How to use videos to grow your practice

Aug 24, 2009

Editor's note: Richard Geller's column, Marketing Madness, appears regularly on the DrBicuspid.com advice and opinion page, Second Opinion.

Video can be a key ingredient to higher case acceptance and more new patients.

A picture is worth a thousand words, and moving pictures are worth maybe 10,000.

But we're not talking about expensive videos here.

The secret of good video isn't spending money on production values. Take a look at YouTube and you will see some videos with very cheap production that have been viewed by millions of people.

So production costs have little to do with the success or failure of a video.

What video does do better than any medium is to persuade people on an emotional level. It is all about emotion and not a bit about the mind or intellect. And persuading the emotional side is not a matter of money.

All you accomplish with spending money is a video you will like, but that will fail to persuade. Why? Because it comes across as slick rather than authentic.

What you want to do is use video to come across as real, genuine, and sincere. That is the emotional appeal of video that will make you a lot of money.

Here's how to get into the game: Simply buy a Flip Video camera from Amazon. I would go with the HD version. Keep it in your pocket, whip it out at all hours of the day and night, and just shoot video. Narrate as you shoot.

The Flip Video camera is the easiest camera to use, and it is very easy to upload the videos to YouTube (or wherever) because there is no tape, just a button you press for "on" and one you press for "off" and that's about it.

Doing an exam and find yourself explaining something about recurrent decay? Whip out the Flip Video camera and shoot some video while you talk.

Then plug the camera into your computer USB port and upload it to YouTube or whatever site you prefer. You'll get a unique Web address for your video that you can paste into an e-mail. No need to edit or do anything fancy.

Most case acceptance occurs at home, away from your office. So now you can e-mail the video and your patient will get home, watch it, show it to her husband, and, chances are, make an appointment for those crowns or placing those implants.

I'll discuss other uses of video in other articles, but for now, I hope I've sparked your interest.

And for more tips and help, go to Cases4Dentists.com and snag my free $60 book on case acceptance and dental marketing, the underground classic now in its third edition.

The comments and observations expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the opinions of DrBicuspid.com, nor should they be construed as an endorsement or admonishment of any particular idea, vendor, or organization.