Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Welcome to "The Dental Business Hub." Join us as we explore actionable insights and strategies for dental professionals. From marketing and practice management to industry trends and personal development, we provide the tools you need to grow your practice and achieve financial success.
Welcome to the Dental Business Hub. I'm your host, Monica Capelli. Today, I'm excited to sit down with Dan Bryan, cofounder and VP of marketing at Dentalscapes and also the host of the Dental Domination podcast. With more than twenty years of digital marketing experience, Dan leads new business development and education programs for dental professionals across the country. Dentalscapes, based in North Carolina, helps dental practices grow by reaching more patients and streamlining their marketing.
DBH:Their approach is guided by core values, like doing the right thing, building personal connections, staying curious, taking accountability, and being transparent. In this episode, we'll dive into Dan's proven strategies for practice growth, the latest trends in digital marketing, and how DentalScape supports dental teams nationwide. Hey, Dan. So I'm so glad you're able to join me today on the Dental Business Hub. I can't wait to talk to you and just hear all your wonderful insights into marketing for dentists.
DBH:Talk to me about it. What are dentists missing? What do we I
Dan Brian:am so excited to be here today, Monica. Thank you so much for having me on the show and thank you also for being a guest on our show as well, Dental Domination Podcast. You were on there before, and I think I've told you before, you were actually one of our most downloaded episodes thus far. So I'm really indebted to you, and I really appreciate the invite to be on here.
DBH:You are so welcome, and I'm so happy to have you.
Dan Brian:Yeah. Thank you so much. And, you know, today I'm really excited. You know, my background is all online marketing. And specifically for the last several years, I've been solely focused on marketing for dental practices.
Dan Brian:Think, you know, you and I have talked offline, Monica. My husband, like yours, is a practicing dentist. And so I've been talking dentistry around the dinner table for ten years, as I know you're no stranger to yourself and you know, you've run practices, you have, you know, a billing and revenue management company for practices, which is awesome. And so this is stuff that you and I both live and breathe. And getting into marketing for dental practices has been something that's been really exciting for me.
Dan Brian:And one thing that I think is really important that practices that want to stay relevant in today's market understand and really take to heart is the importance of what we call local SEO. And so for a long time, SEO, you know, called search engine optimization, that's getting your website ranked highly on Google search or Bing or any other, you know, search engine that you may be using, but we're talking about Google 90% of cases now. SEO has always been important, but today, given the changing landscape in search and in online marketing, local SEO is really the holy grail for local businesses like dental practices. And so it's super important that folks grasp that. And at Dentalscapes, that's sort of our bread and butter.
Dan Brian:So local SEO, getting practices positioned in the top search results for locally focused searches. Best dentist in Chicago, dental implants in Raleigh Durham, or best dentist near me. Anything with a local intent is something that, you know, you've gotta have your website and your local or and your online presence primed to appear in those searches. So that's what I'm really excited to get into.
DBH:And, you know, I'd love that because right now, as you know, our country has been in this massive population shift. People are leaving their old zip codes and moving to new areas. One of the first things they look for are healthcare providers and dentists. And I've had this experience myself. I recently moved here and didn't have a dentist and had to go the old route of just Googling whatever.
DBH:And it was strange because my zip code was still set back to Colorado. So when I started Googling, I couldn't get couldn't get it because
Dan Brian:of this area. Yep. Yeah. It's so interesting. I mean, now searches are so localized and everyone has, you know, geo tracking on their phone or their device or whatever they're using.
Dan Brian:And so every search is is personalized and localized specific to you and your location. So it's really important. In fact, I would call it mission critical that dental practices get their websites. I would agree. And their Google Business profile that we're gonna talk about a little bit later, that they get that positioned front and center on Google.
Dan Brian:Because we know actually from research, when we talk about local SEO, we're really focused on what we call the map pack or some people call it the local pack. Some people call it the three pack because as marketers, we like to make things more complicated than we need to. But that's really the holy grail. It's getting in those top three prioritized positions that we call that map pack. And why is that?
Dan Brian:It's because we know from research that when it comes to local searches for dental practices, so those types of search terms that we just talked about, or even you looking for a new dentist where you just moved in my backyard, by the way, welcome to North Carolina.
DBH:I love it.
Dan Brian:But we know from research that over 70%, 70% of clicks to dental practices go to those prioritized search positions. And so getting in that map pack and getting to the top of search results for local searches is just absolutely do or die for dental practices.
DBH:You have to have that near me search. Because like I said, when I neglected to put that in, I was still getting Colorado dentists even though I was sitting here. And the other thing I think that's super important for dentists to know is every patient's local. I mean, we're doing teledentistry, but we're not doing that kind of teledentistry, right? And so that Google business page, talk to me about that because I I don't know how to get it to work, but I know it's very important.
Dan Brian:Yeah. So it's really interesting. Google business profiles, they're called, GBPs is sort of what we we call it, on the inside. But the GBP is basically the best thing that I can I can do to explain it is just call it a business card? It's sort of an online business card for your practice.
Dan Brian:And so, you know, most folks can find their Google business profile, may not even know that it's set up In most cases it will be. If you've ever worked with a marketing company in the past, they've probably set one up for you. Maybe, as a practice owner, someone listening here today has set that up themselves. The best way to determine whether or not you have one, there's some fancy footwork that we can get into in terms of logging into your actual dashboard and all of that, but just go to Google and search for your practice name. And basically nine times out of 10, if you have your Google business profile or your GVP set up, it's gonna pop up when you do what we call a branded search, which is your actual practice name.
Dan Brian:So it might be Sunrise Dental Clinic or, you know, Your Smile Pediatric Dentistry, whatever. Search for your practice name. The first thing that will pop up, usually on the right hand side, if you're on desktop, right at the top if you're on mobile, will be that Google business profile. And it's basically a business card, like I said. It has photos, it has your website, it usually has buttons where you can click to call, where you can click to visit the website.
Dan Brian:It shows very importantly, and we can talk about this in a minute too, your reviews. So both the overall number as well as your average rating on Google of your reviews. It shows frequently asked questions. There will be photos, like I said. You can actually update your business profile however often you'd like with posts.
Dan Brian:It's sort of similar to like a Facebook post or that kind of thing to let people know about new specials or new offers or things that are happening at your practice.
DBH:Wow.
Dan Brian:It's really kind of like the welcome mat for your practice when it comes to Google search. And it is super important when it comes to getting your practice positioned in local search because Google loves it when, you know, companies use their own products. And the Google business profile is really front and center when it comes to local SEO. So keeping it up to date, keeping your hours updated, answering questions from potential patients and patients on there, gonna be really important. Keeping it up to date with photos.
Dan Brian:And we generally recommend that you're actually posting on that Google Business Profile.
DBH:Interesting.
Dan Brian:A couple times a week at least.
DBH:That that raises a question because you mentioned that sometimes your marketing agency will set up for you, but it sounds like that Google Business page is actually managed in house. Is that correct?
Dan Brian:Yeah. It it absolutely can be. You know, what what we do at DentalScapes is when we work with a client, we will take over management of the Google Business Profile, so it's something our clients don't have to worry about. But if say you're a practice owner listening to the podcast right now, do yourself a favor. Make sure first you verify that you have a Google Profile because if you don't have that set up, you're gonna be missing out on a ton of potential patient volume.
Dan Brian:Make sure that that's set up, and then there's also, if you search for Google Business Profile login on Google, it'll direct you to the dashboard where you can actually log in and manage that. And so it's something that you can keep up to date yourself, or you can delegate that task to, you know, your front desk team or a trusted dental assistant who may have an interest in this sort of thing. You can delegate that and manage it internally. I will just say that it is it is absolutely mission critical that folks are keeping their information updated on there to keep it visible on Google to make sure that it's accurate. And and we can also talk about, you know, one of the one of the many quote unquote ranking factors that helps determine where your practice shows up in local search is links and link building and links from other websites to your website.
Dan Brian:And one of the sometimes overlooked opportunities for link building is your Google business profile. And it's also important that you're trying to attract links to that profile, both from your website and other websites as well. So there are a lot of different, you know, things that go into creating an optimized Google Business Profile, but it's super important.
DBH:That's actually very interesting. I never even thought about linking to other businesses. Like you would you mean I'm just guessing, maybe a nail salon or mean, who would you link to? Not other dentists. So
Dan Brian:Yeah. No. So it would really it would what we're really dealing with in terms of positioning your dental practice for local search is going to be links from other websites to your website and also to your Google Business profile. And so there are opportunities to do that. You can get links from the local chamber of commerce by listing in that directory.
Dan Brian:We call these local directories and marketing citations. Again, it's another example of us trying to make ourselves feel more important than we are. They're local directory listings, not citations. Well, they are, but we make it over complicated. These directory listings are super important though because every single one of them, whether it's the local chamber of commerce, whether it's something national like Yelp or Facebook or even yellowpages.com, which believe it or not is still a thing.
Dan Brian:Those are opportunities to get what we call your NAP citations or name, address, phone number, and your URL listed. And so there are opportunities to drive links to your website and also to your Google business profile. And Google looks at those signals. And, you know, we often refer to these as ranking factors or signals, looks at those when assessing, you know, the credibility of your practice, the prominence of your practice in the community, the more of these citations or local directory listings that you can get, the more credible your practice is going to appear in the eyes of Google. And just as a side note to that, beyond just local directories, local SEO is going to be influenced by links from any source.
Dan Brian:So Google really looks at a link from an external website to your own or to your Google business profile as a vote. And so links are votes. And basically it's it's it's a way that Google can gauge, you know, the authority of your practice and your website based on others essentially vouching for you. So every time another website is going to link to your website, particularly if it's from an oral health related website or other resource, related to oral health or dentistry, Google's going to say, Hey, this other website is saying, Yep, I know Doctor. Capelli.
Dan Brian:I vouched for him. He is a phenomenal dentist. He knows what he's talking about. And that is why we are linking to his website to share it as a resource with our audience. And so Google looks at that and says, hey.
Dan Brian:They think he's credible. They think he's legit. So do we. And they reward you in your search results and the the prominence of your your site there.
DBH:I have to ask, do you give coaching on to dentists on how to build those kinds of relationships? Because I I know a lot of times you're working in that little four inch hole ten hours a day. They don't have time to make any other relationships. How do you cultivate those relationships?
Dan Brian:Yeah. A 100%. Well, you know, I will tell you, you can do link building on your own. Anyone can do it. Anyone can develop and cultivate those relationships over time.
Dan Brian:It's hard. I mean, and I'll I'll say, you know, quite honestly, it's probably more legwork than your average dentist owner is going to want to do or have time for. And so, you know, for that very reason, I recommend whether it's Dentalscapes or another agency, partnering with a company that does prioritize link building is really important. There's a couple of different ways that we can approach it. Some of it is manual outreach.
Dan Brian:So it's literally boots on the ground developing those relationships with, you know, local businesses or even national directory. Getting your website listed wherever possible and getting those backlinks, they call them, to your website. We can do it through manual outreach. It is more time consuming. It can be more, you know, expensive in terms of the resources needed for that.
Dan Brian:That's why there are some really well proven strategies that you can use to generate links as well that we employ at Dentalscapes and other agencies are gonna use as well. One of those is what we call an online press release. And you're probably familiar with blogging. Most marketing companies are gonna recommend that your dental practice be publishing a new blog every couple of weeks, every month, sometimes every week. It it really depends.
Dan Brian:But there's a few few factors that make that important. You know, one, obviously, you're providing patient education every time you publish a blog, is great in and of itself. You're positioning your website as a resource. You know, also, you're keeping the website fresh. And Google really prioritizes fresh content because Google's business is providing people with the most relevant and up to date information possible.
Dan Brian:And it can only do that if, you know, those resources exist. And so keeping your website up to date and fresh and relevant is going to better position it with Google. Google is going to reward that kind of fresh content accordingly. But the other thing that blogging, you know, is so important for is link building. Because every blog that you publish, it's an educational resource in and of itself, but it's also a resource that other websites can link to, when they find it valuable and relevant for their audience.
Dan Brian:And so, you know, you might publish a blog post on, you know, what is a periodontal deep cleaning? What does that actually mean? And what does it involve? You know, you could get another oral health related website that says, hey, this is a great summary. We're gonna send a link to this, this resource to share it with our audience.
Dan Brian:And right there, you've you've generated a link to your website. You've gotten that vote that can convey that authority to Google. And one of the ways that we promote that blog content to get those links is through an online press release where we're basically distributing that blog to as many outlets as possible across the Internet, getting as many eyeballs on it so that, you know, maybe one in a 100 that see it are gonna say, this is great for my audience. Let's give it a link. Show it some love.
Dan Brian:And in turn, you're gonna position your website better there on Google.
DBH:So again, time intensive producing blogs. Mean, is this something that is when I'm looking at who do I wanna hire to do my marketing, is this one of the key factors I should be considering?
Dan Brian:I would for sure. So I would, I would, you know, like I said, and I'm I'm on this kick lately. So I talk a lot about about how in online marketing, you know, there's not actually, if we're going to be honest, there's not actually a lot of secret sauce in what we do. It's sort of like Effective dentistry is evidence based. And effective marketing for dental practices is also evidence based.
Dan Brian:We know what works. And so it really just comes down to capacity, you know, having the resources in place to do what needs to be done, discipline, follow through, communication, transparency, those are the things that I think folks need to be looking for when they evaluate marketing partners for their practice. And so, yeah, absolutely. To your your point, blogging, content development of any sort can be very time consuming and resource intensive. It is, again, you know, something that the right person on the practice side at the front desk maybe when they have some extra time, dental assistants So have so much as I was just gonna say, I mean, mean, who has extra time?
Dan Brian:I don't really think that exists
DBH:Not really.
Dan Brian:In a successful dental practice. But anyway, you could do it in house. I tend to think that that's gonna be a stretch for the reasons that you and I have both talked about. And also expertise. I mean, there's there's one thing it's one thing to write a blog post, and, you know, there are many highly qualified dentists, hygienists, assistants, treatment coordinators that can write a fantastic blog blog post that educates the audience appropriately, gives folks the information they need, but it is another thing entirely to create a blog post that is what we call SEO optimized and really well positioned to, for lack of a better word, resonate with Google.
Dan Brian:So Google's gonna want to quickly, what we call index, digest this content online, and quickly make a determination whether or not that is super relevant for folks doing local searches. And so our job at an agency like Dentalscapes is to not only write the content and develop the content, but do it in a way that is giving Google basically serving up on a silver platter everything that Google's going to need to make an instantaneous judgment that this is the best piece of content for folks searching for, you know, what is periodontal deep cleaning? Or where can I find, or where can I get periodontal therapy in Durham? You know, whatever it might be. It's our job to not only, you know, create content that is impactful and clinically accurate and educational, but it's also you know, we have two audiences.
Dan Brian:One is the end consumer, the potential patient, and then the other is the almighty Google.
DBH:But how how much eyes on should the doctor have, especially when you are producing clinically relevant stuff? I mean, does he hold any liability, for instance, for what's in his ads or
Dan Brian:he does? Really, really good question. And so really great question. And it's something we take really seriously at DentalScapes. And, you know, the first thing I would say is I always advise dentists, regardless of whether we're working with them or not, review your state dental boards, you know, ethics opinions and guidelines when it comes to marketing because they do vary sometimes by state.
Dan Brian:But you're absolutely right. I mean, no dentist is going to want to have content on their website that's, you know, not clinically accurate. So it's really, really important, not only from a credibility standpoint, but also from a legal standpoint, from an ethical standpoint, to have clinically accurate, you know, content on your website. And so, you know, one thing that we're proud of, and I'm not here promote Dentalscapes myself, although of course, yeah, if anyone wants to call, I'll take a phone call. But yeah, my husband, like I said, is a practicing dentist.
Dan Brian:He's on the leadership team at Dentalscapes. He actually puts eyes on the content that's developed for our clients. And so we have a lot of safeguards built in to ensure that everything that is being published on behalf of clients is clinically accurate and not going to get you in trouble with the dental ward or anything like that. But I would say a dentist only has so much time in the day, as we've talked So in an ideal world, they're able to review every piece of content that's developed, but it's just not realistic in today's, you know, busy to and fro. And so I think looking for a marketing partner, dentalscapes or not, but that has that clinical expertise on the team is really important.
DBH:I would agree with you a 100%. And you know, my goal here on the Dental Business Hub is to help dentists shortcut a lot of this stuff, or even catch hold of things that are falling through the cracks right now by, you know, giving them the option to partner with excellent companies. So I trust you. I've met you. I know you.
DBH:And I would just say that anyone that wants to reach out to Dan, all of his information is definitely going to be in the bottom. But I have to ask you the dreaded question.
Dan Brian:Okay. Google or Facebook. Okay. So there's there's no there's no, really. I well, not neither, but both.
Dan Brian:I mean, it is incredibly important for you not only to be doing everything that you can to get those prioritized listings in local search on Google. That is mission critical. Google is what we call a high intent marketing channel, which means that folks that are on Google that are using google.com or using the app on their phone, they are actively looking for something to, you know, address their problem. And, you know, that may be just finding a new GP. It may be, you know, finding a new pediatric dentist for their kid.
Dan Brian:It may be, you know, finding the right person to get that implant that, you know, your dentist was talking about. Maybe your dentist doesn't do implants. Maybe they referred you to, you know, a periodontist and you just want to get, you know, a second opinion or look for another option as well. You know, so folks are searching for things that can immediately address a need that they have. And so we call Google and other search engines high intent and that makes that traffic really, really valuable.
Dan Brian:Facebook and other social media networks on the other hand are not high intent because most people, and of course there's exceptions to every rule, but most people are not actively using social media to look for a dentist. They're not looking for dental services when they're on there. That's just not what they're going there for. But it's nevertheless sort of the town hall of the internet And everyone is there. And you've got to be there if you want to raise awareness for your practice, if you want to be top of mind.
Dan Brian:That's where I would say a platform like Facebook is infinitely valuable for every practice out there. It's not it's not being there when someone is saying, need to find a new dentist because that again is not really what they're on Facebook to do. It's being there so that next time they need a dentist, you know, maybe not immediately in that moment, but you are there and you are staying top of mind. So Google is a high intent channel. Facebook and other social media networks are what we call lower intent channels.
Dan Brian:That does not mean that there are there's something to be avoided. And and the other thing I would mention is that, you know, there's a place for Google. There's a place for Google, you know, local SEO what we call non paid or organic search results. There's a there's a place for Google advertising, so where you're actually paying per click
DBH:and
Dan Brian:and immediately serving an ad to someone in need of a dentist. Facebook is the same way. So I'm not saying at all that you can't acquire new patients on Facebook, but it's a little bit different. If you wanna use Facebook as an active, you know, generator for phone calls and form fills for potential patients, you're really going to need to run ads there. That's kind of what that's for.
DBH:So as far as you mentioned the organic search, this is kind of like free Google for you then. It's not the pay per click model we've been talking about. Yeah. That's brilliant actually. So the SEO is what gets you all of that organic traffic that you don't have to pay for the clicks on.
Dan Brian:100%. And so, you know, it's not fair to just say that SEO is free or organic search is free because again, if you're doing it right, you are going to invest something in SEO long term. You're going to invest in the resources needed to write those blog posts and optimize the website and develop new service pages and keep the website fresh and updated and update your Google business profile. You're gonna have to put some resources behind link building like we talked about. We we haven't even talked about reviews and that's just another, you know, huge, hugely important opportunity for practices because reviews are increasingly important when it comes to local SEO, you know, and and other things.
Dan Brian:But there is some cost associated with SEO. So it's not free necessarily, but long term, the absolute best bang for your buck that any dentist is going to get from online marketing is coming from an investment in SEO and organic search. Because yes, over time, you're gonna start to generate new patients consistently from Google search that doesn't require you to pay every time someone's clicking on the link like you would with a pay per click ad on Google, for instance, or, you know, a pay per click ad on Facebook even. So awesome opportunity. We always say that SEO is the best bang for your buck.
Dan Brian:We also know, however, that SEO and really optimizing your practice for success in organic search, it's a long term commitment. So we always call SEO the marathon and we call online advertising the sprint. Because when you advertise, whether it's on Google or Facebook or Instagram or TikTok or wherever, it's faucet on, faucet off. As soon as you start advertising, you can start immediately generating those new patients. But you're gonna also pay a much higher cost per acquisition per new patient than you will over time with an investment in organic search.
DBH:It makes a lot of sense, but I think honestly, I've never sat down and had anyone had a talk with anyone about, you know, this SEO kind of organic. I've had marketing companies in our practice. I work with a lot of practices who are hiring for marketing companies. This seems like a key conversation to be having. Again, I'd love it if everyone who watches this podcast gives you a call, but some of them are going to be already working with agencies or looking at other avenues.
DBH:And this is sounds like another one of those key questions to ask Yeah. When talking to an agency and and trying
Dan Brian:to 100%. Yeah. And I mean, the thing about it and and here's the thing too. Like you just mentioned, you've got you've got clients that are working with other marketing companies right now, and that's awesome. And at Dentalscapes, our philosophy is never to throw another agency under the bus.
Dan Brian:We don't try to steal others' business. We just that's just icky, and we don't do that.
DBH:Right.
Dan Brian:But I'm always, you know, here. I know you've got show notes that you'll throw up if you wanna share my contact info. Always happy to talk with anyone. And, know, honestly, you and I know this. You're a fantastic businesswoman.
Dan Brian:Like, it all comes back. Like, I've I've had conversations with dentists two years ago that then two years later, they come back and they say, hey. You know, I remember that conversation we had, and maybe it's time to partner with y'all, and that's awesome. Like, it it I'm at Dental Scapes, like, my whole philosophy is I actually hate sales, by the way. My whole philosophy is just like, you know, sales really when it's done the way it should be is just education.
Dan Brian:And so I just I always love just having the conversation. So there's no pressure. Like, anyone listening to your podcast, I'd love to to just talk with. And I'm always interested in learning what is working and what's not working for practices out there so that I can, you know, better help our clients as well.
DBH:I'd love that. Thank you so much for your time. I would like to give you one chance to just say the one gem that you find that really is helpful to a practice who's in marketing or looking into marketing? What's the one thing they should know?
Dan Brian:Okay. So this is something I've just touched on it a little bit earlier, but I'm just going say it really, really bluntly. If you are a dentist or a practice owner and you are not actively requesting your patients to leave you Google reviews. I know it can be uncomfortable. I know that most dentists out there, in fact, don't like asking for reviews because it does feel a little bit salesy.
Dan Brian:And we all know, you know, most dentists, most dentist clinicians did not go to school to sell or really to market their practices. It can feel a little bit foreign and a little bit icky. Figure out a way to integrate that into your workflow because reviews, Google reviews in particular, five star Google reviews are absolutely mission critical to your success online. It's not only important for SEO. Google is actually looking at reviews, both the quantity and the average rating as a ranking factor when it's positioning your website in local search.
Dan Brian:They're not only doing that, but they're also integrating reviews into some of their ad products now too. So even if you're not focusing on SEO, but say you're running Google, what they call local services ads, your ad is going to be featured more prominently the better rating you have, the more reviews they have, and honestly also it's about what we call velocity, the rate at which you're acquiring reviews. These are all signals that Google's looking at.
DBH:Interesting.
Dan Brian:Again, I understand it. You know, asking for reviews after a successful treatment is not not the most fun thing to do, but there are ways to integrate it into your workflows, like through automated text messaging that the front desk can trigger or or whatever. Oftentimes, these solutions are integrated right into your practice management software. But getting reviews, anyone listening today, please, please, please take it seriously. Don't overlook it because I've often said that I don't think I just got done saying that SEO is the biggest bang for your buck.
Dan Brian:And I do think that's true. But I think maybe if there's a second biggest bang for your buck in online marketing today, it's getting consistently getting five star Google reviews. Do everything that you can to get those, and it will come back to you. Trust me.
DBH:Okay. Love that. Thank you so much for sharing that, Dan. And I want to make sure that your show notes are available for our listeners and with all the appropriate links for them to reach out to you. And I appreciate so much the time that you took to spend with me today.
DBH:Really my honor to have you on here.
Dan Brian:I love it. I love it. I can't thank you enough, Monica. Then I'm gonna have you back on our show. Actually, I think we're recording one later this week.
Dan Brian:So that's awesome.
DBH:We are. Absolutely. So great. Alright. Well, thank you truly and tremendously appreciate you.