Tips for Print Ads for Dental Marketing!

Are you wanting to bring new patients into your dental practice? Where do you start? Are the Yellow Pages and print ads a good idea for dental marketing? Let's take a look and find out if it is good investment for your practice.

First, you have to look at how much the cost of the advertising will be. For instance, if it costs $10,000 and you only bring in $10,000...it's a wash and was not a good investment. For it to be lucrative in this case, making $20,000 would be more of a number that would show some profit. Next If you do use Yellow Pages, how will you track it? If you don't track it, you won't know what revenue was generated from your investment. On most software, you can input where the patient was referred from in the patient information section. This will allow you to really see how much traffic is generated by your ad.

Do you know who makes most medical decisions for a family? I'll give you a hint...It's not the dad/husband...It's the wife/mom! Keeping that in mind, what should your ad look like? You should make the pictures relevant to your audience. Would a mom would want her kids to go to the office showing a photo of a smiling doctor and team or a photo that looks like mug shot? Make the most of the ad by adding REAL pictures of you and your team to the ad. When the patient comes in and recognizes a familiar face,it will help them connect to your office! A visual aspect of the ad is the print. Is it soft and inviting or all block case? The latter can feel cold and unwelcoming. Using a typeface that has a softer edge or mixing various typefaces would be a better bet.

Speaking of photos, do the photos you are using relate to the dental field? You've only got one shot with an ad to impress the POTENTIAL patient reading it. Here are a few ideas of what photos NOT to put in your ad: Scary dental tools, Branded Equipment or photos unrelated images to what you offer. Unlike a website that has links to interact with, your audience will make a decision for or against your practice in seconds. Improper use of your "prime real estate" in your ad will not be wise.

Are the words of your ad something the general public can understand or are you using dental lingo? Remember that being too technical is not going to work in your favor. It won't have the impact of using terms patients understand. If you put that you do Osseointegrated Implants in your ad...will the patient know what that is? No! So, instead use, "Dental Implants to replace your missing teeth", don't use Cerac, instead "we do crowns in one visit" or composite fillings, instead use "white fillings that blend to look like natural teeth"

Really, take a look at your local Yellow Pages and see what is out there! The whole point of the ad is to get them emotionally engaged and INTO YOUR OFFICE! Don't forget to add your website to your ad so that once they're interested you can wow them with even more content!