It’s that time of year – in the last 10 days I’ve received 2 different yellow pages directories found lying on my doorstep. Yellow pages advertising used to be the primary focus of my marketing budget. About 5 years ago, our practice ran a full page ad in at least 3 different books and a smaller size ad in 2 additional books. Oh, how times have changed!

If you are trying to decide whether to keep or eliminate yellow pages from your marketing budget, here are some suggestions:

Establish a tracking system

Most yellow pages offer (for a fee) a unique phone number they place in your yellow pages ad that will track these calls and forward them to your real phone number. These serves not only identify the volume of calls, but also record them. The yellow pages company provides you an ID and password for their website where you can run reports to find how many calls came in to your office thanks to this ad – and that’s how you can identify the number of potential new patients your yellow pages ad is bringing in.

Listen to the calls

If you already have this phone tracking service from the yellow pages, then go online and listen to each call. You need to know how your secretary is handling these calls. You need to find out how many of these phone calls turn into scheduled new patients.

Determine your ROI

Once you listen to the calls, you can document patient names and find out if these patients actually came in for their appointment. You can check your computer ledger to see what production/collection you received for each patient and compare the total with what you’re spending on this ad. In general, you want to shoot for a return on investment of 5:1.

By using this system, I have eliminated all yellow pages directory advertising except for one book. In fact, I was surprised to see how well this one directory was performing for us! When we decided to renew our ad in this book, we made the assumption that most of the potential new patients using the book were most likely senior citizens – and we targeted our ad to this group directly.

We’re also using the yellow pages to gain feedback on our competitors. When I see a directory that we have dropped completely, I flip immediately to the ‘Dentists’ section to see which dentists in my area are still paying the money to advertise. I find it interesting to see which dentists are still investing in a full page ad when I tracked the book’s performance and I know it didn’t perform. This tells me which dentists are paying attention to their marketing and which are still doing the same thing they used to do in the past.

Do you think the Yellow Pages are still a viable advertising medium?

Is the Yellow Pages still a viable advertising medium, or is it dead? Let us know your thoughts in a comment below.

The holidays are here and when reading this, you will feel inspired to offer holiday gifts for patients to purchase and give their friends and family. What a great way to share the good word about your dental practice and give the gift of optimal oral health! This is also a great way to add another income stream before this year ends.

When I speak about dentistry now, I say things like, “It changes as fast as the speed of light,” or “If you miss that annual meeting, you miss the turn of the century!” Trends change so quickly in the field of dentistry, so let me fill you in on the latest change that can really boost your bottom line:
New ways to think about promoting your practice.”

Holiday Gifts Increase Sales & Promote the Practice

Imagine the ability to reinforce prevention with your patients and market your practice on a regular basis. This is an open opportunity to all of us in the field of dentistry…if we change our old paradigm about self-promotion and sales.

When I think about my early days as a dental professional, I remember when the ADA spoke of the “undignified” practice of advertising. The belief that no practice should stoop to advertising was a solid mass in most minds who stepped foot in a dental office. Never did I hear phrases like, “Dentistry is a business.” Times have changed, however, and in order to financially thrive, we must start thinking in a business mindset. Here are a couple pointers to get you started and get your practice pointed in a profitable direction.

Don’t Be Afraid to Try New Promotional Activities

Successful businesses seek more business, and so should you. Back in the day, it was taboo to solicit referrals. Today, however, we no longer need to feel uncomfortable asking our patients and friends for referrals. There are many ways to do this without feeling awkward or pushy. For example, your auxiliaries and of course the doctor, can simply say to patients upon their checkout, “be sure to tell your friends about us!” Another idea is to develop a referral rewards system. Perhaps you have a stack of business cards in the waiting room that say, “Refer a friend and receive 20% off your next home care products purchase from our office. Have you checked into any of the new patient referral programs? — for example: Loyal Patients, Inc.

That leads me to my next point: selling oral care products. When analyzing the success of your business you must learn where the profit centers lie — and where you can build new profit centers. This is a proactive step in any business. One main profit center today in dentistry is home care products, and lots of dental practices are missing out because of old habits.

I specifically remember a dentist I worked for saying, “I don’t have a pharmacy in my dental office!” Think about it, though: Do we want our patients to go to their local drug store to buy the least expensive toothbrush or the mouth rinse that is on sale this week, when we could have offered them a better product AND contributed to our own bottom line? In the practice I worked where the dentist refused to have a “pharmacy,” I took note that 2/3rds of my patients never did get that prescription for Gel Kam filled at their local pharmacy. (Now that is sold over-the-counter in many areas.)

You’re a Business First

Yes, times have changed, and on top of viewing ourselves more and more as business people, we must foster a preventive patient-centered dental practice, that offers patients more options for maintaining oral health. We want to be certain that patients receive the best procedures, products, and services. We also want to promote an atmosphere where team members are encouraged to grow and build a rewarding career — and that’s a lot easier when the purse strings aren’t so tight.

Recently, a team member of Dental Practice Solutions and I, analyzed the amount of money added to a dental practice’ profits when they have these prevention products available for purchase in the dental office. These can contribute easily to an added $30,000USD annually, to your dental practice. The best part: selling home care products requires a very small upfront investment, and the return is quick and very easily done by everyone on the team participating.

Sample Gift Package

You can get creative, too. For example, group together a Waterpik
™, power toothbrush, toothpaste, mouth rinse, tongue cleaner, and floss. Then, wrap in beautiful packaging, and promote as a gift pack around special holidays. This is just one more opportunity to add that personal touch.

Not only are patients going to be asking for refills on the products they use when they come in for their dental visits, but imagine these same people coming by your office to buy a beautifully wrapped gift for someone they love in the month of November, December and even the day of Love; February 14th. Be sure to put your dental practice’s business card in every packaged gift.

Gift packs are not only a wonderful way to keep your patients healthy but also for them to share the good word and have a reason to return to your office. So now, we’ve made a complete circle back to the topic of referrals. In this case, you can let your oral care gift packages do the referring for you!

We are the oral care experts, so why wouldn’t we want our patients to come to us for the expert advice about the products and care that can help them live a longer and healthier life?

Your Thoughts

Will you offer home care products to your patients during this holiday season? If so, have you done this in the past? What were your results? If not, tell us why in a comment below.

Inspire Sense of Want or Need

Although businesses are trying to veer away from the idea of appealing to the emotions of their target market, the fact still remains that an ad campaign which strikes the heartstrings of prospective customers really do work. Creativity may be important but it is only secondary. Effective ads are those which inspire a sense of want or need within those in the target audience. Being able to do just this will make any ad campaign extremely convincing securing businesses of ROI. But moreover, being able to launch such kind of campaign will not just help with the sales but also with establishing your brand.

Be Consistent

The trickiest part of advertising is that the job is never done. After you launch a successful campaign that does not mean that you and the rest of the company or organization can call it day. When customers and potential customers are exposed to the same marketing strategy and ad for an extended period of time, they will begin to lose interest in the entire campaign and the ad’s effectiveness will slowly wane. That is exactly the reason why corporations feel the need to reinvent themselves again and again. This is to continue to exact and retain brand loyalty.

Choose Campaign Strategy Wisely

So how can businesses create a good ad campaign? There are three methods of doing so – single benefit, characterization and narrative. All of these strategies have the potential of working as long as they are used appropriately. The single benefit methodology links a product or service with one advantage that consumers cannot find from its rivals. For instance, a dental clinic which offers spa services along with the standard dental procedures can include this fact in their ad campaign. Characterization centers on a person who talks about how he or she found the product or service extremely helpful. Finally, narrative method involves the evolution of a story starting from the problem to its resolution. Regardless of what strategy a business decides to utilize, it is important for target customers to relate to the campaign. For instance, the dental clinic in the example above might play off their busy patients’ desires to relax while have important dental procedures done on them at the same time.

Final Thoughts

Advertising campaigns might help but sometimes they are not enough to seal the deal. Complement ads with marketing and sales promotions to really entice your existing and potential customers to make a purchase.

But what about businesses with little to no foot traffic? Places where people go maybe once or twice a year? Like your local dentist for example. How (and why) would you get someone to check in multiple times at a place like a dentist’s office? If you are brushing and flossing like you are supposed to, you are probably only visiting the dentist’s chair a couple of times a year, right?

Try SCVNGR

SCVNGR (Pronounced “Scavenger”) is a game very similar to Foursquare but geared specifically for places like a dentist’s office that want to get in on the social media marketing boom. Playing SCVNGR is simple; you go places, complete challenges along the way and then earn points to unlock real world rewards. Opposed to simple check-ins, challenges engage customers on an entirely new level and provide a way for businesses to get their name out through fun activities related to their location.

If you’re the owner of a business where check-ins are more infrequent or maybe even non-existent, then SCVNGR treks may be a great social media option for you. On treks, players visit multiple locations and complete challenges along the way, therefore earning points towards a free reward. An important aspect of SCVNGR is that treks are not limited to the physical location of a business.

How Dentists Can Use SCVNGR

This is where the dentist’s office comes into play. A trek can be set up with any kind of teeth-related or dental hygiene theme in mind, like “The Top Places in Los Angeles to Keep You Smiling”. All you have to do is incorporate the name of the dental business into the questions and challenges along the trek. Now you’ve gotten your name out there and the customer is thinking about your business without ever stepping inside the door!

SCVNGR is proving to be an invaluable marketing opportunity for businesses that have, until now, been unable to utilize location-based services. SCVNGR is more fun and engaging for customers than other location-based tools and is also more business-friendly because it allows customers and business owners, alike, to add content and customize the challenges. No business size or type is left behind with SCVNGR since all businesses can benefit from SCVNGR’s services.

So, download the free app for your iPhone (preview) or Android phone and start trekking with SCVNGR!

Your Thoughts

Are you currently using SCVNGR to reward your customers? Please share your tips and overall experiences with us in a comment below. Thanks!

Be sure to check out MaKenzie’s previous post post which is full of tips for setting up a postcard process targeted to retaining current patients.

Why Target New Movers?

New movers are an ideal audience to target in a dental postcard marketing campaign, since dentists are among the top services that people search for when relocating to a new area. Your postcard campaign can help those new movers check one more item off of their to-do list and bring you a new patient—or a whole family of new patients! In this post we’ll use our trusty Create-Target-Mail method to devise best practices for new mover mailings in a dental postcard marketing campaign.

Create

New movers are a different target audience than those mentioned in the first two posts in this series. Individuals and families that have recently moved are adjusting to a new environment, so make it easy for them by welcoming them into your office and your community with the following tips.

• Use “new mover” images to grab the recipients’ attention. This type of mailing has become widely practiced in many industries, and new movers look out for deals and discounts for new residents.
• Your copy should include a “welcome to the neighborhood” message. It may sound cliché, but a greeting that accepts someone new into the community is courtesy that is still appreciated.
• Consider an extended expiration date. If you typically set coupon or offer expiration dates for one month later, ponder giving a new mover six weeks from the mail date. They are still in transition mode, and it may take them a little longer to respond than normal.

Target

• Targeting a new mover list is relatively simple. If you are using an online, automated postcard marketing service, you can rent this list easily, but there are still strategies that should go into targeting this list.
• Choose a postcard service that has access to more detailed list options; you can sort by median income and even dwelling units if certain demographics are more relevant to your practice.
• Some New Mover lists include available phone numbers. You can utilize these to follow up on your mailing recipients should you choose to do so.
• If you live in a metropolitan area where commuting is common, target neighboring communities and zip codes. Today, busy people often squeeze dentist appointments between work and soccer games, so they choose a dentist based on proximity to the new office, school, or daycare.

Mail

The nice thing about online postcard marketing services is that you don’t have put much thought or work into your mailing process. Similar to our previous posts’ mail segments, here are some helpful tips:

• Consider your mailing date. If you’re considering direct mail campaigns for your future marketing plan, you may want to schedule New Mover mailings in the summer, when more families are likely to try and get settled before school starts—this will give you more candidates for your list! People are also less likely to move over the holidays.
• Use the tip in our first post again and use seed addresses. This gives you an additional alert to when your postcards have arrived to the new movers—if it is a day or two earlier or later than anticipated, you’ll be able to tie this to marketing results like leads through phone calls or website visits.
• The 250 minimum postcard discount should still always be considered. If your provider’s site does not pull a minimum of 250 addresses in its new mover data search, be sure it’s pulling data from as far back as possible—usually as much as 90 days. Even if someone moved 60 days ago or more, there’s a good chance they may still have not selected a regular dentist.

Final Thoughts

Thanks so much for checking out our guest post series for tips and best practices on your dental postcard marketing campaign! We’d love to hear your questions, comments, and past experiences with any acquisition, retention, or new mover postcard marketing.

To try designing your own dental postcard for free, visit Splash, the postcard marketing service powered by Bluewater.

Your thoughts

Have you created dental postcard campaigns targeted to new movers? Did you track your conversions? What were your experiences and results?

In case you missed it, check out MaKenzie’s previous post that highlighted the dental postcard marketing process.

When it comes to retention, some dentists think only of reminder postcard sent out to patients for their bi-annual cleaning. Though reminder cards are good, retention postcards with a broader strategy are more effective for keeping patients. Using a full service postcard marketing provider is becoming a more popular option for busy dentists that appreciate the quick Create-Target-Mail process. Let’s cover some great tips for retention postcards with this simple method.

Create

Retention cards are sent to your current patients, so make sure your card tells them you value their business by including the following elements.

• Retention postcards are a great place to use pictures of your own office or staff since they’re being sent to patients you’ve seen before. It can create and maintain a “familiar” feel about your office.
• Be sure to include and double check all your important contact information, but make your phone number the focus. For a busy individual, a phone number is easy to lose—it’s likely your card will be put on the refrigerator or office bulletin board for quick reference!
• Include an offer to boost response rates. We recommend coupons— the patient should bring the card back to redeem the offer, making your ROI more easily measurable!

Target

This target audience will be much more attentive to your message than the potential patients you mailed to in our last post. Your postcard will be seen as soon as it’s pulled from their mailboxes, so make every set of eyes count.

• To keep the best patient database possible, be sure that patients verify their contact information at every visit. The more accurate your address list is, the better your ROI on your direct marketing.
• Keep your offers specific to the demographic of patient you are mailing to. The offer you promote to senior patients will differ from younger patients. Verify that your list coincides with your offer.
• Try a mailing for lapsed patients that are overdue for their services. Offer a free product or service for those who make their appointment by a certain expiration date.

Mail

Save time and money on mailing your retention postcards by following a few simple tips that will make your campaign easier to execute.

• Choose your send date strategically. If the holidays are typically slow for your practice, mail your card in October, and include an end-of-the-month expiring offer.
• Again, consider the 250 minimum postage discount (Check out the previous post in this series for details). Don’t have 250 patients for your retention mailing? Go back to the “create” step and include a message that will work for both acquisition and retention, and add an acquisition list to your mailing.
• If you have more than 250 patients but want to be more selective with your list, implement a loyalty program for patients with that make frequent visits or are habitually punctual. Include a free gift offer to show your appreciation.

Regardless of the real statistics on the investment amount it takes to acquire a new patient versus retaining a new one, the bottom line is that investing in current patients is not only less expensive, but it builds value in your practice as you become known for being a very appreciative dentist. That reputation on its own is sure to build your practice a great patient base that appreciates you right back and will refer you to their family, friends, neighbors and co-workers.

Your Thoughts

Does your practice have a retention program? How has it worked, and what new tactics will you implement?

To try designing your own dental postcard for free, visit Splash, the postcard marketing service powered by Bluewater.

In this series of three separate guest blog posts, we’ll be discussing the different direct mail type options dentists can take advantage of with postcard marketing, as well as sharing best practices in execution with an easy Create-Target-Send process.

Whether your dental practice is still in its infancy, or you are simply looking to gain a larger patient base, dental postcard marketing can expand your reach. Using the simple Create-Target-Mail process, here are some of the best practices for your next dental patient acquisition campaign with direct mail:

Create

The starting point of creating an acquisition postcard for your dental practice can be daunting—because, well, you’re a dentist, not a marketing guru. The key, surprisingly, is to keep your postcard simple.

• Focus on unique strengths. Do you specialize in pediatric dentistry? Have you implemented a payment plan for patients without insurance? The little things like this set you apart and can make your candidate choose you over the dentist down the street. HINT: If you’ve received a great compliment from a patient, ask permission to use their testimonial on your mail piece!
• Be sure to include vital contact information. Double and triple check that you’ve included your phone number, website URL, e-mail address, your office location, and even logos of the social networking sites you participate in. On your fourth check, be sure you have no typographical errors and your messaging is clear.
• Do include images, as they are a great way to make an emotional connection to potential patients, but don’t crowd your card with too many. Another HINT: People-centered images are best received. Also, to calm recipients that may have dental phobias–stick with smiling people NOT in dental chairs.

Target

Your mailing list has a substantial hand in the effectiveness of your patient acquisition campaign. Luckily, this step has been made even simpler by full service direct mail providers that include list building tools for you to use right on their website. Here are the best methods for targeting your recipients:

• Target a radius of your office. Convenience is still a huge factor for any consumer, whether it’s going to the dentist or picking up groceries. Take advantage of your convenience factor by mailing within a 1 to 3 mile radius of your practice.
• Target your entire zip code. This works especially well for smaller cities or practices centrally located within a community—consider yourself fortunate if your location is convenient for nearly everyone!
• Target a particular demographic. If a list with more specific demographics such as age and income seems pertinent, explore your list building options with your direct mail services provider!

Send

Sometimes just getting to the post office with a personal letter or a bill can be a hassle. Take this part of your campaign execution off your shoulders with the following tips:

• Use a “one-stop-shop” online direct mail services provider. They will send the postcards out for you and can even get postal discounts (next tip).
• Order a minimum of 250 postcards. A post-office wide discount means you’ll pay less postage per card. Many direct mail providers have made this a standard minimum to ensure the discount.
• Ask that your home and business addresses (and maybe those of another family member or friend) be included as a “seed” in your mailing. This way you can tell when it’s arrived to your recipients.

Bluewater Postcard Marketing Services

So there you have it, your best practices for acquiring new patients with dental postcard marketing. We’d love to hear your comments about what works for your dental office. To try designing your own dental postcard for free, visit Splash, the postcard marketing service powered by Bluewater.

Stay Tuned

In Part II of our dental postcard marketing series later this week, Bluewater is going to discuss the importance of retention postcards…you don’t want to miss their great tips, so sign up now to receive updates via e-mail or our Twitter for free!

Why the rebrand? There are a couple of motivations as I see it: A) Google wants to dominate the local search wars, and B) Google is attempting to position their local search service to take advantage of ad revenue.

Regardless of their motivations for the name change, you need to take advantage of a number of really cool features Google introduced with Google Places.

Google Places: New Features

1) Service areas: Most dental practices won’t be interested in this feature, but if you travel to your customers for any reason, you can now list your service areas.

2) Simple Advertising: For just $25 per month, you can highlight your listing on Google.com and Google Maps with what they’re calling “Tags”. Tags are essentially yellow markers that allow you to promote important aspects of your businesses. Keep in mind that tags will not help your business listing to appear higher in the search results. However, tags do allow you to list more information about your business than those businesses who did not purchase tags.

3) Business photo shoots – In addition to uploading photos of your business, you can now sign up to have Google create a virtual photoshoot of the interior of your business. Oh, and the best part is that they’ll do this for free. This sort of transparency speaks volumes to customers – so if you live in the following cities – I’d sign up ASAP:

Atlanta, GA
Boston, MA
Chicago
Denver, CO
Detroit, MI
Houston, TX
Indianapolis, IN
Jersey City, NJ – Hoboken, NJ
Kansas City, KS
Las Vegas, NV
Los Angeles
Miami, FL
Minneapolis, MN
Nashville, TN
New York
Philadelphia
Pittsburgh, PA
Portland, OR
San Antonio, TX
San Diego, CA
San Francisco, CA
San Jose, CA
Seattle, WA
St. Louis, MO
Washington D.C.

If you live in one of these cities and would like to sign up for a free photo shoot you can Sign up here.

4) Customized QR (two-dimensional) barcodes – From the Google Places dashboard, you now have the opportunity to download a QR code that’s unique to your business. QR codes can be placed on business cards or other marketing materials, and customers can scan them with certain smartphones to be taken directly to the mobile version of the Place Page for your business.

5) Favorite Places – Google is mailing window decals to 50,000 businesses around the US. These decals include a QR code that can be scanned with a smartphone to directly view the mobile Place Page for the business to learn more about their great offerings.

6) Real-time Updates – You might want to promote a sale, a special event happening today or anything else that you want customers to know right now, and this feature lets you communicate that directly to your customers. You can also provide extra incentive by adding coupons, including ones specially formatted for mobile phones.

7) Analytics – To keep track of how your business listing is performing on Google, they’re now offering a personalized dashboard within Google Places that will show you how many times people have found your business on Google, what keywords they used to find it and even what areas people traveled from to visit your business. With the dashboard, you can see how your use of any of these new features affects interest in your business and make more informed decisions about how to be found on Google and interact with your customers.

Google Places: Official Video

Final Thoughts

If you run a dental practice, then you need to take advantage of Google Place’s powerful new features. Not only does your business stand to benefit from higher visibility in Google, but you may just see an increase in the number of patients coming through your doors as well.

Get Listed in Google Places Now (Free)

Stay Tuned

This is just the first post in a series of posts we’ll be dedicating to Google Places. In upcoming posts, we’ll break down the new features and provide some tips (that your competitors aren’t using) for maximizing your visibility in Google.

Your Thoughts

Have you already listed your business in Google Places? Have you seen an increase in the number of new patients walking through your doors as a result? Share your experiences in a comment below.