A quick look at the offers on daily deal sites like Groupon and Living Social might indicate that the dental industry is either in serious decline or currently over-saturated with new doctors.
As a practicing dentist myself, I know first-hand the difficulty that my practice and those of my peers faced when the recession hit. More and more Americans lack dental insurance within their health care plans. When it becomes necessary to cut costs, dental care is one of the first things to be neglected. Perhaps you decide to forgo your six-month cleaning, opting to wait for an annual check-up. When that rolls around, it’s easier to say ‘no’ a second time.
Dentists have been forced to respond with new methods of reaching new customers and engaging old ones. It’s not uncommon to find dentists with Facebook and Google+ pages designed to remind and maintain their clientele. They also lined up in droves to offer Groupon and Living Social deals.
Estimates show that about one out of every 11 Groupon deals currently offered are health care related. Only a year ago, the majority of these were for cosmetic, chiropractic, and acupuncture services. More traditional medical fields face additional ethical and legal measures, including state-by-state differences over whether or not a coupon constitutes an illegal kickback or referral. (The Mayo Clinic breaks down some of these discrepancies in a 2011 post.
Dentists, however, operate in a middle ground. Their services can be necessary (root canal, broken tooth), but are often also cosmetic or ‘optional.’ Groupons began to pop-up in 2011 for everything from exams to cleanings and x-rays to teeth whitening. In an ever competitive online landscape, these deals give local dentists added exposure and the chance to reach new clients that pay upfront, albeit at a steeply discounted rate after Groupon takes its cut of the generally half-off deals.
Even with the steep discount, the daily deals offer a perfect ‘foot in the door’ marketing technique for dentists. Unlike a restaurant, where daily deal shoppers may visit once, tip poorly and then never return, a new patient that has a comfortable experience at a doctor is more likely to return (and possibly bring their family).
Because switching dentists often requires new x-rays and preliminary processes, we’re more likely to remain faithful to one practice once we’re in their system.
Decline of the Daily Deal
Groupon’s recent woes have received plenty of public attention. After peaking at a stock price of $31.14 after its Initial Public Offering last fall, the company’s share values have dipped below $10 in recent weeks. Businesses put-off by the lack of repeat business generated by the deals have vowed never to offer products and services at such a steep discount again. Groupon has responded by launching a ‘Rewards’ program that saves more money for loyal customers.
That may be too little too late for restaurants, spas, and independent massage therapists who have already given away thousands of dollars of product at cost or below, but it’s welcome news for the health care industry.
Getting a new patient “into the system” is the first big step. Unlike other industries, health care professionals gather detailed contact information for every ‘customer’ they serve. It’s then up to the doctor or office to use this and stay in touch, sending reminders to come back for preventative care.
Facebook and Google+ are proving to be game-changers in this regard, as well. Mailing reminders and coupons has grown increasingly cost-prohibitive, and are often tossed away without being read. Dentists have offered discounts to patients who ‘Like’ their Facebook page, subscribing themselves to the practice’s updates. Developments like ‘+1s’ on Google+ are also making significant changes to search engine results, giving doctors an added motivation to network online. If someone in your Google address book likes a page, it will show up higher in your Google search results.
Health care professionals are no longer devoid of being able to ignore advertising. As families cut back budgets and more competitors enter the market, even services like dentistry that once ‘sold themselves’ require intelligent marketing. Health care is one industry where Groupon seems to still be a smart bet for drawing in new customers.
What other industries can benefit from a social media and online marketing overhaul?
Bahram Nasehi is a Vice President and partner at Dulles Glass and Mirror. He is instrumental in the development and manufacturing of custom cut glass products including wall and bathroom mirrors, vanity mirrors and glass shower doors.
Worried about a zombie attack? Hornady, an American ammunition manufacturer has you covered with their Zombie Max ammunition.
Zahra Huber, of WWWJ Detroit, recently spoke to a company representative about the product and their marketing with zombies:
Company president Steve Hornady came up with the idea for Zombie Max bullets because of his love for zombie movies and shows.
"After it gained some acceptance among some of us here in the company got on board with the idea we decided just to have some fun with a marketing plan that would allow us to create some ammunition designed for that … fictional world," Deger said.
He said the Zombie Max and Z-Max bullets are Hornady's most successful products.
"This is probably one of the only (product) launches that we've seen when people who are not in the hunting and shooting industry will go out and they will purchase this," Deger said.
"I mean, I've heard of guys who buy it just because they think the packaging is cool and they set it on their cube and they don't even own a gun," he said. "It has that sort of cross-market appeal, which I think is rare to find these days, where you can actually sell something that will transcend not just one market but go into several."
Scarcity of electricity and abundance of waste are serious global challenges. Fortunately, the UK’s Bristol Robotics Laboratory has developed the EcoBot III, a self-sustaining cyborg that’s fueled on dirt, leaves, and, well, certain undesirable excrements. The machine is potty-trained to use a litter tray”its predecessors ran on bugs and spoiled fruit”making it a landmark advancement in waste conversion. With funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the EcoBot is part of a larger project to propagate electricity from urine in developing countries. Additionally, NASA has noticed its ability to feed off of fecal matter, making it a potential game-changer up in space.
Consumers are becoming more aware of the contaminants, like nitrates, in drinking water. That leaves a huge opportunity for companies to purify water without the use of chemicals. One such company is HydroNovation, based in San Francisco. It makes residential and commercial water treatment systems that use a chemical-free process called electrodeionization to soften and purify water. In January, HydroNovation landed an investment from 3M New Ventures.
Once your Business Model Canvas is done, it’s time for your team to “get out of the building” to test your hypotheses. You need to answer three key questions:
Do we really understand the customer’s problem or need?
Do enough people care about the problem or need to deliver a huge business?
And will they care enough to tell their friends, to grow our business quickly?
Regardless of whether you have a physical or Web/mobile product, Customer Development experiments are short, simple, objective pass/fail tests.
Start by asking yourself, “What do I want to learn?” And, “What’s the simplest pass/fail test I can run to learn?” Finally, think about, “How do I design a pass/fail experiment to run this simple test?”
The goal of these tests is not just to collect customer data or get a “pass” on the test.
It’s something more profound and intangible: entrepreneurial insight. Did anyone end your sales call by saying, “Too bad you don’t sell x, because we could use a ton of those”? That’s the kind of feedback you’re looking for.
BusinessPlanCompetitions.com bills itself as the “world’s most complete listing of entrepreneurship contests, elevator pitch events, and business plan competitions.”
We don't know what Subway ever did to Pizza Hut, but the quirky pizza chain is attempting a "takeover" of the sandwich giant's market with its new P'Zolo concept.
Pizza Hut? Making a sandwich? Coming from the company that has ringed its crusts with mini-cheeseburgers and stuffed them with hot dogs, it's not really a stretch.
The chain's new product, officially launched this week, comes in Meat Trio, Italian Steak and Buffalo Chicken and looks like a cross between a sub, a roll and a Costco-style chicken bake. Each comes with either ranch or marinara dipping sauce and sell for $3 ($5 for two).
Pizza Hut's bid for sandwich domination involves transforming a pair of Chicago Red Line subway trains into giant P'Zolos and handing out freebies to passengers on Thursday. They're calling it — natch — a "Subway Takeover."
Raising Eyebrows: Not every entrepreneur gets it right the first time, or even the fifth, but persistence pays. After years of failures and $150,000 of debt, Dal LaMagna finally made it, founding Tweezerman. Read his inspirational story for success in the face of collapse.
Launch Fever: Timothy Taylor started his career at NASA, but made a decision familiar to many entrepreneurs: leaving behind the 9-5 to pursue his entrepreneurial dream. Read about his struggles and difficult decisions on the path to his success.
Nothing to Lose, Everything to Gain: Ryan Blair was once a gang member in juvenile detention. He started his business career with no formal training, but with the help of a mentor, started his first company at 21, growing to become a multimillionaire entrepreneur.
You Can Do It: Stanley A. Dashew is a man who knows how to rise to a challenge – he found a job in the middle of the Great Depression. His book offers inspiration and lessons for creating your own success.
Ben Franklin: America’s Original Entrepreneur: Learn about Benjamin Franklin’s breakthrough work as an entrepreneur in this modern translation of his autobiography. This book serves as an inspiration to today’s innovators who feel they can learn from creators in our American past.
Chicken Lips, Wheeler-Dealer and the Beady-Eyed MBA: Frank Farwell shares his story as a man crazy enough to leave a well-paying job for self-employment during a recession. In this book, you’ll learn about pitfalls and successes on his way to a three-time Inc. 500 company.
Sam Walton: Made in America: Whether you love or hate WalMart, the late Sam Walton’s wisdom for entrepreneurs is undeniable. Learn about risk, hard work and entrepreneurship from the man who created the empire known.
How to Get Rich: Felix Dennis shares his secrets as one of the world’s greatest entrepreneurs. In this book, he offers advice including common startup errors in an entertaining, practical style.
Dreaming Impossible Dreams: Multimillionaire philanthropist EJ Ourso shares how he acquired 56 businesses in 48 years, many without any money down. You’ll see his early start as a salesman and wisdom for wealth acquisition.
Who Says I Can’t?: Jothy Rosenberg embodies the spirit of the persistent and triumphant entrepreneur. He overcame a cancer diagnosis to a career in athletics, overcoming obstacles and taking on entrepreneurship.
Business Stripped Bare: Those who are awed by Richard Branson will appreciate his autobiography, in which he shares his life and business. Find advice, stories and more in this guide to success in business as well as life.
1,000 Dollars and an Idea: Sam Wyly went from country boy entrepreneur to millionaire involved in many successful business ventures. In this autobiography, he shares his experiences and universal lessons that are wise for any reader.
Hard Drive: Many are familiar with Bill Gates and his business, Microsoft. A Harvard dropout, Gates formed his own company at 19 with his friends. In this book, you’ll learn about his ambition and drive that made Microsoft what it is today.
Confessions of a Serial Entrepreneur: If you appreciate the modern Renaissance man or woman, this book offers an excellent inspiration. A man who worked every kind of job, entrepreneur Stuart Skorman explains why he can’t stop starting over with a new business, and how he made it work.
At The Beach Park, outside the city of Fortalezza, Brazil, you can ride the world’s tallest water slide. Insano is 134 feet high and riders can reach a speed of 65 miles per hour during their five second ride.
ZipFlyer Nepal is the world’s most extreme zipline. Riders travel nearly 90 miles per hour on the one mile wire as they experience a vertical drop of 2000 feet.
Video below.
I wonder what kind of red tape something like this would have to go through to get approved in the US?
Money is always an issue for startups and small businesses. So if you are in the bootstrap mode, take note of Bitrix24.com – new social enterprise network launched by BitrixSoft (the #2 maker of intranet CMS behind Microsoft).
If your company is smaller than 12 employees, Bitrix24 offers you free social intranet, free CRM, free task scheduler and project manager, free calendar and free document storage/sharing. Those with over 12 employees have two monthly plans to choose from – $99/mo and $199/mo. These plans offer extranet integration (handy, if you work with a lot of outside vendors or freelancers), time management module and a variety of reporting tools – from absentee charts to personal performance reports.
Unlike other similar services, Bitrix24 doesn't have any additional charges for adding extra employees on the two paid plans (other services typically charge $5/mo per employee over the limit). Rather the $99/mo plan comes with a 50 GB space limit and $199/mo plan is limited to 100 GB of cloud-based storage. Additional disk space can be purchased, if necessary.
Both free and paid versions of Bitrix24 are integrated with iPhone and Android based devices and can be accessed via any smartphone or Tablet PC with Internet access.
Pixar, makers of Toy Story, Cars and WALL-E, story artist Emma Coats has been tweeting a series of guidelines she’s learned at Pixar for creating compelling stories. I’m sure that you’ll find some of them useful in your marketing.
You admire a character for trying more than for their successes.
You gotta keep in mind what's interesting to you as an audience, not what's fun to do as a writer. They can be v. different.
Trying for theme is important, but you won't see what the story is actually about til you're at the end of it. Now rewrite.
Once upon a time there was _ . Every day, _ . One day _ . Because of that, _ . Because of that, _ . Until finally _ .
Simplify. Focus. Combine characters. Hop over detours. You'll feel like you're losing valuable stuff but it sets you free.
What is your character good at, comfortable with? Throw the polar opposite at them. Challenge them. How do they deal?
Come up with your ending before you figure out your middle. Seriously. Endings are hard, get yours working up front.
Finish your story, let go even if it's not perfect. In an ideal world you have both, but move on. Do better next time.
When you're stuck, make a list of what WOULDN'T happen next. Lots of times the material to get you unstuck will show up.
Pull apart the stories you like. What you like in them is a part of you; you've got to recognize it before you can use it.
Putting it on paper lets you start fixing it. If it stays in your head, a perfect idea, you'll never share it with anyone.
Discount the 1st thing that comes to mind. And the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th – get the obvious out of the way. Surprise yourself.
Give your characters opinions. Passive/malleable might seem likable to you as you write, but it's poison to the audience.
Why must you tell THIS story? What's the belief burning within you that your story feeds off of? That's the heart of it.
If you were your character, in this situation, how would you feel? Honesty lends credibility to unbelievable situations.
What are the stakes? Give us reason to root for the character. What happens if they don't succeed? Stack the odds against.
No work is ever wasted. If it's not working, let go and move on – it'll come back around to be useful later.
You have to know yourself: the difference between doing your best & fussing. Story is testing, not refining.
Coincidences to get characters into trouble are great; coincidences to get them out of it are cheating.
Exercise: take the building blocks of a movie you dislike. How d'you rearrange them into what you DO like?
You gotta identify with your situation/characters, can't just write 'cool'. What would make YOU act that way?
What's the essence of your story? Most economical telling of it? If you know that, you can build out from there.
The Multiprotector from Kinoshita Kogyo is a simple cast that can stabilize an injured area with the use of a single straw.
This cast is used when an injury from sports or the workplace requires the injured area to be stabilized. The cast is wrapped around the injured area and inflated to stop bleeding or to stabilize a sprain or broken bone. This air cast enables anybody to perform initial emergency treatment to stabilize an injured area before waiting for an ambulance or going to the hospital.
