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Dental Marketing Strategies, Back to Basics
February 17, 2009 by Erik Cunningham
There are two basic types of dental marketing strategies you can employ to promote your local dental practice - “push” and “pull”. And while the most effective dental marketing campaigns often include a combination of the two, factors like the current state of your local economy and the type of dental treatments and procedures your practice offers should dictate how much of your marketing budget you devote to each one.
Push Dental Marketing
The term “push marketing” is used to describe dental marketing strategies that deliver unsolicited information about your dental practice to prospective or existing dental patients in your community. The most common types of push marketing in dentistry include direct mail, TV, newspaper and radio advertising and internet banner advertising.
In the past, some dentists have misinterpreted the strategy of push marketing in dentistry as “pushy”. These dentists haven’t considered however that push marketing performs a valuable service to both you and your patients by reminding them to schedule regular dental checkups and cleanings for improved long term oral health. Push marketing also brings information about your practice right to your patients’ doorsteps which saves them time and effort if a visit to the dentist is already on their to-do list.
Pull Dental Marketing
“Pull marketing” refers to dentist marketing techniques that make your dental practice information readily available to prospective dental patients actively looking for your services. Common pull marketing strategies for promoting dental practices include print and internet yellow pages advertising, website marketing, search engine marketing, pay-per-click advertising and dental directory advertising.
Pull marketing gives your dental practice an edge over your competitors and helps both you and your dental patients by simplifying the question, answer and appointment scheduling processes.
Some dentist marketing strategies qualify as both push and pull marketing. Word of mouth and dental office signage are good examples.
If a patient sees your dentistry office sign on their way home from work and it reminds them to schedule an appointment with you, then your sign serves as a push marketing strategy. If a dental patient has a toothache and decides to drive around the neighborhood looking for dentist and sees your office, then your sign serves as a pull strategy.
So which type of dental marketing strategy is right for your practice? Find your answer in next week’s blog post, Dental Marketing Push or Pull?.
Comments (1) — Marketing Strategies — Tags: dental marketing ideas, dental marketing strategies, dental office marketing, dental practice marketing
