Internal and external marketing are both very essential to growing your dental membership program. If you do not have a marketing strategy your program will plateau or fail all together. Let’s talk about the basics of marketing.

Demographics

Understanding your demographics is essential. This means that you are creating your plan for certain types of people, for example, retirees, young families or small business owners. You need to pick the group you will be marketing too, find the channels or locations online and offline that you can communicate with them.

 

Marketing channels

These days there are SO many marketing channels to tap into it is ridiculous. It is also a good thing because every business can find the best way to reach their potential audience. Here are some of the channels you can use to grow your dental membership program:

• Social media: Creating an organic following on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and posting educational and valuable content.

 

• Social media advertising: Creating ads on Facebook, Instagram, twitter, etc and targeting certain demographics to spread your message.

 

• Google Search Ads: Creating google search ads is a great ay to appear in the search engine results pages and get your message across to patients that don’t have dental insurance.

 

• Direct mail: Creating post cards or flyers that get mailed out to a certain radius in your local market.

 

• Ground Marketing: Using other peoples networks like setting up a booth at the local gym and giving something of value to the gym’s customers.

 

• B2B marketing: Reaching out by phone, flyers or in-person to your local businesses in your community and educating them about your dental membership program. This is great because you sell to one person and then you get many sign ups – Leveraged sales!!

 

• Networks: Using television networks to spread the word and educate your community about your dental membership program can be a great way to grow! Reach out to your local radio station, or news station and book an interview!

 

• Events: Create live events at the 55+ communities and educate them about oral care and then talk about how patients don’t need dental insurance to come to your practice, educate them about your dental membership program.

 

• Articles & Education: Write article and create educational videos on your own website but then also publish articles on local websites like your local news station website or a local barber shop or medical practice.

 

• Referral Marketing: Visit local businesses, restaurants, medical practices, flower shops, gyms and really anything that you can think of and join forces with them. Ask them to give a free whitening offer to all of their employees and customers if they sign up for your dental membership program. or just give so much value that people will come and see your dental office, then educate them on your membership program.

Messaging

Messaging needs to be targeting directly to the demographic. If you are targeting seniors use verbal messages that resonate with them and images that resonate with them. Make sure that your messaging is solely about your membership program or else they will never know it exists. Messaging is extremely important.

 

Marketing by Sharing

Jason Friend is my favorite CEO and though leader. I learn a lot from his presentations about running a business, marketing, HR, Product design and just overall business/entrepreneurship. In this video below Jason talks about the importance of marketing by sharing or teaching. This is how I have marketing BoomCloud in the dental industry and i would recommend that you use sharing and teaching in your local market. Watch this video:

 

Conclusion

As you can see there are many way you can grow your membership program, the problem is that practices don’t spend the time needed to make it successful. I recommend assigning the responsibility for marketing to someone on your team, you need to hold them accountable and make sure things are getting done and working successfully!

 

Action Steps:

 

1. Read Traction to understand about marketing Chanels and how to test each one to make sure they work for your practice.

2. Figure out your demographics

3. Figure out your channels and start using them to grow your membership program.

4. create marketing goals with your team

5. Assign a team member to be responsible for marketing

6. Update me here –  jordon@boomcloudapps.com