mouthguards

by

Tips and Ideas for Dental Office Open House Event

Hello Friends,

One of the most asked questions that I receive is ideas for hosting a dental open house event. So if you have an open house planned for your dental office or are considering hosting an open house event, here are some ideas to help make your open house a huge success!

ideas for dental office open house betty hayden consulting

 Event Theme:

  • Luau
  • Winter Wonderland
  • Back-to-School
  • Hearts – We “Heart” our Community or We “Heart” our Patients
  • Decades (ex: 50’s)
  • Spring – Flowers (Thank you for helping our office grow)
  • Celebration of Health
  • Fall  
  • Women’s Night Out  
  • Office Anniversary Celebration
  • Spa/Pampering  
  • Shopping (w/local vendors)
  • Carnival
  • Cocktail Party (Wine & Appetizers)
  • Superhero

 Target Audience: 

  • Professionals/Specialists
  • Community (Local Businesses/Non-Patients)
  • Current Patients

 Cross Marketing Opportunity:

  • Team up with local businesses!
  • Hair Salons, Specialty offices, Restaurants, Etc.
  • Display a thank you board/sign to the local businesses involved in the open house.
  • Have an area that they can display their business information
  • Have them donate a prize to be raffled off or used in a drawing.
  • Ask them to advertise your event at their place of business.

Advertising your Event:

  • Invitations
  • Local Newspaper (Invite them to the event!)
  • TV News (Invite them to the event!)
  • Radio (Invite them to the event!)
  • Social Media Sites (set up a Facebook Event)
  • Website
  • Current Patients (Ask them to bring a friend for a prize!)
  • Newsletter
  • Email
  • Online Local News Sites
  • Local Chambers
  • Local Businesses (Library, City Hall, Day Cares, Salons, Restaurants, Schools, EVERYWHERE)
  • Employees (Make sure the entire team is on board w/the event and talking about it)
  • Flyers
  • Banner on building

 Call To Action/Community Support:

Collect Donations for…

  • Winter Gear (Coats, Gloves, Scarves & Hats, Blankets)
  • Books
  • Canned Foods  
  • School Supplies
  • Aluminum Can Tabs (Ronald McDonald House)

or offer:

  • Complimentary Oral Cancer Screenings
  • Smile Makeover Contest

 Give-Aways:

Welcome letter/flyer (Include in it: Info about the office, services offered, a special call to action offer & a thank you for coming in) 

Items imprinted with your office information, such as:

  • Toothbrush Bags
  • Lip Balm (www.lipbalmexpress.com)
  • Tote Bags
  • Pens
  • Coffee Mugs
  • Water Bottles
  • Flower Seed Packets
  • Magnets
  • Key rings
  • Xylitol Products
  • Umbrellas

My favorite company to use for imprinted giveaway items is: Bizarre Marketing – www.promostuff4u.com

Activities:

  • Face Painting
  • Photo Booth
  • Balloon Twisting
  • Craft Table
  • Games
  • DJ/Karaoke/Live Music
  • Dental Health Presentations

 Drawing/Raffle for Prizes:

Having a drawing(s) allows you to collect names and contact information of the guests. Be sure to collect Name, Address, Email & Phone #.

  • Electric Toothbrush
  • Teeth Whitening
  • $/% Off of a Dental Service  
  • Gift Cards
  • Television/Tablet
  • Gift Baskets

Team up with local businesses for contributions/donations of Prizes. Be sure to remind them that their name will be included in your advertising for the open house.

Offer an incentive (such as; gift card) to the first so many people who RSVP to your event.

Office Appearance:

  • Office must be clean and clutter free!! (Inside & Out!)
  • Restrooms – make sure they are checked during the open house for cleanliness and that they are well stocked)
  • Decorate the Office
  • Music Playing (recorded or live)
  • Have stations set up throughout the office to encourage a tour of the entire office.
  • Monitors set up in reception room and treatment suites playing videos of services offered
  • Display “About Our Office & Services” Brochures

Team Members:

  • Well dressed
  • Name Tags
  • Friendly & Outgoing
  • Specific assignments (designated greeter, tour guide, speaker for dental presentations, etc.)

 Food/Drink Ideas:

  • Bottled water with office label
  • Punch/lemonade/Tea/Coffee/Wine/Beer
  • BBQ Foods
  • Appetizers
  • Wine/Cheese
  • Desserts
  • Ice Cream Truck (great for outdoor events)

You may be able to get a local business to donate cookies, cake pops, cupcakes, sandwich trays, fruit and vegetable platters, etc.

Day of the Event:

  • Smiling faces
  • Name tags
  • Give tours (Depending on size of the event you could set tours up scavenger hunt style)
  • Be ready to schedule appointments
  • Greet everyone
  • Take lots of pictures
  • Record a video of the event

 After the Event:

  • Send Thank you’s to all of your guests and any businesses that participated in the event.
  • Send a follow-up article & pictures to the local paper.
  • Call prize winners to come into the office and collect their gift – be sure to take their picture(s).
  • Post pictures of the event on social media sites.  

Remember, Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance!

To-do lists are your friend! Include a timeline & who is responsible for what & when.

Your goal should be to make your guests feel welcome, special and appreciated. No one wants to show up to an event where they are not welcomed or sure they’re even in the right place. 

Have a GREAT Open House Event friends!

If you have more ideas I would love to hear about them! To share your thoughts/ideas please comment below. If you enjoyed reading this article please give us a “like” below. 

If you are not yet receiving my free dental marketing ideas every month to your inbox, please take a second and subscribe today. This way you won’t miss a single idea!

Yours for Greater Success,

~Betty

P.S. We’re on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and Pinterest stop by and say hello.

 

 

by

Dental Marketing Ideas for your local School District

Hello Friends, 

With back-to-school season in full swing, there is no need to wait until February’s Dental Health month to market to the local schools in your neighborhood, start early in the school year building relationships with school staff & the families that attend these schools.

These small marketing seeds that you plant, help to build relationships over time and you never know when and where those seeds will grow into new patients for your practice. (See Dental Marketing Seeds)

Here are just a few easy, inexpensive & effective ways for your dental office to reach out to your local schools.

dental marketing ideas for local schools betty hayden consulting

 

Donations – Use your office as a community donation site for school supplies or new & gently used books to be donated to local children and/or schools in need. Advertise in office, on your social media sites, to local businesses and the news media via press release that your office is collecting donations for school supplies or books.

This is a GREAT way to bring in potential new patients… when folks come into the office to drop off their donations, be sure to warmly welcome them, give a brief tour of the office, hand out small thank you gifts that are imprinted with your office information or have a raffle they can enter to win a prize. Prize ideas: themed gift basket, electric toothbrush, gift card, teeth whitening, etc. Invite local businesses to contribute something toward the prize.

Gifts for School Staff – Choose one, two, or more schools (depending on the size of the teaching staff) and deliver some treats to show your appreciation for the work they do in caring for the children in the community. Some ideas are: Breakfast, Lunch, Snacks, Toothbrush goodie bags, Lip balm, Little gifts, flowers, etc. Be sure that your office information is clearly imprinted on any toothbrushes or small gifts. See my Pinterest boards for gift ideas…

AND/OR

Host a Favorite Teacher Contest. Invite local students to nominate their favorite teacher. Winning teacher gets FREE teeth whitening and a certificate stating they won for the favorite teacher contest. The classroom with the winning teacher gets a gift card for school supplies or pizza/ice cream lunch.

You could easily ask for donations from local businesses to add to the winning teachers prize or for the classroom.

This can be promoted via your office website, newsletters, postcards, emails, office social media sites, local newspapers and signs in your office.

Have fun with it and be sure to share lots of pictures on your social media pages.

Just a few more ideas…

Social Media Sites – Post school-related content to your social media sites, such as:

  • Back to School Tips
  • Healthy Lunch/Snack ideas
  • What to do in a Dental Emergency?
  • Ortho care while at school
  • Dental Health (importance of, regular check-ups, sealants, mouthguards, fluoride & braces)

Office Blog – Share short articles/videos on your office blog/website using the above topics.

Pinterest – On your office Pinterest page, create a school related board(s). See my Pinterest boards for ideas.

Book Fairs – Many schools will be hosting book fairs this school year.  And if your local school(s) are anything like mine, these book fairs draw a very large crowd.

Create fun, interesting Bookmarks for your local schools that include your office contact information. Deliver these bookmarks as a gift to the local schools to use during their book fairs. Easy! Right?

Here’s another one, tooth bags. Make up some little bags with a “lost tooth” congratulations message from your office and space to write the child’s name. Deliver these bags to local elementary schools for them to keep on hand for when a student loses a tooth during the school day. Both of my kids have come home with a tooth wrapped in a napkin or in a plain ziplock bag. Why not take advantage of this opportunity to advertise your office?

 For additional ideas to use with local schools see February’s Children’s Dental Health Month and October/November’s Candy Buy Back. Also, my Marketing Ideas for August has some nice ideas for you to use with students & teachers.

I have witnessed first hand just how effective marketing to local schools can be. The opportunity to bring in many new patient families to your practice is huge. If you are interested in hiring me to help your office create a custom marketing campaign, please contact me today at bhaydenconsulting@gmail.com for a complimentary consultation.

Please feel free to share with me your ideas for marketing to local schools or if you have any dental marketing questions that I can help you answer, please comment below.

If you are not yet receiving my free dental marketing ideas every month to your email in box, please subscribe today. 

We’re on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and Pinterest stop by and say hello. Thank you 😀

Yours for Greater Success,

~Betty


 

by

Ideas to Fill Holes in the Dental Hygiene Schedule

Hello Dental Friends,

Holes in the dental hygiene schedule, why do we dread this so much? Because, unfilled appointments, canceled or missed appointments all kill profitability.

So what do you do? You probably are desperate for a quick fix to fill the holes in the schedule. Right? Well, I’ll help you out by sharing some ideas to fill the hygiene schedule as a quick fix. However, I must say a quick fix is typically only a temporary fix. If holes in the schedule are becoming the norm around your office you need something more than a quick fix to figure out why this is happening and work to prevent your hygiene schedule from looking like Swiss cheese every week. Please email me at bhaydenconsulting@gmail.com or comment here if this is becoming an issue with your schedule. I can help you prevent these holes from happening.

On to the ideas for a quick (temporary) fix:

Note: If at all possible, try to avoid moving patients appointments around to fill in gaps. It can aggravate the patient. It’s always best to keep their appointment as scheduled.

Also, this isn’t the time to point fingers or start blaming someone for having holes in the schedule. Work together, as a team to fill these holes. Ideally, the hygienist should be involved in making these calls to patients, etc. Patients are more likely to respond when it’s their beloved hygienist calling them. Besides, the hygienist(s) are obviously the one(s) with the extra time. So the ideas I share are directed to the hygiene department with the goal of them becoming productive, happy and profitable.  (Again, you will want to at a later date, work together as a team to determine why this is happening and create solutions to repair the breakdown.)

how to fill holes in dental hygiene schedule

  • Call List – Do you have any patients that would like to come in at an earlier date for their hygiene appointment?  Call them and let them know you have a rare unexpected change in the schedule and can see them sooner.
  • Cancellation/Missed Appt List – Do you have any patients on these lists that can be called?
  • Family Members – Check for other family members due for their hygiene appt. Is there someone coming in with hygiene that has family members that are also due in hygiene that may want to take one of those open slots.
  • Doctors Schedule – Check the doctors schedule for any patients that may be due for their hygiene appt and are coming in around the time that needs to be filled in hygiene. Invite them to take care of their hygiene appointment at the same time.
  • Incentives – Offer an Incentive for accepting a last-minute appointment. For example, complimentary fluoride, teeth whitening, small gift or gift card. Use your social media platforms to advertise this awesome today (or tomorrow) only opportunity.
  • Continuing care/past-due List – Get on the phone and with an enthusiastic and positive tone make some calls to your patients that are due or past due in hygiene. (Vary the times you make these calls. You’ll reach more patients this way.)
  • Social Media – Engage with your patients, potential patients and local businesses on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, etc. For ideas see: Social Media Content
  • Spend more time with your patients. If you have open time that couldn’t be filled, take this opportunity to discuss better home care tools, update their information and medical history, do some perio charting, talk about cosmetic services, any recent continuing education courses, place sealants, apply desensitizing agent to any sensitive teeth, take impressions for whitening trays, review incomplete treatment with them, ask them if they’ll kindly leave a review on Google, Facebook or Yelp, mention how dental gift certificates make great gifts, etc.

Just a reminder before making any calls, it would be a good idea to check your patient’s account balance, insurance benefits and review their clinical notes. Also, be sure to document all calls, conversations, and correspondence made to or with the patient.

If the holes in your schedule are a few weeks out you can try these ideas:

  • Special Offers – Focus on a particular service or group of patients to target with special offers or prizes on a day that has a lot of holes. For example, Mouthguards  / Teeth Whitening / Sealants / Desensitizing Agents / Back to School / Kids day / Senior day.
  • Fun Themed days – Superhero, Luau, BBQ, Disney, Sports, etc.

Despite your best efforts to fill the schedule, you may still end up with some holes that just couldn’t be filled. That’s alright, there is plenty to do to remain productive during this time.

During downtime:

  • Get on the phone and make continuing care calls.
  • Pull Incomplete hygiene treatment report and call, send postcards, emails, texts or letters to your patients.
  • Make calls, send emails, postcards, letters, etc.to your patients that are due, past due or almost due in hygiene.
  • Thoroughly clean and stock treatment rooms.
  • Get out and visit with area businesses. Introduce the office, take them a small gift and a “let’s get acquainted” special offer.
  • Discuss some marketing ideas for the office.
  • Continuing Education. Watch a webinar or video, read a manual, etc. Improve your clinical skills, knowledge of new technology and procedures, telephone scripting, office protocols, etc.

I hope these ideas provide you with a quick fix to fill those holes in your schedule. Let me know how they work for you.

If you are not yet receiving my free dental marketing ideas every month to your email inbox, PLEASE take a second and subscribe today. This way, you won’t miss a single idea. Feel free to share my blog with your dental friends. ~ Thank you!

Yours for Greater Success!

~Betty

P.S. Please stop by and say hello to me on  Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and Pinterest