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Patient Attraction Episode 1119

Testimonials and online reviews are the new “social proof” for dentists. They take the place that used to be occupied almost exclusively by word-of-mouth referrals. But just like in-person recommendations vary in their quality and believability, so do your testimonial videos. Most dentists have too many low-quality, generic testimonial videos that don’t speak to the specific needs and wants of dental prospects. After the break, I’ll tell what makes a great dental testimonial video. And I’ll show you how to get more specific testimonials that will influence more prospects to choose your practice.

- I’m Colin Receveur, CEO of SmartBox.

- Thanks for watching the Patient Attraction Podcast™.

- Dental patient testimonial videos are a mainstay of online marketing.

- Practically every dentist has a website featuring those testimonials.

- More and more dentists are discovering YouTube as a platform for their testimonials.

- Videos harness the power of sight and sound to influence prospects to choose you.

- But way too many dental testimonial videos miss the mark.

- To be fair, it’s hard to go wrong with “Gee, everybody at X Dental is wonderful” videos.

- But if that’s all you have on your website or YouTube channel, you’re not getting everything you could be.

- Here’s why: People with dental problems – not just those looking for routine care – have specific concerns.

- They’re looking for solutions to those problems.

- “Gee whiz” testimonials don’t speak to those specific concerns.

- They certainly don’t provide the answers that your prospects need and want.

- Your online marketing has to help prospects make the mental leap from problem to embracing the solution.

- That’s not something you should leave to chance.

- It really doesn’t matter what kind of practice you have.

- Specialized practices such as orthodontics or cosmetic dentistry treat many, many patients with specific dental issues.

- But almost every general practice has performed emergency dentistry or come up with an elegant solution to a patient’s specific need.

- Those are the stories your prospects need and want to hear – directly from the patients themselves.

- Your prospects want to know how those patients’ lives were improved through your actions.

- They want to know that, like other patients, they can count on you and your staff to help them eat without pain, smile without embarrassment, and laugh freely.

- Your prospects want to know that they can trust you to make their lives better.

- That is the single most important point your marketing can accomplish.

- It’s far more important than testimonials talking about how nice everyone is.

- Nice is expected these days and does nothing to influence prospects to choose you.

- It’s not always easy to get better testimonials.

- A lot of dentists make mistakes in how the videos are shot.

- A quick hallway interview shot on a handheld smartphone rarely comes off well.

- Dentists also make mistakes in the timing of when they ask for the interview.

- People who still have a mouth full of procaine are unlikely to say yes to appearing on camera.

- Other mistakes include choosing people your prospects have trouble relating to, and failing to guide patients to tell a good and credible story.

- The bottom line is that there are a lot of ways testimonial videos can go wrong.