In a competitive professional landscape dentists employ a variety of methods to attract patients. From direct mail, social media, attractive websites optimized for web traffic and special offers, dentists truly run the gamut of external marketing avenues to attract new patients. There is no doubt that marketing works (how else would you get patients). However, marketing comes at a cost – both obvious and hidden.

Marketing Budget

Most dentists should expect to 4-5% of their gross revenues for marketing. Thus, a practice earning $100,000 in monthly gross revenue should anticipate spending up to $5,000 a month on marketing. Many larger practices spend over 10% of gross revenue each month attracting patients to their chairs.

Direct Mail Marketing

Generally speaking, the most common resource for dental marketing is direct mail. Direct mail is among the most inexpensive marketing options for dentist. The average medium-to-high quality direct mail campaign costs about $1000 per “drop”. That drop will likely be sent to a specific number of households in a specific zip code and/or income demographic. This drop is sent to usually about 1000 homes depending on the target market (and will “hit” these households only if the address list used by the company is updated and complete).

The average rate of return for a standard direct mail offer is normally about ½ to 1 percent. According to JMW Business Service, one can expect about five to ten people to respond to a 1000 piece mail marketing campaign, and of those responding, two to five people will accept treatment. Many dentists see this as a risk worth taking because of the cost of dental treatment – and it might be. However, there is no guarantee of the value of the new patient as patient value varies by patient income, practice location, provider specialization and the types of procedures diagnosed. Thus, the Return on Investment (ROI) with direct marketing is variable as you may get two crowns one month or only two cleanings.

Social Media

Now, let’s say we move away from direct mail and focus on social media. There is no doubt that social media (like Facebook and Twitter) is a great marketing opportunity for any business. It has a more “do it yourself” feel, is often less costly and, over time, reaches a larger audience. This is great if you know how to make best use of social media. This is where bigger practices (and dentist-techies) have a leg up because the resources and know-how are there to best use this opportunity. Those not knowledgeable about social marketing might opt to hire out to third parties to design their site, etc. This is an opportunity potentially worth taking, but it can be costly with both money and time. Measuring ROI for social media involves measuring the amount of traffic to the social medial page, number of online conversations with positive content, references to your practice versus competitors, the number of people joining your social networking site and bookmarking it, the number of people posting to your blog, commenting on your Facebook page, retweeting comments, etc. There are definitely “apps for that”, but do you really have the time?

Website

As for the standard website, astute dentists will often provide a printable coupon on their website discounting services or providing Free Exam and X-Ray offers to increase new patient traffic. These offers are great for potential patients that already know of you (thus you receive referrals), but for new patients the discounted services market is already very competitive (Google “free exam and x-ray” for an idea). Therefore, you have to fight the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) battle with your competitors requires technical expertise. You can of course invest in having someone do this for you as with social networking. However, staying on top of the design, web traffic metrics, etc. can be a drag on your time and finances. Also, the timeframe from creating a website to getting search engine traffic can be protracted. Now, there is no doubt that a dentist should have a website. It is absolutely necessary. However, dentists should be aware that setting up shop online requires time and financial investment in design and optimization both now and in the future.

Insurance Credentialing

The biggest marketing opportunity for dentists is the most inexpensive (and underutilized). That opportunity is insurance and discount plan credentialing. Insurance credentialing allows you market to every patient in your area with insurance or a discount plan. This marketing is continuous to the patients and lasts as long as you remain an in-network provider. Further, insurance credentialing is more in line with the desires of patients who make decisions based on insurance network participation instead of such things such as proximity, office cleanliness etc. Thus, the practices best positioned to quickly grow are those practices that join the common insurance and discount plan networks in their areas. From there, these practices can utilize the other, more costly, marketing efforts because insurance patient traffic has created the financial means to pursue more targeted markets.

The only major downfall to insurance credentialing is that it can be work intensive and paperwork heavy because each insurance provider has a different application. Luckily, companies like Dentsential can perform these services for you so you can get in network and stay in network.

Marketing is crucial to practice growth, and all avenues must be explored to accelerate practice growth. However, in-network providers truly get more “bang for their buck” through insurance and discount plan participation. Plan participation gives patients what they want – and in-network provider – and it gives providers what they want in a wider new patient pool, continuous marketing and increased revenue.