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5 easy promotions to run at your dental practice

It’s easy to let dental practice marketing slip to the bottom of your to-do list but ignoring new patient acquisition for too long could leave your practice in a hole.

Here are five promotional ideas that can give a gentle boost to your appointments.

1. Run a back-to-school photo contest

Parents love to show off their kid’s smile. Generate buzz with your social media following by asking parents to post photos of their kids and tag your practice to enter. Offer all the winners some discounted services.

2. Add a fun referral prize

Every dental practice should have an established referral system in place to encourage patients to refer their family and friends. But sometimes a discounted cleaning isn’t the sort of thing that inspires folks to think long and hard about who they could refer.

Making the reward fun–dinner at a popular restaurant, concert tickets or gift cards–is a great way to boost referrals. You can even offer one big prize and give it away raffle style. Make it exciting and your patients will get excited.

3. Offer a discount for patients who pre-pay

This simple trick provides a host of benefits:

  • Encourages patients to accept suggested treatments right away.
  • Drastically reduces the risk of cancellations.
  • Provides a much-needed sigh of relief from your billing department.

4. Fire up the grill

Set up a BBQ in the parking lot and make a day of it this summer. People respond to a healthcare professional who isn’t “all business.” Show your patients that you’re a real person who likes to have fun, too.

5. Start a Cavity-Free Club for younger patients

Promote healthy brushing and flossing habits while reminding parents to bring their little ones in for bi-annual checkups. A Cavity-Free Club rewards kids with progressively better prizes the more consecutive visits they have without a cavity.