What to do between November
15, 2012 and December 31, 2012
In the previous edition of this newsletter, we explained how
to get set up for 2013.
In this installment of the newsletter, we will explain how
to promote your dental practice between November 15th and December 31st this
year.
Shut down your
external promotion
Statistically, for the majority of dentists in the US, there
is a very distinct increase in risk promoting dentistry to the dental consumer
between November 15th and December 31st every year. Since one of our jobs is to
help dentists minimize risk to their marketing dollar - you've been warned. The
only reasonable and statistically justified exception to this rule is if your
dental practice is in a "snow bird" area with a population that is
predominantly above the age of child bearing years. Some of you may be in areas
of Florida (to use a recognizable example), where you may or may not want to
promote to the consumer between those two dates. For the rest of you, shut it
down!
Ramp UP your
internal promotion
As drastically as you shut down your external promotion, in
an equally drastic fashion, you should ramp up your internal promotion. Let's
explore some marketing projects that should be scheduled during the last
quarter of 2012.
Use it or Lose it
For those patients with dental insurance, it is certainly a
time to let your patients know that their anniversary date is looming and they
will lose this year's benefits if they don't come in. Many dental practices
send some variation of this concept to their patients once at the end of the
year. Why are you only sending it once? If we were to guide you, we would send
this piece (either through the mail or electronically) a minimum of three
times. The right times would be the third week of October, the second week of
November, and the end of the first week of December. We don't know why dental
practices only send these once, but most make that mistake. Don't think for a
second that ALL of your patients read or listen to anything that you send them
once. Don't assume that everyone is just choosing not to respond. It is FAR
more likely that they were simply too busy to pay attention the ONE time you
sent them the message. Send it multiple times.
Charity/PR
The holiday season is the season of giving. OK. So give!
Run an overdue re-care list (or labels, or emails if you
have them) of every patient in your database that was due for their re-care up
to Jan 1 2012. In other words, the literally hundreds or thousands of
established patients that you would really, really, like to re-activate! Tell
them if they come in for their cleaning and exam between November 15th and
December 31st, that you will donate $20 on their behalf to a locally
recognizable local charity. For instance, Alex's Lemonaide Stand is really
popular here in the northeast. You may have a different local charity that
everyone recognizes within your market area. We are SURE the females in your
dental practice know of a locally recognizable charity that will resonate
positively with the majority of your patient base. Reactivating established
patients for $20 a pop is an absolute win-win-win. Charity wins, patient wins,
you win. If we are managing your website and your social media, get our
internet department the information for your charitable event. We will blast it
all over your various social media outlets.
Pedo - or
Pedo/Ortho
Mom is home. Kids are home. We almost don't want to mention
this because quite frankly, it can work gangbusters in some markets, and in
other markets all you hear are crickets. But it is worth mentioning. Any time
the kids are not in school (like winter recess, spring recess, summer), it's a
good time to reach out to your patient base and offer them premium appointment
times (convenient ones) to get little Jane and Johnny to the dentist for their
checkups. We know some of you are wincing right now. Who in the heck wants to
work on a bunch of kids the week between Christmas and New Year's Day? Well, we
understand. But (you knew it was coming), mom is going to have to bring Jane or
Johnny. Mom may need work. Dad may have never seen you before. Mom may have a
mother or father nearby, or a friend that is looking for a great dental
practice. Treating children is an important consumer demand. Children are the
gatekeepers to the rest of the family and everyone the rest of the family
knows. Ignoring it is certainly your choice. But those who embrace this
consumer demand will be that much better off down the road.
As always, if we (NPI) don't handle your promotion for you,
you can learn the most effective ways in our latest book. We also have 7 hours
of online CE for you to learn from. Of course, if you'd like us to build you a
marketing plan for your practice, at no cost or obligation to you, we can do
that as well. Just click this link and share information about your dental
practice. You will get your marketing plan emailed to you in 4 to 5 work days.
Got questions? Want to learn more?
You can reach Mark & Howie at:
Howie: whh@newpatientsinc.com
Mark: markd@newpatientsinc.com
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