Dental Marketing and Practice Management

How Do You Fill a New Facility with Patients? New Patient Marketing

Though construction is nearly complete, the financial work just goes on and on. Dr. Sparaga’s wife Kathy is continuously crunching numbers for the bank, for the governmental guaranteeing agencies (USDA), and for the insurance companies. “It seems endless,” explains the doctor, “and it’s constantly evolving with changes in equipment pricing and cost overruns in the project.”

It all comes down to this: the new facility [click to enlarge]

It’s unfortunate but not terribly surprising that the project has run over budget. Given that, the Sparagas are holding the line on items like trash compactors, garden pavers, and piezosurgery equipment.

However, they are increasing their marketing to create booking pressure sufficient to supply patients for two dentists. After analyzing their advertising budget, the Sparagas decided to change their strategy a little bit. For the moment, they will reallocate their television funds to additional radio and direct mail in extended geographic areas. (They intend to develop new TV ads within a year.)

I asked Dr. Sparaga about the reasons behind this marketing switch.

“We’ve found that the initial penetration of a geographic area is best served with radio, followed by direct mail and finally TV,” he told me. “Television is too expensive to introduce ourselves. However, when it’s applied after the initial invasion of other media, TV has worked to validate what the public has been hearing and reading about.

“The biggest cases we’ve done have been strongly influenced by TV validation,” he added.

Want to catch up on this story? Here’s what the Sparagas have been doing…

• Developing plans for a new dental facility.
• Undertaking a financial analysis.
• Laying the foundation.
• Putting up some walls.
• Constructing the skeleton.
• Raising the roof.
• Watching the design firm go out of business.
• Finding new design contractors.
• Buying some dental equipment.
• Searching for a new dental associate.
• Looking for a dental hygienist or two.
• Finding a compatible associate.

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