The New Movers Advantage: A Golden Opportunity for Dental Practices

We live in a very mobile society. People move an average of 11 times in their lifetime according to the US Census. The same report showed that people with a higher income tend to move more than people with a lower income. National Board of Realtors report that despite existing home inventory being low, home sales increase of 1.7% over the last two quarters.

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This presents a big opportunity for marketing dental practices by reaching new movers in their area. A new mover patient marketing program does not need to take up a large portion of your marketing budget, as it should account for 10% to 15% of your total marketing budget.

We work with several dental offices around the country helping them reach new patients and have developed a formula that is effective. The success of your practice depends, to a great extent, on your ability to reach new patients and motivate them to call or become a patient of your practice.

An ideal and successful media mix for dental practices marketing today would look something like this:

• 25% to 35% of your marketing budget invested in Internet marketing including your website, SEO and pay-per-click ads.
• 65% to 75% of your marketing budget invested in direct mail.

I know some of the so-called “dental marketing experts” are telling you to put all your eggs in the Internet marketing/social media basket. They say the Internet is the wave of the future. It has changed the way people shop. They are partially right.

Here are the simple facts on Internet marketing:

• Can if work? Sure? If you use direct marketing principles and stay on top of it. Google changes their search algorithms two or three times per year. What worked last year may not work this year.
• Do you understand Internet marketing? Most of our clients, business owners and managers do not understand all the Internet terminology, conversion rates, optimization, and bounce rates, etc. All of theses terms do not mount to a hill of beans unless they can put butts in your dental chair from it.
• There is a ton of competition and a ton of distractions on the Internet, which means if you don’t understand it, you are going to spend a lot of money and have a hard time making it work for your practice. A recent study showed that 75% of businesses felt they were wasting money on Search engine optimization and pay per click ads. Why because they don’t understand it and the people selling the optimization and click ads don’t understand it either. The basic marketing rule I follow is if it can’t be explained easily and it can’t be tracked – I avoid it.
• Do you need to market your dental practice on the Internet? Absolutely! Most people these days will search the Internet before they buy, so you need to have a presence. A website is a good first step. Make sure your website is loaded with articles and information that your prospective patients will be searching for. But most of all, your website should give the reader a feel for your practice.

The best, most trackable, easy to understand and most often used advertising media available to you to market your dental practice is direct mail. Direct mail works for reaching new movers, new patients and marketing to your existing patients. Why? Direct mail puts something in their hands with no distractions and no extra vias. Correctly designed and used direct mail will put more butts in your dental chair than anything else you can do to promote your practice.

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Here are some facts about direct mail:

1. Direct mail puts your message and offer directly into the hands of potential new patients.
2. Direct mail is easily to use. There are no ambiguous, meaningless terms to understand.
3. The United States Post Office does not change their “algorithms.” They just deliver the mail, period.
4. Direct mail for dental practices are very trackable.
5. The way you “optimize” direct mail is to define your prospect and use that information to select your mailing list.
6. Every home in the United States has ONE mail box and gets their mail delivered regularly and often by the United States Postal Office.

Can direct mail fail, of course. One or more of three things causes the failure of a direct mail program. All of these things are in your control and are easily fixed.

Your marketing budget for dental practices should be broken out and invested by investing 75% of your budget marketing to get new patients to your practice and 25 % your budget marketing to your existing patients.

New mover direct mail programs, new patient mailers, patient referral programs and your website will be your best bets for getting new patients to dental practices. If you would like more information about how you can target the new move in’s in your area, call Wilson Printing USA.

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