Dental hygienists play an integral role in the dental office as a preventive specialist. Often, hygienists spend more time with dental patients than the doctor. Within their role of treating patients, a key component of treatment includes educating on proper oral health care, including the recommendation of products. Not only do hygienists recommend products to patients, but they also use a multitude of products no else in the office uses. Because of this, the marketing to dental hygienists of both in-office and patient-use products is invaluable to a company or manufacturer. However, sometimes the marketing of products misses the mark. This has the potential to do more harm than good to a brand because the messaging to dental hygienists, who are using and recommending a product, are left shaking their heads. Here are three marketing mishaps to avoid.
1) The Incorrect Depiction of Product Use or Dentistry in General
Whether you’re marketing a dental product with a TV commercial, online, or in print, the depiction of a product, and dentistry in general, matters. The same idea applies to any content you put out, such as articles, research, etc. Hygienists have an eye for detail. If the marketing content depicts the product being used incorrectly, hygienists will dismiss the intended message of the advertisement, only focusing on what’s incorrect within the ad. This completely negates the point of marketing in the first place.
Examples of incorrectly depicting products can include improper brushing or flossing technique, incorrect technique while coronal polishing, or even holding an instrument improperly. Telling a patient, “Yes, as a dental hygienist, I do recommend a certain interdental care aid or toothbrush. However, don’t use it how you see it in TV commercials or online or print ads,” is frustrating for the clinician and negatively depicts the brand due to inaccuracy.
Clinicians in photos or commercials need to depict dental healthcare professionals correctly. Are they exhibiting proper infection control wearing a lab jacket, gloves, protective eyewear, and a mask? Further, masks should not be placed under the chin; this is an infection control no-no. If there’s a patient in the photo or commercial, are they wearing protective eyewear and are they positioned properly in the dental chair? This may seem trivial, but again, dental hygienists will spend more thought on the incorrect depiction than the actual messaging of the advertisement. This doesn’t help a manufacturer or a dental practitioner.
2) Marketing Only to Dentists When the Hygienist is the User of the Product
While the dentist may write the check for dental products used in the office, if the end user is a dental hygienist, your marketing dollars are best spent targeting them specifically. In dental offices where quality patient care is the top priority, a dentist is going to look to the dental team for products recommendations that will help provide the best patient care. If a certain prophy angle, prophy paste, fluoride varnish, or infection control product, is going to allow a clinician to do their job most effectively, they are going to ask for that product. The same can be said for the technology in the office. While a doctor reviews patient X-rays, it’s a dental hygienist or dental assistant who take the X-rays and use the sensor, not the doctor. Marketing toward the end user, regardless of who writes the check, is in a manufacturers’ best interest. Know the end user and target your marketing based on that, not the other way around.
Along the same lines is targeting your marketing to the clinician that will be recommending your products. While dentists do make oral home care product recommendations, a dental hygienist makes these recommendations the majority of the time. If you want your product to be on the list of products a hygienist recommends to their patients, targeting your marketing toward them should be your goal. If a hygienist isn’t aware or educated on your product, they simply won’t recommend it. Even worse is when a patient asks about a certain product and the hygienist has no idea what they are talking about because no clinician awareness or education on a new product took place before consumer marketing.
3) Manufacturers Not Supporting or Discounting the Role of Dental Hygienists
Dental hygienists recommend products based on many factors; some include research, efficacy, patient need, and personal experience. However, one factor often overlooked by manufacturers’ is how, if at all, they support a dental hygienists role and profession as a whole. For many hygienists, if a company doesn’t appear to support their profession or overlooks them as a clinician, they are less likely to give the product a chance, let alone recommend it.
Just one example of this is ads that say, “Dentist recommended,” when in reality, the majority of the time it’s a dental hygienist who recommends said products. This sends an inaccurate message to patients and undermines dental hygienists’ important role in patient education and as a profession. Dental hygienists have a hard enough time educating the general public on the importance of oral health, the role a dental hygienists plays in preventive health, and being respected as a profession. Adding to this constant struggle as a dental manufacturer makes it appear you don’t support dental hygienists as preventive specialists. This hurts dental hygienists, but arguably, hurts a brand more.
In closing, knowing the end user of your product is key. If your product is used or recommended by a dental hygienist, they should be your target audience for marketing. Also, your marketing should not only correctly depict the use of your product, but dentistry as a whole. If a manufacturer doesn’t support or give credit to dental hygienists in marketing messages, they, in turn, won’t support you with the products they use or recommend.