Radio Sales Café

I'm looking for ideas on dentist copy.  I have a female dentist on who is very good but I'd like to get her more results. She most recently advertised that she does lumineers and got calls from 2 counties over and they are becoming permanent clients. The staff is exceptionally friendly, she's known as a soft-touch (no pain) dentist. Her location is horrible though - she's behind a pharmacy on a back street that isn't visible to passing traffic. She wants to focus on how friendly they are and their excellent service but I think that's too cliche'.  She also wants to offer complimentary x-rays with the exam or cleaning "if they mention the ad when making the appt" - ugggh!
Anyway - I'm calling on the great round table here to lend a hand because she's been on for a few months and is starting to see some results but I'd really like her phones to ring.  Thanks!

Celeste,

October is National Dental Health Month. Maybe this would be an opportunity?

Not to be too self-promoting, but our company produces a series of dental health tips that several stations have used to land good contracts with dentists in their markets (demo here if you want to take a look). Whether you use our tips or write your own, perhaps something like this would help draw attention to your dentist's practice? 

Also, if lumineers are a selling point, perhaps you and she could work to craft informative ads that explain the benefits of the process, how it works, how long it takes, etc.  I had no idea what what lumineers were until I googled the term, and I'm probably not the only one who is ignorant of the process.

Or perhaps you could record clients who have had work done at this practice, who are happy with the results, and use these testimonials on the air?

Just my two cents.

Rebecca

Celeste, you say you're getting results but you'd "really like her phones to ring". If you're getting results then her phones are ringing. You want a bunch of people right now, but there are only so many people in the market 'right now'. Your ads should talk to those that aren't in the market as well. That said, here's one in a series of ads that we ran (quite successfully) for a local, small market dentist for Dental Health Month:

 

Anncr: Gentle Family Dentistry, 1711 West 9^th Street, 826-0111because a move to Arkansas will get expensive.

 

Insert something about the lumineers, don't get bogged down in details. The patient just wants to know "what's in it for me".  Also keep in mind that it's a special with a limited time offer, so the schedule should be expanded in frequency to run the entire month, and if you're a multi-station cluster he/she needs to be on all the stations. If free x-rays is a special event then treat it as such with additional promotional budget.

 

mj

Celeste,

You didn't state if :30 or :60, but how about a "Did you Know..." sixty-second ad.  Use Dental facts and tie in how that relates to Dr. No-Pain. For example: "Did you know the first capped teeth were of solid gold on an Egyptian Pharaoh, Did you know the first teeth cleaning was performed on King Kaptu in 1476, Did you know the first dental office in the United State was opened in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania in 1844; Did you know Dr. No-Pain makes your dentures in one day! Did you know the local barber pulled double duty as the local dentist until 1935...   Did you know Dr. No-Pain is located at 123 Maple Street in Pleasantville".

Of course these are all made up facts, you'll have to do the research yourself. I have an advertiser that does this kind of ad with little known facts. Listeners will stop me and ask when this advertiser's next ad version is coming out. They love listening to this ad and will recite the facts AND the advertiser name. And of course when they are ready for the advertisers product/services, they will remember their name and location! 

Good Luck,

Brenda

These are all very helpful. I'm going to work on it this weekend. Once it plays, I'll let you know what we go with and how it does. THANKS!

I agree with Mike. If both you and the client agree that you're getting results I would keep doing what you're doing. I like the no pain approach. Add a testimonial from someone who was terrified of dentists until they used this one. Also, use the terrible location to your advantage.

 

Dentist speaking: There are a lot of beautiful office buildings in town. Hi, this is Dr Pain Free w/ Family Dentistry. When we opened our office, we made a deliberate decision to NOT have the fanciest office in town. Someone has to pay for those buildings and that someone is the patient. We don't beleive a fancy building has anything to do with the quality of care you receive. We focus on soft-touch or no pain dentistry...

The dentist category came up recently in another discussion - so I thought it might be a good time to share a couple of the spots I've put together for a local dentist who became a client not too long ago (thanks to a referral from another client who happens to be one of his patients).  Dr. Torrey is voicing his own spots.  During my research it became evident that his patients all speak highly of the friendliness of his staff and office - so, we decided to build the campaign around this.  (After all, "truth is better than creativity," according to David Ogilvy.)  I urged him to get a new URL for his website, one that would tie into the branding and be easier for listeners to recall. 

The campaign will be mainly educational, but always with a call to action. Resisting the typically fatal urge to cram too much into a commercial, I'm trying to focus on just one idea, one bit of information, one aspect of the practice in each commercial.  Since they won't be dated, we'll eventually build up a library of spots that can be used at any time. 

Right now the campaign is still new, so it will be some months before we have enough feedback to evaluate how well it's working. Judging from early and unequivocally favorable responses so far, I believe we're on the right track.

Would love to hear what other RSC members are doing for local dentists, too.

Thanks for revisiting this.  I actually had 2 different dentists running at the same time.  The 2nd dentist office on our stations actually voice their own ads and do extremely well.  I wish more medical and dental offices would understand that it's important for the listeners to hear from them, not a 3rd party (unless it's a client testimonial).  We did an educational campaign with the other dentist but they didn't feel that they got their ROI from it.

I'd love to hear from you when you get the feedback on the new campaign.

Thanks!

Celeste,

Met with Dr. Torrey a few days ago.  He's had the busiest month yet in his practice and getting lots of positive feedback -- a pleasant surprise, being so early in the campaign. 

There's a useful sidetrack worth exploring here: 

Having multiple clients within a single category can be awkward sometimes, but it's certainly not impossible to serve each one effectively and with integrity.  It's tricky, for instance, when it comes time to make a major purchase (auto, appliances, furniture, carpeting, etc.) and you want to do business with one of your own clients.  Obviously, you can't buy from more than one of them, and the choice you make precludes/excludes the other(s).   This is often where the strength of the relationship is tested--under pressure.  The good ones survive; the less sturdy ones sometimes don't.

Fact is, in most small (and some medium) market stations, where the bulk of the advertising comes from local, direct clients, there aren't enough salespeople to divide up the accounts so that a rep isn't calling on multiple prospects within a given category.  So, we work hard trying to help each client establish his own brand-identity, uncover his unique story and tell it in a fresh, original way.  Tough sometimes, but not impossible.

If I were working with a second dentist, I might try to find a great character voice and write the message from the perspective of the teeth.

Or not.

Celeste,

Dentists love jingles ... They really do. Would you like to hear a few samples?

Jingle Jim Reilly