I heard a story today about a bold newspaper ad in Connecticut. The company sells window blinds, or something. Their slogan is, “Come in and find out why we are NOT the cheapest!”
I like that. It’s the opposite approach to advertising from this terrible advertisement here.
This reminded me of another cool initiative by Marotta Dental Studio, a dental lab here in New York. In a local newspaper article, they stated their case for not being the cheapest lab on the planet. On the contrary, they’re trying to educate patients why it’s important to invest time and money in higher quality dental work. I love it!
I think this should be our approach to advertising. Let’s raise the bar for our profession and educate the public about our high standards of care. Many ads I’ve seen degrade our profession and get into a bidding war with each other.
Look at this one:
$395 for an implant? Really???
I’m not making a statement about the quality of the work at that office. I know nothing about them. Maybe they’re excellent. But I think that their advertisement hurts our profession.
Yes, dentistry should be affordable. We shouldn’t raise our fees into the stratosphere. My point is that we shouldn’t advertise to the public like we’re some bargain basement outfit.
Here’s a fun experiment. Type “cheap dentist” into Google and look at the paid ads on the top of the page. There’s a good chance those practices listed actually use the word “cheap” in their keywords; they want to be known as a cheap office. I think that’s the wrong approach.
For more information on responsible advertising, ADA member dentists can access a free copy of Advertising Basics for Dentists at this link here.
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