Direct Mail – Not Your Father’s Oldsmobile

I’m old enough to remember what it was like to practice dentistry before the advent of dental insurance. I also remember when it was considered illegal or unethical or certainly questionable to advertise or market yourself or your dental practice to the public. All, of course, before the Internet, and e-mail, and Google, and Apple, and social media changed the way we share and communicate information.

When dentists first were permitted to advertise, the medium of choice was direct mail. You would print up 50,000 postcards–in order to get the best rate on printing–and send them out to your dearest and nearest friends in your neighborhood and hope for the best. It was very expensive and you never knew if your message or offer would resonate, and guessing was very costly!

Direct mail marketing programs of today are VERY different from what was the standard even ten to fifteen years ago. As different as an iPhone from a rotary phone. As different as a Victrola from an iPod. One company that exemplifies this new and modern approach is 123 Postcards. I have been following them for most of 2013, and I am quite impressed. Instead of mailing to zip codes, they break down the mailings to specific mail carrier routes. That means you can better target specific neighborhoods by proximity to your practice, income levels, median home value, average age, number of homes with children, etc.–the data gets pretty sophisticated.

123 Postcards has pioneered one of the most comprehensive marketing tracking and monitoring systems in the industry. Every mailing includes a unique, local call-tracking number that rings seamlessly into your office. Not only is each call recorded, but it is also scored, graded, and analyzed so that you and your staff know the exact results of every mailing. They can track the number of patients who called, the names of the patients, the offer they responded to, which part of town they called from, and staff performance on the telephone call. With cheaper printing costs, they can now send out mailings in smaller amounts and thus measure the response rate to different offers. This allows your message to be very current i.e. back-to-school specials or end-of-the-year use it or lose it for dental insurance.

Since there is considerably less standard mail arriving in your mailbox these days, it just might be time to consider a well-designed direct mail marketing program. I certainly feel comfortable recommending the folks at 123 Postcards for your consideration.