Episode 747: Creating A Raving Fan Patient

Tiff and Dana talk about creating an ideal patient avatar to help boost your marketing efforts and payouts. They discuss the following steps:

1. Figure out what your ideal practice procedures are.

2. Gather the demographics of people in your practice’s surrounding area.

3. Build out an ideal patient and give them a name.

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Transcript:

Tiffanie (00:01.631)

Oh hey Dana, how are you today?

 

Dana (00:04.657)

Good, how are you?

 

Tiffanie (00:06.367)

I'm good. I'm so excited to record with you. I feel like I have not podcasted with you in a hot minute. And it makes me sad, but it makes me excited for today. So thank you for being here with me.

 

Dana (00:19.594)

Yeah, thanks for having me on. I always am excited for these times with you.

 

Tiffanie (00:24.055)

I agree. I agree. They're fun. And now they're by face. Like, Britt and I talk about that every time. Like, I, you're like, I don't know, an hour and 45 minutes from me, maybe. And I never see you and it makes me sad. But we're so busy. Like, you've got a whole farm of kids and animals over there. FYI, everyone, Dina has the most fun life, from the outside perspective, at least. I'm sure some days she agrees with me, some days, maybe not so much.

 

But I love watching it. And then, you know, I'm just like in my own little world up here in Phoenix. Sometimes I'm home, most of the time I'm not. But I need to know, I am dying to hear how this pack rat mouse that you've taken on that I think the whole world needs to know about, how is, is it a he or she, first of all?

 

Dana (01:19.97)

pretty sure it's a boy. And I'll just say like, super proud of my daughter that she has such a kind heart. Now it gets me in these adventures though, that are interesting to say the least. So for those of you aren't aware, which not many people are right, but in team is my daughter found a an abandoned baby pack rat, we're pretty sure it was going to be a road runner's lunch and he lost track of it on our back porch.

 

Tiffanie (01:21.781)

Okay.

 

Tiffanie (01:39.267)

Yeah.

 

Tiffanie (01:48.939)

Oh

 

Dana (01:51.126)

So my daughter found it and could not bear to just leave it outside. So we have been dropper feeding a baby pack rat that needs to be fed like every two to three hours. Yes. And initially my husband was like, no, just let her try. Like it's not going to survive. This thing is thriving. Like not just surviving.

 

Tiffanie (01:56.32)

Obviously.

 

Tiffanie (02:06.643)

Like a baby. Literally, like a baby with a bottle.

 

Tiffanie (02:19.632)

I'm sorry.

 

Dana (02:20.511)

This thing is thriving in my house and... Yes.

 

Tiffanie (02:24.723)

He's living his best life. So it's still so small then because I'm like there's an easy way to know if it's a male or female but it sounds like if you're still dropper feeding it it's still too small to know male or female.

 

Dana (02:36.006)

It is still small, but I guess things that I've learned that I never thought I would have to learn is that pack rats like fully mature and are on their own after about 20 days. So like it is still very small, but they like take care of themselves very quickly. And so I'm counting down the days. We're on day I think eight and it was probably about

 

Tiffanie (02:40.507)

I'm sorry.

 

Tiffanie (02:56.484)

Good.

 

Dana (03:04.11)

eight-ish days old when we found it because of the type of hair that has rinsed. It's amazing how like you can google those like finite facts. So it should be off on its own adventure here soon.

 

Tiffanie (03:05.387)

Yeah, give or take, we're guessing, guesstimating.

 

Tiffanie (03:12.774)

Ha ha ha!

 

Tiffanie (03:18.735)

gosh. Oh my gosh. I told you guys a whole slew of uh fun farm things happening over there um in Dana's world. I love that and as a lover of animals and like I had rats and mice and lizards and snakes and all of those things when I was little. So, my heart is with your daughters and your whole family. It's like you guys have all taken this on but I would have done the same freaking thing. I don't know how many birds I thought I saved. You know, growing up that truly they probably died but

 

Dana (03:45.282)

Yeah.

 

Tiffanie (03:48.175)

That's awesome. I'm so excited. So I felt like everybody needed to know the pack rat story. Thank you for sharing. Get us kicked off on the right foot there. Today, Dana, you do really, really well. You do an incredible job of breaking things down in a way that people and practices can utilize the information and go do it. And so today, I thought it would be really cool to have you help us break down creating an ideal patient.

 

avatar. So we've been talking a lot about marketing this month. And the reason that the ideal patient and the avatar is so important is because you want to make sure that you're attracting the patient that's going to get your practice to where you're trying to go. Now there's

 

I don't remember what number it is or where you'll find it, but there is a podcast where Danae mentions making sure that you know your vision so that you know where your marketing is going. Part of that piece I thought I'd bring Danae in on is really knowing the vision of your ideal patient and how to dial that in. Again, because Danae, I think you really do well at breaking things down so that people can implement that.

 

that piece and go do it. So what do you feel like is key to really figuring out what their ideal patient is, that avatar? How do you walk your practices? Because I know you do this all the time as well.

 

when a lot of your practices are looking for the hiring avatar, right, and you break down a hiring avatar constantly. And this is very similar. And I know you break down marketing for a lot of your practices too, in creating the ideal patient. And you've been working a ton with that. So what do you typically have your practices do when they're breaking down this ideal patient?

 

Dana (05:32.13)

sure. I think the first thing I do is really explained. I want you oftentimes our offices struggle or where they maybe don't hit the mark as hard as we'd like them to is they don't know how far to break it down. And I mean, I want to know where this person shops where they spend their free time, what they do for a job, you can even name them, right? I want it so detailed, right, that I know exactly where I'm going to find that person what that person likes, what their interests are, what maybe they'd come to my office for.

 

Tiffanie (05:45.323)

Yeah.

 

Tiffanie (05:51.643)

Correct.

 

Dana (06:01.438)

all those things. And I think knowing that, like you said, right, then we can really target those in our marketing. And so I think the very first thing is just explaining how in depth and how far I want you to think about when you are creating this.

 

Tiffanie (06:08.803)

Yeah.

 

Tiffanie (06:16.361)

Mm-hmm.

 

I love that. A word that I just picked up on that I love you said target and that was huge because that's not a word that we use all the time. Like we're working we're calling it your ideal patient but like target then your brain automatically goes into marketing mode because we have targeted ads. So you guys, that's what a targeted ad is targeted ad narrows down all of those different pieces of your ideal patient. So if you already have this avatar built, and we do name them

 

I love naming them because then it's a real person you can manifest it, you can imagine it, you can see it, like you've talked to this person in your mind and you're creating it and the universe is like, here's all these people that match that exact person that you're that you're wanting. But that's how you create those targeted marketing ads. And that's huge because now we're creating our targeted patient. So I love that you use that word. So we want to name him or her.

 

Here's the deal, guys. I don't suggest naming him or her until you know who they are, because a Beverly and a Dana, very different people. Dana, if your name was Beverly, I would be like, that's really weird. It doesn't really fit her.

 

Dana (07:24.374)

Feels very different. Mm-hmm.

 

Tiffanie (07:31.363)

but you are a Dana, right? So don't name it until, don't name this person until you've created the person. So I think let's run through some of those key pieces. So you said, like, who are they, right? So who are they? Where are they shopping?

 

Dana (07:33.186)

Yeah. Yep.

 

Tiffanie (07:47.863)

right? Are they lululemon shoppers or are they Target? Are they Walmart? Like what's your avatar based on? Where are you trying to go with your practice? Also you guys, before we build this out, start thinking of the types of services you want to do more of because if you're trying to do more

 

cosmetic cases, you want to be a cosmetic dentist, you're probably not going to go after the patients who are bargain shopping at dollar stores or and you may they may be out there that's how you know we save money I definitely shop at those stores but you're not going to target necessarily that they may be shopping there but my marketing is not going to be geared towards a store like that. So make sure you know

 

the vision of where you want your practice to go and what types of procedures you're going to be providing or wanting to do more of. I have practices, I actually have a practice that I've been working really closely with on their marketing. He's been wanting to ramp up his implants. He's like, I love, you know, bread and butter is totally cool, but I'm really enjoying implants. I said, great, we need to target patients who need implants then.

 

So we changed the marketing to target that avatar because the previous avatar has worked. Well, now we have a new avatar. So guess what, guys? Your avatar will grow and change. What works today to get you to a certain point may not work to get you to the next level. So now we've got his marketing dialed in to target implants. So we had to build out, well, who needs an implant? Where are they shopping? So who are they? Where are they shopping?

 

Dana (09:10.826)

Yeah, absolutely.

 

Tiffanie (09:28.883)

What hobbies do they have? What are they doing on the weekends or after work or what shows are they watching? Are they into fitness? Are they fitness fanatics? Are they health conscious? Are they eating well? What's their diet like? Where do they eat out? If they do eat out, do they travel? Who is this person?

 

Dana (09:50.11)

Yeah. I wouldn't even say to like, what do they do for a job? Right? Are they very business, right? Because and I think like targeting that versus targeting somebody that does like freelancers super creative or has a job that is something like that. I mean, even thinking about what do they do every day for employment to their age, right? Are we targeting males versus females? Maybe we're not. And that's okay. But if we are, I think knowing that always helps. How old are they?

 

Tiffanie (09:54.796)

Yes.

 

Tiffanie (10:17.707)

Yeah. Well, and I think, and I think I love that I love the age. And you just have like the demographics, those specific demographics are huge, you guys, are you in a community that's full of families? So are you targeting whomever is the main home parent, right? Are you targeting the stay at home dads, the stay at home moms, this, you know, or the working moms and dads who are commuting the kids to school? Like, what does your community look like?

 

so that you know. So I think step one in our action items here are really going to be to dial in what it is that you want your practice to look like. So what procedures do you want to do in your practice and then who wants those procedures?

 

Dana (11:03.766)

Yeah, I totally agree. I think knowing the dentistry first, right? First of all, we have to know what our dentistry, what we want our dentistry to be before we can even think about what type of patient might want it or utilize it.

 

Tiffanie (11:07.064)

Yeah.

 

Tiffanie (11:15.275)

Yeah, I totally agree. I totally agree because my practice when I was in office was in a retirement community. So if you asked me to build my perfect avatar, my perfect patient, it's going to be somebody who's fun, vivacious, traveling, hikes, like they're going to be somebody I would want to hang out with.

 

But knowing my community, knowing what's available, if I wanna see five patients a day, my avatar is perfect. But if I'm trying to fill a day and meet goals, my avatar is not meeting what my practice needs. So your avatar is gonna be somebody that you would wanna hang out with and talk to, but somebody who meets the practice's needs. So knowing first, like we said, the dental procedures, what is it that you're there to provide your community,

 

Dana (11:44.451)

Yeah.

 

Tiffanie (12:02.957)

community, what's the demographics around you, so that you can then build off of those parameters, because those two are your limiting factors. What do you want to do in your practice? And then what's your, what are your practice demographics, the surrounding area? Those are your limiting factors. Then go through, well, okay, based on these two things, the type of person that I want to attract that also fits those needs, does this hobby, has this job?

 

this kind of income range, right? That's huge because if you're looking to do large cases, cosmetic cases, all-on-four cases, things like that, you're gonna want that income range to be sufficient to meet those needs and qualifications. So I think, and Dana maybe, maybe think if you've got another action item added in, but I think first step, first action item, figure out what procedures you like doing and what you want your practice procedures to be.

 

Step two, figure out your practice location, the demographics of the surrounding area. Who are you able to attract? What are their demographics? And then three, build out that actual person and that avatar, all those pieces we talked about. And if you want to name the person, then name the person. You can have a male and a female version or whatever you wanna call them. You can have all of those pieces. So what procedures, what do you want your practice to look like?

 

What's your practice demographics, the surrounding area, and then build out that beautiful avatar, who that person is. Dana, is there anything you feel like I missed in those action items on building that out? Awesome, awesome. Dana, thank you so much. I knew you'd have some awesome insight. I know you do this with your practices all the time, as do all of us. And you guys, pro tip, we love pro tips. You can do the same thing, this avatar build out.

 

Dana (13:37.415)

No, I think you nailed it.

 

Tiffanie (13:52.991)

Obviously, you don't need the procedures and the demographic potentially, but you could build out this avatar utilizing the same things that we just told you for your hiring avatar as well. Who do you want working in your practice? What type of person are they? How do they present themselves? What do they look like? How do they sound? How do they speak? All of those things. That's how you speak to your hiring ads. That's how you speak to the person you want to hire. Take it and just smash them both together. We just gave you a whole bunch of information to get both.

 

of those things correct. So go do the things you guys. I'm super stoked to hear how this goes for you. Please let us know. We tell you all the time reach out at hello at thedentalateam.com. We're happy to help you. If you need tidbits from this podcast or if you need help deciphering things, please reach out. We are on the other side of that. Oftentimes you do get transferred over to a consultant. If the team can't help answer the questions, we all have dental backgrounds of some sort on our team.

 

consultant or not. So reach out and then as always, if you love this podcast, tell us how much you loved it drop us a five star review. We want to hear how helpful and beneficial this information was for you Dana. Thank you so much for being here with me today and helping me work that out. And you guys will catch you on next time on the podcast.