There’s still time to enter for a chance to win a £4,450 marketing support package for your practice.
We’ve received some incredible submissions for our Dentex Marketing Grant so far – thanks to those who have entered – but there’s still time to nominate your practice for a chance to win a £4,450 marketing-support package prize.
So, why is this prize so special? At Dentex, we don’t believe in a one-size-fits-all approach to marketing and view each one of our practices individually.
We create personalised plans for every practice in our community, looking at the specific needs and potential areas for growth.
We want to take this same philosophy and apply it to a practice that needs marketing support – and isn’t part of the Dentex group – to give them the opportunity to benefit from our award-winning marketing team and the wider Dentex network.
How to make a great entry
Need a few pointers on where to start? Here are a few things that make a great entry:
- Give us some background
- The easy bit. We want to know about you, your practice and your team. And we don’t just mean your CVs. We’re all about personalities here. Got a movie buff, marathon runner or expert baker at the practice? Pop it in!
- We want to get to know you
- What are you looking for?
- What are you looking for the grant to achieve?
- You can be as specific (increase my social following by x% please) or vague (better marketing please!) as you’d like
- Why do you think you should win?
- It’s a great prize and someone’s got to win it!
Tell us in a few words why it should be you.
Our panel of industry-renowned judges are preparing to pick our winner in September – here’s a little introduction to three of them: Shiraz Khan, Pat Langley and Tif Qureshi.
Shiraz Khan
Dr Shiraz Khan is a busy man, so we were thrilled when he agreed to join our panel of judges.
Alongside being a practising dentist in central London, specialising in cosmetic and restorative dentistry, Shiraz is dedicated
to teaching and is a director at the Young Dentists Academy, where he leads courses for newly-qualified dentists.
He’s travelled the world lecturing, from Iran to Sri Lanka.
Oh, and he’s passionate about break dancing and is training to be an AM race driver – quite simply, he’s a man of many talents.
The impact of marketing
Shiraz saw the value of marketing early in his career, when as a newly-qualified dentist he grew a social media following that instantly rose his profile.
‘I stumbled across marketing as an accidental feat, because social media was on a surge when I first qualified,’ he explains.
‘I was sharing what I was doing – including cases and lectures – and attracted a following.’
His experience opened his eyes to why marketing is ‘critical’ for both individuals and practices: ‘People can’t come to you if they don’t know what you do – marketing, when used the correct way, can really propel your practice or an associate’s clinical career.’
A great initiative
‘I really believe in what Dentex stands for in terms of their commitment and development of associates and practices within the group,’ Shiraz explains, when describing why he agreed to be a judge.
‘As a lecturer on the Dentex annual ten-day training programme, which is heavily subsidised for associates in the group – I’ve seen how Dentex are doing the right thing by supporting clinicians.
‘This grant will give a practice the chance to grow and expand, so I think it’s a great initiative and I’m really honoured to be part of it.’
Why apply?
‘Having a grant that enables the winner to have access to a team who will be able to liaise, explain and optimise how patients may see your practice is really positive,’ Shiraz says.
‘Dentex really is looking for a chance to support individuals, so it’s something that should be taken advantage of.’
The winner is…
‘I’ll be looking for a practice that illustrates what they are doing both inside and outside of dentistry,’ Shiraz says.
‘And I’d like to know why they think this grant will really benefit them.’
Pat Langley
As Dentex’s chief dental officer, and the founder of Apolline, Pat is our resident expert on all things regulatory compliance (which makes her an incredibly popular woman to know!).
But the world of compliance is just one of her many areas of expertise – having trained as a dentist, she went into hospital care before setting up two practices in the South East, and following roles at Denplan and Oasis, founded Apolline in 2010 – seeing an opportunity to support the profession from a clinical perspective, with all things relating to regulatory compliance.
Through Apolline, she’s now also involved in training and teaching.
An insider view
Pat has witnessed first-hand the benefits of having a dedicated marketing team on call – having sold her practice to Dentex in 2018, where her husband remains a partner.
‘I think a lot of practices don’t necessarily have the time, energy or the money to devote to marketing, and it’s something that often is not particularly well understood, or even well done,’ she describes.
‘So to have a fully-fledged marketing department that is so creative, so innovative and forward thinking is just absolutely fantastic.’
An early adopter
Pat was one of Dentex’s earliest supporters, back when ‘it was just business conducted in a coffee shop,’ as she describes: ‘I’ve been involved in Dentex from the very beginning, when I first saw that what they were doing was how I always thought corporate dentistry should be done.
‘But nobody had done it. And so that’s why I wanted involvement in the first place.
‘I feel so proud and privileged to be a part of it.’
Winning criteria
‘I’ll be looking for practices that have thought through what it is they’re trying to achieve, what their vision is, and how to get there,’ Pat describes.
‘Perhaps they now need that extra guidance to make things happen, but they’ll want to do it in the right way, in a professional way, in a caring, ethical way.
‘I’m looking for practices that have already considered their goals, rather than just thought: “Oh, that’s a good idea. I’ll go for that”.’
Prize package
As for why this prize is so special, Pat reflects that it’s the opportunity to bring marketing expertise into a practice, which so many lack the resources to have.
‘Practices rarely have internal expertise in this,’ she says.
‘They often need to go somewhere else for marketing, which can be a bit hit and miss.
‘The support that the winning practice will get will be in line with Dentex’s vision, meaning they will have access to the values and culture, which are so supportive and so professional, and will help practices get where they need to be.’
Tif Qureshi
It’s fair to say that Tif Qureshi has changed the face of dentistry very much for the better.
Having trained as a cosmetic dentist, he recognised the limits of the traditional approach of veneers and crowns and developed the concept of Align, Bleach and Bond as a simpler, and more effective option for patients looking to transform their smiles.
He pioneered making simple orthodontics part of general practice – a concept that is, of course, now common practice.
Today, he teaches dentists around the world in his role as clinical director of IAS Academy. He mentors attendees to guide their continued development.
He is also principal dentist at Dental Elegance in Kent, where he’s practised for 30 years and enjoys a very loyal clientele (just try getting an appointment with him!).
A different marketing approach
Tif was keen to be a judge to bring a slightly more unique take on marketing to the panel: while many may focus their marketing activities solely on new patients, Tif sees the value in focusing attention on the patients already in the chair.
‘We’re trying to educate our own existing patients on what’s actually happening to their teeth, to help them understand that there are treatments that will help them in the long run,’ he explains.
‘I think many people in dentistry focus marketing entirely on attracting new people, when they don’t realise that their existing patients will probably buy treatments from them if they understood the benefit to their teeth in the long run.’
Tif stresses that this strategy is about the long-term development of a practice, rather than quick wins: ‘The right type of marketing is really important to be able to build quality relationships with your patients.
‘You want to think about attracting patients who value you as a dentist and who aren’t just looking for the cheapest price or coming to you because you’re a “provider” of something.’
The winning candidate?
As a result of his attitude to marketing, Tif will be looking for a practice that demonstrates a real focus on patient care, rather than simply trying to find fast solutions to upping their patient count: ‘For me, it’s about what is the overall long term view of why they’re seeing these patients: their attitude towards the dentistry that they do and their focus on longevity and quality of care.’
A no brainer
‘I think the question really should be, why wouldn’t you,’ Tif stresses, when asked why practices should consider applying.
‘Because any help that you can get, at whatever stage of your career or whatever stage of practice development, if done correctly will be beneficial.
‘This grant will give the winning practice access to the right people, who will be able to formulate something quite unique for them. This can only help the practice quite dramatically.
‘I think it’s a bit of a no brainer really – it’s a fantastic opportunity.’
The prize
We will be offering one winning practice – that isn’t a member of the Dentex group – a marketing support package, valued up to £4,450.
The prize will include: a full audit of the practice’s online presence; rebranded social media assets; website UX and technical on-and off-page SEO review and recommendations; a logo refresh; £2,000 contribution towards advertising – whether it be print, online, or social; a day onsite with our clinical director, Rahul Doshi, to explore how the winner can grow their treatment mix.
How to enter
Nominate your practice today! Get in touch and tell us a bit about you and why you should win.
Entries close 31 August, with the winner announced 14 September. We can’t wait to meet you!
Apply here www.dentexhealth.co.uk/digital-marketing-grant/.
