The Promotions Guideline for Dental Practices

Promotions can be a tricky subject. Do you run a contest or a drawing? What should my prize be? How do I promote it? Timeline? Budget? Who runs it?

The Promotions Guideline for Dental Practices 

Promotions can be a tricky subject. Do you run a contest or a drawing? What should my prize be? How do I promote it? Timeline? Budget? Who runs it?

Take a step back and ask yourself, “What is the goal of this promotion?” The promotion needs to engage your patients, and make them feel appreciated as your client. Set a clear goal; make it known to your staff and then nail down the logistics.

Contests or Drawings

If your goal is to get your patients involved with your practice then run a contest. Recently, a pediatric dentistry practice ran an Olympic Trivia contest. Patients and their families filled out a questionnaire and those that did the best received a family 4-pack to a professional soccer game.

If your goal is to gather information about your patient base, then run a drawing. Drawings have less interaction, but take less time and manpower while simultaneously providing great demographics about who your patients are.

The fishbowl promotion is a great example of this. By having patients drop a business card, it gives you an idea of the professions they have chosen and the industry they work in. Once you know this you can provide relevant prizes and giveaways along with speaking points to talk about next time they visit.

A real simple promotion your office can always be running is a “check in” prize. Once the patient checks into the office on Facebook they will receive a prize, which can range from branded lip balm to sugar free gum. You can be creative with this one.

Prizes

A free spinning toothbrush or discounted service might sound like a great prize to you and your staff, but your patients see these sort of deals everyday. And why devalue your brand by offering discounts anyway?

People are aware of the costs of dental work and can buy that spinning toothbrush at Wal-Mart anytime they want. Make the prize personal, something they can use and show off to their friends.

Dig into your patient base and find out what they like. Check out their Facebook page and see where they checked in, what sports they are into, the type of music they like. Offer a gift card for two to their favorite restaurant.

They may just take that friend that is new to town and looking for a dentist. If you have a lot of patient families, then offer something they can all enjoy like sporting events or movie tickets.

Promoting the Promotion

Start by getting all your staff informed, then encourage them to pass the word on to the patients. Don’t push it on them at every interaction, but make it sound fun and let them know you appreciate them.

Create visuals promoting the promotion and hang them in your office. Most importantly, post them to your Facebook. Most patients visit your office twice a year so let your Facebook followers get involved as well.

Timeline. Budget. Who Runs It.

We see many practices run a promotion for too long which leads to uniterested patients. We also see promotions that go by too quickly, which doesn’t allow the promotion to live to its full potential. Our experience has found that three weeks to a month is a perfect amount of time for patients to get involved and stay interested.

Don’t blow your marketing budget on a single promotion. Keep it simple and within a $100 or so. A prize that is too cheap will not catch the interest you are looking for, but you want to be sure you are staying within your allotted marketing budget.

Don’t spend too much time thinking of the logistics of the promotion. Brainstorm an idea with your office manager, set the budget, create a timeline, pick a prize, and then let your patients run with it.

For examples of great promotions, check out Green Valley Kids Pediatrics’ Facebook page!