Text books will define “internal marketing” as the process whereby the employees and processes within an organisation are aligned and developed to deliver the most effective and pleasing experience for customers. In turn, a delighted patient is more likely to recommend your services to others.<\/p>\n
In the dental marketing context you will also see the term used, perhaps slightly inaccurately, to describe the tools used within a practice to help promote and sell services, for example use of video in the waiting room, promotional posters etc.<\/p>\n
It’s easy enough to see why all of these elements are extremely important, so putting semantics and definitions to one side for a moment, let’s take a closer look at internal marketing techniques for dentists<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n As specialist web marketers it is sometimes too easy to think that all dental practices will have sound internal marketing strategies in place. However, my regular visits to potential new clients show that this is often not the case. I suspect that many dentists read about the potential of web marketing and head straight for that without realising that they also need to start work with internal marketing too.<\/p>\n So why is this? Whilst acquiring new patients via internet marketing and your website is a proven and cost-effective technique, an equally important source is word-of-mouth referral from patients who recommend you to their friends and acquaintances. If your internal processes and team are tuned to providing an exceptional service, the chances of gaining those recommendations increase markedly.<\/p>\n To illustrate further, here’s a real-life example concerning a client for whom we built a website and progressively raised its profile to gain a prominent position on page one of Google. New enquiries increased to several per day and the web marketing project delivered what it set out to achieve. However, on re-visiting the practice around a year after our work began, I was surprised to see that it still looked like something from the 80’s – clean but rather dowdy and not in any way welcoming. The front-desk was polite but as I sat in the waiting room and observed proceedings, there was no real interaction with clients other than the basic functional elements. There was no evidence of other “internal marketing” elements that you would expect to find in a progressive practice, no flat-screen, no promotional materials, no smile gallery, nothing – just a basic waiting room.<\/p>\n Clearly there is a disconnect here – on one hand the practice is gaining lots of new enquiries through the web, on the other, they are completely missing the opportunity to market to those new clients. In turn, I suspect there is not much word-of-mouth referral going on either. Having discussed my observations with the principal dentist, I’ve been invited back to help get the fundamentals in place.<\/p>\n Hopefully this demonstrates why robust internal marketing *must* be in place to complement other strategies like the web. You must close the loop and optimise all channels and opportunities.<\/p>\n Your team is your biggest asset – train them and motivate them appropriately so that they become ambassadors for your business. A single, incompetent or unfriendly staff member will do untold damage so address any weaknesses in a timely fashion. Consider specialist staff training to make sure your team are delivering an exceptional patient experience. Irrespective of our position in a company, we’re all sales guys right?<\/p>\n Are your internal processes in place, running smoothly and geared towards the patient experience? Late running appointments and late or misplaced laboratory cases etc all detract from the patient journey, cause unnecessary grief and undermine the loyalty factor. Remember that people are prepared to complain much faster than they are to compliment, so don’t give them cause. Small issues to you are likely to be big issues for them. So make sure your internal systems are robust, efficient and audit them regularly.<\/p>\n Setting up your internal practice marketing is not a “fire and forget” process – it needs to be managed and refined. This needs time and some focussed resource at the practice itself. This could be part of the practice manager’s remit or perhaps someone from the administrative support team who has the appropriate acumen to handle it. At Dental Media<\/a> we offer training for practice team members, back-up visits and also remote mentoring to ensure momentum. We can also help you with systems to help track the results.<\/p>\n Here is a list of ideas which you may wish to consider to boost your internal marketing. Don’t choke the system by trying to do all of them straight away; pick 3 or 4 and get them up-and-running before freshening up with some new initiatives:<\/p>\n A robust and effective internal marketing plan essential for all dental practices to complement other strategies such as the web. Effective processes and techniques supported by a well-motivated and appropriately trained team will enhance the patient’s experience and hopefully stimulate them to recommend you to others.<\/p>\n If you need advice on any aspect of dental marketing, please call the Dental Media team on 01332 672548<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" What is “Internal Marketing” and why is it your first priority Text books will define “internal marketing” as the process whereby the employees and processes within an organisation are aligned and developed to deliver the most effective and pleasing experience …<\/p>\nWhy is it so important?<\/h3>\n
Getting your team on board<\/h3>\n
Processes<\/h3>\n
Managing your marketing<\/h3>\n
Other basic techniques<\/h3>\n
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Summary<\/h3>\n