Dental marketing report card: Plymouth Meeting Family Dental

This report card in particular was exciting for me to delve into. The owner and practicing dentist is Richard Nagelberg, DDS—one of my fellow contributors to Dental Economics!

As a fellow reader and contributor to DE, I expected Dr. Nagelberg to have an A-rated marketing strategy. So, it was no surprise to me to learn that his external marketing plan consisted of this . . .

Direct mail: A

Plymouth Meeting Family Dental sends direct mail to households in their area to attract new patients. Smart move! Of all forms of marketing, 54% of consumers surveyed said they prefer direct mail,1 and 56% say they find print marketing is the most trustworthy.2 Plus, I’ve written article after article outlining successful dental postcard campaigns and how to replicate that success.

As an expert in dental economics, it makes sense that Dr. Nagelberg has a great direct mail campaign.

Smiling people are a must for your dental postcard! Our data shows that 87% of our dental clients’ successful campaigns feature a photo of one or more people smiling.

This is a huge benefit to prospective patients and a major selling point!

With external marketing (marketing to prospects who aren’t your own patients), benefits are more important than branding. I would move the headline (a benefit) to the top and the practice’s name to the bottom.

This is an “EDDM” mailing label, meaning that Dr. Nagelberg is using “Every Door Direct Mail.” This is a program offered by the USPS that lets you saturate an area with your mailer and save money on postage.

A different, brighter color here would draw the prospects’ eyes to the call to action (CTA), which is where you want them to end up.

Including a photo of the office and a map makes it easy for prospects to find them and understand that their location is convenient. Very helpful!

High-value offers encourage recipients to try out a new dentist with relatively low risk. Dr. Nagelberg also has the number right—62% of our successful dental campaigns feature two or more offers. These offers are also backed by our own data as being successful. A+!

Overall, this is a solid campaign that could be enhanced by finishing touches such as trust elements. A photo of the staff would increase the comfort level, and a five-star review from a third-party site such as Google would add credibility.

As long as Plymouth Meeting Family Dental mails a good number of cards consistently (a minimum of 3,000 every week or month), the practice can expect to bring in new patients every month.

Website: B+

plymouthmeetingfamilydental.com

Plymouth Meeting Family Dental gets a marketing A+ for keeping their branding consistent from the mailbox to the website. When people receive their postcard and go online to find out more, they’ll immediately know they’re in the right place!

This makes it easy for prospects to make an appointment without having to pick up the phone, which is great! The button could definitely stand out more, perhaps in a completely different color from the rest of the site. Getting appointments is the whole point, right?

I wish there was a lead-capture form for the 96% of visitors who aren’t ready to make an appointment yet.3 I recommend an “Ask the Dentist” form, where prospective patients can ask a dental question (or just make a general inquiry) and receive an answer via email. That way, the practice can follow up, increasing their familiarity and credibility with prospects until they are ready to come in.

The office address and phone number are consistently located in the top right corner, where visitors expect to see them.

It’s great that their branding is so prominent, but beige and green do not immediately convey dental. A website that is primarily white, with elements of blue, green and beige retained for banding, would extend the immediate message of dentistry and being dental experts.

I love the ratings and reviews on the home page to increase trust. I especially like that they look unfiltered and not cherry-picked.

Dr. Nagelberg’s website is responsive, which means that the design responds to suit any device on which you view it—vitally important to today’s consumer! Responsive websites also rank better in mobile search results.

Online marketing: A-

Plymouth Meeting Family Dental is doing a great job with their pay-per-click (PPC) advertising. When I Googled “East Norriton dentist,” their ad was in the top spot! However, paid listings only receive 5% of online traffic.4

I’m impressed that the practice’s listing appears in the local pack. But sandwiched between two practices with a large number of Google reviews, their six reviews are unimpressive. They have 176 ratings on their website — but those don’t do them much good here!

I’d recommend directly asking for Google reviews (Google gets 77% of search traffic4), then copying those ratings and comments to their website.

The takeaway

Overall, Plymouth Meeting Family Dental is not only doing a great job with their marketing, but it is actively generating new patients with direct mail and pay-per-click. (They also hand out referral cards that offer a discount on services to both the referring and referred patients.) This alone should be enough to keep a steady stream of new patients coming in, but asking for Google reviews, along with consistent mailings, could really elevate the practice!

References

1. Cummings C. Infographic: Consumers know exactly how they want to be marketed to. AdWeek website. http://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/infographic-consumers-know-exactly-how-they-want-be-marketed-167840/. Published November 1, 2015. Accessed August 1, 2017.

2. Mansfield M. Direct mail marketing statistics for small businesses. Small Business Trends website. https://smallbiztrends.com/2017/01/direct-mail-marketing-statistics.html. Published January 10, 2017. Accessed August 1, 2017.

3. Bulygo Z, Work S. What the highest converting websites do differently. Kissmetrics website. https://blog.kissmetrics.com/what-converting-websites-do/. Accessed August 1, 2017.

4. Denton N. 10 signs it’s time for a website facelift. HubSpot website. https://blog.hubspot.com/insiders/should-i-redesign-my-website. Accessed August 1, 2017.