Gary Smith is OM’s resident “Strategist”. He earned his BS degree in marketing from the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill (1977) and has been working in the marketing field for over thirty years.
Smith is the President and founder of The TransForm Group (TTG), a marketing-operations firm in Atlanta, GA. TTG consists of a staff of twenty three professionals and growing.
Mr. Smith is also the creator of OrthoMail, a division of TTG, started in 2007.
Smith became interested in the Orthodontic industry after experiencing orthodontics through his four children and his adult treatment.
He researched the industry for over a year and discovered major trends were emerging that required fresh solutions for new patient aquisition. Below are those observations and why Orthomail was founded:
The Orthodontic industry operates in a referral reliant environment. This has been the preferred method of obtaining new patients. For all its advantages - it has some rather steep down sides.
The referral based system has created a “dependency culture”.
It is difficult for an Orthodontist to grow the practice to its full potential if referral sources begin to decline.
Also, referral systems are unpredictable. It is close to impossible to control referral volume and timing.
For many Orthodontists, both GP and Patient referrals are declining.
This decline can be attributed to many reasons but the major change in the industry is the growing number of GPs providing orthodontic services.
“Proactive” options are needed so Orthodontists can increase consultation volume without being totally dependent on referrals. The only self directed option to stimulate new case starts is the marketing option.
Many companies that provide marketing services to the industry seem to be missing the mark:
Consultants sell information that is difficult to implement.
Product companies sell the random use of products outside the context of a strategy.
Results seem to be disappointing to many doctors who have tried one or both.
OrthoMail has a very specific mission - increase new case starts. This is accomplished through Demographic Mail Campaigns and Web Optimization. We operate from the context of proven strategies based on mathematics plus thirty years of marketing experience.
In this endeavor, Mr. Smith is assisted by Richard Dodson, VP of Marketing, Barb Lincoln, Director of Creative Services, and Mike Tiller, Manager of Client Services. All will be involved in the “Facilitator” role after an agreed upon strategy has been determined.
Our team looks forward to helping you reach your goals.
