Why did you start your own dental practice? Whatever your answer is, I bet it wasn’t because you wanted to get into marketing.
But, like it or not, marketing is essential to your business. An effective marketing campaign can help you build a self-supporting patient base. And this in turn can help create the time and money you need to focus on what you love and do best.
If you already believe that a good marketing campaign will help grow your practice, but think you don’t have the time, money, or motivation to do it, read on.
Marketing doesn’t have to be expensive and/or time-consuming.
There is one marketing tool that I believe is ideal for time-crunched, cost-conscious dental practice owners.
It’s simple. It’s relatively inexpensive. And the more consistently it’s used, the more effective it becomes.
What is it? Well, I’m talking about Direct Mail Marketing Postcards.
Wait. Seriously? Direct mail marketing is dead. It’s all about Digital now!
If you think that, then you’d be missing out on a huge opportunity to grow your practice. Because as more and more businesses focus their marketing efforts online (with email, social media, videos, podcasts…), a direct mail campaign has fewer pieces to compete with.
One statistical source reports that in 2015 the average number of mail pieces a household receives is 19.1 . (I don’t know about you, but I get more spam emails than that in a single hour).
But this fact raises the likelihood of your piece getting read. Increasing this probability even more is the fact that direct mail doesn’t have ad blockers and spam filters to contend with.
And remember, not everyone is online. There’s a huge demographic (e.g. 45-54 years old) who spend very little time in the online world.
Be Remembered When They Need You
Studies have shown that people are more likely to recall the source and content of an advertisement when reading from a physical piece as opposed to a digital device screen. There’s also fewer distractions; no potential pop-ups or need to scroll.
Once the prospect decides to look at your piece, it has her full attention—even if it’s just for a few seconds. Designed properly and put in the hands of your target audience, a few seconds is all you’ll need.
Also, studies have shown that the weight and feel of the mail piece engages the reader on a more emotional level—helping your name to stay top-of-mind.
Overcome The Trust Barrier
Let’s face it, it’s hard to deliver malware or adware via direct mail. With direct mail, the recipient doesn’t have to worry about Phishing scams or computer viruses.
Sure, plenty of scams come through direct mail as well. But the trust level in the online world is much lower because of the sheer volume of scams/malicious content delivered from all over the globe.
The Power of the Postcard
If you’re convinced that direct mail marketing will work for your practice, here’s why I believe the postcard should be your vehicle of choice:
- It’s the most direct way to get your message in front of the eyes of your prospective patient. There’s no envelope for the recipient to look at and determine whether or not it’s worthy of opening. Once it’s in the recipient’s hands, your message is front and center!
- It’s quick and easy to write and design. This makes it relatively inexpensive to have an expert create for you—freeing up time for the things you love and do best!
- The U.S. Postal Service has now made it extremely cost-effective to reach thousands of homes with their Every Door Direct Mail® service.
No time? No money? Don’t know where to start? Don’t enjoy it?
Hopefully by now you see that there’s really no excuse to not do marketing if you want to grow your dental practice.
The direct mail marketing postcard is a simple but powerful tool for reaching out to the local community.
Designed, written, and delivered correctly, it will keep your practice top-of-mind and help build relationships so that people get to know, like, and trust you.
