Whether you’ve just opened your dental practice or you have years of experience under your belt, direct mail is a highly effective marketing tool to help you find new patients. While reaching potential patients may seem challenging, thanks to direct mail’s many advantages over other types of advertising, you’re sure to have a successful campaign with the right strategies.
If you’re unsure of the best direct mail strategies for your dental practice, read on. In this article, we’ll cover some of the top techniques and tips for creating powerful campaigns. These ideas include design, targeting, and content tips to ensure you have the best dentist direct mail strategies ready to go for your next campaign.
Why Should Dentists Have a Direct Mail Strategy?
You may be wondering if direct mail campaigns are necessary for your dental practice. The truth is that direct mail, though a traditional form of advertising, offers dentists the opportunity to reach potential clients. Even in the digital age, it remains a highly effective way for dentists to advertise their services and obtain new clientele.
Many people find direct mail to be more trustworthy than digital advertising. For those in the health sector, such as dentists, gaining potential patients’ trust is paramount. Conscious consumers want to feel confident in their healthcare provider. Direct mail provides an avenue for dentists to build their credibility and gain the trust of local community members–a pivotal move to creating a thriving dental practice.
Besides building a credible reputation, why should dentists utilize direct mail in their marketing efforts? There are plenty of reasons to consider direct mail but one of the primary reasons is its effectiveness in terms of ROI. Studies indicate that direct mail has an average ROI of 43%.
Direct mail also has a high response rate compared to other marketing channels. At 9%, the direct mail response rate is higher than email marketing’s rate of 0.6%.
The reason for direct mail’s success has to do with the way it’s perceived by consumers. In general, people genuinely enjoy receiving physical pieces of mail. According to a report conducted by the USPS, 56% of people stated that getting real mail is a pleasure to them.
Of course, the effectiveness of any direct mail campaign hinges on the strategies used. For your dental practice, you’ll want to stick to some of the best direct mail strategies if you want to see successful results in attracting new patients.
Effective Direct Mail Strategies for Dentists
There are a few effective dentist direct mail strategies that you should know about. From design tips to content ideas, learning the best techniques will help you create a successful campaign and garner new patients at your practice.
Design Tips That Work
While design may not seem that important, it can be the deciding factor whether your recipient tosses your mailer in the trash bin or takes the time to read it. Because of this, you should take care to ensure that your design is easy to read and has compelling design elements.
For most dentist direct mail strategies, you should consider using professional-looking graphics and complementary bright colors to grab the eye. Using clear fonts that are readable from a distance is also a smart idea. Sans serif fonts are popular choices for advertising due to their readability. Helvetica is a common choice for physical mailers and can help ensure your mailer is read by your recipients.
While design is important, it may be challenging for busy dental professionals to come up with original designs. We offer professional in-house design services so you don’t have to worry about the design aspect of your mailers. We also provide free design templates that can be utilized for an effective direct mail campaign. Or, if you happen to have a design that you’re itching to use on your campaign, you can upload it to our platform.
Targeting Your Ideal Audience
If you choose to use Every Door Direct Mail® postcards for your next direct mail campaign, you’ll be able to use the USPS neighborhood targeting tools. Simply, choose the mailing route you would like to target, and the postal service will deliver your mailers to the mailboxes on this route. For dentists looking to find new patients, this method is highly effective in reaching your local community members.
Personalized mail can also be highly effective. Our services include a simple list-builder that encompasses many different targeting options. For example, if you want to target a specific geographic area, our data can help you create the perfect mailing list. You could also target your audience based on demographics or types of behavior.
Another aspect of targeting you need to consider is understanding your audience. If you’ve never done much dental marketing, you may need to put in some research to find out how to connect with your target audience. For example, you could use Google Trends to find out popular search topics or questions people are looking up.
You could also understand your target audience by looking at demographics. For example, if you’re offering family dentistry, a good strategy is to target people between the ages of 25 and 55 with children in their households.
Content Ideas
What are some of the best content ideas for dental practices looking to reach new patients? One of the easiest ways to entice new patients to your practice is to create a compelling offer. This offer could be time-sensitive. For example, you could say something like “Enjoy a sparkling smile in the new year! 20% off on cleanings for all new patients during the month of January.”
You could also point out other irresistible offers. Since dental services can be expensive, people often look for coupons, discounts, or even affordable payment plan options. Highlighting these offers in your mail will help to create an irresistible offer that your recipients will want to use.
You may want to think about using seasonal promotions that are time-sensitive. Or, run contests or offer giveaways to entice recipients to engage with your mailers. This could include a chance to win a free dental checkup or a discount for the first 50 respondents.
Besides including compelling offers in your mailer content, you’ll also want to think about other aspects of your content. For example, professionals in the healthcare field would benefit from including educational content in the mailer. People want healthcare professionals they trust. By including relevant educational content about dental health, you can position yourself as an expert in the community. You could include facts about oral hygiene or relevant statistics to gain your recipients’ attention.
However, when choosing educational content, it’s important to make sure the information is relevant to potential patients. While fellow dentists may find certain facts or information interesting, the general public may not. For example, if you want to talk about dental technology at your practice, it’s important to think about your audience. Rather than just listing off factual features of your machine, position your practice as the leader in cutting-edge technology that offers patients a lot of tangible benefits.
Including patient testimonials is also a highly successful strategy. Feature positive patient testimonials to build trust and credibility. Real-life experiences from satisfied patients can be powerful in convincing potential patients to choose your practice.
If you’re trying to brainstorm ideas to spark interest in your recipients, you’ll want to get creative. One possibility might include the use of interactive elements in your mailers This might include digital integration, like QR codes linking to online appointment scheduling. Or, it could include more physical interactions, such as scratch-off sections revealing special offers.
Storytelling is always a good idea to grab the attention of your recipients. So, share compelling stories about your practice, whether it’s the journey of a patient whose smile you transformed or the dedication of your team to community service. Authentic storytelling can forge a deeper connection with your audience.
Creating Your Own Direct Mail Campaign
When it comes to dentist direct mail strategies, there are several different aspects of the mailer to consider–design, targeting, and content. These factors significantly contribute to the success of your campaign. You’ll want to create stand-out offers that grab the attention of your recipients right away, so your mailer won’t just get tossed into the trash after a quick glance.
However, for busy dental practices, finding the time to brainstorm design ideas or figure out how to target your audience can be challenging. Our all-in-one platform can help you create effective mailers for your dental practice quickly. Get started on your next direct mail campaign right away with our platform. Our team is ready to help you, so get in touch if you need support.
