Everyone who markets something must observe some important marketing laws. If you want to succeed at dental practice marketing, you have to remember the following with respect to your dental practice:

1. Go where your dental prospects are
2. Tell them how to fill a need
3. Set yourself apart from your dentist competitors
4. Close for a dentist appointment only when they are ready to "buy"

Go where your prospects are

Dental patients on the web don't hang out at Google. They hang out on sites where they buy stuff or communicate with other people. You can advertise on those sites or you can join in the conversations your patients are having.

Let me be clear on what I mean. Many people use LinkedIn, Facebook, MySpace and a host of other sites to hang out in and meet other people. These are called social media sites. See Dental Marketing Social Media for more on using these social media sites to market your dental practice.

You may say "I don't have time for that," and I understand. You may not ever log into the social media sites. But many of your patients do. I know it doesn't seem like anyone but very young people participate in these — but you are wrong if you think this isn't critically important.

There are all kinds of websites nowadays where people get information and hang out. Don't just focus on Google rankings or you will be missing out on most of th possibilities.

Tell them how you fill a need

Nobody cares (really) about your fancy digital x-ray machine or your lasers or Cerec system. What they care about is low-radiation x-rays, fillings without pain, crowns in one visit.

This means you speak in terms of benefits. And it also means you always focus on the most basic concerns:

• Looking our best
• Improving our health
• Comfort

These are fundamental drivers of human action. They were the same 100 years ago and they will be the same one hundred years from now.

Set yourself apart from your dentist competitors

Positioning, positioning and positioning. In the world of plants and animals, no two plants or animals occupy the exact same niche. So it is with you and your dental practice. No two dentist office practices are the same. Your locations are different. Your appeals are different.

Don't do things the same as your competitors or you are destroying your marketing effectiveness.

Positioning means that you stand for something but it also means you sacrifice what you do NOT stand for. McDonalds stands for quick inexpensive food that tastes great. McDonalds doesn't serve $30 burgers. McDonalds has positioning in the minds of their customers.

So do you. You stand for something. Don't be cheap and expensive. Don't be quality and cheap. Pick your niche and stick to it and present that to the world. See Dental Marketing: How to multiply your website's results for help in marketing with your website.

Close for a dentist appointment only when your patients are ready to buy

You have to build a list of prospects that you then work. People aren't ready to actually come in and spend sometimes thousands of dollars and go through what they regard as an uncomfortable appointment until the "right time" comes.

That means building a list and establishing a personal relationship, via email and regular mail and video and blogs, with your prospects. Then you turn them into patients when the right time comes for them. They know you and trust you at that point even if you don't know them yet.

For more information on how to build your practice using dental Internet marketing that go beyond Google — such as blogs and social media sites, join my private email list. I will grant you instant access to the acclaimed bestselling book on case acceptance and dental marketing now in its third edition. And I will never share your information with anyone. Opt out anytime. And learn when I will be releasing my exclusive blogging service that will let build and run and promote a blog just for your practice.