Question

Topic: Advertising/PR

Any Tips For Dental Office Open House?

Posted by Anonymous on 5/16/2004 at 12:51 PM ET 250 Points
Hello everyone,
I have a young dental office and just finished reading "creating customer evangelists". I realized what I was missing was one to one interaction and feedback with customers, patients. In a few weeks I will have my first "Dental Office open house" and have invited the other people in the building - small medical plaza.
All tips and advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Premier
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by SRyan ;] on 5/16/2004 at 1:53 PM Accepted
    Have you thought about targeting parents with young children? An open house with a kid-friendly theme might bring in some serious traffic and potential long-term customers. The timing will be important though (Saturday morning?).

    What about inviting the nearest kindergarten or pre-k population to submit their artwork for a "brightest smile" competition? Give lots of prizes, and hang the masterpieces in your waiting area -- maybe year-round, not just during the open house. Hmm... this could become an annual event, actually!

    Get the principals and teachers involved, too. Give them Tooth Kits (Cavity Killer Kits?) to hand out to students. Never hurts to give the teachers something they might value, too. Ten miles of dental floss? ;)

    Also go for some PR -- make your local news team (TV, radio, newspaper) aware that the Townsville Tooth Fairy is stopping by your office to meet all the Townsville six-year-olds (who obviously are prime candidates for under-the-pillow goodies). The Tooth Fairy could award the prizes from your art contest. Take LOTS of pictures. Ask parents if they want to get an email with the web location of the photos later... then in that email, let them "opt in" for your monthly email newsletter!!

    If I think of other ideas, I'll come back for another post.
  • Posted by Pepper Blue on 5/16/2004 at 2:22 PM Member
    Hi Premier,

    My suggestion would be that regardless of how you eventually draw a crowd, that once you have them there you give them an incentive to give you permission to communicate with them in the future.

    You want to give them an opportunity at the event to provide you with minimal personal information either:

    1) First name, last name and physical mailing address

    2) First name, last name and email address

    3) Or both

    You can ask for more information in the future if necessary.

    Having this info will allow you to strengthen and deepen your relationship with them AFTER they leave your open house.

    For example, you could put out a fishbowl with signup cards that offer a complimentary cleaning, exams, etc. and by doing so they will also receive a newsletter or e-newsletter.

    Explain that in these communications will be further valuable information and opportunities for discounts (good deals always motivate people to sign up) as well as information on dental hygiene for the family etc.

    It does not matter if they are customers or prospects, the point is that having them attend an event without giving them an opportunity to leave you their contact information and give you permission to communicate with them is a huge wasted marketing opportunity.

    There is plenty of information on this forum past, present, and future on the topic of designing, implementing, and measuring direct and email marketing communications.

    I hope that helps.
  • Posted by SRyan ;] on 5/19/2004 at 11:17 PM Member
    Premier, thanks very much for the points. I hope you'll have a chance to come back to this question and post a short story (Fairy tale?) about your Open House and any results. Good luck!!

    - Shelley
  • Posted by SRyan ;] on 8/31/2004 at 2:53 AM Member
    Doc, I've answered about 400 questions since you posted this, and yours is STILL one of my favorites. So... what happened? Did you have the open house?

    - Shelley
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