practice marketing
DIY
vs.
Outsourced
Marketing
What’s the right fit for your practice?
If you want more patients and higher production, you need an
effective marketing plan. But hiring a marketing agency can be
an expensive investment. So, how do you know if it’s worth the
money to hire a professional marketing company versus trying
to “do-it-yourself” (DIY)?
DIY vs. Outsourced Marketing
DIY marketing is where you plan and run your marketing
campaign in-house. The entire campaign is self-directed and
self-staffed. This requires the in-house marketing team to have
a working knowledge of planning and how to use the different
marketing and advertising platforms (like Facebook, Bing and
Google). And you should have a process to analyze and track
results so you know what is working. DIY marketing keeps the
practice in full control of their brand message and can result in
lower management expenses.
Outsourced Marketing is marketing that is directed, managed
and implemented by an external team. The practice utilizes the
collective expertise of the agency to accomplish its marketing
objectives. Because agencies can leverage a team to complete
tasks, turnaround on strategies is faster.
labor stack
‘lā·bər/stak/
noun.
Team approach to accomplishing a complex task in a short
time. A team of five experts is more than 500% faster than
a single individual working on the same task.
Which marketing is right for you?
DIY Marketing is suitable for practices with simple marketing
goals in small markets with low competition. This means there
32 NORTH TEXAS DENTISTRY | www.northtexasdentistry.com
by Marc Fowler
are few dentists per capita or few marketing practices per
capita. DIY marketing may also work for established practices
with a stable patient base who only need replacement growth.
And because of budget constraints, DIY marketing may be the
only option for a startup practices that have very little money
to invest in marketing.
The do-it-yourself approach works best when there is one team
member who can be dedicated to your marketing plan. Or when
the dentist enjoys marketing and spending off hours on
marketing-related activities. (Some do!)
In many of these cases, these practices will make do with an
up-to-date website, an occasional direct mail campaign,
watching their reviews online and maintaining local
relationships like the Chamber of Commerce. We’ve even
recommended this approach to some practices who contacted
us with questions about what marketing approach is right
for them.
What do I need for DIY Marketing?
For any marketing, a well designed, mobile-ready website and
a basic reputation plan is a must. You should also have a basic
Facebook page for your practice.
It is not recommended that you DIY your website, hosting or
the technical SEO optimization. Your website is your virtual
front door and the first impression that most prospective
patients have of your practice. A good website is an excellent
investment because it is the functional centroid of all marketing.
It is best to leave this to expert developers.
It is also important to manage your reputation online, claim and
optimize your Google Business and Yelp listings. Make sure the