Brush Up on Your Dental Practice Marketing with Big Bold Postcards

Your dental business is all about putting healthy and happy smiles on the faces of your patients. But how do you capture their attention or get your name out to a wider audience to build up your practice?

It’s as simple as brushing and flossing after every meal. The most time-honored form of direct mail – a postcard – will help you capture their attention and motivate them to come in for an exam.

But not just any old postcard will do.

Creativity wins

You might have accurate data, smart strategy, and a good offer. But if your postcard design doesn’t work, you’re wasting your prospect’s time and your money.

Your postcards must cut through all the messaging clutter your prospects deal with every day. That’s the only way you can engage your target audience successfully and turn them from prospects into your newest and happiest patients.

Think hard about your creative content, even if you’ve used postcards before.

1. Does it get your audience’s attention? How?
2. Does it keep them interested enough to avoid throwing it away? (Be honest.)
3. How does it get them to respond?

You didn’t go to dental school to specialize in marketing. So, like a good dental hygienist, our tips below will help take some of the stress out of creating and mailing a successful marketing campaign so you can focus on your many other responsibilities.

5 steps to healthy dental marketing

These design practices will help you make the best use of your postcard’s real estate to get results.

1. Keep it simple

Don’t try to make your postcard do too much.

It’s tempting to crowd it with lots of explanatory copy and images, to try to be everything for every kind of dental patient, all at once.

Don’t do it.

Your patients – your customers – should learn these key points with just one glance:

• Who you are (a quick bio and picture)
• What services and specialties you offer (examples: sedation, extended hours)
• Your current special offers (examples: free cleaning, limited-time discount on spacers)

That’s it. Really. That’s enough to prompt prospective patients to pick up the phone or check out your website without overwhelming them with information.

Focus your patient’s attention on the most important information, and let your website do the heavy lifting of showcasing your entire practice in detail.

2. Get the front & back to work together

No matter whether your patient sees the front or back of your postcard first, each side must support the other.

For example, you can put a simple heading like “FREE New Patient Exam” on the front. Use the address side to list two to three few bullet-pointed benefits. Offering a coupon for new children’s exams? Include a photo of smiling children.

It’s all about keeping it simple, which makes it easy for your patient to figure out what you’re offering.

3. Go big

Under USPS regulations, a postcard has specific dimensional and thickness requirements to mail at a special rate. So a postcard that measures 8.5”x5.5” gets a lot of bang for the buck. And a larger size, like 11”x5.5”, really stands out to your patient when they look through their mail.

But hold on a moment. Remember what we said above about a crowded postcard?

Don’t try to fill all of that extra room with content. Instead, use lots of white space to make your offer, your call to action, and other elements shine.

4. Use great pictures

The right image – whether it’s a professional-quality photograph or an illustration – should boost your message as well as your practice’s unique identity and credibility.

Your pictures should be:

• Clear, crisp, and high-resolution (no fuzzy or blurry images)
• Authentic, showing you, your staff, and patients
• On-brand, previewing the patient’s in-office experience

One more thing: It should be obvious, but your photos should show smiling people. This projects a feeling of warmth and promotes trust in your practice.

5. Make a strong call to action

Postcards aren’t subtle. They can’t afford to be. Tell your patients what action you want them to take next. Some examples:

• “Call us today to set up an appointment.”
• “Visit our website to learn more.” (And post the link with just “www.”)
• “We’re located near you!” Include a map that shows how convenient your office is.

Don’t make your customer scan through your copy to figure out what to do. Instead, set your call to action apart with a larger font, maybe in a different color of ink.

Now, a word about social media callouts. People want to know what other people say and do. Ratings and testimonials will help them decide which dentist to trust. Include Yelp, Google, and Facebook reviews or star ratings (and logos) to bolster your practice’s image.

We know dental marketing!

Are you looking for more ways to make your next drive your dental direct mail campaign results? Schedule a time to speak with one of our mailing.com direct mail experts and get a free quote on your next project.