The Acronyms for Success in Marketing

Episode #296 with Xaña Winans

Marketing isn't just about the pretty images — it’s all about the numbers! And without knowing your numbers, you can't improve your practice. So, today, Kirk Behrendt brings back Xaña Winans to teach you which numbers to keep track of so you can market more effectively. Don't just guess how your marketing is performing — measure and know! To learn about KPIs and all of the acronyms for success in marketing, listen to Episode 296 of The Best Practices Show!

Main Takeaways:

Image is important, but knowing your numbers is even more important.

Numbers are everything for marketing success.

If you don't measure, you don't know how any given piece of marketing is performing.

CPL (Cost Per Lead) should be lower than your cost of acquisition.

CPA (Cost Per Acquisition) helps determine what in your practice needs improvement.

If you're not measuring ROI, it’s just a guessing game.

Marketing needs time before you see any potential returns.

Measure the critical few. Choose two key KPIs to measure and focus on.

Know your ideal patient!

Quotes:

“Doctors, I think, get really excited about the beautiful pictures that they see, the gorgeous new website that a friend of theirs has, or somebody’s incredible postcard, or whatever they’re seeing in terms of other people’s marketing, and they think it’s all about the image. And the image is [only] this much of it.” (05:30—05:52)

“Marketing, 50% of it is the pretty stuff. But the other 50% is knowing the hard data, the acronyms, as I call them, of success: your KPIs and your CPLs and your CPAs. If you don't know your numbers, you can’t improve them. You have no idea if you are spending your money efficiently or just throwing it down a hole. And the numbers are literally everything for marketing success.” (06:01—06:23)

“There is a huge amount of money that is wasted when I see practices do marketing where they're just getting a ton of leads and a ton of people in the door, and they think it’s incredibly successful. But they're only shoppers. They're coming for a special, and they disappear. They don't come back for that second appointment. And while your cost per lead might be small, your cost of acquiring that patient all of a sudden got really, really expensive because they're not staying in the practice.” (07:54—08:20)

“If you do not get that new patient to reappoint — to come back to your practice — often, the cost of their first visit could be more expensive than the cost to acquire the patient. So, if you don't get them to come back, you're literally going to have a negative return on investment for that particular patient, which is crazy.” (09:37—09:58)

“The average patient stays in a practice a good 10 years. If you can just do that one thing that very first appointment to get them to come back so that you can start to build a relationship and build value, that is where your ROI comes from, because it is the patient continually adding more revenue to the practice every single year.” (10:06—10:26)

“[Dentists] get all caught up like their success only exists in how many times the phone rang and how many new patient appointments they got. But if you are not reappointing them, they're not quality leads. Or there might be something else going on in the practice that is an indication of something you need to adjust.” (12:34—12:49)

“A lead does not equal a patient. A lead is anything that gets somebody to respond. So, they filled out a form on your website. They picked up the phone and made a call. They had a chat with you online. They walked in your door because they happened to be walking past your practice and they had a question. That is a lead. That is not a qualified patient.” (13:05—13:27)

“I count a...