52: An Operations-First Approach to Marketing Your Dental Practice—with Ryan Gross

What is the best approach to reaching capacity at your dental practice?We tend to equate ad spend with results, but the worst thing you can do is spend a lot of money on marketing when your systems are not set up to handle the leads that are coming in.So, how do you find the right balance between operational efficiency and marketing?Marketing Expert Ryan Gross is the founder of CMOShare, a data-driven dental marketing and consulting agency based in Lincoln, Nebraska. Ryan has more than 15 years of experience in marketing, brand management, communications and sales in the attraction industry and the dental space.On this episode of The Dental Boardroom Podcast, Ryan joins host Drew Phillips to discuss CMOShare’s unique, operations-first approach to dental marketing.Ryan explains why it’s crucial to optimize inbound call answer rates before you put money into marketing and challenges dental practices to track their phone and online conversions.Listen in for Ryan’s insight on determining the right ad spend to reach your patient acquisition goals and learn how to find a marketing company that’s the right fit for your dental practice.Topics Covered[0:52] Ryan’s background in marketing and how he got into the dental space[2:00] What the client evaluation process looks like at CMOShare[4:11] How Ryan’s team analyzes data to determine inbound call answer rates[8:14] Why it’s crucial to optimize answer rates before you put money into marketing[12:11] Why your answer rate might be below Ryan’s recommended goal of 85%[14:36] What to do if your conversion rate is lower than average[19:24] Conversion rates for insurance-based vs. fee-for-service dental practices[21:05] Ryan’s advice on tracking and retargeting big-ticket dental services[24:02] How to set up conversion tracking on your website[28:08] The importance of making sure online scheduling is set up properly[31:18] How urging existing patients to schedule online frees up time for new patients[33:29] Ensuring your site is built to facilitate the highest conversion rate possible[39:12] The 3 components of a website set up to convert new patients[42:29] How Ryan thinks about using tech tools to capture leads on big-ticket services[44:06] How CMOShare builds out a focused ad campaign and measures its success[49:19] Why increasing your ad spend doesn’t necessarily lead to better results[51:36] How Ryan’s team determines the ad spend you need to reach your goals[53:06] Ryan’s advice on setting realistic new patient goals to reach capacity[56:45] What to look at when your new patient growth stalls[58:49] How to interview a marketing company for fit with your dental practiceConnect with Ryan GrossCMOShareConnect with Wes Read, Matt Odgers & Drew PhillipsPractice OrbitEmail [email protected], [email protected] or [email protected] CFOPractice CFO on InstagramPractice CFO on FacebookPractice CFO on YouTubeResources Mango VoiceActiveCampaignPatient PrismCareCreditSmile Virtual