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Navigating Dentistry: Marketing Tips and Building Confidence with Josh Scott of Studio 8e8
10 Plays10 hours ago
About the Guest:
Joshua Scott
Joshua Scott is the founder and CEO of Studio 8e8, a dental marketing agency that specializes in creative solutions for dental practices. With a background that spans various facets of business and an innovative approach to marketing, Joshua has become a respected voice in the dental industry. He is recognized for leveraging technology, particularly AI, in enhancing the marketing strategies for dental professionals, focusing on creativity as a core component of his methodology.
Episode Summary:
In this engaging episode of "Beyond Graduation," hosts Dr. Savanah Craig and Dr. Ronnetta Sartor welcome Joshua Scott, founder of Studio 88, to discuss the evolving landscape of dental marketing. The conversation navigates through vital strategies for marketing on a budget and highlights the importance of creative custom content in building a dental practice's digital presence. This episode offers invaluable insights for both new and established dental professionals seeking to innovate and grow in their fields.
Throughout the episode, Joshua Scott dispels common myths about dental marketing, emphasizing how creativity and social media outreach can be more effective than simply increasing budget allocations. He shares his passion for wine and his acceptance of new experiences in the context of his career evolution. Joshua also expertly discusses the state and future of dental marketing, especially focusing on the impacts of AI on creativity and business performance. As he shares his observations about changes in the dental industry, from technological innovation to business consolidation, listeners receive a thorough understanding of the current dental landscape.
Key Takeaways:
- The most cost-effective marketing methods often involve leveraging social media to build an audience through authentic and creative content.
- Throwing money at marketing problems without strategic planning is a myth; thoughtful approaches are necessary to genuinely improve outcomes.
- Acknowledging dentistry's beauty and innovation can positively shift public perception; a focus on health benefits and service can enhance its value proposition.
- Trust in oneself and their instincts can enhance decision-making and growth both personally and professionally.
- AI's role in dental marketing will likely automate many processes, but creativity remains a distinctly human advantage that drives successful outcomes.
Connect with Us:
- Savanah Craig, DDS: @savanahcraigdds
- Ronnetta Sartor, DMD: @dr_sartor
- FutureDentists Beyond Graduation: @futuredentistsbeyondgraduation
- FutureDentists: @futuredentists
- Studio 8e8: @studio8e8 and https://s8e8.com/
- IgniteDDS and IgniteDDS Coaching: @ignitedds and www.ignitedds.com
Listeners are encouraged to explore these resources to gain more insights from Joshua Scott and stay informed about innovative dental marketing strategies. Be sure to tune into the full episode for an enriching discussion and keep an ear out for future episodes that promise to offer more guidance and inspiration for dentists navigating the early years of their careers.
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Transcript
Marketing on a Budget
00:00:00
Speaker
What are your top suggestions for someone that's marketing on a budget?
00:00:06
Speaker
I'm planning this trip and we're in Edinburgh, Scotland. i What do you think the future of dental marketing looks like? Vision is starting to come to you about the future. and I would just tell you just trust yourself, man.
00:00:20
Speaker
ADEC's Smart Start program offers first-time practice owners their deepest discounts on equipment and furniture for two years, plus other savings and complimentary services. Ask your ADEC rep for details and start smart with ADEC.
Career Insights from Drs. Craig and Sartor
00:00:33
Speaker
Join Drs. Savannah Craig and Renetta Sartor as we navigate life beyond graduation. Real conversations about forging our own paths in our early years in our careers.
00:00:44
Speaker
There's a reason it's called practicing dentistry. Welcome back to our part two episode with Joshua Scott from Studio 88. All right, Josh. So we want to be respectful of your time. So we want to hit you with some rapid fire questions before we finish up to, you know, you don't have to answer them in like one word or anything like that because these are tricky, but...
00:01:05
Speaker
That's how we'll finish this off.
Social Media Strategies
00:01:06
Speaker
So what are your top suggestions for someone that's marketing on a budget? Marketing on a budget, it would depend on what the budget is, but I would say, honestly, your best bang for the buck is going to be in social media.
00:01:19
Speaker
um So creating content there and just building an audience that's for a low, low budget practice. That's where I would
Marketing Myths and Realities
00:01:25
Speaker
go. What are your top myths that you want to dispel regarding dental marketing or marketing in general?
00:01:32
Speaker
Top myths. The first one is if you throw money at it, you will fix the problem. That is a myth. like it. Yeah. You cannot ever throw money at something and just and just like, here, fix it. That rarely works with anything. And I think sometimes we we feel like it's...
00:01:49
Speaker
Like if we throw money at it, we're throwing like pixie dust at it or it's like the magic beans. We throw them in the ground. All of a sudden there's this like giant beanstalk. And man, nothing in life works like that. We all wish it would. We want to go buy a lottery ticket and be millionaires. But the truth is things just don't work like that. So that's probably my biggest myth.
00:02:06
Speaker
I like that. What made you become a smiley? Smiley. Yeah. Always loved wine. The truth is I never touched alcohol until I turned 30. And a lot that was that seminary ministry background, just didn't get into it. And so then I went to work with this dental marketing or dental consulting group after that. And I'm planning this trip and we're in Edinburgh, Scotland. I plan this international trip for our clients to go over to Edinburgh. I love Scotland.
00:02:32
Speaker
I know, I know. Yeah, Edinburgh is is's just like magical. And so our first night, we have this welcome reception and I had bought all this like, French red wine, you know, that was being served.
00:02:42
Speaker
And I'm sitting there and I was like, ah yeah, it was probably this moment of, hey, I'm i'm not in this ministry world anymore. And And we're serving $100 bottles of French red wine. And so I you know had one. ah and And then that started. and Then I think I planned a and trip for them the next year to wine country. and And my wife was out there with me on that one. And we kind of fell in love with it together. And then COVID hit 2020.
00:03:06
Speaker
And i was like working so much. And I thought, I need a hobby right now. to like get my mind off of this. And so I signed up to, and did level one, level two, level three, you know, like drinking more wine during COVID may not have been the best thing at some point. People were like, we probably need to drink less coming out of COVID. But yeah, it was, it was a fun time.
00:03:27
Speaker
what is your What is your favorite wine? That's tough and it always changes. Right now, I'm probably, i'm a big sparkling wine guy. So lot of champagne, just even Prosecco.
00:03:39
Speaker
Just, yeah. I love the bubbles. Yes. What do you wish the general public knew about dentistry?
The Beauty and Innovation in Dentistry
00:03:46
Speaker
Because you're coming from an outside perspective and dentistry is a a weird world. So what what would be some things that you wish everybody else knew about dentistry and dentist? I wish they knew how beautiful of a profession it was. It's really, it's one of the most innovative professions out there. It's humans serving humans. there's a real beautiful like service component to it. But even beyond all that, I mean, just just the health benefits and the longevity.
00:04:12
Speaker
Charles Mayo said to the American Medical Association in 1948, he said a patient with complete dentition and an optimal, what he called optimum oral health should expect to live on average 10 years longer.
00:04:27
Speaker
And if you think about Charles Mayo saying that to a group of doctors, physicians in 1948, like how far ahead of his time was he to make a statement like that?
00:04:38
Speaker
And ever since then, all the research has come back to It it shows that. There's a book called Real Age. Michael Roy Zan talks people through like, okay, if if you smoke, like add seven years to your life. you know like So you find this real age. And one of his things was he said, you know having periodontal disease, um yeah, you're going to add 10 years to your life. like you're you're You're seven years older. He also said the converse of that is if you're in optimum oral health, you can subtract three years from your life.
00:05:06
Speaker
So you have this 10-year swing of being in optimum oral health. And so we've seen it over and over again. And I think that the American public, I don't think, understands that. But you know going to the dentist and that relationship, it's it's a decision about longevity and quality of life. Beautifully said. You can be the spokesperson for for dentistry going forward. Yeah. I need you in my office at every hygiene appointment. Can you make those like patient videos that we play in the waiting room? Oh, yeah, yeah. no yeah i was I joke around with practices sometimes. and I'm like, man, what if you guys had like on your scrubs or T-shirts or something that was like, by being here today, you can live 10 years longer. Ask me how, you know? like Yeah. It'd be a fun way to just engage patients for sure.
00:05:49
Speaker
love that. That would be huge. So what do you think makes dentistry as a business – different than any of the other businesses that's that's out there. i think you guys having to be a technician, a provider, and also run a business, I think makes it really, really unique.
00:06:08
Speaker
There are other professions that are like that for sure, but it's very hard, especially early on to realize like you have a business, but that business also demands you having a job in the business.
00:06:23
Speaker
where a true business doesn't necessarily need that. like if At this point with Studio 88, if I stepped away, that thing is still running. I definitely have value as a CEO and my leadership what I'm doing, but I'm not necessarily chair side, so to speak. I don't have to go in on Monday to produce revenue for the thing to keep going.
00:06:44
Speaker
And so that's that's a uniqueness that I think is hard to navigate sometimes. You can build a really big practice all on your shoulders, but you decide you want to go away for a month in the summer.
00:06:55
Speaker
i mean, maybe you can have some hygiene checks happening, but that that summer month takes a massive hit on revenue because of it. And so learning how to build a business that isn't so what, like, reliant on you is is ah a really interesting skill set to develop and, like, perspective. Yeah. Going off of that, how how have you seen the dental landscape change in you know the 12 years you've been doing
Dental Field Innovations and DSO Trends
00:07:20
Speaker
this? What would you say are kind of the biggest differences now in in dentistry and as a whole? Probably two things. I would talk i would definitely talk about innovation. i think the last 10 to 12 years, man, so much. I mean, I think dentistry was, they were three d printing before a lot of people even knew what 3D printing was. you know If you think about the just the first set of like CERAC mills and things like that.
00:07:41
Speaker
So what im what I watch happen sometimes, I mean, you know people now just even milling their own like Invisalign. Yeah. Yeah. I was going say, well, yeah yeah. I mean, I've seen the big mills like in practices that can actually produce like a same day denture. That's crazy.
00:07:56
Speaker
But even just doing, you know, like aligner trays, it's it's wild how far that's gone. and And that's just one piece of it. I mean, we could talk about diagnostics and all the other things. What's happening right now with AI and diagnostics is also just, it's mind boggling.
00:08:08
Speaker
But I would also, obviously, the the DSO consolidation, I think you can't talk about the last 10 years without talking about that and how that's affecting dentistry and what's happening there. And I think a lot of it is, a lot of it hasn't been good. or And usually in early cycles, a lot of it, yeah, we we don't have a handle on it i think now we're seeing some really...
00:08:27
Speaker
We're seeing some good sized groups come around that are really taking care of, have patient care first and foremost. um They're not just trying to build something to sell it or flip it or recap. It's like we actually have a model here of of growing an organization. so yeah, I think those two things.
AI in Dental Marketing: Creativity's Role
00:08:45
Speaker
Beyond what you kind of mentioned earlier, what do you think the future of dental marketing looks like? The future of dental marketing. Do you like candlelit dinners? Do you like late night walks on the beach? Do you want to watch the sunrise over your own lakefront property? Do you want slow mornings?
00:09:06
Speaker
Do you want afternoon yoga classes whenever you want? Do you want peace of mind? If you answered yes to any of these questions, help us build the self-determined future you're looking for. Check out Ignite DDS Coaching. Mention Beyond Graduation podcast for free consultation with Ignite DDS Coaching.
00:09:26
Speaker
I really think with AI, we're going to get to the point where A lot of things on the, if we go back to that right brain, left brain, a lot of things on the performance side, I think we're going to probably be able to handle and automate more with AI. What I still think is going to be a huge variable, and I see this for the next at least decade, is the creative. I think AI is going to really struggle with the creative. And even as best as AI can do it, I still think there's an advantage to humans working with AI to go, oh my gosh, I've got this idea. And what if we took this angle and now you're using AI to build it?
00:10:06
Speaker
But I mean, we were just having this conversation of, Okay, what like what if a website can just get anybody anywhere anytime can just build a beautiful website just with AI with a touch of a button? and And it kind of takes that part away.
00:10:18
Speaker
Well, but still, what photos are you going to put up there? What videos are you going to put up there? What videos are you putting up on on TikTok and and reels that are getting pulled in by AI searches? That stuff, I think, is going to become even more valuable.
00:10:32
Speaker
down the road. So I really i really think the creative is is going to be the key and the variable as we see AI start to gobble up a lot of other stuff. So I have a ah loaded question i was supposed to ask you. You'll never guess who told me to ask you this.
00:10:44
Speaker
Who your favorite client is? I have no idea would ask me my favorite client, but he's he's really a cool guy. no I have really enjoyed our our journey with with you guys for sure. um And just knowing Michael, gosh, for years. i mean, I think I spoke at, I don't know if it was, no, maybe it was the ASDA meeting back then where I first met him and we just have kept in touch and our team has been able to, you know, you guys have really put some big goals and in place and he's, he's a visionary with kind of what he sees and
00:11:20
Speaker
He also doesn't settle for however he did it the last time. He's gotta go bigger, gotta go better. and And that builds every time. And it's just been fun even challenging our team, you know, when it's like, hey new practice and here's the goal. And the team's like, what? We we thought we did great last time. and I'm like, yeah, and we're going to build and go on to the next one. so ah You probably feel the same way. it's It's fun to work with people like that. Sometimes it's it's you know it can be stressful and exhausting keeping up with them, but man, also the thrill of doing something that you feel like is matters and is growing, is you can't replace that. Yeah. it's It's been great, and we've loved working with you guys and your team. AI will not replace you. So that's good. Well, and yeah, that's no, it's good to know. And Savannah, what I would tell, and I've said this about him to my team and to other people, what he is building and the way he's building it is elite in the country.
00:12:10
Speaker
Like it really is. i have a very good view of what's happening in the country and the way he's building. I don't know if anybody else that's building practices like that. And I think a lot of people, if they knew what he was doing, they would be like, oh my gosh, like, like show me, tell me what you're doing.
00:12:25
Speaker
So. Yeah. Yeah, keeping keeping the growth, but also really caring about the patients and the team and and taking care of all of us is huge. yeah Josh, if you can leave us with one piece of advice for, you you can pick your favorite era of dentists. I would say our listeners are usually like de-forced to their first 10 years out. But what what is what is some advice that you, you know, if if people listen to nothing but this last five seconds
Empowering Young Dentists
00:12:55
Speaker
or five minutes of the podcast, what would you want want to share? I would tell them. a few years back, I had a kind of a business mentor of mine and and i was sitting down and we were actually at a conference and we were sitting down at lunch and was like, hey, can i I throw something by you? And he's like, yeah, I'm i'm talking to him about this like situation i'm dealing with in business. It kind of just had me stumped and I'm like, no, just not not real sure.
00:13:15
Speaker
And he listens and asks some questions. At the end of it, he was just like, he says a statement to me, he says, trust yourself because I do. And I sat there and was like, here's this guy that just listened to me kind of, you know, filter out the whole thing and and says to me, then trust yourself because I do. And in that level of confidence, I was like,
00:13:35
Speaker
I never thought about that of some of the people around me going, like, no, we trust you. Like, what like what's your instinct? Go with it. And I think if I look back on myself, you know, my 20, 25-year-old self, if I ever ran into him in a coffee shop, like, I would say that same thing of trust yourself because I do. Like, your future self, I trust you.
00:13:55
Speaker
And so that's what I would say to to your listeners too, the D4s, the de fours the you know recently out of school is, especially if you're feeling something inside you, you're seeing something, and maybe you're in an associateship right now, but this vision starting to come to you about the future, maybe the next two to three, five years, and some of your plans for dentistry. and And I would just tell you, just trust yourself, man.
00:14:15
Speaker
Go for it. When I look back, probably one of my greatest journeys as a person has just been building my confidence as I go. I know I can come off very confident internally. that was a That's been ah a huge accomplishment of mine is building that that structure. And so when you're young, having somebody go, go for it Like I believe in you.
00:14:35
Speaker
that's what I would say. I love that. i love that. Well, thanks for spending your Saturday morning with us. Can you tell everyone where to find you and your team and and where to go from here?
Connect with Joshua Scott
00:14:47
Speaker
Yeah. For more information on Studio ADA, our website is saea.com. So it's the letter S, the number 8, the letter E, the number 8.com. For me personally, go over to Instagram. I'm at Joshua Scott. I'm still in my social media accounts. DM me. Tell me you heard this show.
00:15:04
Speaker
I'll respond back to you. that's That's me definitely in there for sure. but Yeah, guys, thanks so much for being on. Love, love, love what you're doing. Always want to support anybody out there doing stuff innovative and just just taking a step, you know being courageous, like let's start a podcast. So I love all that.
00:15:20
Speaker
Thank you. right, we'll catch you all back next time. Thank you for joining us for this episode of Beyond Graduation. If you enjoyed this week's episode, be sure to share it with a friend. Connect with us on social media at savannah craig And remember, you are not alone on this journey. ADEC certified pre-owned equipment is a sustainable, affordable choice that makes genuine ADEC equipment available to every doctor. Each package is sold on a first-come, first-served basis. So if you see one you like, contact your dealer. For more information, go to www.adec.com backslash findadealer. Thank you for listening to Beyond Graduation brought to you by Ignite DDS and Future Dentists. This episode was sponsored by Ignite DDS Coaching.
00:16:10
Speaker
We build self-determined futures. For more information, please reach out to the Ignite DDS team.