Joy Gendusa
Six months ago, one of my clients hit his highest month ever in revenue—$170,000 in one month, $50,000 over and above what he usually generates. But honestly, that’s not the most interesting thing about this practice.
When I recently interviewed the owners of Finley Dentistry, Dr. E. Roy Finley and Cathy Stone, I discovered that they put their entire marketing plan on autopilot seven years ago, when Cathy took the reins as front office manager.
Today, the dividends are paying off:
- $1 million in revenue seven years in a row
- Flexibility to take once-in-a-lifetime, months-long trips
- A steady automatic stream of leads that averages 46 new patients per month
What amazed me most about this practice’s steady growth is that they use a unique formula to grow their revenue every year, and they don’t break their backs doing it. In fact, their success has allowed them both to fulfill their lifelong dreams of traveling.
Check out how they’ve achieved their practice’s success in three steps.
1. They created a one-two multichannel marketing punch that generates $1 million annually
Luckily for Dr. Finley, Cathy was no stranger to organizing and growing a practice.
Cathy: “I managed a practice in California years ago and I know that if you don’t consistently market in several ways, you will not survive.”
She implemented a marketing plan that hit multiple media channels simultaneously:
- 2,500 postcards mailed weekly
- Google ads that match the postcards, using DirectMail2.0
- A referral strategy that piggy-backs on their postcards
- A local ABC-TV commercial
- A revamped website complete with professional video and photography
Their marketing has been a two-pronged approach from the beginning, with a focus on direct mail and video marketing. One of the first things Cathy did when she came aboard seven years ago was set up a direct mail campaign.
Finley Dentistry mails 2,500 postcards every single week to a list of 20,000 residents who live near the practice. This means that everyone on that mailing list sees Finley’s postcard every other month. Because we rotate through different mailing lists (since they mail year after year), the entire area surrounding their practice is saturated with their postcards.
Check out their postcard design:
Cathy then added matching Google ads to the weekly postcard mailings. This direct mail Google integration (we call it DirectMail2.0) ensured every postcard recipient also saw identical Google ads across millions of websites within the Google Ad Network.
Cathy: “I always see extra referrals come from our postcard patients. It’s a funny thing. We may receive 10 new patients from postcards, but then they will refer us another two or three new patients, so it’s hard to track how many new patients our postcards actually give us because they’re effective in more than one way.”
To amplify Finley’s digital presence, visitors to their website are greeted with high-quality, professional videos, which carry over to their local TV campaign.
Dr. Finley: “I often hear patients say that because they saw us on TV before booking an appointment, they felt like they were comfortable enough to come in and try us out.”
This leads to a steadfast dental marketing tip—include as many real photos and videos as possible. The more prospective patients see genuine photos or video of you and your staff, the more likely they’ll trust you. Trust means more leads and patients for your practice, particularly since dentistry is so up close and personal.
Cathy’s combination of digitally-optimized postcard mailings plus video marketing creates a powerful ongoing one-two punch. Local prospects are introduced to the practice first through the postcards, making them aware of Finley Dentistry. This is the perfect primer for the next step—when they recognize the practice through the TV commercials. Seeing the office and its staff in living color is a huge step forward in gaining trust, and that translates into appointments.
This marketing mix works so well that Cathy has kept it going for years, and was even able to step away from the daily marketing grind to reassess and improve Finley Dentistry’s patient experience. But, as Cathy discovered, refocusing on patient care instead of marketing doesn’t have to mean that marketing goes by the wayside.
2. Their marketing machine averages 46 new patients monthly on autopilot
Before they started mailing postcards every week, Finley Dentistry’s annual revenue hovered around $700,000. As you can see in 2011, when Cathy came on board, the revenue never again dipped below the $1 million mark. (Figure 1)
Their revenue decreased only once since they began marketing consistently, when Dr. Finley took a three-month sabbatical from the practice for a personal trip. However, they maintained their million-dollar range despite the practice’s only doctor being gone. Amazing!
These days Cathy spends only five hours per week on marketing, and still brings in an average of 46 new patients a month.
Cathy: “Our marketing just runs, because all of it works together simultaneously. The majority of my attention is on making sure our practice runs smoothly to service our patients and keep them coming back.”
This leads to their third successful action.
3. They organized their office and hired staff to create a five-star experience
Since Cathy hit cruise control on the marketing plan, she now focuses on turning the practice’s operations into a well-oiled machine. Her first order of business was sprucing up the ambience and decor to make Finley Dentistry delightful for patients as soon as they walked in.
Cathy: “I spend a little time each week making sure our waiting area and office looks nice. How your practice appears to patients is part of your marketing and promotion.” She also trains the front desk staff to schedule patients to prevent wait time, and patients love it.
Cathy: “My motto is ‘Don’t keep people waiting!’”
Even with tight scheduling, all patients are greeted by name. Finley Dentistry boasts a concierge-like quality of service, which includes helping patients fill out their paperwork and touring new patients around the practice to see the x-ray technology and larger-than-expected space. This makes patients feel like they’re joining the Finley Dentistry family right from the start.
Cathy: “We are very one-on-one, which is one of the main reasons our practice grows.”
Cathy is dedicated to making Finley Dentistry a friendly and efficient dental experience for both patients and staff. More than half of their staff have worked for Dr. Finley for 12 or more years, which means that every time patients return for a service, they see familiar faces.
This attention to personalized service, plus a consistently run marketing strategy, is why Finley Dentistry is on track to hit their highest year yet in both new patients and revenue.
To learn more about the integrated, done-for-you program that Cathy used to put the marketing on autopilot, visit PostcardMania.com/Dental-ESBtoday.
Joy Gendusa is the founder and CEO of PostcardMania. Using just postcards, a phone, and a computer, Joy built PostcardMania from a one-person start-up into an industry leader. PostcardMania serves 78,589 clients, including 5,750 dentists. Need help promoting your practice? Call one of PostcardMania’s dental marketing consultants at (844) 269-1836, email Joy at [email protected], or visit postcardmania.com/dentaldesigns.
