I have been in marketing for over three years, and I’ve learned over the course of those years that marketing is not about the product, it’s about the people (your patients) For marketing to be effective, you need to understand that it is a way for you to empathize with and reach out to your audience.
This means everyone needs to view marketing differently. Marketing is not just about promotions and discounts, it’s about information, education and valuable tools and resources you can provide to existing and potential patients.
The universal truth about marketing is that it’s about the people and being able to identify the ones looking for the kind of health care you offer, while understanding that your sincere purpose and credibility as a health care professional are going to be what bring new patients in and existing patients back.
In this post, I’m going to discuss just what I mean when I say that marketing is about the people as well as the information, education, and resources you can provide, and the certain aspects that should be present in your marketing materials.
People-Based Marketing
A new type of marketing called “People-Based” marketing “allows you to see when a user engages with you on social media, when they access your website, whether they open your emails and more.” The main reason I’m bringing this up is to show that this type of marketing, growing more and more popular by the minute, focuses on the people. And more importantly, people-based marketing is about targeting customers on a personal level.
What Is People-Based Marketing? (Plus 5 Perks) – Lotame
One of the biggest perks of people-based marketing is ‘knowing your customers better’ and ties into the subject of this blog post. The Global VP, Partner Solutions at Spotify described this perk best:
More than any other kind of content, music reflects who we are and the moment we’re in. We might listen one way when we’re waking up, another when we’re getting amped for a workout, another when we’re decompressing after a long day, and so on. Since people are 100% logged in on Spotify and engaged across devices, we’re really starting to mine this streaming data and understand how the way people stream correlates to their affinities, attitudes towards brands and offline behaviors. It’s a rich cross-section of insight, rooted in a passion point that is deeply human and universal.
People-based Marketing: The Gold Standard (forbes.com)
Understanding who you’re marketing to opens many new avenues when you understand the importance of focusing on the people, including their needs and emotions at different times not just in their lives but throughout each day. The more knowledge you have, the better off you are from a marketing standpoint.
Marketing with the people in mind means that the content used should present certain aspects to help you better connect with your existing and potential dental patients, mainly, sincerity and empathy that allows for relationship-building.
Sincerity
This quality in line with empathy will put you in a category all your own. As a client, I’ve noticed that there is not enough sincere marketing out there. I can always tell when someone is being sincere and when someone is being fake, both in writing and in person.
It is important that when you are writing any piece of marketing material that you consider your words carefully. Sincerity comes with being honest, with marketing as someone sincerely trying to help the audience you’re reaching out to. Don’t market based on the what but rather focus on the why. Why do your patients need what you’re offering? How will it make their lives better?
I bring up sincerity for another reason as well. Any dental healthcare professional needs to keep in mind that they are not selling a procedure, if this is the case, then sincerity is lost.
Empathy
Empathy is not the same as sincerity but instead works easily alongside it. Empathy evokes emotion from those receiving your marketing materials. Put yourself in the shoes of your patients and try to imagine how they’re feeling and what you believe might help. When I think about marketing, I don’t think about the product and all its features, I think about what this product could potentially do to make an office run better, smoother and more efficiently.
Relationship-Building
Don’t think about marketing as Sales, it’s not that. Marketing is a way of bonding with your audience and building a relationship with them by learning who they are and communicating with a sincere and empathetic voice that provides valuable information and education about oral health.
Conclusion
Marketing isn’t about selling a product. In fact, I put marketing on a completely different level than sales. Marketing is and should always be about the people, understanding who they are, what they need and want, and how you can reach potential dental patients through means of educational and informational marketing. This connection on a personal level along with the information and education you provide gives you credibility and authority, therefore making the decision to choose your dental practice for their oral health needs an easy one.
Resources:
https://companyofwomen.co/sincerity-the-secret-sauce-for-effective-marketing/
People-based Marketing: The Gold Standard (forbes.com)
What Is People-Based Marketing? (Plus 5 Perks) – Lotame
