The world of marketing can seem like a scary place. Without proper research and data, marketing for a dental practice can often feel like a shot in the dark, and who has time to keep up with the constantly changing trends? Luckily, by incorporating these three reliable strategies, your practice can easily guide its marketing and achieve sustainable growth! We’ll also discuss the integrated tools in Open Dental that put these strategies into action.

1. Personalization

Whether marketing to prospective or existing patients, personalization will grab their attention and build patient rapport. Marketing is personalized anytime a general message is modified to communicate directly to a consumer. Generalized marketing is easily overlooked by the recipient because consumers see thousands of marketing messages each day. Personalization works, and it allows the message to stand out from the rest.

Once seen, personalization gives the prospect a more enjoyable customer experience by recognizing them for exactly what they are, individual people. This is crucial, as it can be the first step towards cultivating a positive patient-dentist relationship! While personalization can be used in a variety of ways, it is especially easy to incorporate into postcard and email marketing.

For their entire lives, people have been trained to respond to their names. So, when someone’s name is used to personalize the message, they take notice – in turn, providing a better response!

Food for thought:

• 72% of customers will only engage with personalized messaging
• 99% of marketers say personalization helps advance customer relationships

Below is an excellent example of how to incorporate personalization into your practice’s marketing. This postcard, and many others, are available through the Advertising – Postcards feature in Open Dental, and they can be utilized to promote your practice.

When it comes down to it, a dental practice is a business. However, with personalized marketing, you can show prospects and patients that your office is a place that truly cares about people. By promoting that message, your marketing will produce more leads, patients, and loyalty.

2. Targeting

Targeting is a fundamental strategy to consider when trying to grow a dental practice. When done right, it puts your business in front of the people who need you most. Here are two targeting strategies your practice can use to reach the right people!

1. New Movers

New movers are an ideal demographic for dental practices to target! 70% of new movers want to visit the dentist within six months of making their move. By targeting new movers in surrounding areas, you can consistently acquire new leads and patients. Finding a list of new movers is easy too, using the Advertising – Postcards feature in Open Dental.

2. Profitable Demographics

What procedures bring in the most revenue? When considering who to target, it’s important to consider what demographics will bring in the most money! For example, according to a survey of 5,789 dental practices, 41.5% of them said crowns are their most profitable procedure. Additionally, 53.4% of dental practices answered that they profit most from patients ranging in age from 41-60. By targeting people in highly profitable demographics, your practice can feel more confident in the potential return on investment (ROI).

3. Timing

Timing plays a vital role in targeting both new and existing patients. A practice needs both to achieve and sustain growth. Targeting efforts are a waste if it’s not a good time for the prospect to receive the message. It’s crucial to guarantee your practice reaches its target audience not only at a good time but at the best possible time.

When it comes to contacting existing patients, it can be difficult to find the right balance. You need to contact existing patients enough to keep them coming back, but not too much that they feel pestered. One marketing tool that inherently relies on timing is the Appointment Reminder. Although not considered an “advertising” feature in Open Dental, eReminders are available to all practices on support, and email reminders are FREE!

One study found that sending patients two reminders is more effective than sending just one. It also found that the most optimal days for sending those reminders were three days prior and one day prior to the appointment date. It stands to reason that a dental practice with fewer missed appointments is better at maximizing its client base, and therefore maximizing its revenue.

3. Consistency

A dental practice with consistent branding will be chosen over a practice with mediocre branding every single time. Consistency across all platforms creates undeniable brand recognition. When prospects can recognize a practice, they’ll be more inclined to choose it over one they are unfamiliar with.

A practice must also be consistent with the message it is sending. Then, that message must be repeated in order to fully immerse the audience. Repetition can be achieved with the help of various platforms such as Google Ads, social media, and even postcards. As long as the message is consistently in front of the right prospects, your practice can accurately represent its brand and earn that prospect’s response.

For example, if your office is running a promotion on Facebook offering 15% OFF a patient’s next whitening treatment, but your website doesn’t reflect the special, the patient may not be motivated to proceed any further. But if your website displays the exact same offer and a way to act on it, such as a lead capture form, you can easily close the sale! Lead capture forms, also known as pop-up windows, allow a prospect to provide their contact information. You can then use this information to follow up with the prospect and close the sale!

Your practice can achieve sustainable growth by incorporating personalization, targeting, and consistency into its marketing efforts. Create personalized messages that speak directly to prospects, and grab their attention. Strategically target the right people to receive that message. Then, consistently display the marketing message across your platforms and follow up with prospects to ensure maximum results. With these three strategies, your marketing efforts can produce incredible results!

Use the integrated advertising features in Open Dental to market your practice

Here are some available learning resources for Postcards:

• The Advertising – Postcards Workflow page in our online manual shows each step of the process.
• The Advertising Postcards webinar below will take you through each step of using the feature.

As you work to grow your practice and communicate effectively with your existing patients, we’re here for you! Please reach out to our support team if you have any questions about these or other features in the software.