The 7 Places You Should Advertise Your Membership Plan at Your Practice

When a patient walks through the door of your dental practice, it’s usually because they’re already coming in for care. But many of those patients are in need of more extensive (and expensive) procedures, too. That means you want to advertise your membership plan in places they'll notice it. You also might have some special offerings that will influence their decision to book those visits, or even to refer friends or family.

Whether a dental membership plan that enables them to pay over time for cleanings without insurance, or a discount for new patients that will encourage a loved one who has been putting it off, these “game changers” need to be conveyed to your patients.

Here are the seven places you should advertise your dental membership plan and other unique factors at your practice.

1. Online and in Your Patients’ Inboxes

We know the title of this post says “at your practice,” but in a way, your business’ online presence is a part of its practice. If you want to dive into that more, check out our post on why social media is so important for dentists.

In the meantime, just know that you should be thinking of your digital footprint as every patient’s first impression of you. Whether that sounds great to you or not, it’s one of the truths of our 21st-century world. Most people in all age groups and demographics now use the web as a vetting tool.

So, in addition to building up social media accounts and producing e-blasts that show you off in your best light, you can use the internet as an awesome arena for advertising. Push that July “Red-Whitening-and-Blue” special on your Instagram feed and send newsletters that explain your dental membership plan in bite-size infographics.

2. Outside Your Office

Believe it or not, billboards actually do still work. Recent studies have shown that out-of-home advertising (of which billboards are a chief method) average an ROI of 497%. Yea, for real.

But this isn’t the only way you should be advertising outside of the office. Even just barely outside is effective and helpful. If you have a prominent, stand-alone location, including graphics with your practice name and a special offer on the door or nearby will help to identify your business from afar. Alternatively, if you are tucked within an office park, this can help first-time patients locate your precise entrance.

3. In the Waiting Room

You likely already have marketing materials on display in your waiting room, but consider this space the one for long-form educational insights. If you want to explain the positive aspects of your dental membership plan or how a revolutionary new product or procedure works, here is the place to put an informative brochure.

While we know it adds to your expense sheet a bit, we do recommend supplying enough brochures so that patients can take one home. The idea of a takeaway appeals to most people, and this gives your collateral another chance to pop up—during their purse clean-out or on the kitchen table the next day.

4. At the Front Desk and Checkout

This is another area that works well for placing brochures, but let’s be more strategic. In the waiting room, provide educational materials. At the front desk, get down to brass tacks. For example, if you’re writing a brochure about dental membership plans, map out the finances on a display board at the front desk. This is definitely the place to advertise your DMP.

The front desk and checkout desk are where patients will be confirming appointments, providing insurance details, and making payments. It is the perfect place to showcase some more financial concepts to your patients.

5. In the X-Ray Room

What better do your patients have to do while they wait as the machine circles their head? They may as well be staring at an eye-catching graphic explaining your restorative procedure discount or where you advertise your DMP, right?

This is a great place to provide educational posters. Consider talking about the signs of gingivitis or five tips for effective flossing!

6. On the Ceiling of the Treatment Area

Again, if your patient is stuck staring off into space while the hygienist works on them, why shouldn’t they catch a glimpse of some marketing collateral?

If you have televisions up there (go you, we all love that!), consider one of these two options: You can either place the advertisement near the screen, oooor you could get techy (or have someone on your team get techy) and find a way to display the ad on the screen.

7. On Receipts and Care Instructions

If you print out summaries of everything a patient had done that day, with payment totals and/or care instructions, consider this a great place to communicate.

Establish a piece of verbiage you can paste onto take-home papers that relates back to common visit topics. Here are a few examples:

• “Your teeth are now nice and clean! If you haven’t already scheduled it, don’t forget to call us about another preventive visit six months from now. In the meantime, consider the other ways you could pay, like our dental membership plan! Learn more at [practice website URL]. We’ll see you soon!”
• “You did great! Now that your cavity is filled, here are some ways to prevent future ones: [insert tips].”
• “We hope that extraction turned out well (pun intended). Please read the below care instructions carefully, and if you need some entertainment while you recover, visit our Instagram [@PracticeHandle] to see your doctor dancing his way through a meeting (yes, we really got that on video!).”

Not only are you giving patients a “call to action”; you’re also making them feel connected to you, which is a good vibe for everyone involved.

For more marketing tips and ideas to advertise your DMP, check out our ultimate marketing checklist. To learn more about dental membership plans and why they are so worthy of all this attention, visit our home page.