Marketing a New Orthodontic Office

In the overall business of building the office and our attentions diverted to the details of the build out and permitting, we need to develop a marketing plan for the office. We want to avoid the all too common situation where attentions are diverted elsewhere, and I can see how this is an easy thing to do, the date of opening the office arrives and… no patients are booked! So in developing the marketing plan, I see four aspects to it, and please bear in mind, I’m not a marketing expert by any means. The aspects are:
1. Timing
2. Budget
3. Strategy
4. Longevity

It’s often said that timing is everything, I couldn’t agree more. The most important element here is the development of an office build out timeline. Although this will most certainly change, it is important to establish a target date that the office is open to the public. We’ve contacted the local newspaper and the local zip code magazine and depending on their product, will need at least 3-4 weeks of notice, provided the artwork is ready to go. We want to time the delivery of these marketing materials to the public approximately 1-2 weeks before we are open, as opposed to opening the doors and waiting for the phones to ring. In our situation, our office opening may be in early September, a time when most patients return to school and with the time committed to this, often don’t have time for dental care.

We have a fairly healthy marketing budget but nevertheless need to spend it wisely. Advertisements in newspapers and inserts cost much more than I ever imagined. Depending on the distribution and frequency of advertising, this element of our marketing approach could cost a few thousand dollars. Add to this the cost of marketing in the local zip code magazine and we are suddenly spending in the neighborhood of $6000 dollars. I’ve spoken to colleagues on this topic and I receive mixed responses ranging from “a very low yield for the dollar” to “an absolutely necessary thing to do”. Overall, we have a diverse approach to marketing and need to have a budget to meet with potential referrers for lunches and dinners. In addition, we shouldn’t forget their staff. We plan to send small gifts, lunches, etc to offices in the nearby area. We also plan for in-office marketing with small gifts to patients that refer friends and family to us. We’ve spoken about i-Pod giveaways but don’t have a definite plan for this yet. All these aspects of marketing will add up and although we thought we had a fairly healthy budget, I’m not sure if we should do more. I see other orthodontists with television commercials and radio advertisements and wonder.

I feel that development of a marketing strategy is a trial and error process. No one has the magic bullet for marketing and I feel that the local demographics, competition, economy, office philosophy and presentation will determine if one approach is more successful than another. The only way to get this right is to try something and if it works, keep going. If it fails, try something else. Keeping track of how patients hear of the office will be an important part of this. I also feel that there is no substitute for meeting with local general dentists keeping them in the interdisciplinary treatment loop. Attendance at local dental events and study clubs will be important.

In our marketing approach, we looked at approaches to increase the longevity or “stickiness” of the different methods. The problem with newspaper and magazine advertisements and inserts is that their longevity is not much more than the issue itself. We would have to consider several issues to obtain significant yield from these media. Strategies to increase longevity included coupons for free consultation or gifts for visiting to encourage individuals to hold on to the advertisement. With the local general dentists we’ll consider mousepads, mugs and other materials in addition to our referral forms.

In summary, marketing a new office is a complex task with issues related to budget, strategy and timing. Although we have certain biases as far as expectations from the different elements, we’ve kept an open mind and will keep track of which is our best foot forward.