Marketing helps promote your dental practice, create your brand image, engage existing patients and reach potential new ones, propel growth, and boost sales. It can be a big decision when it comes to outsourcing your marketing efforts. If you’re considering hiring a professional marketing team to handle some or all of your business marketing, you don’t want to jump at the first marketing team that hits your radar.
There are many things you need to consider, and because there are so many different marketing firms that offer these types of services, it’s no easy task determining which is the best agency to hire. This is understandable, which is why here we will give you some valuable pointers.
What to Look For in a Marketing Agency for Your Dental Practice
When deciding on a marketing team to use for your dental business, you’ll want ask yourself the following questions:
1. Are You Comfortable With the Terms of the Contract?
A professional and reputable marketing agency will present you with details on the types of services they provide and a formal contract to begin the partnership. Typically, in these proposals, there are different legal terms that outline the contract length, indemnification from future lawsuits, and what the cancellation process is.
Take the time to read the terms thoroughly, because once you sign the contract, they’re legally binding. If you signed a 12-month contract, but after three months decide to cancel, you’re still legally bound to the other nine months. You may want to have a lawyer look at the contract if all the legal terms are overwhelming you.
2. Can You Make a Positive Connection With the Team at the Marketing Firm?
Even though the team at the marketing agency aren’t W-2 employees for your dental practice, you’ll still be working with them regularly. Ask to meet who you’ll be working with day-to-day. This is essential because while you will build rapport with the entire team, after you sign the contract, you’ll be assigned to a project manager or account manager.
If at the beginning of the relationship, you feel your personalities don’t mesh, this could mean problems down the road. It doesn’t matter how many success stories you see, if your gut is telling you that you won’t work well together, you may want to listen to it.
3. Is There Social Proof That Shows Credibility?
One way to quickly filter out dodgy firms is to evaluate their experience and look for any social proof they provide to help build their credibility. If a marketing firm claims to have knowledge and experience in the dental industry vertical, look at its portfolio to see if it backs up this claim. Do your due diligence by checking out client testimonials and even speaking with former clients to see if they’ll share their experiences.
Pay attention to the different marketing channels they’re using to advertise the services they provide. Look at their:
- Advertisements
- Branding
- Social media
- Website
- Client interactions
Use these channels to assess the creativity, effectiveness, and quality of their work.
4. Review the Marketing Agency’s Previous Work and Client Types
You can expect better quality work when the marketing team you work with specializes in your industry. For example, an HVAC or plumbing business wouldn’t be in the most effective hands if they hired a marketing agency that specializes in restaurants or retail.
To see what your potential marketing company specializes in, you can look at their website and click under their “Portfolio” or “Clients” tab where they display different testimonials, results from previous clients, and examples of their work. You can also find them on LinkedIn and Google to see what other business owners’ experiences have been with their services.
What to Avoid When Looking For a Marketing Agency for Your Dental Practice
There are certain things you’ll want to avoid when you’re considering hiring a marketing agency, such as:
1. Avoid Marketing Firms That Offer Template Solutions
Marketing agencies that attempt to sell you template solutions are trying to offer a one-size-fits-all solution. If the initial proposal they offer seems a bit too generic with no planning or research involved, they are likely offering run-of-the-mill services.
2. Avoid Exceptionally High Claims and Unreasonably Low Pricing
If an agency provides you with a quote that’s significantly lower than the competition’s or promises to deliver an unrealistic number of sales leads or instant organic growth, be cautious. While propositions like this may be tempting, in most instances, they are widely inaccurate.
3. Avoid Marketing Firms That Don’t Communicate Well
A marketing firm should be decent by nature and not just by name. The best way to judge a firm before you meet them is by determining the quality of their communication. How long does it take them to call back after an inquiry? Do they actively listen or do all the talking? Is their marketing approach admirable?
If a marketing firm can’t be bothered to call a client back immediately after an inquiry or can’t market themselves properly, there’s a good chance they have poor communication skills and that will likely continue throughout your relationship.
4. Avoid Agencies That Promise Specific Results
Another red flag to pay attention to is a marketing firm that promises specific results. It’s important to realize that any marketing contract holds some risk. There aren’t any guarantees on the number of leads you’ll get or what ROI you’ll have on your investment.
An experienced and reputable marketing firm will inform you of this from the very start. Any firm that is worth the investment will be confident in the work they provide but will never make any guarantees. Working with a marketing firm that makes guarantees and promises is risky. Chances are that they won’t accurately track, assess, and measure as they go and blame any shortcomings on external forces.
Reliable agencies will not make outlandish promises and will instead rely on tracking and measurement to see what works and what doesn’t. They’ll adjust accordingly and continue to track progress. If there’s no tracking, it can drain your budget quickly, without much knowledge of where the money is going.
Contact the Marketing Professionals at Market My Market
If you work with a reputable marketing firm with a talented team of people who know your business, you have a good chance of a great working relationship and substantial dividends. Trust your gut and keep these considerations in mind, and you’ll find the perfect marketing team to help grow your dental business.
Market My Market has the resources and tools to bring your dental business to higher levels. Call us today at (866) 270-2250 or fill out our online form to learn more about how we can help you with all your marketing needs.