By Joy Gendusa
We’re all busy, right? So let’s cut to the chase. I’m going to share three dental marketing campaigns—each with a different audience and goal—that were successful for their respective practices. I’ll keep the analysis to a minimum because the results speak for themselves.
These postcards are very colorful and eye-catching.
The mailer timing was perfect.
Pediatric dentist targeting households with young children
- Mailing list: 5,000 closest households with children ages 4–8
- Mailing list radius: Up to 15 miles from practice
- Mailing schedule: 5,000 postcards mailed twice—June 27 and July 11, 2018—right before the back-to-school rush
- Result: 100 new patients and approximately $10,000 in immediate revenue
This practice usually mails 4,000 postcards every other week but paused that campaign for this one. This particular campaign does a lot right. It’s bright, has eye-catching design, and provides a unique offer. But it aces two marketing strategies in particular:
- Timing—A well-timed campaign hits at least 4–6 weeks before your targeted date or desired outcome. You should also hit prospective patients more than once in that lead-up time period.
- Targeting—This is one area that direct mail excels: in the reliability of the data. This practice was able to target not only households with children, but children of a specific age.
Scratch-offs are hard to resist.
Cosmetic dentist targeting high-income individuals
This campaign featured a number of unique scratch-off offers. I don’t know about you, but I find scratch-offs hard to resist! It’s a great tactic to catch people’s attention and get them to spend dedicated time with your marketing piece. Here’s the key info on this campaign:
- Mailing list: Households with $75,000-plus annual income
- Mailing list radius: Closest 10,000 residents meeting income criteria
- Mailing schedule: 10,000 postcards mailed monthly
This is colorful and inviting.
- Campaign timing: Four monthly mailings around Saint Patrick’s Day
- Result: More than $44,000 in immediate revenue
With $44,000 in revenue generated right away, they struck their own pot of gold!
This postcard contains lots of useful offers.
General dentist targeting all nearby residents
I saved the best (and the one you were probably looking for) for last!
- Mailing list: Every Door Direct Mail (EDDM)
- Mailing list radius: Closest 40,000 addresses
- Mailing schedule: 5,000 postcards every other week
- Campaign timing: Long-term consistent mailings
- Result: 320% increase in new patients with an average of 42 new patients per month
More great offers
This practice has been mailing postcards regularly since 2014. After two years of weekly and biweekly mailings, they more than tripled their new-patient numbers. Then, they switched gears. They changed mailing companies, changed their design, and mailed less frequently (monthly). New-patient numbers declined 22% over two years. But because consistent, frequent mailings make a difference, this practice corrected the misstep, reverted back to everything that had worked before, and new patients rebounded 27% in a year. They made up lost ground and then some!
Source: Dental Economics, May 2, 2019 (https://www.dentaleconomics.com/practice/marketing/article/16386265/tried-and-true-dental-marketing-strategies-that-generated-40000)