Summer is drawing to a close, and fall will soon be here. It might seem a little early to start thinking about the end of the year, but when it comes to marketing, this is the perfect time to begin planning year-end and holiday campaigns to avoid stress and prevent things from falling through the cracks. Here are 3 things that every dental practice should be planning for now to be well prepared for the last quarter of the year.
#1. Holiday Promotions
Do you plan to run any specials during the holiday season? If so, will they involve discounts? While a discount is not necessary, if you plan to offer one, it is best to iron out the details well ahead of time. If there will be no discount, you still want to plan the message and get an idea of what the promotion will be about. For example, you might plan a campaign around teeth whitening as a unique gift for the holidays. If your practice would like to do a food or toy drive during the holidays, now is the time to start doing the research into which charity you would like to support and the logistics involved. Some practices like to have special patient events around the holidays, like a cookie exchange or an open house/party. Strategizing these types of events early is key to ensuring they run smoothly and gives your marketing agency plenty of time to plan.
#2. End-of-Year Insurance Benefits Push
While most of our clients do not take insurance at their practices, the ones that do should be planning a campaign to help educate patients on using their benefits before they expire at the end of the year. We like to start planning for that early to make sure we can craft an effective message to use across all marketing channels. A good educational campaign takes time to develop and be effective. We like to strategize well in advance to make sure we can time every part of the campaign out precisely for the best results.
#3. 2024 Marketing Plans
If your practice is not already working with a marketing company, and you want to do so in 2024, you need to start planning for that now. A marketing company needs time to get a new client up and running. We need to evaluate where you are now, learn about you, your practice and your goals, get you onboarded, and get all the custom, comprehensive campaigns together and implemented. Good marketing does not happen overnight, and if you want to start marketing in 2024, you need to begin the process soon. If you are already working with a marketing agency, you should still be starting to strategize for 2024, especially if you have any major changes in mind that will require a shift in your marketing. Even if you don’t foresee things changing all that much, planning ahead and communicating with your marketing agency now will only help you stay ahead of the game next year.
The end of the year is going to be here before we know it, so to get a jump on your marketing plans, we recommend starting now. Start thinking about any type of holiday promotion you want to run. If you take insurance, start working on the end-of-the-year benefits push. And if you want to do any marketing in 2024, now is the time to contact your marketing agency.
