10 March 2017 | Sas Soubhi
Harley Street London, W1
Whilst heading to the tube following a client meeting the other day, I was amazed to see the car in the photo parked outside a dental practice. For once the advertising on the side of the door resonated more than the make and model of the car which is actually a Bentley. Clearly, I am missing the demise of Clarkson and co. more than I thought!
This got me thinking though and at the next available opportunity I googled this practice and was taken to a lively website beaming from pillar to post with lots of images of comfy leather sofas, high tech dental equipment, payment plans and of course the quintessentially palatial, regency style building. So far, pretty much what you would normally expect on any dental website. Buried further down the page (3 page downs on my screen), however, was a header called “VIP treatment for our Patients”. This was where things began to deviate from the norm, from a marketing point of view you could say they were clearly saving their best to last, but I’m not so sure??
Interpretation of VIP Treatment for our patients
The almost throwaway line of “we treat all of our patients as VIPs as you can see we always like our patients to have the best. Below is a shot of our fleet of chauffeur driven Patient Concierge Vehicles”. reverberated off the page like the cold antiseptic twang of the dentist’s drill! I interpreted this to mean that patients would be transported to and from the practice in a Bentley. An equally impressive shout was the caption below a photo of Harrods stating” patients being taken on a personal shopping trip after treatment involving brand new veneers!”
Pandering to the demographic
Clearly this practice understands the power of their location and moreover their client base and tailored their service offering to meet the customer’s needs. This is just what is needed in London W1, where parking is difficult and tube stations may be several minutes’ walk away. Doing this in a run of the mill, run-around vehicle, like a Corsa or a Fiesta, would surely suffice, but to offer this service in a Bentley, takes positioning on to a tropospheric level! This is where the perceived game changer now echoes with the frequency of a plastic glove hitting a well-polished floor.
We then leave the earth’s orbit!!
The idea of this exceptional service is clearly laudable and well thought out, playing to the target audience’s needs and indicative that they clearly understand their positioning relative to their client. We then move into uncharted territory with a new page called Platinum Service. where the normal rules of gravity don’t apply! Here as well as the Bentley concierge service, a proclamation is made that “up to 9 patients can be flown to the practice from any location in the world on a private jet!”
Where positioning and Oxygen masks collide!
The positioning of all these unique features on the website do need significant improvement. Offering these types of services and “burying them at the foot of the website” are real missed opportunities! In the section “What makes us different”. Once again, this truly unique concierge feature is tucked away at the foot of this page (4 page downs this time) …buried beneath “Concierge Lounge” and “117 Harley Street?” Are these really more important USP’s than Bentleys, Lear Jets or Harrods shopping expeditions?
Effective differentiation
Not using such a brilliantly conceived (and wildly over the top) piece of marketing is like climbing all the way to the tallest minaret without a megaphone knowing you are about to lose your voice and with no throat lozenges. A “star burst” or call to action at the top of the home page is a simple fix and will go a long way to highlight your point of difference in a visible, dynamic, direct and instant manner.
Not drawing any attention to something that can clearly differentiate you is tantamount to missing an open goal, with no defenders in sight and the goalkeeper off the pitch eating a pie!
Business Medics also offer marketing for dentists at affordable. Get in touch if you have any questions or queries!
