Dental Marketing According to Bill Mitchell

Talking to Bill Mitchell, owner of Dentist Identity, it’s difficult to keep puns from popping into your mind. Such opening lines as “When it comes to marketing, Bill Mitchell is a good sport” or “Bill Mitchell is a marketing expert who knows the score” are inevitable. Why? Maybe it’s because many years ago, Mitchell got his start in marketing by selling electronic displays for universities and sports teams. In fact, one of Mitchell’s earliest Web sites was designed for irrepressible college football coach Lou Holtz. But more likely, it’s because Mitchell presents himself as a likable, affable fellow who really enjoys what he does best: marketing.

“I really started off in marketing in the 1980s, selling electronic displays and scoreboards, and then selling sponsorships for the scoreboards to universities and even NASCAR,” Mitchell recalls. “Then in the ’90s, I got into Internet marketing and Web site design, building and sponsoring out Coach Holtz’ Web site, as well as the sports Web site for the University of South Carolina.”

Mitchell’s interest in the Internet was spawned by advice from his mentor, renowned productivity expert Denis Waitley, who prophetically told him when it came to marketing, “If you’re not online, you’ll be in the bread line.”

The switch to medical marketing came soon after, when a marketing group from Nashville approached Mitchell about designing a series of Web sites for dentists—a professional area the marketing company said was largely underserved on the World Wide Web. That project fell through, but Mitchell’s interest was piqued.

“When I researched and did my due diligence, I found out that what they said was true—it was an underserved and fragmented market,” Mitchell said. “One of the keys for me when I look at a field is to see who the leaders are. When I looked into dental marketing, I really felt like our company could become a leader in the field. From that time on, that’s what we’ve done.”

For Mitchell and the staff at Dentist Identity, becoming a leader in the field of Internet marketing has meant offering comprehensive Web design and implementation services at an affordable price—or as Mitchell puts it, “a complete site for less than the cost of a crown.”

To compete with the plethora of marketing companies offering site design and implementation, Mitchell’s company uses a proprietary system developed over a period of eight years to create unique sites for each and every client, rather than relying on predesigned templates.

“When we create a Web site, the brand we create for the dentist is unique,” Mitchell said. “You won’t see the same site elsewhere on the Web. We don’t use templates for any of our clients.

“Our proprietary platform is totally scalable for any size Web site or application, and it’s written in international code standards, allowing us to integrate any new type of service that comes along,” Mitchell added. “For example, today, social media is becoming increasingly popular. We can integrate any of our sites with Facebook or Twitter, enabling an added dimension of functionality for our clients.”

Another popular option for today’s dental professionals: adding video to their Web sites.

“Our clients can make a video using a simple flip camera, then upload the video to their YouTube channel and drop it right into their Web page without even calling us,” Mitchell said.

By using their own system to create client Web sites, Mitchell said customization and even troubleshooting are made simpler.

“All of our code is clean, making it easy for search engines to find the sites we create,” he notes. “Not only are our sites optimized for search engines but they are also properly coded, making it easier for search engines to navigate. Offering this type of custom site at our price point is a distinct advantage our company has over many other Web marketing companies today.”

Dentist Identity also shows dental professionals how to use analytic tools to determine which areas of their sites garner the most visits and keep potential patients engaged the longest.

“By carefully using Web analytics, we can identify which areas of the site are working and which need additional attention to ensure optimum performance,” Mitchell says. “Instead of simply getting a Web site and then hoping that it’s working properly, our doctors can actually see the traffic that is being driven to their sites and get a real feel for the performance of their Web sites.”

While complete Web sites are one of the most popular options selected by clients coming to Dentist Identity for the first time, some clients choose to start small and build over time, a process that Mitchell says is made even easier thanks to his company’s proprietary platform.

“We can design a solution specifically for each client’s needs,” Mitchell says. “I like to compare creating a site to treating a patient with a broken tooth: the type of treatment you choose is going to depend on the patient’s age, health and other factors. It’s the same when you’re designing a Web site. The type of site you design will depend on what the dentist wants, as well as the market that the dentist is serving.

“Most of the time, a patient needs a crown; likewise, most of the time, a dentist needs a site with full services,” Mitchell adds. “But we give them the ability to start off with something simple, like a brochure-based site, and then evolve over time by adding other features and options.”

In addition to a broad range of SEO-enriched Web site design services, Mitchell says his company prides itself on an intangible product that many companies today overlook in their quest to churn out more and more Web sites: stellar customer service.

“We offer one-on-one customer support, and the support staff devotes a huge amount of time to ensure our customers are happy,” Mitchell says. “That commitment to our clients is truly one of the primary factors that put us ahead of many marketing companies, in my opinion.”

Like other marketing experts, Mitchell has watched many of his clients deal with the recent economic downturn in different ways. But while the economy has presented dentists with many challenges, Mitchell also sees a lot of opportunity for positive growth.

“The natural reaction for most businesses in a time of economic uncertainty is to contract,” Mitchell notes. “Many dentists feel this phenomenon when some patients choose to put off elective treatments.

“Elite performers in any field understand that every attempt should be made to keep their brand out in the public eye,” he adds. “Those practices that have followed this paradigm have reaped huge rewards in the last year, and these decisions to build branding will continue to reap huge rewards in the near future.”

Complete information about Dentist Identity’s products, including its $799 complete video-enhanced Web site package, is available at www.dentistidentity.com.