Dental Advertising: What Are You Trying to Sell? Part One

I opened a direct mail envelope today.  You know the kind, fifty different advertisers on individual 3x9 slips of paper with offers from pizza to tire alignment.  As I was sorting the offers I encountered fourteen different dental practice advertisements.  Of the fourteen inserts, twelve included pictures of the dentist and their families.  As the pile grew with I saw they all had a similar format of color-coordinated, smiling, often outdoors, and shot by a professional photographer of the dentist,a smiling spouse, kids and family dog.  This is a trend most closely associated with dental advertising – and realtors.

So WHY is this so prevalent in dental advertising?  I have yet to see an advertisement for a local restaurant with a picture of the owner and his family.  Maybe the owner in a chef’s coat, but not the entire family.  The owner knows he’s selling his food, service and prices.  "Branding" the family will not help sell product.

Keys to Success

There are three primary keys to any business:

• Quality
• Price
• Service

A business' success relies upon offering two of the three items.  Customers will embrace higher prices if the quality and service are excellent.  They will accept “okay” quality of the price is lower and service is impeccable.  But in a dental practice, if the patient feels the service is poor, you will soon fail.

How Do You Sell Your Practice?

A business only has a few seconds to grab the attention of the consumer.  So it is critically important for the success of advertising to effectively set a hook before they lose interest and drop your mailing in the trash.  The above dental mailer example was professionally printed on nice cardstock and had a slick look, but it missed several key elements for success.

1.  The header – “There’s a story behind every smile…” doesn't really have a hook or tell the consumer what the product is.
2. The copy – There is nothing in the copy that says the advertisement is a dental practice or offering dental service.  Other than the name of the practice at the bottom (blurred as a courtesy), this piece does not state it is a dental practice.
3. Image – Over 60% of the advertisement is a photograph of a man, woman, and two color-coordinated children.  Nothing about the image states this is a dental practice or give a reason for the consumer to continue reading the mailer.
4. The tagline – “…we’d like to be a part of yours” is passive and not a call to action. 

Overall, this mailer could be for a number of businesses.  With the staging of the family and soft copy this could easily be an advertisement for a professional photographer. 

If this mailer was sent to 5,000 households it would need to attract 50 new patients, or a 1% rate of return, to provide a good ROI (return on investment).  Based upon the copy, layout and lack of a specific call-to-action, it is unlikely this advertising met the goal.

See us on Friday for Part Two of this article.

For more information about owning your dental practice that comes with professional support, visit www.jointherevo.com.

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