How are the folks on this list doing in regards to the economic slowdown that we're hearing about in the media? Is it affecting you at all? Have you taken any marketing steps to avoid a slowdown?
It would be nice to toss some ideas around and see what others are doing.
I've actually increased my marketing campaign during this time.
We've been consistent with the following:
1. Direct mail - 20,000 pieces of direct mail go out each month; 10,000 the first week of the month and another 10,000 the third week of the month. I mail 10,000 to a local zip code within 10 miles from my office and another 10,000 to another zip code outside 10 miles from my office. I rotate the zips each month so that in a given year each zip code will receive 3 or 4 mailings from my office.
2. Local newspapers - our local newspapers are mailed to every person in my local town. I have an ad in the paper that rotates every other week. I also have an ad in a local newspaper for the two communities directly abutting my town that is published on the weeks that my local paper ad doesn't run (if that makes sense).
3. We've been utilizing Smile Reminder for email marketing to our patient database.
4. We've been utilizing Patient News for newsletter marketing to our existing patient database.
5. We've upped the courtesy on our "Care to Share" cards from $25 off to $50 off when existing patients refer friends and family to our office which has generated an increase in our word-of-mouth referrals.
6. We've increased our Google Adword campaign and are tracking our keywords to see which perform better.
7. We've added 3 new phone lines into our office to handle more incoming phone calls to better serve patients.
8. We've resigned on as officical dentists with our local Double A baseball team, the New Britain Rock Cats, and are being cross-promoted by them in addition to having a sign in the outfield, a full page ad in their program book, several during game commercials on the jumbotron screen, mention of our name during the whitening of the bases that occurs at the middle of the 5th inning of every ball game, and having a patient appreciation day/picnic set up for August 6, 2008 where we invite 200 of our patients to the ball park and everyone else who attends the game gets a baseball with both the New Britain Rock Cats logo as well as our Advanced Dental logo (with phone & website printed on the ball too) during the game. There are approximately 60 home games and we get tremendous exposure during the games that average around 6000 attendance each game.
9. We're running an ad in our local church bulletin.
10. We've been getting out into the community and doing talks at local senior centers and other community centers on oral health and advances in dentistry.
11. Instead of TV we've decided to place 1/3 page ads in Connecticut Magazine and Hartford Magazine which are two of the more upscale publications in our state. Trying to keep the legs going for the ads as long as possible.
12. We're constantly working on our website to try to update it and make it more "conversion friendly." That means trying to get people to call or email to set up an appointment.
The bottom line is that we're trying to be as pro-active as possible in keeping our name in front of people and making it an easy choice for them to come to our office when they have to go to the dentist.
We're also trying to do our best to track these marketing efforts to see exactly how people are hearing about us.
Thoughts, comments, additions and more are graciously welcomed.
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