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This is the first in a series of posts on the new Facebook Live.

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Facebook is always trying to stay on top of the social media mountain and blast away the competition.

They do this in a couple of ways.

1. They buy their strongest competitors. You saw them do this with Instagram, and they tried to do it with Snapchat.
2. They optimize by taking their competitors’ best features and integrating them into Facebook’s platform.

The second point is what we’re talking about today. They have rolled out Facebook Live Video, a tool you can now use to promote your practice on Facebook using live broadcasts.

Facebook Live is very similar to a platform called Periscope, which Twitter owns.

Periscope allows users to broadcast live video from their smartphones to followers who are all over the world.

Periscope blew up when it launched (in a good way). Facebook said, “Hey. That looks cool. We can integrate the live video thing into what we’ve already built with our 1.5 billion users. Let’s do it.”

Now they have this Facebook Live integration. This is a game-changing piece of technology that has massive implications for you as you work to reach new patients online.

Let’s talk about the five things you need to know about Facebook Live as you start to think about how you can best utilize this for your practice.

 

1. You can broadcast directly from your office Facebook account

You don’t have to download complicated software. No need for separate logins. There’s nothing complicated about this. This is a feature that is on your practice Facebook account right now.

There are a few good tutorials online if you want to Google how to use Facebook. I’m putting one together to send you as well.

Just know that the learning curve is small, and it literally takes about 5 minutes to learn. The technology very easy and streamlined.

 

2. Facebook will alert all your followers that you’re live.

This part is huuuuuuuge. (cue a Trump joke)

You may remember that 5-6 years ago when you posted on Facebook, 20, 30, maybe 40 percent of your followers would see it. And now it’s down to maybe 2, 3 percent.

That’s because Facebook wants you to pay for exposure to your audience. (Side note: this isn’t the end of the world, nor is it any different than any other media you’ve ever used to market your practice. So don’t complain about it. It’s business.)

One of the best parts about the Live Video is that Facebook is so hyped on it, they are giving it an extra boost for you.

So when you go live, Facebook is alerting all of your followers with a notification: “Hey, Dr. Jones is live in his office right now.'” It’s giving you that added exposure boost that you don’t get with any other posting formats on Facebook, and it’s happening without extra ad spend.

 

3. You don’t have to be in the office to broadcast.

Now this may seem obvious, but just think about this.

Maybe you’re out at a health fair or the local 5K, and you’re doing some promotion for your practice. You want an effective way to invite people out. Why not use Facebook Live?

“Hey, come see us at the ABC 5K, help support XYZ charity…. We’re raffling off some great prizes and a free procedure at our booth right here by the finish line… We’d love to see you guys. Come on by… Dr. Jones is walking up, he just finished his run!”

You get the idea. You can do the live drawing on Facebook video. Talk to the race organizer. A thousand things you can do to create an engaging and interesting broadcast that involves the community and current events and ties your practice into that.

(And remember, when you go live, Facebook is telling all of your followers, which is AWESOME)

 

4. People who are watching your stream can actually send you questions and comments in real time.

I talk often about that one-to-one connection you need to make with people that nudges them to come in for the consultation and become patients.

This is easy to do on the phone or in person, but it’s ridiculously hard to do in the digital world.

How can you make personal connections with Facebook live? Since people who are watching your stream can send you questions in real time, here’s one idea that could be great for you.

Let’s say you have a weekly “Ask the Expert” show where you’re answering questions from individual patients. Or maybe you gather a list of 2-3 commonly asked questions from patients, and you answer those each week.

While you do the broadcast, you can invite people to write in their question:

“Hey, Dr. Jones, I’m wondering if Invisalign is a good option for me. Can you talk about how to make that decision?”

“Hey, can you tell me if LASIK can actually correct my astigmatism?”

You can, in that moment, say:

“Hey, John. Thanks so much for the question. I get asked about Invisalign quite often. Let’s talk about it.”

“Astigmatism and LASIK. I get that question every single day. Let’s go ahead and go over that. It’s a great question. Thank you so much for asking!”

Then you’re doing 2 things.

1. You’re building rapport with that person because you’re addressing them live in the video.
2. You’re creating an answer to that question that can scale, which you can use over and over again for other folks who ask it.

 

5. Once you’re done, the video that you created in the Live Broadcast is actually placed on your Facebook page as a piece of content.

You don’t just hit the stop” button, and then that video goes away and hopefully some people saw it. The recording of your broadcast can actually stay on your Facebook page, and you can promote that and have that as a piece of content that people can watch even after the fact. So when you hear how you should “Create more content!” this is an easy and streamlined way to do it.

Coming Up

Now that you’ve seen how Facebook Live can be a useful tool to promote your practice, let’s talk practically about implementation.

In the coming days, I’ll send out a Facebook live tutorial, a list of ideas you can use for broadcasts for your practice, and some examples of brands that are using Facebook live in fun and creative ways.

Talk soon,

Troy

One challenge that constantly faces your sales team – how best to “frame the presentation” of your offerings.

While there’s no need to reinvent the wheel, it can be useful to present the wheel in new and interesting ways from time to time.

(This is assuming you already have a darn good wheel.)

Think of some piece of information – an adage, a piece of advice, a recommendation – that you’ve heard 100 times… and you ignored it every time. But then someone comes along and presents essentially the same information but with a slightly different angle, and it hits home to you.

This happens because person #101 reframed the information in a way that connected with you.

You may have heard that people buy based on emotion, then justify the purchase with logic. If you can appeal with emotion and support the appeal with enough logical backup, you will close the sale.

And this depends largely on how you frame your presentation, in your marketing and in the consultation.

Here are three frameworks you can use to reframe your offering in the prospect’s mind. These will help guide your patients toward better, more confident decisions.

I’ll use LASIK as the example, but this can be applied to most any procedure.

1. “Not Yet” Framework

Think about every human on the planet as belonging to one of two categories — those who HAVE had a LASIK consult, and those who HAVE NOT had one YET. The ‘YET’ is the operative word that is super important.

Ex. “Summer is right around the corner, and you still haven’t had your LASIK consultation yet?!….”

Taking a not ‘yet’ approach means the situation just hasn’t been quite right for you yet. Well it is now.

It subtly positions whatever you’re selling (in this case, a consultation) as an inevitability. It’s going to happen.

Back this inevitability up with some reasoning around why now is the perfect time — going to the beach without contacts, extra time in the summer to have the procedure, extended summer hours for consults, etc — and you give the prospect reasons to quit stalling and come on in.

After all, even though it hasn’t happened yet, it’s going to happen sooner or later. Might as well be now.

2. “Herd Mentality” Framework

We generally like to go with the flow; it’s human nature.

This is especially true with ideas that are new or foreign to us. It’s why we look on Yelp for the best dish at a new exotic food restaurant or read fashion blogs to keep up on the latest trends.

It’s survival instinct. We save time, energy and effort when we can default to what other people are doing. The majority is probably making a reasonable, low-risk choice. I’ll do the same.

This is the herd mentality.

Present your offering in terms of ‘what most people do.’ A LASIK consultation is a new concept to your prospects. It’s not something they’ve ever done, meaning they don’t have a good grasp on what it really means or how it fits into their lives.

If you don’t eat Thai food (side note: you should start), then you need some help making a decision on what to get. What’s everyone else choosing? That’s probably a safe bet.

Secondary component of the herd mentality framework — permission. People need permission to take action. Even though we don’t realize it or want to admit it.

So when you say “most people do it this way,” you:

1. Give your prospect a common framework around a foreign idea, which creates comfort and familiarity
2. Give them permission to take action (in this particular way that most people do) and
3. Imply that the person is now part of a tribe, which is an inherent desire in our DNA.

Here are two examples of the herd mentality framework in action.

“Our 3 p.m. consultation slots are popular because you can leave work a little early and have your consultation on the way home. That’s what most people do. I have an opening tomorrow or Thursday, which is the lighter work day for you?”

“Here’s the thing — with our $99/month payment option, you don’t have to worry about a big chunk of cash. Most people prefer to go this route because it fits right into their budget, and often times it’s less than your cell phone or electricity bill.”

3. “Moonwalk” Framework

Chronological order isn’t always the best way to present your information, even though it seems like it makes the most sense.

We think we need to start the conversation by talking about the consultation. Because that’s really step 1 of the LASIK process, and it must be complete before you move down the line.

But what happens when you start at the end and moonwalk back to #1?

The end, is this case, is 12 months after LASIK and the person is living their dream with amazing vision.

So what does it mean to start the conversation at the end?

1. Figure out your prospect’s goals. What do they want to do with their better vision? ASK QUESTIONS.
2. Give examples of patients just like her who wanted to do the exact same thing and love their vision.
3. Discuss the benefits of the procedure that contribute to her ideal outcome.
4. Talk about the consultation and getting the ball rolling toward <GOAL>.

You’re starting with the outcome (the only thing the patient really cares about), then sliding back into the ease of the procedure, then sliding back to the first step — the consult.

For example:
You: <END> So what made you call us today?

Prospect: Well, I’m getting married in a few months and was thinking about getting LASIK before my wedding.

You: <EXAMPLE OF SIMILAR PT> Thats great! My cousin did that last year before she got married and loved it! Enjoyed the honeymoon on the beach without contacts, it was great.

Prospect: Yeah that’s what I was hoping for!

You: <SX BENEFIT> And the recovery time is so quick, you can go ahead and do it now and start enjoying it, and it’s one less thing to worry about as you get close to your big day.

Prospect: Sounds good.

You: So your first step is to come on in for your free consult…

Get Started

If you haven’t tried these frameworks yet, today is the perfect time to start.

Of course you want more of your leads turning into patients. If you can do it by only making a few adjustments in your framework, all the better.

But your first step is to start implementing.

Commit to using these frameworks in conversation with 10 patients this week, that’s what most of my clients do when they get started.

Then assess and adjust as you see fit for your personality and the types of patients you see.

And remember: you don’t have to use just one framework at a time. They often work best when you stack them together.

Want an example of stacking? Just reread this “Get Started” section.

And if you want your phone team to have access to all our framing, scripting and mindset tactics to turn more calls into consults (and why wouldn’t you?), click here to add yourself to the waiting list for our upcoming Phone Sales Bootcamp, designed to turn your phone team into consultation-booking ninjas.

 

 

Want to dominate your market in the next decade? Attention is the name of the game.

Keep a close eye on the transformation that takes place in the media and how big companies are coming up with creative ways to capture attention.

Excellent recent example:

Did you watch the Grammys this year?

If not, you missed the best commercial Target’s ever done. Let me explain:

They ran a commercial that was a live video shoot for Gwen Stefani’s new single.

Repeat: Gwen Stefani performed her new single, “Make Me Like You” …

she did it live in commercial space that Target purchased on the Grammys…

…and it was the actual production footage they used to create her new music video.

It’s hard to explain, so take a few minutes and watch the recording below:

I watched this live. When they announced this “live video shoot” as the Grammys were going into the commercial break, I did NOT do my typical ‘during the commercials’ activities.

I DID NOT pick my phone back up. I did NOT take my laptop out of sleep mode and start working.

I watched. Something I (and most people) aren’t doing with live TV commercials anymore.

What makes this a genius move by Target? Here are 6 observations, which you can use in your marketing too.

1. They doubled down where attention already existed.

The programming that people watch most in REAL time is LIVE programming (i.e. Sports, the news and of course, the Grammys). Target knows this, and they decided to take full advantage with a novel approach to marketing.

The attention was already there, so that’s obstacle #1 out of the way.

Target decided to make a splash and capture as much attention as they could with this ‘live music video’ commercial format. Win.

2. Native Content Trumps All

‘Native’ content has the same characteristics as the context it’s in. Example: an article in the Dallas Morning News is ‘Native’ to the newspaper format.

Not only did Target put themselves in a position to siphon attention, they did it using a native format to the Grammys – music. Not just any music, but a LIVE musical performance by a superstar artist.

The result? People who dig live musical performances (Target knew this because they’re hitting viewers tuned into the Grammys already) get more of the content they want, in the format they want, at the time they are tuned in. Win.

3. Earned Media is Gasoline on the Marketing Fire

You know what’s better than an awesome commercial? Thousands of online articles about that awesome commercial.

For every person who saw the Apple commercial (you know the one) live in the 1984 Super Bowl, another 1000 people have been exposed to the spot via some kind of news story, blog or online article. This is a textbook example the power and value of earned media.

Same thing for GoDaddy when they started their risqué Super Bowl ads a decade ago. All the critical articles that were written about their misogynistic ads? There’s another term for it:

Free $#&* advertising.

Plenty of people talked about (and wrote about) Gwen Stefani’s live music video in the days and weeks leading up to the performance and of course after the fact. Target, the sponsor, is inexplicably tied to those articles. Win.

4. Budget for Greatness

Gwen Stefani, live production, full cast, a dozen set changes, 3-minutes of prime-time national ad space in an insanely popular program…

This all costs money. A helluva lot of it. Money Target could have used to do a lot of other marketing activities.

Hell, at the very least, they could have purchased a truck-load more :30-second spots in other programs. But they didn’t.

Rather than put out another decently forgettable Target commercial, they 50x’d their budget and their effort and created something truly exceptional with longevity built in.

5. Create assets and leverage them

This wasn’t just a commercial – Target sponsored a music video – a permanent asset.

They teased it on their social media for days leading up to the Grammys, and they’ll leverage it in 100 different ways from pre-roll to social media videos to in-store promotion.

The result is mileage. This wasn’t a one-and-done fireworks show. The asset Target created has longevity, and they’ll squeeze every ounce of opportunity out of it.

(We’ll all be sick of the song and the video once the campaign is over, but we’ll be on to the next thing by then anyway)

6. Build Affinity

I like Target. I don’t love Target. But I think Target is cooler now that they used their marketing dollars in this way.

Target earned cool points with me, and I’m not the only one.

They didn’t try to sell me something. They didn’t put out the usual ad drivel. They spent money and time to bring me something of value that I appreciate and enjoy.

(Want to trick yourself into thinking that ‘cool points’ don’t matter? You’re delusional. They matter to you, your colleagues and every one of your customers and patients. Stop lying to yourself and own up to the fact that everyone spends their money with businesses they like – even you.)

You can do it too

You can use all of these tactics in your marketing on some level.

Maybe you can’t produce a live music video with a Grammy-winning artist, but you can put out valuable content in places where people are already paying attention.

And you can make it fun and valuable, earning ‘cool points’ with your audience and getting one step closer to the sale in the process.

Whether you’re marketing your small business, medical practice, fortune 500 company or even if you’re marketing yourself, go make it happen.

Nice work, Target. You hit a bullseye with this one.

Your website is the hub of your practice online. It’s also foundational to your patient generation success in the digital era.

Maybe you have a beautiful site that looks great on mobile – awesome.

Even so, you’re “leaking patients” if you have limited ways to interact with – and bring value to – visitors on your website.

Below are three pretty darn awesome ways you can connect with your patients online, bring value to their lives, and thus turn more visitors into patients.

1. Show Patients Around with a Notification Bar

It’s easy to assume that once someone’s visited your site, they’ve seen it all. But you know that’s not true from your own web browsing activities.

Rather than make visitors guess, or hope they find their way around, why not assist them?

One simple way to do this is via a Notification Bar:

**EXAMPLE**

A notification bar on your site is a great way to make it clear what your website visitors should do once they arrive. It’s conspicuous without being intrusive, and it can be customized to showcase different promotions and drive patients to various pages on your site.

You can also set the bar to be displayed on every page of your site, so you can be sure that no matter how someone ‘enters’ your site, he or she will see what you wish to showcase.

Running a promo?

Get news coverage?

Just announced a new procedure or piece of technology?

Highlight it on your site with a notification bar.

Resource: HelloBar.com or WP Notification Bar

2. Chat Your Way to More Patients

Online chat is a viable form of communication for everyone from millennials to baby boomers and beyond. Most grandparents know how to text, and anyone who has spent time in the workforce has used web chat to communicate with colleagues.

So the inclusion of a web chat on your website not only seems like a natural addition to your site visitor, it will engage a higher percentage of your visitors who may just have a few questions but aren’t quite ready to schedule.

The software we recommend for your online chat is called olark.com. It has a user-friendly interface for your office staff, automatically changes to an ‘away’ message when your team is not logged in, and can even be customized with unique prompts based on which page of your site the visitor is occupying.

Vital elements to note when chatting:

• Make sure you have a protocol for your staff to answer ‘frequently asked questions’ that arise in chat. This will expedite the chat interaction and ensure potential patients receive consistent information.
• “When in doubt, leave it out.” If a question is asked that the staff member cannot answer, it’s ok to say “Great question. I’m not sure. I would like to look into that further so I can provide you an accurate answer!” This is much better than ‘winging it’ and possibly disseminating improper information.
• Remember the goal of the chat – to schedule an appointment. So each answer should lead back to that goal.
  • “What time are you open on Fridays?” – We’re open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Fridays. We actually have an opening this Friday at 2 p.m., and I also see one on Monday at 1 p.m. Which works better for you?
  • “How much is Invisalign?” – The price varies from $X to $Y depending on your specific needs and treatment plan. Dr. Jones will meet with you for a free consultation to ensure you’re a good candidate, and we can give you an exact price following this appointment. Dr. Jones actually has an opening tomorrow afternoon at 3 p.m. or Thursday at 1 p.m. Which time works better for your schedule?

Attract More Patients with a Lead Magnet

One of the keys to increasing your bookings is to have a “give value first” mentality. Most practices constantly “ask” for the appointment without “giving” enough value so people are comfortable scheduling.

A “Lead Magnet” is an ideal way to immediately give value to visitors to your website. It is an irresistible bribe offering a specific level of value to a prospect in exchange for their contact information.

Remember, when looking at your website, the goal is to convert MORE visitors into actual leads. We talked about one way to do this is via more interaction points. A lead magnet provides yet another point of interaction on your site.

Put yourself in the patient’s shoes. You’re conducting local research to find a dentist in your area. You visit six websites. Five of them have the normal fare – pages about procedures, contact box, map to the practice and so forth.

The sixth site has something more. A free, valuable piece of content to help you make a smart decision when it comes to your dental care. For example:

• “Free Download: The 6 Questions to Ask Before Your Child’s First Dental Visit”
• “Free Report – Does Your Child Really Need Braces? 5 Important Questions to Ask Your Dentist”
• “Invisalign vs. Traditional Braces – Which One is Best for You”
• “Checklist – 10 Ways to Brighten Your Smile at Home”

These are all examples of lead magnet reports. Having a lead magnet on your site benefits you in a number of ways:

• It instantly sets you apart from your competitors who are not using a lead magnet and therefore not providing the level of value you are.
• A lead magnet showcases your authority on a topic as you are the person educating the patient through the free download. This elevates you in the mind of your prospects.
• Lead magnets are given in exchange for contact information, typically name and email address. This allows you to contact your lead after the fact to follow-up and work toward turning him/her into a patient. (This follow-up can be done automatically as well, which is highly effective and completely autopilot once set up!)

Here’s an example of a Lead Magnet from Burleson Orthodontics in Kansas City. This pops up on Dr. Burleson’s home page, prompting the visitor to download in exchange for name and email.