Tips for Dental Direct Mail – Reach new dental patients

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I always get questions from prospective clients about marketing strategies. This past week, I had a couple of inquiries from Dental Practices looking for dental direct mail tips…so I figured I’d share my suggestions on the Dataman Group Blog.

For an industry as saturated as dentistry, I first suggest that they investigate what local competitors are doing before beginning their campaign. Here are some tips that have worked well for dentists that can work well for any campaign.

Most Dental Practices reach out to new people in their area with monthly New Mover programs who let area newcomers know where to find them. New movers are the #1 mailing list for dental marketing. But what strategies makes one dental practice’s direct mail campaign successful and another practice not?

Quick and Easy Tips for Dental Direct Mail

1. Postcards. MyDMpostcards.com offers dentists and their marketing staff an easy-to-use portal to customize great postcards. You can target new movers, families with children, restorative dental prospects. Click HERE to see some of the designs created especially for dental practices.

2. Free offers. Freebies and discounts are driving consumer spending right now. Some of the hot offers right now are a free whitening session or a free electric toothbrush. Make your offer appeal to women, since they are the ones usually booking appointments for the family. Consider a New Patient Special with a dollar amount to attract attention.

3. Think big to stand out. Grab people’s attention visually through color, graphics or size. Consider an over sized postcard or a cut-out to stand out in the mailbox. The most successful postcard size measures 6′ x 8.5″.

4. Tell a story with striking photos. There’s something comforting about happy photos on a direct mail piece, particularly when advertising a professional service. Images can also convey the type of customers a business wants to attract. Make sure the photos jive with your copy. If you’re marketing pediatric dentistry, make sure you have photos of kids with gleaming smiles. If you’re focusing on cosmetic procedures, make sure you are featuring attractive people in their 20s and 30s. Dentists who think they can put a picture of a tooth on their mailer are out of touch with today’s marketing techniques.

TIP:

You can find the absolute right photo by going to a free photo site, such as Unsplash or Pexels. MyDMpostcards.com also offers you lots of quality stock photos.

5. Appeal to emotions. Marketers should always seek opportunities to educate prospects on the specific value of a product or service. Consider focusing on the health benefits of dentistry with statistics about how healthy teeth prevent heart disease and high blood pressure. A dentist in Cleveland generated a 4% return and 35 new appointments when he changed his creative. Cosmetic dentists who target the 20-40 age range need to focus on appearance = promotions at work.

6. Include a local map of your location. Make it easy to find you! Sometimes an address in a shopping plaza isn’t enough.