North Texas Dentistry Volume 9 Issue 1 2019 ISSUE 1 DE | Page 14

practice marketing
Successfully Branding
a Dental Sleep Medicine Practice
I
f you’re one of the many dental practices that is looking to
add sleep apnea treatment to your service offerings, you need
to develop a stand-alone brand for sleep.
When I mention to dental industry outsiders that dentists can
provide sleep apnea treatment, the response is nearly always the
same: “How does a dentist treat sleep apnea?”
Most patients have a difficult time making the mental connec-
tion between dentistry and sleep apnea treatment. This under-
standable disconnect makes it critical to develop a unique
brand identity for sleep that is separate from your general
dental practice.
Creating a separate brand identity is not meant to hide the fact
that you’re a dentist, it is simply to prevent this mental hurdle
from hindering your ability to attract sleep patients. Plus,
it allows greater marketing flexibility across both print and dig-
ital platforms.
by Marc Fowler
4) Establish a separate phone number. Preferably a number
with HIPAA compliant call recording for staff training purposes.
Have your staff answer incoming calls using the name of your
sleep practice.
5) Build a sleep website. Simply having a page on your main
practice website about oral appliance therapy will not allow your
direct-to-patient marketing efforts to achieve maximum success.
Your website must position you as the authority on the topic of
sleep apnea & snoring treatment. When a prospective sleep
patient sees dental implants, teeth whitening, crowns and root
canals listed on your services page alongside sleep apnea, it
won’t have them thinking “this is a sleep expert”.
Once they’re in the office and you’ve had the opportunity to
explain to them how oral appliance therapy can successfully treat
sleep apnea, patients will be able to see why you, as a dentist, are
able to provide an excellent treatment option and in most cases,
a viable alternative to CPAP.
The following 11-step checklist will help you get started on cre-
ating a sleep brand built to position you properly in the minds
of prospective sleep patients.
SLEEP PRACTICE BRANDING CHECKLIST
1)  Select a name for your sleep practice. The practice name
should not contain the word “dental.” As previously mentioned,
when a patient sees “dental sleep” they’re most likely thinking
sedation.
2)  Purchase a website domain name. Ensure the domain is
easy to spell and remember. The shorter the better. Ideally,
choose the .com version of your new sleep practice name.
3)  Design a new logo. The logo should be simple, distinctive,
and visually pleasing. The graphics must clearly communicate
the message that you help patients breathe and sleep better.
14 NORTH TEXAS DENTISTRY | www.northtexasdentistry.com
6)  Create and optimize a Google My Business Listing for
the new entity. Critical elements include your logo, address and
tracking phone number. Optimize your listing by uploading
some professional photos of you, your team and the office.
7)  List your practice on the leading online directories. If
you aren’t sure which ones to focus on first, do a few Google
searches incorporating your city name into the search term and
see which directories show up consistently. The key directories
will differ by city and keyword search terms.
8)  Start a Facebook page for the new practice. Utilize your
new logo and colors for brand consistency. Have someone in
your office post to it weekly. Important details to include in the
About section: a link to your new sleep website, your office
address, phone number, and an overview of your sleep practice.