The use of video content on the internet remains the fastest growing on-line trend – a position it has held now for four years and this trend is only going to accelerate further as the internet speeds improve and data allowances increase. In short the world is getting addicted to receiving much of the information it seeks via video content.

This is a good thing for those within the dental profession who embrace creating great video content – why? Because good video content will connect you with a viewer in a way that is professional, projecting the personality of your practice and your skill sets. Good video content is about the aspects of the profession we are proud of and the things we all know the public really want: skill, caring, listening, trust, empathy and outcome – not two for the price of one crown!

Due to the current highly competitive nature of the dental sector, we are starting to see all sorts of advertising methods and messages that are abhorrent to most of us. Practices are competing solely on price, as they have no other way to distinguish their service. This is not only bad for the profession, but it is bad for the public as often the services they are attracted to through price driven advertising do not provide the most appropriate service for their needs.

This race to the bottom is not been driven by public demand for lower priced services; it is been driven by dental practices that do not understand how to attract patients in any other way. AND we can’t blame the patient, as we all shop on price when we do not fully understand a subject matter.
When we take our cars in to be serviced it is easy to ask about the price, but how many of us ask: “Are you using genuine parts? What brand of oil are you using? What is the life expectancy of the parts you are recommending and do they affect the warranty?” Some of us will ask these questions, just like some of your patients have high dental IQ, but vast majority don’t, which does not make them bad patients – it just makes them normal.

So, how can you combat this onslaught of low rent advertising? The best way is with quality messages that get potential patients thinking about what is really important to them – and video is one of the best methods of communicating these messages.

As video content is becoming more widespread and popular, the gap between the effectiveness of marketing with and without video content increases and this gap is widening daily. If you do a simple Google search about the effectiveness of video content you will find an array of staggering figures from very well researched surveys, but closer to home I can confirm that good video content on Australian dental websites doubles the conversation rate from ‘Viewer to Contact’ and produces an 80% uplift in click through rate (CTR) when used in conjunction with Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising such as Google Ad Words products and Facebook advertising.

Like all good on-line marketing methods, video content should be fully integrated into your overall online presence as this both makes it more effective in attracting new patients, as well as more
cost effective as you can re-purpose your video content across multiple platforms.

The cost of producing great video content has come down in recent years as the costs of digital equipment has become more affordable – but creating great video still takes superb scripting, filming, lighting and days in an editing suite, so you still require a budget to get an excellent end product. However the costs are well within the reach of just about every dental practice and if you are already spending money on on-line marketing, the increase in response rates that video produces means it can be paying divided very quickly.

For examples of videos produced by IDM, visit our YouTube channel. And if you have any questions or would like to discuss your video needs contact me on 02 9211 1477 or carl@idm.com.au