The Evolution of Online Referrals
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It wasn’t too long ago that the phone book was the place to go to find a doctor or a dentist. It was pretty much the only game in town when it came to listing yourself in a local directory where prospective patients could easily find you to book an appointment. Then, those savvy marketing minds at the Yellow Pages figured out that they could make money selling full-page advertisements to doctors in order to attract more patients. Thus, the doctor with the largest marketing budget was now perceived as the doctor in town.
Then along came the Internet.
All of a sudden, there are online directory services that make your information to more people for less than what you had been paying the Yellow Pages. Before long, there were hundreds of sites where you could include your practice in their directory to expand the number of patients that could find you. Now, with a computer nearby, the best use for the Yellow Pages was a bit of avant-garde redecorating…
Then along came Google.
Eventually, the even savvier marketing minds at Google realized that they can provide these basic listing services for free – by charging for the info to be included in search results. This created listings on demand – where the doctor’s name is presented at the exact time someone is searching for a “one day crowns” in “Sunnyvale.” Instead of relying on patients to pick the doctor off a list in a book, the doctor is dynamically presented to the patient depending on when, where, and what procedure the patient is looking for.
Then along came Facebook.
While having your information actively presented to prospective patients that are currently looking for your services is great, wouldn’t it be better if your information was actively presented to even more potential patients than only the ones looking for you? And, wouldn’t it be even better yet if your information was actively presented to these prospective patients by their own trusted friends, and not some faceless search engine?
This is exactly what Facebook provides – word-of-mouth marketing online. Now, instead of Internet users getting your name from an advertisement in a search listing, they can get your information directly from a trusted source – your own patient. It’s genuine word-of-mouth marketing, scaled across the Internet.
Would you like to learn more about how Facebook works, and what effect it will have on your practice? We’re holding an educational webinar and Q&A session on this topic to explain how Facebook works in a bit more detail. No Ads. No Sales Pitch.
Join us this Thursday, April 15th at 12pm PST by RSVPing here:
http://www.DoctorBase.com/webinar
Yellow Pages Ads Still Work?
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by Marzieh Oghabian, DDS in Pittsburg, CA
With the economic slump in full force, private practice owners are looking for the best value in marketing for new patients (I know we are here in Pittsburg, CA). This begs the question of whether paper directories (such as Yellow Pages) advertising works as well as they used to. Their sales reps are aggressive in soliciting and discounting this year, but it’s still very expensive.
1) A marketing friend of mine suggested that we actually measure our full-page print ad results with a “Trackable 800 Number” – meaning instead of listing our normal phone number in the print ad, we listed this new 800 number which forwarded to our real office number so we could track how many new patients called us from that print ad. The result? We lost a few thousand dollars with print Directory listings. Oops!
2) We assumed that fewer and fewer people were using listings like the YellowPages, but we had done it for years and I just assumed it was the right thing to do. So instead we set up a blog and started advertising in Google. We’re also looking at doing the same on FaceBook, since the average age of the FaceBook user is now 35 and probably spends way too much time on FaceBook.
3) Results have been decent, not mind-blowing but decent. And easily trackable – meaning if we spend $1 on Google, we know exactly what our return is because they send us daily emails letting us know down to the mouseclick.
Marzieh Oghabian, DDS
(Practices in Pittsburg, CA)
If you have questions, I’d be more than happy to answer them and share insights as well as gather your thoughts. My email is marzieh@DoctorBase.org – let’s get a conversation going!
