A couple of recent marketing surveys bring to mind a crucial missing piece in the marketing plans of many dental specialists. The first survey, conducted by Sagefrog Marketing Group, found that 68% of business-to-business (B2B) companies allocate 5% or less of their revenue to marketing.

Electronic newsletters are timely, inexpensive to send and easy to track. But e-mail newsletters abound, and chances are the recipient of your electronic dental newsletter is being bombarded with others. As a dental specialist marketing your practice, how do you make your e-mail newsletter stand out from the others? How do you put it in the in-boxes of people reluctant to subscribe to yet another newsletter? Here are five steps to help accomplish your goal:

Print will never be dead, but marketers are increasingly using the Internet to market their practices. This includes not only Web sites, YouTube and social media but also electronic newsletters. The following are eight reasons you should consider sending an electronic dental newsletter:

Sending a dental newsletter is a long-term investment. Your first issue may not bring in a slew of new patients, but sent on a regular basis, a newsletter keeps your dental specialty practice top-of-mind with your referring dentists and physicians. Still, with the right strategies, you may find some fast results from your newsletter marketing efforts. For quick results from your newsletter, keep these three points in mind:

As our reliance on computers has increased over the last two decades, many people have talked of an eventual paperless society, where people rely exclusively on digital communication. True, a Web site should be an important part of your dental marketing plan, and you may engage your patients with e-mail or social media. But the power of paper lives, too. Print media is easier to read, more visible and more environmentally friendly than you might think.

Trust is the cornerstone of your dental specialty practice. Patients return to you because they trust your expertise and your treatments. But building trust with patients starts long before they call your practice for an appointment. Here are three ways to build trust among people before they come into your dental office.

Maintaining a steady flow of referrals to your dental specialty practice means keeping in touch with your referral sources. Every time you pick up the phone or stop by unannounced, do you wonder whether you are being annoying? Your referral sources have busy schedules, but maintaining relationships with them is crucial to the success of your practice. Here are four points to consider as you keep in touch with your referral sources.

Increasing the flow of new patients is critical to the success of your dental practice. Most endodontists, periodontists and other dental specialists agree that referrals from other dentists and physicians represent the single most significant source of new patients.

Endodontists around the country tell us that dentists are making fewer referrals than ever before. Too often, the only cases referred are either very difficult to treat or ones that have “gone wrong.”

Having a complete list of every dentist and physician who could make patient referrals is essential if you want to grow your dental specialty practice.