Oakley (left) and his team with PDA’s VP of Business & Program Development Patti Sooy (front left), VP of Client Development Chris Moriarity (back, center), Marketing Coach Jenni Bollman (back, center)
After attending his first Productivity Workshop, Dr. Oakley felt empowered to tackle marketing his practice.
“Before PDA, I was doing the very typical ‘throw a bunch of stuff at the wall and see what sticks’ style marketing. It wasn’t unsuccessful, I made some choices that ended up being disappointing for me and I kept thinking how nice it would be if someone just handled all this stuff for me.”
He tried different approaches, such as having different staff members deal with the marketing, and it was “a train wreck” because his people had no training in marketing. He didn’t know what a marketing budget should be, how to work his budget to his benefit, or how to calculate his ROI. “I was prone to try every sales pitch I heard,” he says, “and trusted the wrong people for the wrong reasons.”
Giving PDA Marketing a Try
While attending another PDA Productivity Workshop, Dr. Oakley was introduced to PDA Marketing. “I was ready to sign up immediately,” he says. “When you embrace the PDA principles and have heard Dr. Bruce Baird’s principles, you know the importance of marketing. With PDA Marketing, you not only get his philosophies, but you get to market like him.
“It has been nothing short of perfect. Our PDA Marketing Coach Jenni Bollman is wonderful; I trust her like nobody else and the results speak for themselves. The marketing is fantastic, it’s money very, very, very well spent. I know that I’m spending my budget effectively, and getting the results I want. And I don’t have to worry about or manage it. Marketing changes and it is very trendy. What’s great today might not be great a year from now. It’s a lot to expect a busy dentist to keep on top of all the marketing in addition to everything else I have to do. Just the security in knowing that people who know what they’re doing are managing it makes me happy that we are ahead of the curve and ahead of everybody else, it’s very comforting, and it’s a big deal.
“I don’t worry about my competitors anymore. I know I’m better than they are. Just look at our online reviews. We’re already up to almost 1,000 in a year…we have so many reviews now, no one in our area can catch up to us.”
A Few Thoughts
Dr. Oakley could talk to other dentists about PDA Marketing “all freaking day.” The hardest part about talking with other dentists about PDA Marketing is “getting them to admit they don’t know enough to handle their marketing on their own…which is a tough pill to swallow for a lot of dentists.”
He says when telling other dentists about PDA Marketing coaching, he tells them to face the harsh truth about the current dental market. “The days where dentists don’t have to market themselves and their practices are long gone,” he says. “Marketing is an integral part of your success as a dentist. You must be marketing and your marketing must be good. Most dentists nowadays understand that, but dentists are not experts at it…we’re not even close.
“I tell other dentists you need someone who knows what you’re doing to manage marketing for you. There are a lot of people out there that can tell you they can manage their marketing, and most of those people are just trying to sell you a product. I’ve been there and done that more times than I can mention. You need someone that’s going to handle that for you, that’s going to manage your budget, make sure your money’s being spent wisely, and stay ahead of trends. PDA Marketing is that. They manage your money effectively. They spit out your ROI on everything. They stay ahead of trends.”
What Oakley appreciates most, is PDA is not focused on just selling dentists a product. “My PDA Marketing Coach Jenni never tried to sell me anything. I asked her to switch me to a PDA-managed ForeverSite website. PDA is all about goals, management, and doing what was right for me. For example, I do my own thing with direct mail and it works for me. I’ve never felt pressure from PDA to change it – pushing me into something would never even cross Jenni’s mind.”
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About PDA | Marketing Group
PDA | Marketing Group is an outstanding team of creative minds and analytical thinkers that go above and beyond to help doctors stand out in an over-saturated market, and not only attract patients, but attract the right patients for your practice. PDA | Marketing Group is an award winning full-service marketing agency that has been named one of Inc. 5000’s Fastest Growing Private Companies in America.
