The result will be healthier patients as well as a healthier practice. For more information visit www. velscope.com, or call (888) 541-4614, ext. 231. DT (Source: LED Dental) VELscope helps discover prob- lems that may not be apparent to the naked eye. (Photo/Pro- vided by LED Dental) GNYDM BOOTH NO. 2728