By:Angela Weber, CMO, OrthoSynetics

Even if the holiday season is your favorite time of year, you’ll recognize that it can be busy and stressful. For orthodontic practices, the holidays can also be confusing—at least from a marketing perspective. With all the parties, shopping, decorating, cooking and everything else going on, your message can easily get drowned in a sea of red and green. In the season’s retail marketing blitz, where do orthodontic services even fit in? What marketing, if any, should your practice be doing?

Here are a few orthodontic practice marketing tips: Don’t take a break from marketing. A hiatus just makes it that much harder to meet your goals when January comes around. Marketing done consistently wins every time. Practices that keep their marketing program in gear won’t see wild swings in their new patient numbers in the new year.

So even if your patients and prospects may be more focused on new electronic gear than braces, there are ways you can still be relevant and stay top of mind:

Give Back

Aim to make life easier and more convenient for your patients and potential patients. For example, you can extend office hours or offer same day starts. And who doesn’t like to receive a gift during the holidays? Consider giving a branded promotional item to every patient or new patient in December.

Keep Social Media Going

If your office shuts down during the holidays, make sure your social media doesn’t sleep. You can find plenty of holiday-related ideas to post about: a team member Christmas wish list, holiday smile ideas, season’s greetings from your staff, favorite holiday recipes, or resolutions for the New Year. Keep things fun, light and creative. This time of year can also be a good time for dabbling in social media ad campaigns. Run Facebook ads promoting No Down Payment options or perhaps a Pinterest campaign with braces-friendly holiday recipes to keep traffic moving to your website.

Get into the Spirit

Update your social media cover photos to reflect the cheery mood of the holiday season. The right images can create a warm, fuzzy connection with your practice. Remember that you are ultimately selling smiles and self-confidence, so choose images that focus on the smiles that this time of year brings out in us all.

Avoid the Clutter

Tis not the season to try direct mail. Your patients’ mailboxes are already crammed with holiday cards and catalogues. Also, think about saving your referring doctor gifts until January. Otherwise, your gratitude risks getting lost in the gift basket shuffle.

Give Potential Patients a Push

Over the holidays, school lets out for weeks and things slow down for office workers. Remind potential patients to take advantage of their lighter schedules. Tap into low-hanging fruit by sending an email blast to patients who came in for a consult but haven’t yet signed.

Time to Flex

Emails are also an effective way to remind potential patients with money in flexible savings accounts that they need to use it or lose it.

Get on the Gift Giving List

People give gift certificates to friends and family that are redeemable at spas and beauty salons, so why not orthodontic practices? Reach out to local mom bloggers, and promote your practice as a gift idea. Unique treatment options like Wild Smiles brackets offer a great story and a unique draw. One-time services like teeth whitening also make good gifts.

Attend to Your Blog

Is your blog growing cobwebs? Check your Google analytics and see what posts have performed well, and write more that follow the same theme. Consistently posted fresh content can drive traffic to your website and improve search engine rankings. Promote your blog content via social media for increased visibility.

Update Your Website

Take the time to review your website and update any outdated or irrelevant content. Make sure the photography is fresh and representative of your brand. Reread items like your Frequently Asked Questions. Are they indeed being frequently asked? Is there any information that you want patients to know that isn’t on your site?

 

December is indeed a unique month for any business, but don’t let all the holiday commotion throw you off your practice marketing game. While you should certainly take the time to enjoy the holidays yourself, it’s also an important time to position your practice and your practice marketing for a prosperous 2016.