6 great dentistry marketing conversations to have with clients in 2023

You’ve been a part of marketing conversations for some time, although you may not have realized it. At the end of each calendar year, we hear the phrase ‘use it or lose it’ endlessly. I get so tired of hearing this and I’ll bet you do too. Customers just turn a deaf ear and the words lose any significance. 

Here’s an example of flipping the script.  

In terms of flexible spending, let’s talk about it from the perspective of a winter graduation or a visit home from a college-age child. Kids are generally not great at their oral health. They also are still on their parent’s insurance. Parents can use that flexible spending to, well – parent.

Here are some other conversations you can have about the services that your practice offers.  

Kids

This is a continuation of the example above, but some kids need their first root canal between 16 to 20 years old. So educate people about dental flags for root canals and the importance of getting their children into the office for the holidays. Maybe there’s a cavity that a child has been putting off because they had finals. Let’s take care of that so it doesn’t get any worse. There might be a chipped tooth resulting from somebody actually using their tooth as a tool. PSA – you can’t open soda pop with your teeth. It’s not designed for that. These are the kinds of conversations that center around kids. 

Insurance benefits

A person’s insurance benefits are another topic you can tie into families. Instead of saying ‘use it or lose it,’ you can talk about the worthy things to spend end-of-the-year dollars to do for your family. Benefits may renew in January and you can tie that into some of the other conversations about fresh starts. 

New year fitness focus

Speaking of fresh starts, fitness plans are going to dominate the advertising space on January 1st. You’re going to see all the ads for the gyms, the juice bars, and the like. Whatever the marketing gimmick happens to be, this is an excellent time for you to piggyback off of that as a dental practitioner to talk about personal improvements. Upside of dental resolutions? Getting a brighter smile can be accomplished in a day. Maybe January is your month for whitening deals and options. 

Weddings

Weddings are another missed event in terms of dental care and marketing and advertising. April, May, and June are big wedding months, but before that, you want to make sure that you’re communicating to the bride, groom, and all attendants that they can have those perfect smiles for the photos. And the bride and groom want bright, beachy smiles on the honeymoon. If there’s any work that needs to be done, remind them that they need to back the service out so many days from the wedding.  

Graduation

The other thing that we can talk about mid-year is college graduation when many students exit their parent’s insurance. They are also maybe going off to their first job with their own insurance. But unfortunately, because they are new to the game, they are not able to afford the top-shelf policy. There are some things to take care of on a parent’s insurance before they make the switch. 

Major life changes

There are a number of life events that could be other conversations. We talked about people getting married but it could also be a divorce or a new job search. Any major change where a change in appearance would be desirable. Whatever it is, you want to meet your customers and your patients where they are to provide them with the service they need.

Learn from your patients. Consider it market research. As you get to know them, find out why they came to see you in the first place. You can use that information to create your own unique messaging for a wider audience.