Orthotown JanuaryFebruary 2025 - 43

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F
irst, let's be clear-you're no
dummy. After all, you subscribe
to Orthotown, a network of
highly skilled professionals
with impressive credentials to their
names. Whatever those credentials
are-DDS, MS, Captain of BS-I want
you to add one more to that right
now. I hereby deputize you " part-time
marketing director. " Th en, emphasize
to your team the importance of
their roles in representing the
practice. Marketing is not limited
to a department. Everyone in the
company plays a part in creating a
positive impression and building the
brand.
Your fi rst task as marketing director
is to identify your competition. I'll
help: your biggest competitor is not
the other orthodontist in town or the
local GP dabbling in Invisalign-it's
indiff erence. Many of your prospective
clients see doing nothing as the
safest choice. Th is is rarely true, and
it is your job to dispel that myth. To
do this eff ectively, you need to fi gure
out what your prospect really wants,
learn to speak their language (not
your jargon) and market your solutions
to their problems like a shark!
If a shark stops moving, it stops
breathing and dies. Th is aligns with
the fi rst rule of thermodynamics:
objects in motion tend to stay in
motion. Meanwhile, those who stop
tend to get stuck. So, market like a
shark-get moving now and never stop!
If you ain't fi rst ...
Most people know the fi rst person
to fl y around the world was Charles
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Lindbergh. While they might have
no clue who the second person was,
they instantly recognize the name
of the third-Amelia Earhart. Why?
Because she was the fi rst woman. Th e
lesson here: if you can't be fi rst in your
market, create a new category where
you can be the fi rst. Or simply be the
fi rst in the mind of the consumer-like
Coca-Cola!
In the mid-80s, New Coke was
expected to be a huge success after
beating Pepsi in taste tests, but it
failed to sell in stores. Pepsi responded
with similar taste tests and soundly
beat " Old Coke, " yet remained No. 2 in
the market. Coca-Cola Classic, despite
being the least preferred in blind taste
tests, remains the market leader. How
is that possible? Marketing!
Now that you're all fi red up as a
newly deputized marketing director,
you're chomping at the bit to get
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2025 | 43 | ORTHOTOWN.COM
started, but might not know where to
begin. Th e answer, of course, is at the
beginning. Picture a target like the
one above. What are you aiming for?
Th e dead center, right? Wouldn't it
make sense to take your time aiming
carefully before you fi re away? Trick
question-the answer is no. Instead,
follow the bull's-eye strategy outlined
in " Traction: How Any Startup Can
Achieve Explosive Customer Growth "
by Gabriel Weinberg and Justin Mares.
The bull's-eye strategy
Aim at one of the many tried-and-true
marketing channels in the outer ring
fi rst. Do this a few times, then start
brainstorming a few ideas for each
channel you hit upon. You'll probably
come up with lots of ideas (mostly bad
ones), and that's OK. Move the suspected
good ideas to the middle ring
for testing. You'll quickly notice what
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