"You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment. Fools stand on their island opportunities and look toward another land. There is no other land, there is no other life but this.”

My present has always created my future in whatever I accomplished throughout my orthodontic career:

• When I helped create an orthodontic practice management software system with a Zerox computer Geek in 1982 that saved time and improved collections with contract billing. I tried to promote it to other orthodontic practices in the area, but they laughed.
• In 1991, when we brought in a Baby Dolphin Imaging System as a marketing tool to impress new patients, it was almost 10 yrs before someone else in the area followed suit. 
• In 1998, when I set up our first website, the competition didn't come around until six or seven years later.
• In 2005, I coordinated the installation of a fully intergrated paperless orthodontic practice management software program which included digital marketing and radiography.  Patients are very impressed.
• In 2009, now out on my own as an Internet marketing consultant,  the majority of orthodontic competitors in the area are pushed off organic #1 page ranking on Google with a proactive PR Orthodontic Internet Marketing campaign by Get It Straight.

The practice has been #1 in the area for over 25 years and will continue to do so by living in the present… whether I am there as a member of the team or not.

Ride the wave of present time and take advantage of the Internet to become your own PR director for your practice.  The past few years have been rough, but the economy is starting to turn around.  Be thankful. You have weathered the storm!  Now, live in the present and make sure you are maximizing your Internet marketing presence to build your future with new growth.

I found this video below on current music trends on YouTube.  As with everything new and innovative, it will take some time for this to catch on, but the time will come when musicians will produce classical, jazz, pop, rock, hip hop… whatever… with a combo electrical string, keyboard, and wind instrument.  This group I predict will explode into the music culture because they were the first.  They may not ultimately be the best with the learning curve and you may not like it, but they are the first to try and already are creating a big stir.

My second favorite quote…

"It's not the BIG that eat the small, it's the fast that eat the SLOW!"  Jason Jennings

Happy Thanksgiving!

I have much to be thankful for this year, especially you my readers and my clients who understand the benefit of taking full advantage of the Internet. 

Koodos to you…Much success!

We're all guilty of being perfectionists at one time or another. However, in orthodontic marketing it can be detrimental…

It's appropriate to strive for a perfect Class I occlusion when treating orthodontic patients or in my case,  the perfect Web 2.0 Internet marketing program to catapult your practice to page one on Google in a highly competitive area. That's okay… Being anal-retentive about some things in our life is normal, and maybe even necessary for our emotional well-being.

On the other hand, being a perfectionist about your orthodontic marketing programs, especially a website… is something you simply CANNOT afford to do. It could takes months, maybe over a year to get it completed to your satisfaction and up on the Internet. If you are guilty of this, stop RIGHT NOW.  I mean it! Put up your right hand and repeat after me, "I do solemnly swear to never again spend hours polishing up my new marketing programs, website content, or Internet video promotion to a perfection level. Starting now."

It may seem odd that I would actually discuss the virtues of creating imperfect orthodontic marketing programs. But think about it — why do people want to read your website? Is is for the amazing grammatical prowess it demonstrates on every conceivable subject in orthodontics?  No. It's for the orthodontic content they can easily find on page one of Google when looking for an orthodontic treatment provider.

• The sooner you content is online, the more readership you're going to attract
• The more readership you attract, the more exposure you receive
• The more exposure you receive, the more traffic to your website
• The more traffic to your website, the more new patient appointments your schedule;
• The more new patient calls you schedule, the more new patient starts you convert to increase production

What do you think? Are you guilty of being a perfectionist who slows down the orthodontic marketing momentum of your practice?
What has perfectionism cost you in terms of lost exposure, lost opportunities, and increase revenue?

Sometimes we are our own worst enemies.  It is OK to fail forward in your orthodontic marketing when building your practice.  This is how we learn, grow, and build the business of our dreams.  If a program doesn't work, get rid of it… if it needs improvement polish it up.  In many cases new patients won't even know the difference when all is said and done. 

Just get yourself out there as fast as you can and stay ahead of your competition during these tough economic times.

Leave a comment and let me know if you are one of the guilty parties like myself…