Matt Borud

Yesterday Google announced Google Instant - their unbelievably cool search functionality that allows users to view results instantly by posting and refining links as the queries are literally typed. I'd like everyone to stop reading and go try it right now. Seriously.

One of the big initial questions yesterday surrounding Google Instant is how would it affect Adwords and Google's other online search and advertising mechanisms. Would SEO become irrelevant? Or perhaps even more relevant? How would impressions be measured if results were constantly changing? While many of these questions are still being answered and may not be fully realized for some time, there is no doubt Instant has changed the landscape of local internet marketing.

Many dental practices we meet with are interested in how they can better utilize Google and online search in their local advertising efforts. After all, online advertising is a staple of new media and what I believe to be the foundation for much of our future buying decisions. When a practice is considering local advertising and asks me, "Where should I start?" I usually reply by giving a rudimentary, beginner lesson on the benefits of Google Paid Search and localized online advertising. It's affordable for most practices, easier to track than most media and can provide an immediate and relevant market presence.

I see Google Instant as being a phenomenal innovation for local advertisers for a variety of reasons, none larger than it will deliver more relevant, better qualified traffic to your site. On more than one occasion over the past two days, I've found myself searching for information only to find—as I continued to type and viewed results—that I wasn't going in the right direction. Google Instant allowed me to immediately amend my search terms and arrive at a more desirable and/or relevant result without ever having to leave the page, hit "enter" or wait for returns to see where to go next. The result is that I found what I was actually looking for versus what I thought I wanted. The information that I ultimately arrived at may have begun on the second or third page of a typical Google search, but because of Instant, those results found their way to the top of my search.

Whether you're interested in local marketing ideas to promote dental implants, or perhaps a new co-op marketing direction, let Balihoo's team provide you with the technology and service expertise to better navigate through the types of local advertising changes Google Instant represents. Learn more about how we're revolutionizing local advertising similar to the way Google has revolutionized search.

Last Saturday, Balihoo had the pleasure of presenting at the Granite Transformations annual franchise convention in New Orleans. Now this was a significant occasion for several reasons beyond franchise marketing - namely it being my first time in the Big Easy. After the celebration of Balihoo's arrival subsided, it was time to get down to business and talk local store marketing with some eager and engaged franchisees.

The marketing team at Granite Transformation has taken an active and aggressive approach to solving issues that countless franchise organizations face. How can a national marketing team better support local franchisees? Is your brand's creative material compelling and effective - does it help sell your product? How can your marketing team manage seemingly limitless local customizations for hundreds of franchisees across the country? How can you ensure your franchisees are using brand approved advertising material in their local advertising efforts, and how can you track and report on the results? How can your franchisees leverage Facebook, Twitter, local PR, SEO, blogs and YouTube? This list goes on and on - and frankly it requires much more than sophisticated ad builder software or someone to manage your local media buying. It requires a team of dedicated marketing experts each specializing in key challenge areas your franchisees face.

Kudos to Carl, the Granite Transformations FAC, and the rest of their marketing team for building a strong network of marketing and advertising experts for their franchisees to leverage. From PR to creative agency, online and social media marketing to franchise marketing software - Granite Transformation has covered their bases and giving their franchisees the tools necessary to thrive in a competitive and challenging market. There are certainly more hurdles to overcome, but the question becomes, whether you're a marketing executive, a franchisee looking for local marketing help, or a prospective franchisee checking out different opportunities - is your organization bold enough to take the steps Granite Transformations has taken to ensure they're franchisees have the most innovative local store marketing tools in the industry? If the answer to that question is 'no' - it may be time to reevaluate your franchise marketing strategies and talk with Balihoo about what we can do for your organization's marketing effort. Because at the end of the day, you're competing with Granite Transformations, whether for home improvement business, the consumer's limited budget and mindshare or your next well-qualified potential franchisees - and they just retooled like the Miami Heat.

From all of us at Balihoo, we're very excited to kick off our relationship with the Granite Transformations team next week. Thank you for your hospitality last weekend and the opportunity to partner - we're looking forward to a successful relationship!

As conferences filled with software engineers and developers saw, Facebook's recent f8 conference ended with a fervor of questions and controversy. Is user security protection at all a priority for Facebook? Does Mark Zuckerberg fundamentally (and mockingly) disagree with the idea of "privacy"? And does anyone, besides a few on the fringe, really even care?

As a college educated, tech-sector employed, target demographic, GEN Y Facebook user, I'd argue that when the chips are down no one really cares about their Facebook privacy as much as those in the TechCrunch/GigaOM sphere want you to believe. We've become so dependent on Facebook as our social lifeline and interaction vehicle that we're not going to be deterred by having to decipher a few (ok, ok a ridiculous amount) labyrinth-like privacy settings to hide your Mexico fishing trip pics from your wife so you can see what your 7th grade girlfriend is doing this weekend. Sure, we like to think when we delete a picture it's been removed from the annals of existence. And of course no one is entirely comfortable knowing that 3rd party marketers have access to the information we're conversing about over email and Facebook. But the reality is we're the ones that have agreed, whether implicitly or directly, to share that information.

We take web security for granted and really have no understanding of the measures in place to protect our information. As much as we pay lip service for better security options, we still pay our bills, buy and sell freely and analyze our finances all by entering our credit card, debit card and bank account information in countless sites across the internet without hesitation nearly every day. We still upload our pictures, update our status, and give our location data away on a daily - sometimes hourly - basis. And we're only going to continue to give more and more information away. We're used to third party ads littering our Gmail messages and spam messages with special offers from sites we've never visited. It's a part of the online experience we've allowed to happen. Pressing Facebook NOW to do more isn't going to change the direction we've already taken.

My friends and I used to joke when someone couldn't come up with a piece information they were looking for that if only there was a medium where information could be found, stored, and exchanged immediately. The internet has provided us with nearly all the world's information at our disposal in real time - so much so that it's difficult to remember what it was like to not know something without being able to pop open my laptop and look it up. Encyclopedias, I guess. It began with general information and has now taken off into our personal information and it's all because we've been more than willing to share nearly all aspects of our life online.

As someone at Balihoo who's tasked daily with providing small business owners (specifically those in the dental marketing industry) with local marketing ideas - how to use Facebook effectively is a topic that comes up often. Everyone is interested in leveraging local internet marketing to better reach their target demographic and connect with users in ways more traditional advertising doesn't allow. I've learned these kinds of concerns don't resonate with the causal Facebook user or advertiser. We're all interested in better connecting with our friends, patients, customers and interests, and regardless of privacy concerns, Facebook still allows you to do that better than any other service available.

When most people outside of the tech sector, Gen Y or Millennials think of a blogger, the unfortunate image of a socially awkward Dungeons and Dragons aficionado planted in front of a computer screen with little more than Mountain Dew and Doritos as sustenance is the first thing to come to mind. However in recent years as "New Media" has taken greater hold and many blogs have gone from a journal-like hobby to a legitimate source for breaking news and ultimately revenue generation, the blogger has also become more mainstream and, dare I say, even cool.

At Balihoo, we help businesses better connect with local audiences through more relevant local advertising and marketing ideas. One of our finest clients, as a colleague so eloquently described last week, is Nobel Biocare and their network of dental healthcare providers. Nobel wanted to partner with Balihoo for our stable of marketing software tools and local advertising experience. One question that often comes up when speaking with Nobel practices is "how can my practice better leverage social media and local internet marketing?" Certainly a Facebook page and a Twitter account is a good (and free) place to start but as I've been paying more and more attention to the dental industry, and more specifically the dental implant community, it's becoming clearer and clearer that a practice blog is more imperative than ever.

One of the biggest challenges we run into when developing a local advertising and media buying strategy for a dental specialist is how do we effectively educate the consumer about dental implants and the accompanying procedures. The short answer is it's difficult to do in a 30-second TV spot, radio ad, billboard, or direct mailer. However, an up to date and relevant blog can provide those answers, unique to each practice, in one easy to access forum.

A dental blog gives your practice an opportunity to speak directly to the consumer in a controlled environment and tell them what's unique about your practice, your procedures, and overall experience. A quality and informative blog will ideally drive more traffic to your door by answering qualified consumers questions and spurring them to come in and meet with you.

There are a lot of questions surrounding a dental implant procedure. How much does it cost? Will my insurance cover it? What's the process like? Is it painful? Just as you would take great care to answer these questions with a patient in the chair, your blog will give you the same opportunity to speak to all those consumers looking to learn more before spending time on a consultation in your office. I suggest posting something relevant once a week. Be creative and involve everyone in the practice. Blog about changes or improvements to your office, interesting new procedures, successful patient experiences along with the more standard general information like insurance, FAQ's or procedural expectations.

Local marketing and advertising is all about connecting with nearby consumers in a unique and individualized fashion. It's about relating to their interests, communicating that you care about what's important to them, and treating each relationship with importance of the one-on-one interaction that it is. When looking for new and better local internet marketing ideas, a blog is a great way to make that connection and provide local consumers with the information they need to make an educated decision.

Like New Year resolutions and Festivus, Earth Day is a yearly opportunity to reconfirm our commitment to healthy causes and challenge ourselves to feats of eco strength and sustainability. With many business jumping on the "green" bandwagon, it's important to note all the advances the dental community has made in making practices more friendly to Mother Earth, and what it can do for your practices local marketing efforts.

There have been several significant "green" developments in recent years.  Advances like mercury-free fillings and filtration systems, steam-based sterilization tools, and X-rays that use digital imagery technology to minimize toxic developing chemicals are all providing for a much healthier patient experience. This isn't limited to in-practice efforts either. Dental practices have the luxury of a captive audience when a patient is in the chair. Recommendations like turning off the water while you brush -  some estimate we're losing 27 billion glasses of clean water EVERY DAY because we're leaving the water running - tend to stick better in the patient's mind than another green plug from elsewhere.

Not only are these changes great for the environment and patient health, they're a great way to advertise locally and differentiate your practice from your competitors. Successful local marketing is much more than fancy ad builder software or co-op advertising programs - its about finding new and different ways to connect with your patients and their interests. Eco friendly products and procedures translate to great local marketing ideas because more and more consumers are making buying decisions with green vendors in mind. Many consumers are looking for service providers who share their values, and when making green and sustainable business decisions, it's important to message them to the consumer through appropriate local marketing and advertising mechanisms and bring them in your door.

One of the best parts about my role at Balihoo are the conversations I have with dentists who are in the process of opening a new practice. Whether they're a fresh faced recent grad or grizzled dental veteran, nothing compares to the excitement, optimism and sheer terror of venturing out on your own and living your entrepreneurial dream. Oftentimes it's that sheer terror that fuels their interest in our local advertising, media buying and launch marketing solutions.

Unfortunately most dental schools don't offer a business minor and many well-meaning docs venture out with nothing more than a dream in their heart and South Park business plan in their steady hand. The reality is this isn't Field of Dreams and just building an office filled with the most advanced equipment, caring staff, and the finest degrees in town won't be enough to get your practice off the ground. Unfortunately amid startling costs for staff, infrastructure, tools and supplies, a strong consumer-driven local advertising effort is left out of the launch plan.

Well, Balihoo just will not let this stand! We're here to provide you with the finest dental marketing tools available and, short of that, the best organic (read: free and well-meaning) quick tips to get you started.

1. BEGIN YOUR BRAND. Invest in a well-thought name, logo, website for your practice but remember this is just the start. Your brand is your entire business experience so consider from day 1 how you want to shape your practice culture and ultimately be represented in the marketplace. Think long term and develop brand material that can easily integrate with a variety of marketing channels and remain a recognizable beacon of consistency for years to come. It could ultimately be worth a lot more than you think.
2. TARGET YOUR MARKET.  Do you know who your ideal patient is? Do you know where they live and the best ways to reach them? As simple as "know your patients" may sound, in practice it can be a major stumbling block. Once you have your sights on your target, make building trusting relationships your practice's #1 priority. Your patients want you to know them and their care, provide them with your expertise so referring their friends and family is as easy as possible.
3. NEW PATIENTS! NEW PATIENTS! NEW PATIENTS! Unless blessed with an unflappable trust fund or the world's greatest financial advisor, most practices open with a limited budget for consumer advertising and local marketing. While an integrated campaign filled with grand opening TV and radio spots, direct mailers, billboards and newspaper ads is a best case scenario, there are plenty of cost effective (i.e. free) methods for reaching local consumers that can get you started. Social media has exploded in the last 18 months and is a great first step to build a groundswell of local support. Start a Facebook business page where local consumers can connect with you. Try opening up a Twitter account and generate relevant content like pictures of your office or interesting dental articles. Take your home video camera and give a tour of your office for YouTube. It's all free, it's all relevant, and it connects you to your patients and prospects in ways traditional media can't.

As time-consuming and overwhelming as the internal workings of opening a practice can be, don't neglect those areas that reflect on you externally. By working from the start to advertise your practice locally and consistently integrating new marketing ideas, you'll find yourself building your patient base much more quickly than you would have otherwise.