Episode #461: Why Dental Marketing Works, with Xaña Winans

It’s not that marketing doesn't work — you just need a solid plan to make it work. And to help you create that strategic plan, Kirk Behrendt brings back Xaña Winans, founder and CEO of Golden Proportions Marketing, to reveal why marketing is important for a dental practice, what makes it work, and how to not get in your own way. If you're frustrated with marketing and ready to make it work, listen to Episode 461 of The Best Practices Show!

Main Takeaways:

• Understand your marketing DNA (direction, needs, and attributes).
• Every practice is different. Marketing is not one-size-fits-all.
• Create a solid, predictable, consistent marketing plan.
• You need to participate in the marketing process.
• Marketing is effective when it’s done right.

Quotes:

• “What makes [marketing] work? A plan . . . Because when you have a plan, you know where you're going, you know what direction you're headed in, and it really forces you to follow a step-by-step process. That's how marketing works.” (5:30—5:48)
• “I think people think of marketing as this super creative, people walking around in black turtlenecks, the Apple kind of minds of the world, that it’s super creative. But honestly, a lot of marketing really comes down to numbers. It’s very scientific.” (5:49—6:07)
• “The thing that works the best in marketing is having a plan, tracking what you're doing, reacting to the numbers. It’s really the boring side of marketing, but that's what makes it work, is being able to measure it. And from there, then you continue to adjust and adjust and adjust your strategies till you find that perfect sweet spot.” (6:07—6:26)
• “The supercool marketing videos and the flashy website, all of that stuff looks really good, which is why it has our attention in the first place. And every doctor does it, and you can burn through a lot of money just chasing that next shiny object because it looks good. And then, they end up frustrated with marketing, ‘Marketing doesn't work,’ when in reality, it’s just that you're taking this shotgun approach and there are just ideas all over the place instead of following one, solid, predictable plan.” (7:24—7:57)
• “Marketing is incredibly effective if it’s done right.” (7:59—8:02)
• “What makes a patient pick you? It’s understanding your [marketing] DNA.” (11:17—11:20)
• “Right now, I think most doctors tend to approach it completely backwards. They go for that shiny object, ‘I need a new website. I need to be doing something on social media,’ without knowing what direction they're headed in, and is that the right strategy, and how to use that strategy the right way to actually get them there.” (14:49—15:08)
• “Everybody can use the same tactics. It’s more about how you put them together that makes a patient stop and say, ‘I want this practice versus this one.’” (16:37—16:45)
• “[Understand your] underlying personality and that it’s okay to tap into it, because that's what patients are buying. They're not walking in the door buying somebody who is just trying to get them in and out as quickly as possible and just collect as many insurance dollars as they can. When they're spending elective dollars on implants, Invisalign, and full-mouth, they're buying the person in the practice as much as they're buying the work that you're doing for them.” (18:59—19:28)
• “What makes marketing work once the phone starts ringing is what happens in the practice.” (21:52—21:56)
• “We get so caught up in getting it perfect that we never get started on it in the first place.” (22:36—22:42)
• “Practices look at their marketing as though they're supposed to get that perfect patient . . . That's what they want right out of the gate instead of looking at, ‘Let's bring people in. Let's find out how this experience goes. How do we continue to refine it? How do we tweak our messaging so that we get an even better patient?’ Some practices, they put the brakes on too quickly instead of that consistency.” (23:51—24:18)
• “Marketing is a process of optimization. Frankly, everything that we do in life is a process of optimization.” (24:22—24:27)
• “The first thing [dentists] get wrong is the shiny object. They have heard, ‘I've got the perfect solution,’ from a friend of theirs. Somebody did a postcard, a Facebook campaign, a whatever, and that is the silver bullet strategy, ‘That's the only thing that's going to work. I need to follow what this guy did.’ And they think they know the answer to their problem, and they just need somebody to build it for them. And that's one of the biggest things they get wrong, because your practice and somebody else’s practice is completely different.” (24:54—25:25)
• “The second thing [dentists get wrong], and this is the easiest thing in the world, how they answer the phone. Do they answer the phone? What kind of conversations do they have with patients on the other end of the line? You go to all this effort to make the phone ring, and then we put up another obstacle for people and make it hard for them to get in and see you and find out what you're like.” (25:34—25:56)
• “The other big thing that doctors do that makes marketing bad or ineffective is they divorce themselves from the process. They hand it off to somebody else in the practice. Well, that's your business. It is supposed to reflect who you are, and you can't just assign that to an assistant and hope they're going to get it right. You've got to participate in the process and be passionate about what it is you're doing, because every decision you make is a reflection of what you want and where you want to be going. You can't put that in somebody else’s hands.” (26:47—27:20)

Snippets:

• 0:00 Introduction.
• 2:55 Xaña’s background.
• 4:03 Why marketing is so important in a dental practice.
• 8:04 Identify your marketing DNA.
• 11:22 Understand your direction and vision.
• 14:01 Understand your needs.
• 17:50 Understand your attributes.
• 19:31 How long it takes to get through the DNA process.
• 20:15 What makes it work or not work.
• 21:57 Consistency is the key.
• 24:32 What most dentists get wrong about marketing.
• 27:39 Analytics to pay attention to.
• 29:24 Smart Market Dental software.
• 33:42 Xaña’s marketing course, September 15 -16.
• 36:57 Last thoughts on marketing in dentistry.

Reach Out to Xaña:

Xaña’s email: [email protected] 

Xaña’s social media: @xanaathena

Resources:

Golden Proportions Marketing: www.goldenproportions.com

Traction by Gino Wickman: https://benbellabooks.com/shop/traction/

Smart Market Dental: https://smartmarketdental.com/features/practice-analytics/

Register for Xaña’s course, The Ultimate Marketing Seminar September 15 -16: https://lu.ma/zgjx1tev

Xaña Winans Bio:

Xaña Winans is Golden Proportions Marketing’s CEO, founder, resident visionary, and lead strategist. As one of the industry’s most sought-after dental marketing consultants, she collaborates with our team on a diverse group of clients to create strategic marketing solutions with measurable results. Her passion for dentistry is evident in the work that she does and in the award-winning products GPM produces to help your practice thrive. 

Around the office, we all know that Xaña’s knowledge and drive extend well beyond GPM’s walls. You’ll often find her lecturing at some of dentistry’s biggest conventions and study groups as a recognized expert and international speaker on dental marketing. Couple that with over 20 years’ experience of marketing dentistry, and it’s easy to say that she’s pretty much seen it all. 

Xaña’s been married to an accomplished cosmetic and restorative dentist, Dr. Larry Winans, for over 25 years. Their two incredible children, Ryder and Savannah, regularly remind their parents that they are successful adults, so now all parenting attention is delivered to two furry companions. She may also turn up courtside with Jen Bernstein at any number of Bucknell basketball games, helping cheer the Bison on to victory.