In our time working with dental implant practices, we often encountered a huge misconception causing many dentists to fail to reach their goals. It has to do with their overall strategy, but even more importantly, their approach to strategizing itself.

Most would agree that success in any endeavor requires taking time to map out one’s vision and goals, and how to achieve them. Whether it’s a new sport, a musical instrument, or even something like a career, the top performers reverse-engineer their success so that it becomes all but guaranteed.

However, we see very few dentists apply this same kind of thinking to their implant marketing strategy. Many of them think that their strategy can be outsourced, or that it’s a “set it and forget it” kind of thing. While many tasks can be outsourced, your overall strategy cannot. Becoming a successful implant practice in a short amount of time requires planning on the front end and involvement during the execution.

The dentists who refuse to map out their vision, collaborate, plan, and execute in this manner will attract fewer implant patients and take far longer to become profitable. Worse yet, they’ll waste time and money during a critical period for their practice.

Here’s a quick guide to developing a robust and strategic implant marketing strategy:

1. Take time to map out your vision and goals.

First, take a massive step back and consider your practice’s overall vision and goals. If you’ve never taken the time to do this, then now’s the time. This often requires taking time away from the office on a vision retreat or staycation to decide on the details.

Most dentists begin their practice because they believe it will enable them to live the lifestyle of their dreams, and beginning to offer implants is an important step on that journey. So, take the time to imagine the lifestyle and dental practice of your dreams. Nobody else can do this for you, because nobody has the same exact life experience and personality.

What do you want your dental implant practice to look like? How many cases do you want to treat per month? How much of your overall time do you want to spend doing implants? And how much revenue do you want to generate?

Develop answers to these questions before making any other moves.

2. Get your team involved and make a plan.

As a leader, you provide the overall vision and mission. But you also listen to the people on your team. They can see what you don’t see, and they all bring their own desires to the table. Your team members will buy into your vision when they see it overlap with their own story. And they will be able to help you fine-tune everything in your plan.

They might even have skills in traditional and digital marketing that you don’t possess. So, bring them along for the planning process.

As far as how to plan, remember the principle of reverse-engineering and begin with the end in mind. You’ve taken the time to develop the destination, so chart out the logical steps to the journey. This is where many dentists decide to bring in a marketing agency to help them fill in the gaps.

Make a list of the steps you need to take to fulfill the vision. Decide on the marketing campaigns to run, the people you might need to add to your team, and the scripts to use during phone and consultation time.

3. Prepare for a prolonged effort.

As mentioned before, it takes time and energy to make your implant wing profitable. Most of the dentists we work with report waiting anywhere from 3-6 months after adding a new high-value procedure to become profitable.

During this time, consistent effort and involvement are required on the part of you and your team. You have to bring your A-game to each marketing campaign, consultation, and procedure. Don’t buy into the lie that success will come quickly, but also don’t get discouraged – success is coming, especially because you’ve taken the time to map out the vision and collaborate.

And remember, you don’t have to be alone for the journey. At Driven Dental, we emphasize bringing implant patients to you, not mere leads. We specialize in the planning and execution phase of your vision. If you’re interested in learning more or want an expert sounding board for your vision, book a free strategy call with us today. We’ll even give you free coaching on how to have better consultations, and the landscape of the digital marketing world for dentists.